I typically detest leaving negative reviews on books, however I don’t believe this story or author was for me.
I tried multiple times to get into the story but I wasn’t connecting at all.

I appreciate the opportunity to have been able to receive an arc of this book.

THUMOS RISING is the first instalment in Demitrios Lopez’ adult Σ paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi series focusing on Ninivon warrior Zenosthenes ‘Zeno’ Andrea, and his rise to power as the Vessel of Thumos.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise including graphic violence, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from numerous omniscient third person perspectives (Zeno, Lysandros, Ghost, Vampire, Alexandra) following several back and forth timelines, THUMOS RISING focuses on a war between the Vampire and everyone else. The Vampire is determined to take control, annihilate every civilization, but never expected to come up against Zeno, a demi-god who has been chosen by an otherworldly power. More than ten years earlier, Zeno’s best friend Alexandra would be sent away for her protection, and in the ensuing years, would herself become a powerful warrior. Reconnecting years later, Zeno and Alexandra continue to profess their love but the Vampire is taking aim, separating our couple, once again. Fighting alongside Alexandra’s father Lysandros, Zeno would, at twenty six years of age, come into his powers, powers bestowed by an otherworldly Priestess. Family will be pitted against family, as Zeno is tasked with saving the world, becoming the ‘Truth’, the savior of men.

THUMOS RISING is an action-packed, multi-layered, exceedingly complex, and detailed story line using virtually every type of fictionalized creature from the supernatural to science fiction, and several others created for this tale. Using mashed-up words from Greek and Roman mythology, Latin and English, THUMOS RISING is a complicated tale of power and control, war and madness, as an alien priestess reveals the chosen to lead an offensive against the Vampire, and his army of the ‘undead’. There is an inordinate number of characters, worlds, peoples and names, and in this, the info-dumping is exorbitant, way beyond a simple or easy read-I could not fathom the pronunciation of many of the names and worlds. A well-written and elaborate yet convoluted and difficult read . THUMOS RISING ends on a cliff hanger-you have been warned.


THE READING CAFÉ: https://www.thereadingcafe.com/thumos-rising-%cf%83-book-i-by-demitrios-lopez-a-review/


GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6631548485



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Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the eARC!

A good book for a debut author, a mix of sci-fi and fantasy. A cool premise with a main character trying to survive in a world ruled and destroyed by vampires. A foreshadowing of a romance and an epic quest.

Unfortunately, DNF'ed as I couldn't get into the story. Reads a lot like Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff, which means very dense and descriptive. I believe the story could pick up later on, but the intro is too slow to keep me captivated.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'll be honest, it's unfortunate. I really really wanted to like this. The premise sounded wild and ripe for a good time. Space vampires? Dragons? PLEASE. Sadly, the beginning of the book dumps a ton of lore terms on the reader and never really elaborates why the reader should care, or even what a lot of these terms truly mean or how they impact the world. The prose itself is very stiff, using short choppy sentences that feel clipped and robotic.

The different POVs don't really do anything to help or hurt the reader's interest in any of the characters. The Vampire's chapters had potential to be the most interesting, and its a shame that we don't get more information about the characters in general.

I actually read this all the way, from beginning to end. It seems very likely that there's intentions for a sequel, and I REALLY hope between now and then the author can take more time to expand on the story and make it count, because the premise is VERY cool.

Thank you to the Author and NetGalley for providing me with a copy.

I really liked the world the story was set in. It gave your classic fantasy vibe, but also strong elements of sci fi to show the scientific progress the world has made.

There are 3 main POV characters and found them all equally as interesting. I also enjoyed how the plot developed and thought it was exciting and compelling.

However, I found the first chapter quite confusing and thought a lot of information was dumped on the reader. I thought the prose was weaker in the first half of the book but it picked up in the latter half. Throughout, I also noticed a few spelling errors/inconsistencies.

The ending was well executed and had me wanting more and I honestly look forward to reading the sequel.

Sadly this book just wasn’t for me. Didn’t get very far through the book before stopping. I might come back for it another time though

I liked it but I needed more in this story. I gave it 3 stars but don't get me wrong, it's an amazing story... but 3 stars are enough for it.

Before we start this review, please note that this is my own honest opinion of the book so please take it with a pinch of salt.

I’m really sorry but I had to DNF at the 1% to 3% mark for this book. I wanted to stop after the first page but I really wanted to give this book a chance so I kept going until page three where I had to completely stop reading.

Starting with the positives I’d like to say that the cover sort of drew me in but it was the description that interested me. I did also like the map too. The fact that it was fantasy also intrigued me but that’s where it ended.

The next part of the review is what I liked the least or well... What I disliked about this book. I really don’t know where to start but I will try to start somewhere. There is a lot I can say but I’ll start off by saying I could not keep reading. Reading this was like nails on a chalkboard for me. I really struggled to get into this book within the first few paragraphs of the first chapter for this book. I’d also say that the formatting from the kindle version I got didn’t help me be immerse into the book as many of the paragraphs didn't have proper paragraphing spaces so it looked like one huge paragraph that took up half the page. Upon reading the first page I immediately saw a missing word in one of the sentences which ranged out throughout the book. I also spotted missing spaces between words as well as I read where I skimmed a little past the third page of the first chapter.

Upon reading chapter one, especially the first page, I found myself confused. Yes, we were in Zeno’s point of view but I could not get into his headspace or get into the book. It was lacking to put it lightly. I did not know what anything looked like, what this character is thinking or opinions… Hell, it felt like I was reading a highschool text book. There was nothing that made me feel connected in this character at all. I only understood there was a fight or war of some sort (?) but that was it. I struggled to follow along with this book as the words just read as ‘blah blah blah’. I really wish there was more… emotion, description… something so it doesn’t feel rushed.

There were names and words that made me feel lost too as I didn’t know how to pronounce them or to me felt like they were thrown in there “just because”. I would have appreciated a glossary or something that broke down the characters names and how they are pronounced as I found myself sitting there for a long while trying to sound out these names and failing after a while. I found myself lost on the first page as there were several different character names mentioned on the first page alone so I found it hard to keep track of everyone personally.

I also found that the elderly man just kept talking and talking and talking for paragraphs on end and it kind of bored me to death a little. I would have appreciated some kind of break between as well. I felt like we were told too much in the first few pages of chapter one so it also made it hard to absorb as it was kind of info-dumped on us. I really did want to love this book as I have read many other books in this genre and was absolutely immersed by the first few pages but this book I could not whatsoever. It was just words on a page that I could not seem to get into.

All in all, I wanted to like this book but didn’t. I struggled with this book and I think this book needs some editing and maybe some details added to immerse the reader. This book was a DNF but it is possible other people might like this book more then I did.

Disclaimer: this is a review in progress (edit: this is now a DNF review) and is based on an eARC provided by NetGalley. I am still very early in the book, but even now I can't honestly say that I think this book can get better than one star from me. And when I say early, I mean my Kindle app says I'm 2% through. This book needs at *least* a full editing pass, and a couple rounds of line edits besides. Some of the missing spaces may be due to it being a PDF and not an EPUB, but I can only review the book I got, and there were enough missing spaces that I stopped marking them. The book is poorly formatted, scene breaks are not clear, and so much has already happened that I can't keep track of it and frankly just don't care. It's happening too fast and with no emotional context and even when the character is supposed to be feeling tortured and trapped, I feel nothing. I wanted this book to be good. It's not. I'm going to keep reading at least for now, because I still want this book to be good. But it's not looking like it will be.

ETA: I can't do it. I have to DNF this book at only 2% in. It feels unfair, but I cannot stop physically cringing at the writing. The prose is bad. The world building is bad. The info dumps are happening so fast that I didn't even register they were info dumps at first because I was too distracted by how badly written they were. I cannot in good conscience suggest anyone read this, ever. Including me. I can't read it myself. The writing is so painfully bad that the ideas and plot don't matter. A good book, even a mediocre book, can pull you into the page. Even a good essay can pull you in. This is just a jumble of words on a page trying to communicate something and failing.