Overkill by Steven Shrewsbury

Synopsis

A great flood once wiped clean the earth, destroying everything upon it. Before the deluge, in a time now forgotten, the world was a place of warriors and witches, conflicts between kingdoms, and, until their extermination, dragons. 

In this world, men may live centuries, fallen angels have begotten terrifying spawn, and sometimes, the best hope can be found in a brothel. 

In the land of Transalpina, a new religion spreads, and important men are dying mysteriously, slain by what can only be the fire of dragon breath. Summoned by the Queen Garnet, the legendary warrior Gorias La Gaul returns to the place where he once saved the queen's young granddaughter from treachery and enslavement. The Princess Nykia is gone, and soon others may try to claim the throne. The queen has little choice but to turn to the only man who ever told her no. 

With the aid of one of the queen's elite guard, the battle maiden Alena, and the young palace servant Orsen, the old mercenary will face pirates and traitors, monsters and foul magic in the quest to find the missing heir and learn the truth behind the disconcerting murders. 

Deliverance will come for Gorias La Gaul, but for now there are women to love, secrets to discover, and killing that needs doing.

Review:

I gathered from some information online that this is the second book taking place in this setting, and I have to say I am not surprised. This book was well crafting and interesting from the beginning, so it would make sense that the author would have a book before this one, and it's probably as good as this one is. 

For those of you who follow my reviews, my biggest complaint recently is that not every book has a strong beginning. This book did not suffer from that at all. I think that this is really important, especially for a book like this, because it has so much more to establish with the reader than with a book that takes place in this world in modern time. By having this book start off so strong, it made me invested in the book, it's setting, and it's characters, all the more, which in turn made it easier for me to latch on and understand the world building aspects all the better. 

This is definitely a book that is not short on the action front, so if you are looking for a slow and steady boring ride than this is not your book. There are a lot of unexpected events that happen within the book, which makes it even more fun for the reader, because it keeps you guessing. 

One thing some books heavy on the action sometimes get wrong, is not breaking up the action. A book with all action is like a sandwich with no bread. I was glad to find that this book did have a little bit of humor in it to break up the heavy pace of action. And there is even a bit of "romantic" elements within, which both I think balance the book out pretty well. 

Character wise, I think that Gorias is a pretty interesting character to follow along. He has his own personal code that he follows, which is basically what drives him within the story. he is one of those main character guys who is macho in every sense of the word. He is a strong and pretty ruthless character, but thankfully there are some other aspects to him that make him more than just the muscle of the story, and more of a well rounded character. 

Overall, I think this book would be easily enjoyed by anyone who liked epic fantasy. The world building is pretty good, as are the characters. I don't think this book should go out to the YA crowd, but anyone else with an interest in fantasy should check out this book.