Review: The Dwarves of Ice-Cloak Book 2

Title: The Mouth of Fire (The Dwarves of Ice-Cloak Book 2)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BY5VH3ZZ/

Author: A. Trae McMaken 

Rating: 4/5

Comments: After the emotional gut punch at the end of book 1, I was apprehensive to start book 2 because I wasn't sure what I was getting into.  There's a big time skip between the books, but you get that fed to you slowly.  The Mouth of Fire is a good story, but there was a lot of thinking "This is a mistake" and "Oh don't do that".  I had to eat it in small doses.  It was worth the time, but it's not a "light" story and I honestly needed to shift to something lighter after finishing it.  It's really quite remarkable how McMaken has managed to create a culture that feels "real".  That's one of the things that I find most interesting about this series.

Bedroom Activities: N/A

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FTB/Explicit/None – Fade to black bedroom activities vs “Onscreen” vs No activities

Review: The Crippled King

Title: The Crippled King (The Dwarves of Ice-Cloak Book 1)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BKH4MNCT/

Author: A. Trae McMaken 

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments: This was a Facebook ad and as with most, I approached it with some measure of cynicism, but a dwarf protagonist is always a draw for me, so I grabbed it.

Honestly it's one of the most well developed presentations of a culture I've seen recently.  The dwarves do things differently than humans.  They have different norms, and goals.  It's pretty fascinating.

Maybe this is appropriate, or perhaps ironic, but the story takes a while to get rolling.  I was close to dropping it at a couple points.  I'm glad I didn't because the story just keeps gaining momentum and the ending just clobbers you.

Bedroom Activities: None

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FTB/Explicit/None – Fade to black bedroom activities vs “Onscreen” vs No activities