Review: BLOWN AWAY! Next book (soon) please.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 6, 2014
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.BLOWN AWAY! That pretty much says it right there. This book grabbed me at the first chapter (when I read it at the end of book 1) and still hasn't let go! I finished it early Wednesday morning around 2 am and now, late Thursday night as I write my review, I realize I have been thinking about and talking about this book pretty much to anyone who will listen.I liked the first book and was hooked on it by the time it ended. Anyone who read my review for Earth's Requiem - book #1 in this series by Dr. Gimpel - knows how hard it was for me to get through the first half or so. There was so much amazing detail in the world building and the characters and the ideas and that all the different mythological gods and goddesses we learned about in school or reading on our own were real in some way. And that there were more - many, many more - that existed in parallel planes to our world. And not all of them were friendly. For me, the first book was all about Earth and the devastation that happened when the dark gods came and took over and then the Lemurians came to "save" what was left. It set up the torment and absolute desolation that we see in Aislinn when we meet and start to get to know her. It was about how much had changed and that there truly was NOTHING on the old left so you had to start over somewhere, somehow, or you could just lie down and die. There was no one coming along to give you a sandwich and a hot drink or a warm blanket or make sure that you weren't hassled - those people were dead. Physically, spiritually or emotionally - they were gone.In Earth's Blood we try to start over together. We saw how the humans, once they banded together and fought as a whole, were able to defeat a lot of the "weaker" bad guys and gravely injure the really scary ones. When they trusted someone to have their back in a fight, be it human or a Celtic god, they survived and were able to deal a blow to an enemy. Now they need to learn to trust each other during the rest of the day and through the night and on the nights when there are no battles except the one to survive. They have to learn how to depend on someone else again and how to open yourself up to another person and let them in, let them become important and a part of you.All the lessons learned over the last years of desolation and isolation need to be unlearned. All the characters must learn trust and empathy and once again have the belief that you CAN depend on someone else and it won't get you killed; you CAN ask for help and it won't get you attacked or worse. The absolute conviction that together you CAN continue to harm the enemy; that you CAN attack them and survive if you have a plan, you stick to it and you work together. That loving someone or something will not hurt it but instead, it will make you stronger and help you to keep fighting, to get back up and fight with all you have for all you have.They say "blood is life" and they are right. When we are alive, we bleed. If we bleed too much we can become ill, dependent on another person and even possibly die. Blood is a sign of injury - to yourself or your enemy but if there is blood then someone, somewhere is hurt or dead. Blood is also a bond - either biologically or to those we have chosen - those special ones we willingly shed blood for. In this book the characters need to learn the importance of blood or they will not survive. They have to focus on healing all the wounds - even the ones they can't see. They need to learn to focus on each others injuries and that just because you can't see the blood, it doesn't mean someone isn't injured. Not all wounds bleed visually. They have to truly let go of the past and learn to cherish the now that they have and plan for a future that is attainable.The blurb on Goodreads says "Fireworks spark. In the end, they learn to savor every moment in a bittersweet world where each day may well be their last." Aislinn and Fionn and Rune and Gwydion and Bella and even Dewi and the others - human or supernatural, mortal or immortal, alive or dead, they all must learn to help and to trust. If they don't there won't be any Hope for a future or for book three.This is a must-read book. Actually this is a must read series. A good writer will transport you from where you are to where they want you to be with their words. These books do that and more as they open your eyes to a world never considered, a predicament unthinkable in our reality and a life so real, so vital that there must be some HOPE. (NEXT BOOK PLEASE).