Champion of the Scarlet Wolf, Book Two (The Cadeleonian Series, #4) in A Shot of Ginn

Dec 19, 2014 Xing rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biob, favorites

Reread 2019

I ended up liking this a lot better the second time. If you haven't read Lord of the White Hell, this is me telling you that YOU SHOULD. Then after that, you can read Champion of the Scarlet Wolf.

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Book 2 continues after the climatic events of the first book, bringing focus to the story from demons to the approaching armies of the Witch Queens. There’s not much new material I can add to this review: if you liked the predecessor, more likely Reread 2019

I ended up liking this a lot better the second time. If you haven't read Lord of the White Hell, this is me telling you that YOU SHOULD. Then after that, you can read Champion of the Scarlet Wolf.

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Book 2 continues after the climatic events of the first book, bringing focus to the story from demons to the approaching armies of the Witch Queens. There’s not much new material I can add to this review: if you liked the predecessor, more likely you will like this sequel. There is less world building with this entry since almost everything you needed to know about the world has already been crafted. For this reason, the pacing of the story was a little on the uptake as there’s less info-dumping.

The book itself could be split into two parts: the first-half dealing with human politics. In the wake of destruction caused by the events of book 1, there needs to be a new leader. And with that, there’s going to be a bunch of political mess involved. Not being a fan of such, I would say the first half of the book wasn’t my favorite. Don’t get me wrong – it wasn’t boring. There were certainly other things going on, but it just wasn’t something that caught my interest when I know so much other (fantasy-esque) things could be happening.

The second half of the book was what I was waiting for: magic, violence, myths, and pretty much everything that makes Ginn Hale a master of fantasy storytelling. Certainly, the pacing wasn’t an issue at this point.

It was nice to see the author bring in characters from Lord of the White Hell series, as not just brief glimpses, but characters that stay important to the conclusion to the plot. They were relevant, and while the POV is strictly between Elezar and Skellan, I was able to see enough of Javier and Kiram to feel myself satisfied.

The romance between Elezar and Skellan progressed steadily throughout the book. I’m glad the author didn’t make Elezar’s feelings for Skellan become the magic wand to the inner homophobia he has, or at least its implication to his life back in Cadeleon. While things were slow to progress in the grand scheme of things (i.e. throughout two very long books), it certainly reached a satisfying and realistic conclusion.

One thing that did surprise me was the amount of proofreading errors throughout the book. Granted, it wouldn’t be a deterrant to reading this sequel (especially if you loved book 1), but it wasn’t something I expected from this author. The book could certainly shine with a second run through for mistakes as there were often sentences that I had to reread (slowly) to make sense.

Overall, I’m crossing my fingers and hoping this brilliant world hasn’t come to a permanent end. When I started on this journey, I didn’t think I would like Elezar. I wanted Javier and Kiram back! I didn’t expect to actually fall for the brute of a giant and to be able to revisit old beloved characters. It was like I was able to have my cake and eat it too! So I definitely give a thumbs up to Ginn Hale for the great hours I was able to lose myself in with this world. Sure, it was a bit rough to read due to the proofreading mistakes, but it was still a great adventure worth taking. ...more

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Jul 10, 2014 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, glbt-fiction, paranormal, fantasy

Loved it. Ginn Hale is a superb writer and I stayed up last night, not to see the new year in but to finish this book. Nerd! So entertaining, with rich world building and enguaging characters. I was disappointed to find some errors in the text. I also wanted a big soppy epilogue. Other than that, I loved these editions to this series. Might go re read Champion... :)

Reread beginning of 2019. I love this series so much!

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Nov 08, 2014 Arch Bala rated it it was amazing

Shelves: on-top, 5-stars, omg, family, best-series, supernatural, shapeshifter, friends, paranormal, brothers

And so the story continues…

Skellan saved Milmuraille from the demon Lord and Oesir is now dead. He also found out that he’s actually the stolen son of count Radulf and one of the grimmas. Now, it’s time for him to step up as their leader and with Elezar Grunito in his side along with his “powerful” friends – are they equipped enough to beat the Old gods?

Now, this I enjoyed immensely because it’s so full of action I can’t even turn a page without any sort of chaos ensuing around Skellan and Eleza And so the story continues…

Skellan saved Milmuraille from the demon Lord and Oesir is now dead. He also found out that he’s actually the stolen son of count Radulf and one of the grimmas. Now, it’s time for him to step up as their leader and with Elezar Grunito in his side along with his “powerful” friends – are they equipped enough to beat the Old gods?

Now, this I enjoyed immensely because it’s so full of action I can’t even turn a page without any sort of chaos ensuing around Skellan and Elezar. It’s also fun to see Elezar finally loosening up and his acceptance towards his true nature. He’s obviously over with Javier but he’s still got a lot to learn about being comfortable with a man. I loved that he and Skellan are so in-synch and it may be because of Skellan’s spells but cmon’ it’s got to be true love right? After all, Elezar is Skellan’s man.

I also loved that in this second book of the Scarlet Wolf – we get to see more of Javier and Kiram affectations towards each other. It was so beautiful to read how they are so comfortable with each other and how through the years, they’ve grown not only as a couple but as individuals. It makes me feel a bit nostalgic thinking back when they were still students of the Sagrada Academy.

At the end of this story, I feel like there’s more to these characters. I may want to have Morisio and Altreau’s story although I’m not that certain about Altreau’s true orientation – I may have to cross my fingers that this playboy nobleman will give Morision a chance after all. Oh and wouldn’t it be fun to have Kiram’s brother and Altreau fighting for Morisio’s affection? I don’t think it will happen but I want some resolution in this series – I mean, I want Cadeleon to change its law and I want Prince Sevanyo to have his own story. I feel like there’s more that Ginn Hale could explore in this story. In the meantime, go to Amazon and buy this epic series. It’s just so worth it!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
...more

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Dec 28, 2014 orannia rated it really liked it

Shelves: m-m, 2015

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I must confess to having dithered over whether to write a review for this book. I adore this author's work, but this book has left me in two minds. The author is very good at writing 3D characters, and this book continues the good work done in Part I - the characters fairly leapt of the page. I also loved the twists that appeared in this book - the author is very good at having things not quite appear as they seem. Moreover, no one is ever evil personified - there are reasons for why people do w I must confess to having dithered over whether to write a review for this book. I adore this author's work, but this book has left me in two minds. The author is very good at writing 3D characters, and this book continues the good work done in Part I - the characters fairly leapt of the page. I also loved the twists that appeared in this book - the author is very good at having things not quite appear as they seem. Moreover, no one is ever evil personified - there are reasons for why people do what they do. However, for me, the execution just didn't work as well as the LOTWH books or The Rifter serial. One of the big reasons why was the constant editing errors (missing words, extra words, wrong words, misspelt words). It threw me out of the book to have to re-read sentences in order to understand them and while I understand that a book is never going to be perfect, I expect a published book to be relatively clean. And this book wasn't. I also found the pace at times to be glacial. I don't mind a slow pace, but on occasion it felt like time wasn't moving...that nothing was happening (the plot wasn't really progressing or the characters developing). Which leads me to the characters. Yes, they leapt off the page, but Skellan was...rather blunt - when it came to bodily functions, when it came to pretty much everything. I'm not sure if that was just a 'him' thing or was meant to reflect his time on the streets, but...it kind of grossed me out. And that's definitely a 'me' thing. I also became increasingly frustrating that Skellan kept being open in his affections for Elezar without Elezar explaining the situation that put him in - that word could get back to his family, the Church (i.e. the Bishop) and what the consequences of that might be. Yes, it all worked out in the end, but...Elezar just kept ignoring it. And I would have thought Skellan might have a smidgen of an idea of how the Caledonians might react to his and Elezar's relationship. The Epilogue also didn't work for me. I'm sorry, but Fedeles married the woman who sent assassins after Elezar and Atreau? Maybe if I had Fedeles' reasons as to why, but...I don't get it. It felt...'off'.

So you're probably wondering why the four stars. Because in spite of the above, the world building was (as always) fascinating and the characters have depth and are clearly distinct. The plot is intricate and clever, with lots of twists. And, yes, I will definitely be reading more of this author's work (I re-read a lot of what has come before too ). I just hope the next books have a more thorough edit.
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Jan 04, 2015 Jax rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lgbtq, series, fantasy, 5-star

This has everything we’ve come to expect from Ginn Hale: incredibly rich world building, fascinating characters and a beautiful love story. I was totally immersed in this very other place with these heroic men battling to save their world. I’m sad that it’s over.

There’s lots of action with magic, mythical creatures and warfare, but my favorite bits were about Elezar finding someone like Skellan and slowly learning that his desires were not evil and that he could be happy if he only had the coura ...more

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Feb 28, 2020 D rated it it was amazing

Shelves: main-characters-are-queer, series, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I went from 5 stars to 4 and then back again because of the typos. They don't bother me, but I can't say a book is perfect when there are typos in them. Anyway, the 5 stars are staying, because I've rated things 5 stars even if some things bothered me, and not just because of technicalities either.

There are kind of 'laws' in fiction that writers totally don't have to follow (of course), but which kind of carry their own internal logic. For example, a character whose death flag had been raised m I went from 5 stars to 4 and then back again because of the typos. They don't bother me, but I can't say a book is perfect when there are typos in them. Anyway, the 5 stars are staying, because I've rated things 5 stars even if some things bothered me, and not just because of technicalities either.

There are kind of 'laws' in fiction that writers totally don't have to follow (of course), but which kind of carry their own internal logic. For example, a character whose death flag had been raised might survive the ordeal, but that means the reader would be very angry if they died a few chapters after. When it comes to the protag facing a Big Problem, like an unwinnable battle beyond us mere mortals, we are usually given small solutions: the Martians have built no immunity to the earth's diseases in War of the Worlds, the Death Star has a thermal exhaust port, etc. Sometimes it can be kind of underwhelming, but I feel this depends on how the writer handles it.

With Skellan and Milmuraille facing the threat of four immortal grimma who aren't even human unlike Oesir, I expected some simple solution. The novel even hinted at it, Skellan was thinking of flies defeating a dragon (if I am wrong, I'm sorry, I've been reading this in between doing other things, but you get the gist): if he could think of a way to become those flies, then perhaps he can find a chink in the grimmas' armour.

I didn't expect for the war to happen anyway?

1, we find out the grimma have their own personal reasons to declare war, and they didn't have to actually get to Milmuraille and kill soldiers and the militia when they can fight Skellan personally instead.

2, I was kinda hoping the protagonists will ride outside the city and find that weakness before the grimmas' armies have a chance of invading.

3, war is hard to write and I feel most writers who can avoid it would.

But no, Ginn Hale just went along and gave us our war 3/4 into the novel, and made Skellan and co. ride out to challenge the grimma personally after. These poor guys barely had time to rest and eat their pies. Tbh, that's what made me give the one star back: it's a badass war scene and she should be proud of it.

There is nothing underwhelming about the solution to this problem: we know where it is going, the novel foreshadowed it, Skellan had somewhat made his plans known. But they sure had to work hard for it. A simple solution I think, doesn't feel like a 'cheat' when it costs so much and when everyone is half dead before they could use it. And I really admire Ginn Hale for how she handled that.

Also, I'm actually surprised at how much of Javier and Kiram we see in these novels. I've expected no more than cameo scenes, but they actually stayed! It was nice to see Kiram from another character's POV too.

I can't wait to get my hands on the new novel! ...more

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Apr 18, 2015 Susinok rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, mystery, glbt, romance

Oh I will miss this universe so much! I hope there are more books in it. Loved these books and the White Hell books. Excellent fantasy!

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Dec 20, 2014 Salsera1974 marked it as dnf

I love Ginn Hale, but I didn't love this. YMMV. ...more

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Dec 14, 2013 Casey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: m-4-m-fantasy, m-4-m-high-fantasy, m-4-m-epic-fantasy

Amazing. I did not think Book Two of Lord of the White Hell, could be bested. I believe I was incorrect. Where are the other authors that can build a world, make you love a character and all with out a penis entering the story on every other page. Bravo!

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