3 Paragraphs, that’s how long it takes for shit to hit the fan and people start to body slam each other to the floor, and it all starts with beer. Welcome back to one of the most brutal fantasy series that you will read in your life, and a sure soon to be bestselling saga, Rise Of Dresca, this time with the second book, Zeas of the Zovah, that, as you will see, doesn’t give you time to breathe before throwing action scenes at you, marvellous.
“And in a passing thought that slipped away as soon as it came, Podarrek wondered why no one cared about the dead body. Come to think of it, Javareth was just resting… face down… in a pool of blood. Best to leave him be.”
If you have read the first book, (review here), you already know how it goes down with Tim McKay and you at this point expect, (but will still be surprised) by his “shoot first, ask questions later” narrative attitude. If you haven’t read the first book, do yourself a favour and grab your copy because you will be missing out on some of the most crazy action scenes in a book this year (our review is here).
Tim McKay can describe evil people very well and make them disgusting, albeit likable due to their cunningness, and these characters are so well described, that they come alive and you can see them as you read, to the point that you will be lost in the book after the prologue.
Yeah, just like in the first book you will be asking “what” a lot, because of the hyper fast pace of the book. What is happening is so new to read, that you will have to re-read some things slowly for your mind to catch up to the words and the images that the author displays.
The first chapters will be a blitz, there will be a LOT of questions that you will demand answers for, so just hang tight and don’t take off your seatbelt and jump, because trust us when we say that the answers will be given as the book advances.
This part of the series is crucial for us to understand many things, the foundations of this world, how their magic works, why it works, what is the Draemeir, the “strains” that infect people and their consequences, how powerful villains and dragons are, and a lot of how and why the swords have magic in them, so don’t worry about getting confused at first.
Tim McKay decide to play with our fears and anxieties in this book as he ramps up the mystery and shady-things-happening factor. There is something very dark going on in the home town of our twin princesses, (and in the rest of the world) and you can feel it. It’s so dark that even one of them is like: “we have to get the fuck out of here ASAP”. Our unease just grows and is justified with all the new information that we are getting from the time travellers, yes, time travellers, and things get scarier when our suspicions start to blend with facts and logic. Things are worse than what we imagined, and apparently, this is just the start of the chaos.
It’s like Tim McKay read the previous book, put himself in our shoes, analysed all the worries we had in our heads, and before starting writing Seas of the Zovah he said: “But WAIT! There’s more…”
After we get a glimpse of how it all goes down in the final battle with the God of Dragons, the most destructive creature in existence that is born in our current times and is growing in strength (that might, might, might be our dragon…), and the revelation that Dresca will die, again, we notice that there are so much more for us to know and follow in this story, and things might not be what they seem, at all…
Remember that beer that caused the instant mayhem in the bar? Yeah… The one drinking it is now lord of a nation and another war is breaking out, because reasons and power and destruction. Once you notice who he is and you start to get hints of his crazy plan, you will start to get worried. As the time travellers said: This is no coincidence. So, this will be super nice!
A powerful old zealot that takes pleasure in killing people with magic, or making people kill themselves because he is bored, another war about to start atop of all the other conflicts, a mighty dragon that is unstoppable when in full strength to which its sole purpose is to defend a deadly magic virus that is infecting humanity, and no allies to aid our main characters, we ask: what can possibly go wrong? Just smooth sailing all the way to the end, where surely death awaits. Peachy!
Oh, btw, have you ever thought what it would be like to fight smoke? Not smoke just being smoke, but a wolf, made of smoke that can attack you and cause damage, but takes none. Imagine having to fight that, and trying to survive the battle. Yeah…. this is the type of things that are going down in Seas of the Zovah by Tim Mckay.
One thing that explained a LOT, was the description of the author about the crystals and the orbs, which make sense and fit perfectly into what we know right now. The author didn’t stop to explain, because this book never eases in its speed, but the way Tim McKay ingrained the explanations in the plot and the fast-paced events was well thought out.
Talking about never stopping, this is serious. Look, in Scribble’s Worth Book Reviews we have reviewed hundreds of books, but, Seas of the Zovah is the only book that has no breaks. None. There is danger here, they go to another place, danger is there, they fight, people die, dragons swoop in and set everything ablaze, they find refuge, the crazy monks are looking for them, then they go to the sea in peaceful voyage that is only peaceful for like what? 2 mins? And this peace is what, people dying, being imprisoned and being shouted at by the seamen on deck? Yeah, Tim McKay found a way to give you an adrenaline shot with pages.
After reading all of this, you ask the questions: how good is the book really? Is it better than the first? To answer the first question, all that we can say is that Seas of the Zovah is one of those books that you will read in one sitting, we assure you that, and here’s the catch: the book isn’t short. To answer the second question, it’s tricky. The first book has more awe factor due to the newness of the world and the mysteries and the brutal fights. This part, has the brutal fights, and has lots of things that will amaze you like crazy powers, a new dragon friend for air support, but, but, in this part of the series the author had to explain us a lot of things for the series to make sense, so the WTF factor was tuned down a bit in order to prioritize the consistency of the series, which is completely understandable.
The ending was awesome, sad, brutal, but awesome. Sure, it was a cliffhanger, but a heck of a cliffhanger, because there is not only a seriously evil entity that was unleashed into the world, but the start of another war atop of the two wars already ragging. Things will get dicey in the next book, for sure, because there is almost no way that they can defeat this evil creature.
Should you buy this book? Of course! If you are reading about this series for the first time, then you should grab the first book, Rise of Dresca, (review here) and then grab this amazing continuation, Seas of Zovah, and get ready for the 3rd book, because it’s coming as fast as this book right here. Enjoy. 🙂
Pros :
- Ultra-fast pace
- Brutal fights with incredible descriptions
- Magic all over
- Suspense to the point that will make anxious
- A good combo of scifi and fantasy
- More dragons
- Cruel villains
- Plot twists all over
- A story that you can’t let go off
Cons:
- Given the fast pace, and the complexity of names in general, the names of certain characters shouldn’t have been abbreviated due to their similarity.
Scribble's Worth 
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