The Holy Road (Rifter #5)

The Holy Road (Rifter #5)

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4.59 of 5 stars 4.59  ·  rating details  ·  196 ratings  ·  25 reviews
When John opens a letter addressed to his missing roommate, Kyle, he expects to find a house key, but instead he is swept into a strange realm of magic, mysticism, revolutionaries and assassins. Though he struggles to escape, John is drawn steadily closer to a fate he share with Kyle—to wake the destroyer god, the Rifter, and shatter a world.
ebook, 1st Edition
Published July 2011 by Blind Eye Books

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Best Gay Fantasy Romance
72nd out of 310 books — 451 voters
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Rachel Brown
I finally figured out what this series reminds me of: P. C. Hodgell's Godstalk series. Hodgell has more black comedy and flamboyant worldbuilding, and Hale concentrates much more on weaving a highly intricate story. But both series seem to have evolved from the same roots: bypassing Tolkien's high fantasy tradition in favor of the swords and sorcery of Fritz Lieber, Jack Vance, C. L. Moore, even Robert E. Howard.

It's interesting that while the overall plots and details of the two series have ve...more
Philip
This installment continues in John's pov and time. I think I can understand why the story is told as it is, that we know how things are in twenty some years; Now instead of needing to look back afterwards to understand why John did what he did, its easy to see as we go his growing disillusionment with the Payshmura institution.

I also think it's neat how the narrative never condemns Dayyid outright, despite his holding up the oppressive theocracy that John doesn't agree with; it is still pointed...more
blub
Another book that solely focuses on John in Basawar. Things are really picking up in this book and discoveries readers may have had suspicions about in the previous book concerning Ravishan come to light. Although the detailed provided in this installment was a bit contradicting to the other info pieced together in the story, I found I loved mulling out how they all fit. I'm excited to pickup the next installment.

While reading I thought up 2 scenario's of where this story could be going:
1) The s...more
Lisa
5+ Stars

I am, by turns, frightened and fascinated at this point in the saga, which sums things up pretty concisely and accurately.

The Holy Road is darkness defined. This is the point in the journey where John discovers everything there is to be discovered about who he is and the purpose he will serve in the future of Basawar, and how it connects to Ravishan, who is, indeed, a man John knows as another, not the least of which is lover and savior.

It’s impossible to have made your way to the end o...more
Kassa
3.5 stars

Rifter #5, The Holy Road, is a vicious and dark installment of the epic fantasy. It also holds a touch of romance and hope between Jahn and Ravishan. It’s perhaps the darkest of the novellas so far and I’ll admit I was pretty disturbed by the end of it. There is a lot of death, destruction, and mayhem offered in graphic and vivid detail. While that’s not my favorite part of fantasy, the problem here is that the story ends on a bloody note without further action to help alleviate the dep...more
D
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Lady*M
4.5 stars

This is very dark and violent installment of Rifter, but not as dark as I feared. The action was remarkable, some of the revelations about Rifter crucial for Josh and Kyle. The Holy Road made a very satisfying midpoint of the series.

(view spoiler)[During the new Fair, Ravishan goes drunk to Candle Alley when John refuses to go with him. John follows him and realizes that Fai'daum are at the fair. He kills Dayyid when Dayyid catches Ravishan with another man. This is one of those events...more
Jenre
Jul 10, 2011 Jenre added it
Shelves: fantasy, m-m, romance
This review can also be found at the DIK blog.

We're half way through this serialised novel now, and things are really hotting up! Like Part 4, this section focuses entirely on John and his time at Rathal’pesha. The story has once again jumped ahead in time, and is now a year on from Part 4. It's the harvest fair and Ravishan has drank himself into astuporover what he knows he has to do come sundown. This year, instead of burning a witch, they have captured a Fai’daum rebel and, like last year, i...more
Adriana
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Aldi
1) TIMEY-WIMEYNESS!!

2) OH! I see. John is Harry Potter. See, that actually makes a whole lot more sense.

3) I think I'm finally starting to get it:

This story is a semi-realistic approximation of what it would be like to actually be thrown into a fantasy world, with minimum preparation. That's why I feel uncomfortable about it. That's why I can't say they're good books. That's why I can't say they're bad books. If it actually happened to you (even if you'd read every fantasy book in existence), it...more
Foolish
This installment of the Rifter was definitely the most traumatic, especially the last section where everything goes horribly wrong, for everyone it would seem. I did however LOVE the ending and had a teary grin on my face when Ravishan arrived, right at the last moment. Luckily Broken Fortress is ready and waiting for me to get stuck into.
Seregil
This one was very intense. It also cleared up some things that were troubling me about the time/space skip (but not everything, of course). The ending is a huge cliffhanger, but I guess that if you've reached book 5 then you must have bought the whole series already.
Meggie
What an epic way of plotting the end of fifth part in this series. It was greatly written and the all the emotions John and Ravishan felt were real. I loved this part...
orannia
Jul 15, 2011 orannia rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: m-m
Well. That was a rather blood-thirsty part. You know the saying 'Anything that can go wrong will go wrong and frequently does'? Well, it applies to John in spades in this part!
Suzanne
I love plot, and after the somewhat disappointing stagnation of plot in part 4, plot came back with a vengeance in The Holy Road. Looking forward to part 6!
tizi
book number 2 in the 3 books paperback series...
can't put it down and don't know how to live until october to get the 3rd book...
nîna ✍
I feel so hopelessly in love with this series and with Ravishan and John. I desperately hope it will be published as paperbacks as well.
Katharina
... so far this series has fulfilled every damn expectation I could have had. Seriously. This is so incredibly good and addictive and simply mind-blowing. I have no idea how all of this will (or even CAN) be resolved to at least some sort of happy ending (I'm not sure what a happy ending would be), but I'm more than excited to find that out. ... there will be a happy ending, right? Right? ... pretty please?
L-D
This series was comprised of 10 novella length books. I read all the books before I came back to review, so my reviews are more of the series as a whole.

Kahlil is starting to remember bits of his shattered past and he now knows that (view spoiler)[Jath'ibaye is John, and is also the Rifter. By falling into the past, John upset the entire future and altered the world's events. (hide spoiler)]I found this plot device to be extremely well-written and kept me very engaged in the series as a whole.

Ka...more
Jen
The threads in this installment were amazing. Thoroughly enjoyed the story arcs.
Pamela
I'm an emotional wreck!^^ Loved it!
d.blue
Intense! Loved it.
whitney
WOW! Ginn you are going to kill me!!! I loved it.
Sarah
Wow, so much happened in this installment and I cannot wait to read the next one. The writing is so clever and what incredible world building. Well worth reading.
Jordan Lombard
Can't put this series down.
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The Holy Road (Paperback)
Wicked Gentlemen Lord of the White Hell - Book One Lord of the White Hell - Book Two The Shattered Gates (Rifter #1) Servants of the Crossed Arrows (Rifter #2)

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