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End of Knighthood: Ballad of Demise
Ballad of Demise is the third and final installment of the End of Knighthood series by Joshua Landeros. Set in the far future, we continue following Will Marconi, the renegade cyborg super soldier, who is aiming to launch an assault the same night as the International Summit. Chancellor Venloran, emboldened by his victory against the resistance fighters, moves into the final phase of his scheme. The International Summit will draw leaders from all over the world to New York City, and he will be able to achieve peace through the dominance of his design. It is up to Will, Alex, Bri, Gabriella, and others to stop the Chancellor and his deadly minions.
Ballad of Demise is an explosive and satisfying conclusion to the End of Knighthood trilogy. Landeros has been getting better and better with every installment. Expanding the borders of military science fiction, Ballad of Demise incorporates elements of horror through war and the suspense of a thriller. All of this adds up to a book that does its best to defeat the conventions of the genre and archetypal narrative structure.
While confining this book to virtually 48 hours and flashbacks, one would think this is a bold move from a relatively new author, but Landeros manages to pull this off with skill. The pace is snappy and engrossing for the reader. The internal struggle of Will and even Venloran shape the tone and theme of the work, which keeps asking if the ends justify the means. Even for the proposed hero, Will finds himself questioning if everything is acceptable for him to have his vengeance.
If there are any issues in this book at all, it would be that Landeros tries hard to stretch out these two days. Some of the action seems forced, and in other places, the dialogue slows the pacing but never enough for the reader to notice for too long. These are minimal problems and ones that take nothing away from the story itself.
For a trilogy, this series sets a high mark for the rest of Landeros career. In other ways, readers will be sad to see this cast of characters go but maybe they will return in future stories? Either way, this book is memorable and a fantastic sound off for Will Marconi. One can hope that such a world does not arise in the future, but these books seem to be asking, what if?
Pages: 161 | ASIN: B076BW7YLJ
the hell world
![the hell world by [noone]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31MYwJCsuDL.jpg)
When three alien species detect the complete dissolution and waste of a planet in a neighboring solar system, they send out their top specialists to control the out of hand situation that is running rampant over this foreign land. A group of highly skilled teenagers stands at the forefront of the mission, ready to put down these animals and save what they can of this planet. But after diving into the intricacies of what makes this planet’s inhabitants so unworthy to possess their home, will the damage to this place and its inhabitants be too much to save? Or is there hope for this hell world?
“Where are all of their superheroes and gods now?” opens chapter 15 of n o o n e’s Hell World. A story of a group of alien teenagers’ invasion of a planet so vastly different from their own challenges the idea of what it means to be merciful to creatures who are viewed as less intelligent.
From the beginning of the story, the author starts to create a visual of this “hell world” through lengthy description. What the author lacks in brevity of description is made up in original, outside the box, analogies to describe the “animals” which control the world.
Because of the excessive description, it appears at first that the entire story will be nothing but a manual of what the hell world includes, who the inhabitants are, and how they could theoretically be destroyed. Thankfully, the book takes a turn for the better by introducing characters that break up the large blocks of text with dialogue.
Descriptive phrases in the book will not be lost on earth’s inhabitants as the author strays from creating their own words or dialect for the original alien characters. Quite often, the description in the book is a bit unnecessary. Two paragraphs discussing a female character’s need to urinate seems out of place and hinders the story from flowing as organically as it could. Passages like that are littered throughout the story.
There are definitely some moments of light when it comes to the description. When the aliens are up close and personal with the inhabitants of the hell world, the manner in which the author describes the “animals” is well done and presents visually alarming images for the reader as the description of the removal of an infant leaves an imprint on the readers mind.
The author’s creativity comes into play by creating and establishing three different species of aliens. However, the description of these alien species and their differences are lost in the large chunks of text that make the book feel more like a stream of consciousness reading instead of a structured story.
The overall message of this book is not lost by any means. In fact, the purpose of this story is blatantly written on almost every page without apology. The author wants to show the dangers of how the inhabitants of this “hell world” are mistreating the planet that they’ve inherited. From treatment of their own species based on gender or skin color to the murdering of “lesser” animals, the author condemns most practices that the inhabitants take part in.
The promise of hope offered to the reader and the animals of the hell world is one that will not easily be forgotten.
Pages: 254 | ASIN: B016UN94DE
LITERARY TITAN 