The second book in the series takes place almost exclusively in a high fantasy sword and sorcery environment. Our vastly overpowered vampire protagonist has to come to terms with nearly everyone he knows being long-deceased while he slept, and a continuing series of clever challengers who get the better of him, repeatedly. The sardonic sense of humor and excitable inventor personality combined with a contrast of extreme kindness and nearly conscienceless cruelty make this one of the most entertaining characters I've ever seen. I loved this book as much as the first one, and was overjoyed that it was just as satisfyingly long and detailed.

Yes, that's right - you heard me correctly. People who want short books - shut up. Sit down. Some of us love LONG books. Some of us love reading about the mechanics of canal systems, and magical physics, especially when they're told with such enthusiasm. So there. :P

There's a lot of profound philosophy hidden away in these books. I love that, too.

Definitely not as good as the first one. Of course it had a different premise but I still found it extremely entertaining and enjoyed reading it, at least until the end.
Having him build up his reputation and his kingdom and his relationship with his family and friends and than end it with the "evil version" of him took over his body... Just doesn't sit right.

Decent world-building and magic system. Flat characters and uninteresting story.

The main character has no real flaws, except insecurity and self-depreciation, which are the pseudo-flaws one gives to a Mary Sue. I’m sure there are ways of doing insecurity as a character flaw well, but I would look elsewhere for good examples of its implementation— *cough* Rhythm of War *cough*.

Much better

This was much better than the first book! It was similar, with random tangents and tons of thinking, but it got better. The cliffhanger was intense and there were several times that I had to put it down to breath. Can't wait to read the next one!

there were so many times I skipped ahead because he went over things we already know. more than a dozen times does he lament (in as MANY words as possible) the loss of his three wives. even more often does he wish for a shower & the internet! I understand this is supposed to be a mental musings book but it could have been edited at least a few hours shorter to save us from hearing the same thoughts over & over.
ends on a cliffhanger, just like book two.
for being 45 hours long, not much happens.
IF I read the next one, I'll probably borrow the it from the Library & skim it to avoid hearing more of the same.

"How quickly the new and strange becomes old and familiar."


While the score I gave is relatively "low" at least for my rating system, (and in my opinion really generous of me) I want to stress that I didn't think this book was "bad" even though this review isn't positive.

- It was a pretty smooth continuation, starting off nicely from where the first left off, however a lot of it dragged on for me for a good portion of it after the first few chapters

- More fire

For the stupidest ending ever, even worse that I read 1000 pages of it to come to this. The fact that interludes stopped midway adds to this. Highly disappointed.