⋙ Read Free Heroes Die A Fantasy Novel The Acts of Caine Matthew Woodring Stover 9780345421456 Books

Heroes Die A Fantasy Novel The Acts of Caine Matthew Woodring Stover 9780345421456 Books

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Heroes Die A Fantasy Novel The Acts of Caine Matthew Woodring Stover 9780345421456 Books

As always, Stephan Rudnicki gives us a fantastic performance. With how deep his natural voice is, his female voices are far from convincing, however, I much prefer the slight vocal shift he uses to the ridiculous falsetto some narrators use.

Okay, I really struggled to rate the story on this one. Once the story finally got interesting, it was fantastically compelling and I couldn't wait to get to the answers.

Unfortunately, it took eight hours for the story to get interesting. The opening scene was pretty awesome, but after that I really struggled to pay attention.

The big focus of corporate politics completely lost me.

I almost quit several times, as there really just wasn't anything that interested me.

Until about 8 hours and 20 minutes into the audiobook, where a fascinating impossibility was introduced and from there it just got better and better.

And yes, the ending is fantastic!

So, in the end, this is a really good book that I do recommend, just be prepared to have to slog through the first 30% before it gets good.


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Heroes Die A Fantasy Novel The Acts of Caine Matthew Woodring Stover 9780345421456 Books Reviews

Anytime I've heard this book mentioned, it's always been people saying it was great- and so it was. When I started, I didn't realize this was a sci-fi/fantasy mashup - set in the future with "actors" being sent to an alternate world (where the people are real) all for the entertainment of the people on earth who watch the actors in first person. I know it sounds crazy, but it was fantastic. The entire time I was reading it was playing out like a movie in my mind - in fact, I can't believe it isn't a movie.

It's mostly fast paced action adventure, with sci-fi elements, magic, and a really awesome "bad guy" (but in this book, who exactly is the bad guy?). The one thing that bothered me about the book was several torture scenes that turned my stomach a bit. It's nothing worse than you'd find in The Blade Itself (First Law Trilogy) or The Shadow of the Torturer (Book of the New Sun).

I recently read Altered Carbon and now I'm imagining a match up between Takeshi Kovacs and Caine. They're both super bad ass... I think I'd probably give it to Takeshi though since he has the special drugs/modifications in his brain. (less)
What an incredible adventure this book was, I am very surprised it didn't have more publicity or won some awards. It has everything romance, politics, magic, fighting, plenty of action, gods, mystery. And it's all about entertaining, the kind of violent entertainment that breeds a powerful industry (and vice-versa).

The story the people of future Earth are divided into casts Businessman, Administrator, Laborer, etc. One cast, called Professionals, includes Actors, who are paid to go on Overworld (a non-technological, magical version of Earth with elves, trolls, wizzards, warriors, swords, etc, accessible by altering ones frequency) to have dangerous adventures that are transmitted live to people worldwide. Naturally, some of these Actors become god-like figures and studios are getting tones of money by marketing them. One of them is Harri Michaleson (alias Caine) a 40ish man who has just separated from his wife (also an Actress, who on Overworld is an adept, a magician named Pallas Rill). Cain is the most famous action man, the most ruthless killer, he single-handedly has changed politics on Overworld on multiple occasions. But now, a new ruler appears in Ankhana, a god-like emperor named MaelKoth, and Pallas Rill disappears. Harry wants to save the woman he loves, but the studios want a new Caine adventure and he is forced to take a contract to kill MaelKoth instead (with saving her as an extra)

The characters Harri/Cain is wonderful character and a larger part of the story id dedicated to bringing the two personalities together, with good and bad, while braving the odds and fighting the powers-that-be, both on Earth and Overworld. Pallas Rill holds her own, her bright spirit, her magic and her desire to help the innocent being beacons on light in an altogether selfish and grim world. All the other characters are painted with vivid colors, between brutal truth and survival duty, making a wonderful array of distinct individuals who try to accomplish their goals as best as they can from MaelKoth to Majesty, from Elf Kaendere to studio Adminstrator and Lommar. There is also some very subtle analysis of politics at work, an intelligent and often sarcastic opinion on the value of entertainment as business and as way of life and a perceptive study on use of power both on modern Earth (through Corporations and Casts) and Overworld (through brutality, cruelty, poverty), all coming down to the old truth bread and circus.

A real gem of a book I would recommend to anyone who loves a non-stop thriller magical action.
This book is a nice little combination of sci-fi and fantasy, moving between a future (not quite) dystopia with an entrenched caste system and a fantasy world. The action moves fast but the plotting is well-done and thoughtful, which often doesn't happen in books that move this quickly.

I also liked the fact that the setting in the fantasy portion was relatively limited (focused on a single city) while hinting at a much deeper world that I'm sure will be developed much more in the 3 books that follow. There's a rich history that is hinted at here and that I'd love to explore further.

A warning about content. There are several sections in this book that become fairly graphic. It's not for the squeamish.
As always, Stephan Rudnicki gives us a fantastic performance. With how deep his natural voice is, his female voices are far from convincing, however, I much prefer the slight vocal shift he uses to the ridiculous falsetto some narrators use.

Okay, I really struggled to rate the story on this one. Once the story finally got interesting, it was fantastically compelling and I couldn't wait to get to the answers.

Unfortunately, it took eight hours for the story to get interesting. The opening scene was pretty awesome, but after that I really struggled to pay attention.

The big focus of corporate politics completely lost me.

I almost quit several times, as there really just wasn't anything that interested me.

Until about 8 hours and 20 minutes into the audiobook, where a fascinating impossibility was introduced and from there it just got better and better.

And yes, the ending is fantastic!

So, in the end, this is a really good book that I do recommend, just be prepared to have to slog through the first 30% before it gets good.