Blood Rage

Blood Rage #3

by Allan Walsh

Would you expose your darkest secret to save a kingdom? Conall O'Lorcan is a thief plagued by the secrets of his past - dark secrets that people would fear; secrets he himself fears. When he accepts a job from a mysterious baron his life spirals into turmoil. The fate of the realm will be decided by his actions. Will Conall face his fears in an effort to set things right? Blood Rage is the third book in the Blood Rage fantasy series. If you like action packed adventure, mind bending pagan magic, and mythical celtic creatures, then you'll love Blood Rage by Allan Walsh. Grab your copy of Blood Rage and join Conall on his adventure today!

Genres: Fantasy

290 pages, Paperback

Published April 21, 2017

About the author

Allan Walsh is a writer and artist, born in sun-scorched Australia and raised in the grungy suburbs of West London. He is a keen martial arts fan, lover of fantasy, and a movie buff. Allan has been influenced by cult Asian film directors such as Jacki Chan and Stephen Chow, Spec Fiction novelists the like of Joe Abercrombie and graphic novelists such as Wendy and Richard Pini. Allan currently resides in Brisbane, where he enjoys creating new worlds through his writing.

If you want to know more about Allan, you can find him on the following sites:
https://allanwalshauthor.com/
www.facebook.com/AllanWalshAuthor/
www.tumblr.com/blog/allanwalshauthor

Reviews

[Isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally planned to finish this tomorrow, but when you see 10% Remaining on your Kindle screen, logic and reasoning kick in and you finish the book. I’ve read a few Indie books now in my time as a reviewer, and I can honestly say this is one has a lot of potential to be great.
.
What sets this novel off from others I’ve read, is how the mysterious power Conall O’Lorcan is obfuscated in the beginning of the story. We get glimpses of his nightmarish past, and wish to understand what haunts him. I love the setting of the story, and Erin-GOD Erin is such an awesome character. For those of you that enjoy strong female and male characters, pick this up.
.
Despite how intrigued I was by the novel, every book has something to be improved upon. The ending was definitely rushed. I feel like a more vicious villain was not a prevalent character ARC in the story. Don’t get me wrong, anyone in their right minds would HATE the Marquis, but I wanted more from the antagonist’s side. I feel like more world building would have made the story well rounded, and I would’ve felt more exhilaration at the climax. Now that I see there is a separate story for Conall’s mother, I’m sure the story for this novel will become more developed in my eyes.
.
One thing I needed more was romantic build up between Erin and Conall. I completely understand, as an aspiring writer myself, how very very hard it is to write romance. I would suggest throwing the two characters into dangerous situations where they grow closer together and learn to rely on one another. From the novels I’ve read, it’s a subtle effect that really brings out the characters’ relationship.
.
Again, I loved the story and will probably check out some of the other books in the Blood Rage series, so for those of you whom want to pick up an Indie Fantasy novel, put this one at the top!
.
Final grade: 4/5⭐️

[Allan Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review – Blood Rage by Allan Walsh (Author Review)

Blood Rage by Allan Walsh is a fantasy novel about a thief, Conall O’Lorcan, who begrudgingly takes on a job that seems too good to be true. It is… and everything starts to go wrong. His world spirals into chaos as a power hungry Baron plots to take over the realm. With so much more than just his reputation at stake, Conall is determined to set things right.

The Bad Stuff: Blood Rage was the first story I ever wrote. Some parts of this novel were very easy for me; action scenes conjured themselves up in my mind and just seemed to flow onto the paper. But other parts I struggled with. Tough parts I did not want to write and spent hours slogging through, trying to piece the scenes together. As I was new to writing, the result was terrible, but blinded by ignorance, I thought it was fantastic! Fortunately, when I was researching how to publish, I took on advice to get my work critiqued and have it professionally edited. I joined a writers’ group and spent the next year reworking the story, then sent it to an editor I met through the group. These were some of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The crux of it is that I did not plan this novel when I wrote it, I did not consider the story arc or the character arcs, writing styles, etc… these things came after in the re-writing. Therefore you may find this story a little rough around the edges.

The Good Stuff: I have mentioned above that I spent a long while gaining critiques and rewriting Blood Rage. Then after my editor went through it, I rewrote it some more. In the end this has become one of those stories where, as the author, there are some parts I’ll read and think ‘did I really write that?’ It blows me away when I get that feeling from my own writing and makes me feel like I am doing what I should be doing - not for me, but for my readers. I’m not saying that I’m the next Joe Abercombie or Brandon Sanderson, I’m saying that sometimes I surprise myself. I just hope I can surprise my readers in the same way and give you stories you really enjoy. Blood Rage has action and tension, an array of creatures - some not commonly seen in the fantasy genre, and others that are more familiar. It has underlying Celtic and pagan themes that I think give the story an originality of its own. And it turned out better than I could have expected, I hope you too enjoy ‘Blood Rage’.

Overall this fantasy is fast paced and action packed. This one gets a solid blood rushing 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.

[William Bitner Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre - Epic Fantasy/Action Adventure
Pages - 294

Just finished reading “Blood Rage (The Blood Rage Series, Book Three) by Allan Walsh. Having read “The Crimson Guild (The Blood Rage Series, Book Two)” earlier in the month, I was pleasantly surprised and grateful to Allan for gifting me an e-copy of this book. The segue from book two to book three was quite smooth and continued pretty much where the other book left off. Allan builds an elaborate world with well defined characters. The pace of the story was steady, smooth and well written. The introduction of new characters was done in such a way that you thought you already knew them. Also we have a bit more magic, a vampire, goblins, Wicca, shifter, and a bit of coming of age for the main character Conall O’Lorcan in that he is learning about, and how to use his abilities and learns something about his lineage. I thoroughly enjoyed this work of escapism from Allan, and his ability to work words in the most skillful and sometime amusing way. Allan also leaves it open for a possible fourth book in this series in the ending of this book. A good solid ending, but possibilities exist for more. If you like fantasy, adventure, action, great world building and well defined characters this is a must read. "Every secret has a price".

(From back cover): Conall O’Lorcan is a thief plagued by the secrets of his past – secrets people would fear; secrets he himself fears. When he accepts a commission from the mysterious Baron, his life spirals into turmoil and he is forced to face his fears head on as he tries to set things right.

[Ashleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book. Loved the characters of Conall and Erin. Good setting.

[Alexis K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclosure Note:
Allan and I used to belong to the same writer's group a number of years ago. In addition, I also beta-read a very early version of Blood Rage back in 2014. The book I am reviewing was the print-on-demand 2017 release. I purchased the novel myself.

Brief Synopsis:
Blood Rage is a high / dark fantasy set in the world of Armada. Although there are a number of chapters dedicated to other characters, the main protagonist is Conall O'Lorcan, a skilled thief with a tragic past. In trouble with a local gang for a gambling debt, he takes on a high-paying job from a mysterious client to clear his accounts—but ends up in a far more dangerous predicament. A predicament that will require him to confront his buried demons if he wishes to save the ones he loves.

Graphic Design:
The First Edition (2017) print-on-demand version of Blood Rage is a mixed-bag. The cover and book's print production are excellent. Although it is an "independent" production, if you saw this on somebody's shelf—you would most likely think it had been produced by a publishing house. Unfortunately, the internals—and where you will spend most of your time as a reader—are not at the same level. The font used for the body text is too thick and mechanical for easy reading. Paragraphs are not justified and every paragraph is indented, even the first ones of a chapter. On top of these issues, blank pages still contain a page number and header—jarring the reader as it seems like some of the story is missing. As such, unless you are a paperback aficionado (perhaps, like myself) then there really isn't a good reason to pick up the POD version. The internal design, regrettably, made it harder for me to get excited about the story and dampened my enthusiasm to pick it up after I had put it down the previous night.

Personal Thoughts / Review:
I've read Blood Rage twice now. The first time was as a beta-reader, and this time was as a regular "person in the bookstore." The gap between these two reads was about 5 years, so I think I had enough distance to come back to the story fresh and see it from a different perspective. And ... I really wish I could give it a full-throated recommendation. I really do. I know how much effort went into this novel, and I know the passion Allan has for it. However, it just didn't work for me.

Over the past few days, and while I was reading it, I kept trying to think about what stopped me from enjoying it. Was is it the characters? Was it the setting? Was it the plot? Was it something really simple like I wasn't in the right mood for this type of writing? I'm still not completely sure, but I feel there were two things that detracted from the inherently interesting story in Blood Rage.

Firstly, there was no sense of progression or build in the novel. You could say there was no "hook" or underlying "tension" that ran from scene to scene. So, each section, turned into a description of events that told us very little about the character or what was to come. For example, if I may, I'd like to quote a few paragraphs from the novel itself:

Conall dismounted and led Nim to a fallen tree at the river's edge. She dipped her head and began to drink.

"Good girl," he said as he bent down, cupping his hands into the clear water. He took a sip and shook the drips from his fingers, watching as a dragonfly hovered over the water before it darted away. Conall grabbed his water skin and filled it from the river, chewed on a stick of dried meat and climbed back in the saddle.

The sun arced across the sky as they travelled and after a while it began to set behind them. The trees grew thicker, edging closer to the water; before long they would have to go through the woods.
As dusk crept in so did the gnats, a swarm buzzing all around them, whining and stinging. Conall jumped down and led Nim to the riverbank, leaving her to drink while he scouted around ...

In this scene, Nim drinks twice from the river. Yet, what do we learn about Conall during these two similar activities? What do we learn about the world or how the main character goes about tackling challenges? What obstacles or issues does Conall have to overcome to ensure Nim can drink without danger or threat? And there are a number of sections like this dotted throughout the book.

Before most action sequences, Allan hasn't set up the risks or "stakes" of Conall performing the tasks narrated in the novel. So, I often wasn't sure what the purpose was behind these sections. I know how a person (in general) travels from town to town on a horse. And so, I didn't grasp what additional information I was supposed to glean from these vignettes to help me better understand the characters, plot or setting. As such, the question, "Why is this scene important for this novel?" often hovered in the background, unanswered.

And yet there are moments (a number of them) when the novel hits hard. However, when Allan does capture these amazing pockets of tension—such as his vampire set piece—they are flashes out of the blue. For example, I assumed the world (and forests Conall travels through) are supposed to be dangerous because that's how they are in fantasy stories, but there is no foreshadowing of this. And there is no foreshadowing of what particular dangers the characters might face in Armada. The vampire just happens. No one else seems to know about them, and Conall only remembers there are vampires in the region when he is standing directly in front of one. So, unless a character's role is specifically to talk about a monster, they never mention goblins or demons or trolls (and they usually do this after the monster has shown up without any previous hint that they exist in the first place). So, Blood Rage oscillates from a very slow-paced, drama-esque narrative about a regular thief's life in the wilderness to this white-knuckle, demon-around-every-corner adventure.

Unfortunately, what these unexpected tonal shifts do is make each situation feel disconnected from the last. So Conall isn't a character, but more a player on a writer's stage who is put in a variety of situations and given lines to say. The lines he says and actions he takes are not emerging from his history and experiences of interacting with the citizens of Armada, but as an actor who must hit their marks so the scene can unfold as it has been intended. A great example of this appears at the culmination of his romance with Erin:

Erin ran her fingers over the scars on his body. "If only I could soothe them away," he murmured. He wondered if she could, like she soothed the sadness and pain that lived within his soul.

Their night passed locked in a passionate embrace and eventually they drifted into a peaceful slumber, entwined in each other's arms. They were awoken by Flanagan knocking on the door.

...

"So, did you manage to find that plant you went looking for yesterday?" [Flanagan asked Conall.]

"Aye, took me half the night." [Conall replied.]

(Emphasis mine)

This type of situation begs the question, how did it take Conall half the night to find the plant? He spent all night with his girlfriend / lover, Erin. And the scars that are mentioned in this scene, this is the first time they are discussed (on page 242). She has travelled with him, been saved by him, seen him change into other clothes—and yet never bothered to ask about the scars until she needs to show how she wishes to "soothe his soul" and be his emotional support.

By the end of the novel, I still didn't know what drove or motivated Conall ... except that he easily falls in love with random women he meets on his quests (after threatening them).

The second issue is the lack of description, or perhaps, the inconsistency of description applied. Erin has a "natural beauty," every second sign is "golden," the weather is chilly but also comfortably warm, the final villain lacks almost any type of vivd imagery except "a hunched mass of muscle," and Conall travels through at least three forests, but they all feel the same. In Lord of the Rings, Tolkien gives each forest a personality. The elves' one is peaceful and calm. The one near the shire is sparse and limited. There's another one (I think near Tom Bombadil) that is dark and dangerous. Therefore, in each situation, the reader knows where they are and also that they are somewhere different than before.

Blood Rage lacks that.

From main characters to secondary characters to towns, there isn't enough uniqueness from place to place to highlight where Conall (and Erin) are situated culturally in the world. And there isn't enough variety to engage the reader in the escapism of world-building so that even if very little plot is being told, the world is sufficiently interesting to carry us through those pages.

In the Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is excellent at the social-political depictions of these nuances, and Tolkien (obviously) is brilliant at the sheer symbolism of place. I know these are masters at the pinnacle of the fantasy genre, so I do not expect that level from every author—but I do want to feel I am meeting new things and new people as a story progresses. Otherwise, I feel like I am circling back through re-used levels from a previous section of a video game.

However, in saying all that, the plot is really good and some scenes are absolutely delightful to read. Conall's escape from jail, Erin's torture (despite the woman-in-fridges trope being deployed), the final fight, the discussion with the vampire—these are all great. All I wish is that they fitted into larger character arcs for both Conall and Erin. Ones that showed us who they were at the beginning of their journey and how it changed (or modified) them as the narrative progressed.

Summary
Blood Rage is a modestly engaging escapist fantasy. It has pockets of great writing, a captivating premise and a passionate author. It lacks on overarching "hook" to drive the narrative for the full 280 (approx) pages and could be improved with some more developed set pieces in more fanciful and unexpected settings that circle back into character development. However, if you're interested in a rough-and-tumble, rogue-centred fantasy with a touch of romance and realism, this is for you.

[Shelley Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun addition to the series, where Conall is a grown man out having his own adventures. When he takes a job from a stranger in a tavern, in an effort to get the money to pay an urgent debt, he quickly finds that his latest adventure takes a dark turn. There is also the addition of a new character, Erin, who through bad choices of her own is thrust into Conall's world. As the two of them set off to achieve their own goals, circumstances thrust them together in ways the could not have anticipated.
While I was disappointed that there was no mention of the characters from the previous book, or how Conall came to be so good at lock picking and other skills, it was still a good story that could be read as a standalone. Conall's character has developed, and he is learning to control his inner monster, and while there are times when he acts out of character, for the most part he is the thief with a good heart, determined to do what is right.
There are a number of coincidental occurrences, where he helps someone in need only to have them quickly return the favour and help him out of a tricky or deadly situation, but it all the story develops well while leaving the sense that there are many more adventure to come for Conall.

[Joshua Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thing I love most about Allan Walsh’s writing is his ability to paint a vivid scene. This still holds true in Blood Rage. The descriptions of the fantasy land of Armada are gritty and realistic, setting the perfect stage for this great drama to unfold. I love Conall, our hero thief, and especially his moral dilemmas as he fights to save a kingdom that despises him. This is a great adventure for anyone who loves a good visceral fantasy like Game of Thrones!