Tag: Legends Rise

Venators: Legends Rise (Audiobook) by Devri Walls, Daniel Thomas May: The Venators Have Their Hands Full in this Packed Adventure

For the last part of my Tour Stop, I’ll be talking about the Audiobook version of Venators: Legends Rise, as I have with the first two books in the series this year as part of The Write Reads Tours for them. And, as before, I largely copied what I said about the paperback-but tweaked things a little bit and added something about the narration (just in case you read the earlier post and think I’m repeating myself, you’re right, I absolutely am.)


Legends Rise

Venators: Legends Rise

by Devri Walls, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator)
Series: Venators, #3

Unabridged Audiobook, 18 hrs. 9 min.
Tantor Audio, 2020

Read: October 6-9, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“How long ago were we here?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Two weeks? Three? I’ve lost track of the days.”

She sat with that for a moment, trying to reconcile the timeline. “Why does it seem like forever ago?”

“Because it was.” Grey rested his forearm across the saddle horn, face pensive. “We’ve lived a lifetime since then.”

I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who couldn’t believe how little time went by in the first two books.

What’s Legends Rise About?

At the end of Promises Forged, Tate is taken by the Fae and is sent back to the Gladiator games that he’d escaped from not that long ago. He’s doing this so he can get his wife and son to safety (and maybe see them for the first time in years, too).

But our heroes, Grey and Rune, need to get him free from thatpreferably without letting the Council know he’s been taken. So while they’ve been assigned to go rein in the remnants of the Werewolf pack they let get away in Magic Unleashed, and maybe bring another pack to order, they’ll use that assignment as cover for their real concern.

A neat trick if they can pull it off.

Along the way they get to train, they get to experience more of their new world and abilities than they’ve been able to thus far in their crash-course introduction to the ways and mores of Eon. The training, obviously, is really important if we’re to continue to believe their success in combat. A couple of lucky breaks like we’ve seen so far is one thing, but at a certain point, we need to see some competence out of them.

Venator Development

This book sees Rune and Grey getting to know each other betterGrey shares a lot with Rune and she responds as she ought. They both settle into roles as partners, their individual personalities helping them support the other in weak spots while working together.

Grey continues to be the character I’m most invested in and most interested in for this serieshis strengthscompassion, empathy, concernare seen even more clearly than before. He’s quite the contrast to the Venators of legend on Eon. Yes, it gets him into trouble. Yes, he has flaws and stumbles into being someone I really don’t like during the final battle of the book. But assuming he can keep himself from that in the future, and stay true to who he is, he’ll be the hero that Eon needs and will keep me reading the series.

Rune on the other hand…I change my mind about her repeatedly in each book. As a character, Walls keeps developing her along the lines we’ve seen so farparticularly in Promises Forged, building on those traits and showing herself, her trainers, Grey, and the Council what she’s capable of. I’m not crazy about some of her choices and actionsbut I think most of them will be good for the series, and one of them will lead to melodrama and problems (and will be a source of delight for most readers).

I’m glad that I’m not all-in with either characterit makes them feel more real, more grounded that I like aspects of them, and am troubled by others. It also points to the tendency Walls showed in Promises Forged for the Venator powers to shape the thinking and attitudes of the individuals and how much these two need to strive against that. Give me a complex protagonist any day.

Some Skin in the Game

Zio makes a move herea lot sooner than I expected her to, too. It’s not a big attack, it’s more of a surgical strike, just to sound out her opponents and test out her pet Venator. If more happens and she gains some big advantages while she’s at it, all the better.

She’s craftier than I gave her credit for and I think that this was a smart move by Wallsboth for the progression of the story and for the development of Zio as a character. It’d be easy to write her off as a Skeletor-type, just a power-hungry magic-user trying to cause chaos and destruction for her own gain. And, yes, I still think she is thatbut I think there’s more to her than that.

A Bonanza of Backstory

Two of the most important figures for our Venators are Beltran and Verida. We know there was some sort of romance in their past, and that it didn’t well at all. We get that filled in a little bit, which is good. But more than that we get looks into their pastswhat brought them to the point they were at when we first encountered them.

We see a lot of what motivates Verida in her desire to train these Venators, to aid the resistance. We get some insight into what drove the wedge between her and her father. We even meet some of her family and can see that she could very easily have been a different kind of person. I walked away from this book liking Verida a lot more than I did before.

We see more of Beltran’s story, too, and come a lot closer to understanding himI think Walls is keeping a surprise or two about him up her sleeve, though. I’d like to think that someone with his centuries of experience would possess a little more maturity, and not be quite so emotionally adolescentbut maybe for his species you don’t hit that for a few more hundred years.

An Almost Entirely Frivolous Sartoirial Question

Does anyone on Eon wear loose clothing? Every time* someone’s pants are described, the words “tight” and “leather” appear. From just about everything I’ve ever read, leather pants are really uncomfortable. Maybe society would be better, people would be more prone to get along if Rune introduced them to denim? Could Grey get people to wear chinos and with the improved blood flow help cooler heads to prevail?

* No, I haven’t done a search on e-copies of this to verify this, there may be exceptions—roll with the hyperbole here.

At the very least, from this point can’t we just take it as read that every time Walls says “pants” that she means “tight” and “leather” and trim 1-2% of her word count?

Is this petty? Sure. But Walls spends enough time talking about clothing that questions arise. If I were so inclined (and someone would have to pay me to be), I think I could do an entire post on the clothing of Eon.

My Big, Not-Frivolous Question

What are people (the Council/Zio/Resistance) fighting for? Control of Eon? Power? Sure, that’s obvious. But Power for the sake of Power is dull and hard to care about as a reader. If you look at Panem, you can get an idea why people are fighting for it (on either side), ditto for The Society in Red Rising, Luna from The Lunar Chronicles—you get the idea.

What are the ideals of this society? What has the Council betrayed? Are they pretending to uphold something from the past that they’ve actually abandoned and that the resistance are trying to restore? (see the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars)—while at the same time, Zio has another idea entirely?

What’s the point of this Resistance movement? What are their goals? When are we going to finally meet them?

Where’s the joy in this world? Where’s The Good (or just good)?

We spend some time in a city and in a village here—they couldn’t be less similar, so we’re getting two separate looks at Eon society. The city puts Mos Eisley to shame, and the poor village is just…well, poor. Even before tragedy hits (thanks to the Venators, in a way) this village, I don’t see that there’s a lot going for it or its citizens.

I guess that I was just struck by the question, “why?” Why are these factions working so hard to gain control of this place? I don’t doubt for a moment that Walls has a handle on this question—she knows it. I just hope she clues her readers in soon.

How was the narration??

Daniel Thomas May really impressed me this time. He balances the action and emotion well, keeping the focus on the characters. Walls gave him a large cast of characters to work with in these pages and he handles it well. I feel like I should have more to say, but I really don’t. He does a good job and kept me entertained.

So, what did I think about Legends Rise?

This was by far the most ambitious of the Venators novels (I know it’s only book 3, but I read two versions of book 1, so I’m counting this as the fourth), and I applaud Walls for taking a big swing here. I wonder if she maybe tried to do too much, though. I’ve tossed this idea around a lot over the last few weeks and I’m undecided. I’m hoping that listening to the audiobook for the upcoming Book Tour will help me decide.

We got some good backstory on pivotal characters, we see a lot more of the world and have a better understanding of parts of it, the Earthlings get a chance to acclimate a bit more to Eon and spend some time with citizens. And, yeah, there are some pretty great action sequences. There’s even some romance for those who want that sort of thing—and I’m certain almost every reader of this series will be very pleased by it (I actually don’t mind a romantic subplot, I just can’t stand this one and think it’s a bad move for everyone involved).

Regardless of what the stars may suggest—I enjoyed this book and recommend it. Furthermore, I like this series, I’m really curious about what’s going to happen next and I think anyone who reads them will, too.


3.5 Stars

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

EXCERPT from Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls


For the next part of my stop on The Write Reads Blog Tour for Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls, I have this nifty excerpt provided by the author. Enjoy!


from Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls (available from Brown Books Publishing Group)

After such a long day and a full meal, Rune and Grey were both yawning. Beltran was feeling the exhaustion himself, but he needed Rune to be at least partially awake for the conversation he had planned for tonight. He got to his feet and brushed off his pants.

     Verida eyed him from across the fire. “Where are you going?”

     “I tried to explain before we left but was rudely interrupted.” He crossed to the packs and started pulling out shimmering pieces of fabric, grinning at Verida’s silent glower. “I have gifts from Arwin.”

     Grey leaned back on the palms of his hands, craning his neck. “What is that?”

     “Your tents.” Beltran strolled behind Grey, separating one from the rest and dropping it in his lap.

     “This is my tent?” The fabric whispered through his hand, sliding away like liquid silk and pooling in his lap. Grey’s face fell. “We’re going to freeze.”

     “On the contrary.” Beltran handed one each to Verida and Rune. “Tonight you will be warm, comfortable, and most importantly, unnoticeable to anything passing through the area.”

     Given his ability to shift, Beltran didn’t actually need a tent—he could sleep just about anywhere in a well insulated form. But he was endlessly fascinated with Arwin’s abilities and wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to experience the wonder of magic by volunteering to turn himself into a bear.

     Besides, with Rune so nearby, he was particularly attached to this human form, and would rather not be covered in fur in the middle of the night. Although, considering the cold shoulder she’d given him since the incident, an unexpected tent visit from Rune was probably a touch optimistic.

     “How are we supposed to use this?” Grey asked. “Are there stakes or ropes or—”

     “Grey.” Beltran tsked. “We’re dealing with a wizard. Arwin would be offended. Observe.” He flipped the fabric outward, the way Arwin had shown him. It snapped in the air. He gave it a sharp yank, pulled it over his head, and released. The fabric fluttered down around him and caught, puckering as if suspended by something, and then draping to the ground.

     At first Beltran could only see the brightness of the fabric, but then a translucent circle appeared at the center point above his head. The effect grew larger, flowing down like rain water until it appeared that he was surrounded by nothing at all. The only tell-tale sign of the tent’s presence was the occasional shimmer that rippled across the inside.

     Beltran saw everything, but to an outsider, he’d just become invisible.

    Verida looked at the fabric in her hand like it was a viper, and Beltran stifled a laugh. She hated magic. The lack of control, understanding, and predictability ate her alive.

   “Go ahead,” he called. “Try it.”

   Rune’s nose crinkled. “Not very soundproof, is it?”

   “Intentional. I asked Arwin to leave it that way.”

   “Why would you have done that?” Verida took out her nervousness on the first thing she found, gesturing wildly. The delicate fabric clenched in her hand, flipped, and rolled. “What if Grey snores?”

   Grey’s head snapped up, his brow furrowed. “But…I don’t.”

  Well, Verida darling, that way, when you try to kill me in the middle of night, Rune and Grey will hear my screams and come running to my aid.” He poked his head between the flaps and would’ve winked—he wanted to—but the look on Verida’s face said she’d probably remove the offending eyeball.

   “I’ll speak to Arwin about the glaring flaw in his design when we return.”

   “I’ll let him know to expect you.”

  “Hey,” Rune said. “Why didn’t we use something like this instead of nixie bubbles?”

  Verida whirled, shouting, and shaking the tent in the air. “Because I didn’t know Arwin could do this, and we weren’t walking around the council house openly asking for help to disobey the council!”

   “All right, all right,” she held up a hand. “Sorry I asked.”

  Don’t worry Rune, it’s not you,” Beltran said, stepping out from the tent. “Verida hates magic.”

  “Stop. Talking!”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets, and shrugged at Rune as if to say…see?

  “I don’t think I’m understanding,” Grey interjected. “Did you really choose not to soundproof this because you were afraid she’d murder you in your sleep?”

  “Would you blame me?” Beltran mimicked Verida’s earlier flailing and grinned. “But no. Arwin said I could have invisibility or sound protection. I chose what I thought would be the most beneficial.”

   “It would’ve been nice to know you brought tents before I packed the regular ones,” Verida snapped. “We could’ve done without the additional weight.”

   “We’ll need both. Arwin gave me a very long speech loaded with copious amounts of wizardly terms that I wasn’t completely familiar with, but basically meant that fabric doesn’t hold magic as well as earth. He infused a stone—and proceeded to instruct me no less than fourteen times not to lose it—and then connected the rock to the fabric via another spell. It was very convoluted but amounted to the simple fact that the fabric can only hold so many hours of magic before needing to be placed back in the pack with the stone. These should last until morning, but once the tents are depleted, they’ll need to rest for at least a full day before they can be used again.”

   He smiled at Verida, who asked, “then why are we using them tonight?”

    “I thought it best to test out their capabilities.”

“I see.” She pulled in a tight breath through her nose. “And hope we don’t need them tomorrow? Excellent.”

    “A better option than pulling them out when we desperately need them and discovering they don’t work.”

   “Hold up,” Rune interrupted. “Let me get this straight. Our tents have to… charge?”

   Beltran looked at her blankly. “I have no idea what that means.”

   Rune rolled her lips in.

   Grey burst into laughter, holding up the tent like he’d found the prize of an era. “Rune! Look! It’s the new upgraded iTent! The Bluetooth connection is non-existent but it’s new, improved, and doubles as a shelter.”

   “But,” she snickered. “How’s the screen size?”

   The two Venators continued, laughing hysterically, and dropping one joke after the next.

   “I have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about,” he said dryly, glancing to Verida. “And I’m really starting to dislike how often that’s happening.”

   “Agreed.”

   At least they agreed on something.


Read the rest in Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls.

Thanks to Devri Walls for this excerpt! Also, thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls

I’m very pleased today to welcome The Write Reads Blog Tour for Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls. How excited about this am I? I’m posting this on a Saturday, and I never do this kind of thing on a Saturday. This Tour Stop consists in this little spotlight post, an excerpt from this novel coming up soon, and then my take on the audiobook coming along in a bit. Let’s start by learning a little about this novel, okay?

Book Details:

Book Title: Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls
Publisher: Brown Books Publishing Group
Release date: July 14, 2020
Format: Ebook/Paperback/Audiobook
Length: 448 pages

Book Blurb:

The path will be forged in sweat and blood.

Rune, Grey, the shape-shifter Beltran, and willful vampire, Verida, set out to rescue their friend and mentor, Tate, from the gladiator games. But first they must navigate the perils of Eon and its warring factions. Each of this band of four carries with them a secret that threatens to tear their group apart from within. Rune now bears the mark of the promise she made to save Grey’s life – a nixie bubble lodged in her arm that could call her away to do their bidding or spell her death.

Even as their loyalty to their cause and to one another faces its greatest test, Rune’s twin brother Ryker is forging an alliance with their mortal enemy, the powerful sorceress Zio, who has plans of her own for the Venators and Eon.

Hearts will be bared, secrets unveiled, and relationships made and destroyed in this stunning new installment of the Venators series.

About the Author:

Devri WallsDevri Walls is an international best selling author. She lives in Meridian, Idaho with her husband, two children and one adorable little mutt. Writing in all things fantasy, she would do just about anything for a working magic wand.

Mostly because she’s a walking disaster and a wand would be of enormous help…although she’d probably trip and break it. So, there’s that.

She graduated with a degree in theater and has studied vocal performance most of her life. She now teaches voice lessons when she’s not writing novels, cooking dinner, playing taxi, spending time with her amazingly supportive husband or trying to read.

Social Media:

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Youtube ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest ~ Bookbub ~ Amazon ~ Goodreads

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls: The Venators Have Their Hands Full in this Packed Adventure

The surest sign that the end of July and all of August got away from me is this: I haven’t posted about Venators: Legends Rise yet. I wanted to get my initial impressions of this out before now, closer to the e-book release date, but now with the Paperback release this week, this will have to work. I’ll be taking part in a book tour for this book in a month—and will have new thoughts, second impressions, and things to say about the audiobook then (as I have with the first two books this year). But here’s where I am at this point.


Legends Rise

Venators: Legends Rise

by Devri Walls
Series: Venators, #3

Kindle Edition, 575 pg.
Brown Books Publishing Group, 2020

Read: July 22-25, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“How long ago were we here?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Two weeks? Three? I’ve lost track of the days.”

She sat with that for a moment, trying to reconcile the timeline. “Why does it seem like forever ago?”

“Because it was.” Grey rested his forearm across the saddle horn, face pensive. “We’ve lived a lifetime since then.”

I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who couldn’t believe how little time went by in the first two books.

What’s Legends Rise About?

At the end of Promises Forged, Tate is taken by the Fae and is sent back to the Gladiator games that he’d escaped from not that long ago. He’s doing this so he can get his wife and son to safety (and maybe see them for the first time in years, too).

But our heroes, Grey and Rune, need to get him free from thatpreferably without letting the Council know he’s been taken. So while they’ve been assigned to go rein in the remnants of the Werewolf pack they let get away in Magic Unleashed, and maybe bring another pack to order, they’ll use that assignment as cover for their real concern.

A neat trick if they can pull it off.

Along the way they get to train, they get to experience more of their new world and abilities than they’ve been able to thus far in their crash-course introduction to the ways and mores of Eon. The training, obviously, is really important if we’re to continue to believe their success in combat. A couple of lucky breaks like we’ve seen so far is one thing, but at a certain point, we need to see some competence out of them.

Venator Development

This book sees Rune and Grey getting to know each other betterGrey shares a lot with Rune and she responds as she ought. They both settle into roles as partners, their individual personalities helping them support the other in weak spots while working together.

Grey continues to be the character I’m most invested in and most interested in for this serieshis strengthscompassion, empathy, concernare seen even more clearly than before. He’s quite the contrast to the Venators of legend on Eon. Yes, it gets him into trouble. Yes, he has flaws and stumbles into being someone I really don’t like during the final battle of the book. But assuming he can keep himself from that in the future, and stay true to who he is, he’ll be the hero that Eon needs and will keep me reading the series.

Rune on the other hand…I change my mind about her repeatedly in each book. As a character, Walls keeps developing her along the lines we’ve seen so farparticularly in Promises Forged, building on those traits and showing herself, her trainers, Grey, and the Council what she’s capable of. I’m not crazy about some of her choices and actionsbut I think most of them will be good for the series, and one of them will lead to melodrama and problems (and will be a source of delight for most readers).

I’m glad that I’m not all-in with either characterit makes them feel more real, more grounded that I like aspects of them, and am troubled by others. It also points to the tendency Walls showed in Promises Forged for the Venator powers to shape the thinking and attitudes of the individuals and how much these two need to strive against that. Give me a complex protagonist any day.

Some Skin in the Game

Zio makes a move herea lot sooner than I expected her to, too. It’s not a big attack, it’s more of a surgical strike, just to sound out her opponents and test out her pet Venator. If more happens and she gains some big advantages while she’s at it, all the better.

She’s craftier than I gave her credit for and I think that this was a smart move by Wallsboth for the progression of the story and for the development of Zio as a character. It’d be easy to write her off as a Skeletor-type, just a power-hungry magic-user trying to cause chaos and destruction for her own gain. And, yes, I still think she is thatbut I think there’s more to her than that.

A Bonanza of Backstory

Two of the most important figures for our Venators are Beltran and Verida. We know there was some sort of romance in their past, and that it didn’t well at all. We get that filled in a little bit, which is good. But more than that we get looks into their pastswhat brought them to the point they were at when we first encountered them.

We see a lot of what motivates Verida in her desire to train these Venators, to aid the resistance. We get some insight into what drove the wedge between her and her father. We even meet some of her family and can see that she could very easily have been a different kind of person. I walked away from this book liking Verida a lot more than I did before.

We see more of Beltran’s story, too, and come a lot closer to understanding himI think Walls is keeping a surprise or two about him up her sleeve, though. I’d like to think that someone with his centuries of experience would possess a little more maturity, and not be quite so emotionally adolescentbut maybe for his species you don’t hit that for a few more hundred years.

An Almost Entirely Frivolous Sartoirial Question

Does anyone on Eon wear loose clothing? Every time* someone’s pants are described, the words “tight” and “leather” appear. From just about everything I’ve ever read, leather pants are really uncomfortable. Maybe society would be better, people would be more prone to get along if Rune introduced them to denim? Could Grey get people to wear chinos and with the improved blood flow help cooler heads to prevail?

* No, I haven’t done a search on e-copies of this to verify this, there may be exceptions—roll with the hyperbole here.

At the very least, from this point can’t we just take it as read that every time Walls says “pants” that she means “tight” and “leather” and trim 1-2% of her word count?

Is this petty? Sure. But Walls spends enough time talking about clothing that questions arise. If I were so inclined (and someone would have to pay me to be), I think I could do an entire post on the clothing of Eon.

My Big, Not-Frivolous Question

What are people (the Council/Zio/Resistance) fighting for? Control of Eon? Power? Sure, that’s obvious. But Power for the sake of Power is a dull and hard to care about as a reader. If you look at Panem, you can get an idea why people are fighting for it (on either side), ditto for The Society in Red Rising.

What are the ideals of this society? What has the Council betrayed? Are they pretending to uphold something from the past that they’ve actually abandoned and that the resistance are trying to restore? (see the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars)—while at the same time, Zio has another idea entirely?

What’s the point of this Resistance movement? What are their goals? When are we going to finally meet them?

Where’s the joy in this world? Where’s the Good (or just good)?

We spend some time in a city and in a village here—they couldn’t be less similar, so we’re getting two separate looks at Eon society. The city puts Mos Eisley to shame, and the poor village is just…well, poor. Even before tragedy hits (thanks to the Venators, in a way) this village, I don’t see that there’s a lot going for it or its citizens.

I guess that I was just struck by the question, “why?” Why are these factions working so hard to gain control of this place? I don’t doubt for a moment that Walls has a handle on this question—she knows it. I just hope she clues her readers in soon.

So, what did I think about Legends Rise?

This was by far the most ambitious of the Venators novels (I know it’s only book 3, but I read two versions of book 1, so I’m counting this as the fourth), and I applaud Walls for taking a big swing here. I wonder if she maybe tried to do too much, though. I’ve tossed this idea around a lot over the last few weeks and I’m undecided. I’m hoping that listening to the audiobook for the upcoming Book Tour will help me decide.

We got some good backstory on pivotal characters, we see a lot more of the world and have a better understanding of parts of it, the Earthlings get a chance to acclimate a bit more to Eon and spend some time with citizens. And, yeah, there are some pretty great action sequences. There’s even some romance for those who want that sort of thing—and I’m certain almost every reader of this series will be very pleased by it (I actually don’t mind a romantic subplot, I just can’t stand this one and think it’s a bad move for everyone involved).

Regardless of what the stars may suggest—I enjoyed this book and recommend it. Furthermore, I like this series, I’m really curious about what’s going to happen next and I think anyone who reads them will, too.


3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

The Friday 56 for 7/24/20

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it

from 56% of:
Legends Rise

Venators: Legends Rise by Devri Walls

…the vampire grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him forward, roughly sinking his teeth into his neck and pulling blood in long, painful jerks. He’d heard vampires could make this process enjoyable. This one didn’t bother.

The instructions had been to leave him on the verge of death, with just enough blood to keep his heart pumping. He hadn’t stopped to think of one thing: What would stop the vampire from finishing him off?

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