Bloody Rose (The Band, 2) Paperback – August 28, 2018

“Bloody Rose” is Nicholas Eames follow up to his fantastic debut novel “Kings of the Wyld.” Set in a D&D inspired fantasy world, these books tell the tales of bands of mercenaries that travel the country defeating monsters. Taking the “band” moniker to heart, these groups of adventurers are literally treated like rockstars wherever they go. Much like musical acts that bounce from town to town in search of glory, there are hundreds of them but only a few worthy of such praise. “Kings of the Wyld” centered around the legendary band Saga getting back together for one last adventure, setting the stage for what would ultimately lead into the sequel “Bloody Rose.”Set 6 years after the events of Saga’s last journey, “Bloody Rose” centers around the POV of a young woman named Tam who is recruited by the current top act in the world Fable to be their new bard. Bards, in this world Eames has crafted, are treated like journalists. Their role is to follow a band around, watch their exploits, and tell their tales through song. It’s like “Almost Famous” but with way more monster killing. Fable is led by the eponymous Bloody Rose, a famous mercenary known mostly for being the daughter of Saga’s front man Golden Gabe. This has given Rose an enormous chip on her shoulder, motivating her to spend her entire life trying to escape her father’s shadow by growing her legend so large it surpasses his own.Eames is a rare kind of author who is both a master at world building and creative description. His words paint the world so meticulously, but at the same time it feels effortless. He’s just really good at writing, but he’s also great at exploring the characters he’s built. He dissects their souls on the page, showing you why they are the way that they are, leading the reader to points of their identity that can be relatable. The longer we spend time with Fable the more we get to know all of them intimately, showing how even larger than life heroes are just people too. The allegory runs deep in this novel, and the themes are varied but also interconnected in a way that again just feels seamless.The benefit of being a sequel story is that the world building has mostly already been done by the time you get to the second entry in a series. “Bloody Rose” doesn’t waste time with rehashing, only giving the reader a little taste to remind them of the feast they had in “Kings of the Wyld” without belaboring the past too much. This allowed Eames to tear at the seams of the world he created, asking questions that aren’t easy to answer. For example, the whole point of bands is to battle monsters, but what happens when monsters stop attacking in the wild because they’ve been overhunted? They are captured or bred in captivity and used as fodder for bands to battle in arenas. The morality of this practice is put into question many times throughout the novel, going as far as to ask if these monsters are even evil at all or merely just misunderstood. Is evil inherent, or is it a choice? It’s this kind of exploratory thought exercise that isn’t all that original but is still somehow a breath of fresh air when it comes to the fantasy genre.“Bloody Rose” has even more to unpack than I’ve written here. I didn’t even touch on the themes of identity, drug abuse, racism, and generational trauma. The world Eames has crafted is a joy to explore, giving the reader a lot to chew on while they battle the undead hordes with thrilling prose. I can’t recommend these books enough, especially “Bloody Rose.” The journey isn’t about the destination, but the adventure you have along the way. There is no better adventure than the one we all take inside ourselves, and “Bloody Rose” is a testament to that journey.

r/suggestmeabook: I want to go adventuring with a young female bard who latches on to a group with daddy issues.It’s more difficult to gauge a sequel to a book that you loved—or, for that matter, any book you approach with higher expectations than usual. I think this is a better than average book, but my initial response was to downgrade it because it wasn’t nearly as absorbing as the first in the series, Kings of the Wyld. Luckily, this is one of the few books my husband read first, and, although he agreed with the comparative rating, he supported a higher rating when comparing it to books overall.Why the disappointment? First, the first two-thirds of the book are more serious in tone than the first book ever was. The tone of Bloody Rose isn’t as tongue-in-cheek until it gets closer to resolution, at which point the silly allusions start flying fairly thick, and even then, it still feels more grim than its predecessor. Not that grim is an issue; it’s a matter of expectations.The second major difference, for me, was the protagonist point of view. Both books are written in close third. Clay Cooper, the character followed in Kings of the Wyld, is a retired mercenary who’s seen it all and done it all and really has not interest in doing it again, which is a far cry from Tam Hashford’s ingenue bard point of view. I assumed Clay would be the protagonist again (bad reader), and going back to a more conventional coming of age POV was not as interesting to me as the world weary Clay.So both of my major gripes with the book have nothing to do with it if treated as a standalone—and it could be read as one. When I approach it from that angle, it’s quite a good book. The characters are all fully realized and distinctive, and the plot is well executed. The world building is still well done, although the difference in overall tone made the referential humor feel a little more out of place—things like the line on the cover, “Girls just want to have fun,” dropped in the middle of a battle sequence, are more likely to get an eye roll than a chortle.Let’s talk about the cast. The daddy issues of the eponymous Rose, still dealing with the problem of being a celebrity’s child and Tam, whose dad was also in the biz, just not as famous as Rose’s dad Gabe, are evident from the outset, but the majority of the rest of the band will prove to have problems with their dads as well, but I feel like going any further is spoilery enough to leave it at that.Rose’s love, the Druin Freecloud, is cool and efficient, a great match for Rose’s fire, and probably the most reserved member of the band. Brune, the shaman, takes the shape of a bear in fights, but is a teddy outside of battle. Roderick, the manager, is a fast-talking, insecure satyr, but ultimately the manager you want. Cura the ink witch is an injured soul who tries to keep everyone away but will do anything to help her bandmates. I didn’t love all of them, but I enjoyed reading about them.The theme of “what makes a bad guy” is intriguing, and is an interesting development for this world’s history, illustrating how time can reframe your perspective. Other themes explored are the notion of what constitutes family and how to grapple with childhood trauma as a young adult. (See, I told you it was more serious than the first one.)My first thought is to recommend reading Bloody Rose first, then Kings of the Wyld as a prequel, but you’d still have the problem of expectations because of the mismatch in tone. Reversing the reading order might not fix a sense of disappointment with the second book; it’s probably best to say they’re simply set in the same world.

Fast paced nice fantasy with berserk elements and appealing characters. Thanks Eames much appreciated keep on writing books like this one

Não tem tantas piadas quanto o primeiro. Não é tão divertido quanto o primeiro.Mas eu gostei mais das personagens desse. Gostei mais de acompanhá-las nessa aventura do que os da aventura anterior.Tem muito girlpower e diversidade em todos os sentidos.

Muy buena continuación a Kings of the Wyld. Es un libro que se siente muy distinto al primero lo cual refleja bien las diferencias de cada generaciones de mercenarios que protagonizan cada libro.Recomendable buscar las playlists que hizo el autor para acompañar cada libro.

I pre-ordered this after absolutely loving Eames' Kings of the Wyld. Though this serves as a sequel of sorts reading the first book isn't required, but you'll get a few unessential references you wouldn't get otherwise. This book revolves around Tam, a bard looking to leave her sleepy town, who gets the opportunity to do so when the titular character's band "Fable" comes through town.Packed with a diverse range of characters (ranging in gender, species and sexual orientation) like Kings of the Wyld Eames again manages to perfectly thread the needle between grit and humour allowing for you to take the characters seriously while at the same time having a good, heart-felt laugh during moments of genuine laugh-out-loud humour. The tone is a perfect break from the grim-dark fantasy that seems to be all the rage after Game of Thrones became a huge thing. While, at the same time, it doesn't reach the same levels of fantasy humour of say Terry Pratchett (which I highly enjoy, mind you, but find is written more for the humour).Cannot recommend this novel enough, I tore through it in just a few days and eagerly await Eames' third novel taking place in the "Wyld" universe.

Eins vorab - ich hab auch den ersten Teil gelesen, obwohl beide in sich geschlossene Bücher sind. Wer Kings of the Wyld noch nicht gelesen hat, sollte das unbedingt nachholen!Jetzt aber zu Bloody Rose. Ich war erst skeptisch, nachdem ich das erste Buch gelesen hab. Die Hauptdarsteller Clay Cooper und Golden Gabe werden ausgetauscht, hier gehts um Bloody Rose und Tam Hashford. Dabei waren die Charaktere der Saga einem doch so ans Herz gewachsen. Aber diese Skepsis habe ich schnell abgelegt, denn die Mitglieder von Fable sind einem ebenfalls schnell sympathisch geworden. Eames versteht es meiner Meinung nach wirklich gut "unfertige" Charaktere zu zeichnen. Alle haben ihre eigenen Probleme, keiner ist der perfekte Held, aber sie alle halten zusammen. Auch die Aufmachung in Form von Rockbands, die durch das Land touren, gefiel mir schon im ersten Buch und setzt sich hier fort.Eins will ich noch erwähnen und das macht für mich auch die fünf Sterne aus (LEICHTER SPOILER): Die Monster sind eben nicht nur einfach Monster und böse, um des Bösen willen. Die Story hat eben auch einen gewissen Tiefgang und ist nicht einfach nur Slashing von Bösewichten.Man kommt hier auf jeden Fall auf seine Kosten und ich hoffe, dass es noch einen dritten Teil gibt! Von mir eine absolute Kaufempfehlung