Bloody Rose: The Band, Book Two

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It does feel as if the first book was written 'for the boys' and this second one 'for the ladies' (and yes I know this book was told from a young woman's point of view which I have no issue with) but where the first film breezed along (with serious undertones), this book seemed mired in angst and perhaps forgot what made the first book so good. Bloody Rose has an enormous cast of important characters, and they are all intricately tied together, not only by the story’s events, but also by its main themes. Even Tam, who grew up in a relatively loving home, has to deal with the death of her mother and the legacy left behind by such a large personality. However, the Brumal Horde (the Heartwyld Horde from Kings plus every monster you can possible imagine and a thousand you can’t) has regrouped after its defeat at Castia and is on the move for vengeance, and every mercenary band worth its liquor is moving to stop it.

and Tam, our main character, who is employed as Fable’s bard (Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, but I don’t think Fable have the same reputation with bards as Saga did). He then changed the sex of his leading heroes, replaced the excellent Jeff Harding with Katherine Fenton, moved most of his delicious musical references to the 1980s and started 6 years after the end of the previous book!There was plenty of great action sequences in KoTW and there is again in Bloody Rose but this time around they are even better, far more breathtaking and vivid. Eames asks questions of his heroes, constantly probing their motivations in ways that simply do not occur to most fantasy protagonists. The power-armoured warriors deliver murderous kicks, punches and elbows that crack bones and burst organs. Brune’s a shaman who can shape-change into a bear; Cura summons creatures from the tattoos on her skin; Freecloud is a druin, one of the last of a dying race with the gift to see things a few moments before they happen; and Bloody Rose is just an average human with a gift for killing, who also happens to be the daughter of Golden Gabe, perhaps the most famous mercenary who ever lived.

I’ll hand in my macho card as my eyes welled up many times throughout the course of reading Bloody Rose) and care about the characters that Eames has created as you follow them on their epic action-filled journey. But in this flurry of carnage, each sister attacks with practised precision, her rage only manifesting in the instant of impact before it is once more reigned in. Which is great, because everyone, from the wranglers to the bookers to the arena managers—heck, sometimes even the mercs themselves—get paid, and the rest of us get a hell of a show.And that”—she pointed to the woman standing with one boot on the battlement above them—“is Bloody Rose.

This served to ensure that the characters were both relatable and real; characters deal with addiction, loss and many other themes in here.This is set in a city where humans live in elegant tall buildings, while fathomfolk (sirens, kelpies, sea witches, and kappa) live in the polluted waters below. The banter, the camaraderie, the various flaws that each member has, the snark, the humour, the dynamics and relationships between the bandmates, how each one of them brings something different to the band and to the fight, how they all play off and compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses, simply put, they are just a wonderful creation and group. There is no one fiercer than Fable, no one more daring, and despite a simple life of tavern waitressing, Tam is quickly embraced as one of the gang. She doubted even a dozen of them would give a band of half-decent mercenaries a run for their money.

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He reached into the chicken’s cage and brandished a crude stone carving that vaguely resembled a squirrel. You will laugh with, fight with, cry for ( and believe me, Poison had it right when they sang “just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song, every rose has its thorn” as Eames had me emotional for the first time by page 40 and it wasn’t the last time either. Its feathers had been daubed in black paint, and its beak was smeared with blood to make it look feral, but Tam wasn’t convinced.