Robyn Wideman

After liking the darkthorn academy i looked for more of this author. His first series Stoneblood Saga was not for my liking but this one is better.
The MC is a half orc dismissed from his people.
The other MC is a beautiful thief with a gambling problem and both of them are hired by the local prince to investigate who is killing his allies.
Nice little detective story in a fantasy setting. A lot of cliches are met and i really like how the half orc is depicted. He is "savage", enjoys battle and fears nothing and is a 'manly man'. But over the story we also learn he is not dumb and has a lot of knowledge. (and i will always like characters that like good food. ;) )
The female MC on the other side is cunning and is good in deducting and seems to like her men tough and rough.
Good team - both with some (cliche) back story - the romance could have need a bit more time growing, the good guys are all a bit too open and trusting but at least one of the enemies is a good enemy in terms of being not a total idiot. The end was a bit too fast but I liked this book and will read the next of the series soon.
Compared to Stoneblood Saga a lot progression in story telling but still room for improvement. At least i like the scenery the author develops and his idea of adventure story fits mine.… (plus d'informations)

The second book of the Darkthorn Academy could not hold the high level of the first one.
The characters are still likeable, the story told is not deep but fun
But: Things are too easy for the characters. Money - no problem. Mentors - no problem. Need somone who buys your loot - here is your own dealer. Wanna learn alchemy - here are your rare ingredients garden, Wanna learn blacksmithing - here is your forge. Need to be better in magic - why not having a pet that can teach better than any academy lector?
As i said - too easy.
One thing that i liked in the first book is that the author took time to tell a story - this book i have the feeling he has a certain goal in mind and therefore takes the mentioned shortcuts to cut the middle story.
He also tries to tell us a lot of background stuff in dialogues - and that doesnt work well. Half the dialogues are not how normal people talk to each other. Meeting your father for the first time in my imagination would lead to sharing time together - not to going meditating and leaving so soon.
I still have high hopes for this series as it is fun but i also hope that the author finds back into his pace and rythm he had in the first book. And also that he thinks about about characters and how the relate to each other than just bringing forward the story.
… (plus d'informations)