Blade of the Destroyer by Andy Peloquin Review

Blade of the Destroyer is a heavy book that I stood defeated by its sheer size for it took me very long before I was taken by it (perhaps that was just my book slump). There are just 298 pages but the book felt so long to me.

Author: Andy Peloquin
Series: The Last Bucelarii #1
Publishing Date: July 11, 2015
Publisher: J. Ellington Ashton Press
Edition: paperback (I got a digital ARC from the author)
Language: English
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 1515038955
Size: 298

The Hunter of Voramis is the perfect assassin: ruthless, unrelenting, immortal. Yet he is haunted by lost memories, bonded to a cursed dagger that feeds him power yet denies him peace of mind. Within him rages an unquenchable need for blood and death.

When he accepts a contract to avenge the stolen innocence of a girl, the Hunter becomes the prey. The death of a seemingly random target sends him hurtling toward destruction, yet could his path also lead to the truth of his buried past?

Review

Reading this book felt like watching a walkthrough of the famous Xbox game (now with 2 movie adaptations), Hitman. Yes, watching, not playing because I didn't feel the rush of excitement much.

One thing I noticed that this new author, Andy Peloquin, could improve upon in his writing style would be to write in long sentences. There are times when reading a paragraph feels like running a marathon not because of the adrenaline rush that this book will surely provide other readers (just not me unfortunately) but because reading each sentence feels like drawing a short breath. This didn't happen all throughout of course, but for the rare instances that it did, it's all I could remember.

I usually love antihero stories (read my reviews of Nightwise by R.S. Belcher, Death Watch by Michael Sedge and Rho Agenda Inception by Richard Phillips) even if the character is one that I definitely hate (like Dirty Red by Tarryn Fisher), but I just didn't take a liking to this book instantly. The Hunter, the protagonist of the story, is a character I'd definitely love but because of the narration or the delivery of the story, I was not even captivated by him.

Despite the things that I said above, there are things that I really like.

For instance, the author sure knows how to throw some humorous dialogues:

"I'll have it right up for ye. You sure ye don't want to finish it upstairs? I know a good place beneath the roof where we can explore the things we have in common, and"—she threw him a lascivious wink—"the things we don't."

I'm also reminded with a lot of George R.R. Martin stuff like the presence of multiple gods and how each god's followers do about their business.

Moreover, the Hunter's motive reminds me a lot of the early days of Green Archer (or the Vigilante of CW's Arrow in Season 1), with the exception that Oliver Queen didn't get paid for his killing. It's just that the Hunter, while killing because it's basically the only thing he knows (he does not even have memories of the past), he does it also to wipe out evil rats of the city of Voramis. He's a ruthless killer but he's not a crazy psycho who kills out of sheer pleasure (although he does enjoy the power surge achieved after killing someone). He has a very big heart. He indirectly protects those who can't protect themselves (like giving shelter for the homeless and guiding orphaned children).

He's a lonely guy. Unlike Oliver Queen and Barry Allen (The Flash) who get to have their own team that will aid them in doing their business of saving their respective cities, the Hunter does everything on his own. Have I been captivated by him, I would have been overwhelmed by the feeling of reaching out to him, stroking his head like a pet (which would definitely insult him) but too bad, I wasn't.

I think I just have to blame my book slump.

Even those times when he was tortured and I was reminded yet again of Westley's torture (in The Princess Bride), he still didn't get my heart.

Even when I'm already listening to Thomas Bergersen's music (anything by Two Steps from Hell) while reading, there's still nothing.

By Chapter 24, I just thought I couldn't finish this book on my own so I turned off my playlist and let an ubuntu app, ebook-speaker, read the rest of the book for me just like an audio book, only read by a robotic voice. Well, it did the job.

Even with the robotic voice, sorrow took over me when an innocent little girl died... I just thought that the author must have thought of his daughters in writing that part. That's all it took for me to grow a heart for the Hunter (cue Two Step from Hell's Blackheart). Whatever the enemy was scheming then, not only was he able to wrap his fingers around Hunter, he definitely had me. That was the surprising bit.

The book adapts the custom of swearing with this bizarre way of referring to private parts like this:

What in the name of the Long Keeper's shriveled gonads do you want?

Well, that's nothing new. That's how people in past civilizations throw expletives. I just find the above line really weird even after watching the first season of Spartacus, like when Crixus (Spartacus Season 1 Episode 2) said this, “Well, lick my hole. The pig-fucker's still alive.” I had no idea then that there will ever be something ickier than that line, which you'll find a lot in this book.

Blade of the Destroyer is the first part of three and there are lots of revelations already (you'd be surprised how the story would turn out). What I didn't expect surely was for this book to join my shelf of Angels and Demons. As to why? You just have to read this book.

I'm not giving this a good rate but I definitely would love to read the rest of the series.

About the Author

Andy Peloquin--a third culture kid to the core--has loved to read since before he could remember. Sherlock Holmes, the Phantom of the Opera, and Father Brown are just a few of the books that ensnared his imagination as a child.

When he discovered science fiction and fantasy through the pages of writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs, J.R.R Tolkien, and Orson Scott Card, he was immediately hooked and hasn't looked back since.

Andy's first attempt at writing produced In the Days: A Tale of the Forgotten Continent. He has learned from the mistakes he made and used the experience to produce Blade of the Destroyer, a book of which he is very proud.

Reading—and now writing—is his favorite escape, and it provides him an outlet for his innate creativity. He is an artist; words are his palette.

His website (andypeloquin.com) is a second home for him, a place where he can post his thoughts and feelings--along with reviews of books he finds laying around the internet.

He can also be found on his social media pages, such as:

Author said about himself:

Hot wings, ALWAYS!
I never forget a face, but rarely remember a name.
I'm a head taller than the average person (I'm 6' 6")
Marvel > DC
I was born in Japan, and lived there until the age of 14.
Selena Gomez and Five Finger Death Punch are both in my playlist.
Aliens are real, but it's self-centered of us to believe that they would come to visit Earth.
Watching sports: suck. Playing sports: EPIC!
I earned a purple belt in Karate/Hapkido/Taekwondo.
I dislike most Christmas music, aside from Trans-Siberian Orchestra.