Reviews

Papier & Blut: Die Chronik des Siegelmagiers 2 by Kevin Hearne

acrigger's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

duckydoo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

terynce's review against another edition

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4.0

This world makes me laugh and cry and I'll take any chance to revisit.

Paper & Blood is driven by the stories within the story. Sigil Agents missing, Al and company have to figure out where they are and how to bring them home safely. That's merely the foil for the real stories.

Oberon's story about fighting monsters, the personal growth of the Iron Druid, Al's responsibility to Buck, the dispatching of favors, the return of Roxanne, Officer Campbell, the invention of Truck Nuts, and why Cletus wanted only $50s, not $20s or $100s.

Those stories are the reason you read the "larger" story. Not quite the Canterbury Tales, but not entirely dissimilar either.

And now I want to drink. Gin, whisky, and a nice Immortali-Tea chaser.

acdha's review against another edition

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3.0

An enjoyable read but very much continuing a series rather than charting new ground

majorbeardo's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

sechurae's review against another edition

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3.0

Call it a detour, or second-book syndrome, but the main takeaway from this book was that it felt very directionless. The plot starts off strong, but very quickly meanders off the path, and doesn't really quite give the reader any indication what it's going for.

Iron Druid fans will enjoy this more, as it has a whole lot of Atticus in it, and serves almost enough to be an installment of that series. The main issues that MacBharrais deals with aren't really developed at all in this book, and he really serves more of a narrator function in this one.

The ending was action-packed, but that's really it. The prose, I'm realizing, is really not for me, veering between awkwardly stilted and awkwardly exuberant with almost no in between.

Will still check out the last book, because I am interested in how Al's story ends.

alinna's review against another edition

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4.0

Legit, hobgoblins have the best names.

dillieo's review against another edition

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5.0

Paper and Blood just might be even better than the first one since we get to see some old friends that don't get in the way of our main crew. Some amazing story telling and a setup for a wonderful third party.

sophiarose1816's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

 
After meeting Al and his Ink and Sigil work that’s part of the Iron Druid world, I was geeked to dive back into a new Al MacBharrais adventure this time in the land Down Under.  Kevin Hearne writes entertaining and exciting characters and plots in a well-crafted urban fantasy world. 

 

Paper & Blood is the second in a connected Urban Fantasy trilogy that is a spinoff to the Iron Druid Chronicles.  It really does work best when read in order including the entire Iron Druid books. 

 

Al gets an alarming call from a fellow Sigil agent’s apprentice.  Her mistress is missing and so is the nearby sigil agent who went searching for her already.  Al has to go to Australia to start where the incident happened, but he’s not going alone.  Al drags Buck the hobgoblin along and plans to solicit the help of the Iron Druid who is in the area tracking down another outburst of supernatural phenomena disrupting Gaia.  But, it’s Al after all so he ends up with a few other surprising helpers along the way. 

 

Meanwhile, Al knows he has to give due thought to who put the curses on him because Buck’s life is in acute danger while the curses are in play.   He gets some hints about the curses and learns something interesting about his mysterious receptionist Gladys who is not simply an efficient Canadian. 

 

I enjoyed the reunion with Atticus now calling himself Connor and his two dog pals Oberon and Starbuck.  Connor isn’t the main character, that is still Al, but he gets some significant page time including a couple of his old tales around the campfire and there is a raucous one from Buck.  

I settled into this book much easier than the first one.  I knew the score and the introductions are over, but the characters grew on me in the last book and that happened even more so here.  Al has a different way of going about things and it is his different thinking from the big bad immortals and magic users around him that wins me over so strongly. 

 

This was a rollicking urban fantasy adventure and I can’t wait to get to the last leg of the trilogy and hopefully get some answers to Al’s mysterious curse while having a good time with the whole gang of characters especially Al. 

 

rahulricky's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0