The Axes of Evil: The Sequel to Arch Enemies by Michael A. Ventrella

The Axes of Evil: The Sequel to Arch Enemies Reviews

• 
  Robert

  The Axes of Evil by Michael A. Ventrella is the sequel to his first novel Arch Enemies. They are based on a role playing game the author has run for the past 15 years.
  
  The Axes of Evil continues the adventures of Terin, or prophecy boy as one of the characters likes to call him, Rendal, and Dar (its Darlissa!) as they are sent out to deal with the Vansir (barbarians) living on the reclaim. Once again, Terin is a part of a prophecy, well three prophecies to be exact, and this time the prophecies are not as clear. One says he will unite the Vansir tribes, one says he will destroy the people, and the final, well; no one will speak of it. Suffice it to say, it is revealed, but I will let you find out what it is, which is actually pretty funny and well worth finding out. The prophecies and what Terin does to fulfill them and find out about the Vansir are the goings on of the main plot. Some sub plots involve are one of the Vansir chieftain’s daughter, the goblin’s prophecy which pops up later, the desires of the Durke of Ashbury, and a few others that may lead to spoilers.
  
  This was a very enjoyable read and moved much better than Arch Enemies did. The differences were the lack of need for character introductions and more direction for the characters to take. Where Arch Enemies felt like a directionless wandering at times, The Axes of Evil had more purpose to the travels. The writing was better as well as the pacing. I found myself more engaged with this book and wanting to continue to see what happened next. The story flowed quite well with a couple exceptions I will write more about in the criticisms section. The characters had a bit more depth to them this time and were well written. I enjoyed the talent that was given to the Vansir which added to a new character’s likableness, Ena. I would have liked to have seen the talent explored a little more, but it did enhance parts were the one tribe was able to surprise the characters in certain parts. As always with Mr. Ventrella, he knows how to make goblins likable and they were great to read.
  
  Some Criticisms:
  
  1. As I foretold, here are the parts that broke up the flow of the story. Since I won this book in a goodreads.com first reads contest, I am not sure if this was an ARC book (Advanced Reader’s Copy), but there were some spelling errors which are usually easily overlooked, but on page 72 in one of the bottom paragraphs, one of the sentences was repeated and was quite distracting. The other part that broke up the flow was the last chapter. The chapter previous has an abrupt end and then the last chapter begins somewhere else which threw me off. If it had been labeled as an Epilogue or given more of a description on how they got there, it might not have been as bad.
  
  2. I know, broken record here, but I am just not a fan of reading stories written in the first person POV and so this is a small criticism. Since I say this all the time, I will stop here about that.
  
  3. Prophecies seem to be a clichéd thing in most fantasy novels and so this series does revolve around that. The caveat is the first book’s take on prophecies, which was well done and this book does explain how more may be to come. Saying such, this book ends with a snippet of what to expect in the next one. Even though the books ends in a peculiar way that was unexpected, I will say I have to read it when it comes out.
  
  Some Positives:
  
  1. The characters are more fleshed out with this one. Even the side characters were a joy to read. I enjoyed Terin’s character more this time and was able to relate to him better this time around. Ena was also a fun character to read and I enjoyed reading about her.
  
  2. Mr. Ventrella has taken goblins and changed my outlook on them. The way he writes about goblins is refreshing and fun, funny as well, to read. It was nice to read a different take on their race. I really do hope to read more about them in the next book.
  
  3. Even though this book is much shorter, 225 pages, I still felt as if I read a much longer book because of everything he was able to pack into it. This also helped to improve the pacing that was lacking in the first one. Mr. Ventrella’s writing has really seemed to tighten up and become much better.
  
  All in all, this was a wonderful story for the young adult crowd. There were some mysteries and surprises with this one that kept me engaged to the end. I really look forward to seeing Mr. Ventrella continue to hone his craft as he writes more. I haven’t heard anything about the next book, but I will be the first in line, or so I hope, to get it and devour it as I had this one. If you would like to try reading a young adult fantasy book, this one is fun and well written. Fans of young adult fantasy would enjoy this one as well. I would recommend reading Arch Enemies first if only to follow the story chronologically, but you can also read this one without reading the first. There are a couple spoilers to the first book in this one, but I don’t feel they ruin the enjoyment one would get from reading them out of sequence.
  
  Happy reading.
  
  -Dimndbangr
  
• 
  Bill Tillman

  A lighthearted romp through a perilous land, a really good YA read.
• 
  Tasha

  To be honest the book had promise but it really needed a recap chapter in the beginning for everyone who missed the first book. It was frustrating to figure out what happened in the previous book because it felt like you walked into the middle of a conversation or story that had been going on for some time. I did eventually finish it but it was a struggle.