Purchased
The debut novel from an extraordinarily talented twenty-five-year-old author. Fantasy’s next global star has arrived. Lenk can barely keep control of his mismatched adventurer band at the best of times (Gariath the dragon man sees humans as little more than prey, Kataria the Shict despises most humans, and the humans in the band are little better). When they’re not insulting each other’s religions they’re arguing about pay and conditions. So when the ship they are travelling on is attacked by pirates things don’t go very well. They go a whole lot worse when an invincible demon joins the fray. The demon steals the Tome of the Undergates – a manuscript that contains all you need to open the undergates. And whichever god you believe in you don’t want the undergates open. On the other side are countless more invincible demons, the manifestation of all the evil of the gods, and they want out.Full of razor-sharp wit, characters who leap off the page (and into trouble) and plunging the reader into a vivid world of adventure this is a fantasy that kicks off a series that could dominate the second decade of the century. (from Goodreads)
I really wanted to like this book because it is written by Diana Gabaldon’s son. I gave it over a hundred pages, but I can’t even finish the chapter. Plenty of blood and guts, but not very much plot progression.
I can’t begin to imagine who would enjoy this book. Oh well, it’s like I tell the kids . . . that’s why there are so many types of books, so there is something for everyone.
Elaine Reads . . . constantly! 
i too, really really wanted to like this book. Because Sykes is a nice, funny, stand up guy. I tried really hard to like it, really, i did. But it just wasn’t good. I had no idea he is Gabaldon’s son!
I saw Gabaldon at Dragon*Con a couple of weeks ago and she told us. Apparently, she has only just been given permission to tell anyone because Sykes wanted to succeed on his own merit.
You have to admire him for that.
I know she had his book on display at a panel discussion, but may have not made the relationship public until her Sept. 7th blog post.
Anyway, I am sure there are any number of people who will enjoy his book. I’m just not one of them.