I love to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a free book to review. In fact I subscribe to three book review sites: Book Crash, Book Rooster and The Bookplex just so I can indulge in my favorite leisure activity. What’s even better is when an author contacts me for a review. If you’re an author looking for someone to review your book or short story, check out my Request a Review page.

Because I like to share the great reads I’ve found (and warn readers of the not-so-great finds), I developed a system:

• One cup — worse than a cup of luke warm black pekoe
• Two cups — it may be hot, but you’ll need plenty of sweetener just to tolerate it
• Three cups — it’s not my favorite, but it beats going without
• Four cups — nice and hot and only needs a smidge of sweetener to be perfect
• Five cups — loose leaf vanilla Earl Grey, yummy

Sometimes a book or story doesn’t warrant a five cup rating, but it’s so good it can’t be missed. For those I include the “Must Read” starburst in front of the cup rating. You’ll find my cup rating above the picture of the cover. Enjoy!

The Nameless Dwarf Omnibus (Chronicles of the Nameless Dwarf) by D.P. Prior

 Here is the description that made me want to write this book review:

Following the massacre of the dwarves in their ravine city, the Nameless Dwarf pursues the survivors to the brigand town of Malfen, where he learns they have crossed the mountains into the lands of nightmare. His only intention is to save his people from extinction, but he’s the last person they’d want to find them.

The Good…

These stories are fast-paced and reminded me of the movie The Lord of the Rings. The epic scale of the story itself drew me in until I was rooting for each character to find the courage to face their inner demons and reach their hidden potential.

Although the title suggests this is a much larger book, I would compare it to a collection of four novellas. This makes it perfect for those short periods of time when we want to be entertained, but may not have the time to devote to a larger novel.

The Not-so-good…

The fight scenes were often more graphic than I enjoy, though not enough for me to want to stop reading. The descriptions of gore splashing on a character, as well as descriptions of sounds and physical sensations, were enough to make me shudder. However, I must note that they were not gratuitous nor did they seem written in for the sake of shock value.

My biggest disappointment was that the overall story wasn’t finished at the end of the book. In order to find out what happens to the characters after the cliff hanger ending, one must purchase the next book. It reminds me of watching a soap opera rather than a good movie.

The Overall…

The Nameless Dwarf Omnibus (Chronicles of the Nameless Dwarf) by D.P. Prior is a wonderful epic-style tale with larger-than-life, flawed characters that will draw you in, but beware that you may need to buy more books if you want to find out how the story ends.