Cursed Bones: Sovereign of the Seven Isles, Book 5

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This has been a good series so far. It is definately for the story content though, not so much the joy of reading a well crafted novel.Story pace and engagement 5 stars.Story content 4 StarsStory complexity 3 stars.Story craftsmanship 2 Stars.Hi David - Well done on your series. I have really enjoyed it ... But something to work on is.... There are clear blocks of scene building and character development/engagement. Almost like the building blocks and devices of the story were written, then assembled, rather than crafted into an interwoven stream of narrative. It is obvious enough that it would actually be good to teach adolescents novel writing techniques.I'm struggling to define it succinctly, but the closest I can get is. It's the difference between LEGO and a kit-set model. Both can create amazing engagement and be used to tell a story. One you want to play with and pull apart, the other wants to be admired for its craftsmanship.If you have time - Read Patrick Rothfuss - Even the sample on kindle will set your mind buzzing in the opening prologue. He sets the bar extremely high, but thats one of the authors to emulate in your genre.Thanks again for your series. It really has been quite a romping read. It's made my train rides into work seem that much shorter.

Cursed Bones is the fifth installment in a longer series by David A. Wells. If you were thinking about picking this one up without reading the previous four first, let me stop you right here and now. Don't. While in some series you can enter into the series with any book and quickly be able to grasp what's happening, the same can't really be said for the Sovereign of the Seven Isles. That's not a knock against the series, just a fact. I would recommend starting at the beginning, and working through the five books in order.Cursed Bones itself is, overall, a pretty decent read. It picks up immediately after the cliffhanger Blood of the Earth ended with. The story is becoming increasingly fragmented as the different major characters spread apart, following their own paths. Each character faces their own complications that must be overcome to guard against all of the ongoing threats to Alexander's rule and the peace of the Seven Isles. All of these stories are linked together through Alexander and his clairvoyant ability to send his consciousness across vast distances and watch over events. In essence it allows the protagonist to be present throughout the book, even when not physically there.This is what causes the story to slip a bit though, and is my biggest issue with the book. Alexander's ability is used far too often as a crutch to solve problems, robbing the characters at the heart of these various struggles of figuring out a solution for themself. In every case Alexander has already seen everything, and has a course of action ready for them to follow. After four books, the characters are becoming familiar, and it would have been nice to see them evolve on their own. Having Alexander ready with a plan for them makes that difficult.With each book, David A. Wells improves as a writer, and this one continues that trend. Character dialog is getting better, as is his prose in general. Although some sections seem rushed, like he was glossing over some things in order to get the book done faster. The final scene, especially, would have benefitted by being allowed to develop more. Overall though, it is well written without many of the grammar and editing mistakes that are often found throughout some of the bargain priced Amazon novels.The few issues I had don't diminish that fact that I found this to be a good book that was a pleasure to read. I've enjoyed the series so far and look forward to the sixth installment. While there are a few issues that did bother me somewhat, it is definitely worth the price of admission.

Reading any book is what I do for entertainment. I do not start with the idea to critique the author. When beginning a new story I set my mind to learn and accept the parameters set forth by the author. It's fiction so I try to assimilate what the author has established. This author really has set a stage for such a lot of creativity! I began with Thinblade thinking it would be a fluff piece which I would lightly cruise through and move on to something else despite it being the first in a series. I was wrong! I was immediately drawn into the whole drama. We have the good guys and the bad ones, tremendous obstacles to overcome one after another, devastating occurances and amazing resolves. Only in fiction can all these things happen. There is a love story but not pornography. There is magic and mythical beings...[where does such imagination come from?!] There is war with all the ugly and somewhat graphic parts. There are descriptions of battles that make it seem the author has a pretty good grasp of military tactics. Although I have none it seemed very authentic. The scheming and planning on both sides was so much more than I'd expect. What I didn't expect was how the constant drive to "do the right thing" was incorporated as it was. In the throes of battle, whether physical or emotional, the pull to do what is right is where I found some of the most difficult struggles to be fought. The outcomes were not always to their advantage...at least in that moment. It was sometimes a bit difficult for me to keep some of the characters sorted much the way it was for me when reading Tolkien's The Hobit, Lord of the Rings and The Silmarilian. Since this review goes with the fifth book in this series you can correctly assume that I was caught up enough with the first one to acquire all the others. If there is a complaint it would be that the tale is not yet complete and there are no updates on a sixth book. I'll be waiting.

If I had to just give stars for how well this was written then it would have easily have been 5* but my problem with this book was how short it was & how little our main protanganist is "actually" in it. The vast majority of this book is concentrated on both Isobel & Abigail, Alexander finds out that he can do some new "stuff" but to be honest it does feel like it was the only way the author could shoe horn him into the storyline. He is on Tyr at the begining & is only just leaving at book end so not really much scope for movement there then.Being sceptical one believes that at some point the publishers have pressurised Mr Wells into "dragging" the editions out, this could easily have been the first "part" of a bigger book 5 & perhaps we would only be looking at 1 further book as opposed to at least 2.Overall very well written but stop milking the fatted calf.

Whilst i certainly did enjoy this book, the eagerly awaited sequel in the series i did feel that there was perhaps something lacking? Maybe the author was under pressure to produce by a deadline but it didn't seem as well put together as the previous episodes, not as much depth in the plot and not as gripping. I still liked it and i am still looking forward to the next one.

Another wonderful book by David Wells thank you David now want to book 6. I just can’t wait. Very exciting books

I've enjoyed the series so far, but I'm beginning to wonder whether there's a preplanned end in sight or whether fresh ideas are forming to extend the series indefinitely. This story deserves a good conclusion and I hope we're not going to finish up with a J V Jones' situation who's Sword of Shadows trilogy that went to four volumes without finishing and apparently no intention to produce a finishing volume.Or Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time which went on and on for years until I just got fed up waiting.

I enjoyed this episode of the saga but not so much as the last one, to me some of the story-lines have been strung out just too long. If the book(s) continue in this way I will stop buying them. All good sagas need and ending and stringing out the rather predictable and obvious is not the way