Book Reviews, fantasy 0 comments on Faceless – by Matthew Rossi

Faceless – by Matthew Rossi

Faceless is the third book in the Nameless series. You should read Nameless and Heartless before starting this book.

As in the previous books, Faceless revolves around a magical family of cousins (and their significant others).  All of them are young people, and most are starting to put together a framework of how they think they want the rest of their lives to work out.

To me, one of the things that this book is about is that the choices people make – out of love, or fear, or desperation – have consequences. What happens as a result can affect not only the person who made a choice, but also the lives of other people. It’s a important piece of wisdom that some people do not learn until after they have destroyed something or someone they love.

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Book Reviews, fantasy 1 comment on Heartless – by Matthew Rossi

Heartless – by Matthew Rossi

Heartless is the second book in the Nameless series. You should read Nameless before you jump into Heartless.

Nameless ended in a way that made it clear that the “big bad” is no longer a threat. That doesn’t mean all the damage is done, however. In many ways, this is a story of redemption and forgiveness. It is about building trust with family after bad things have happened. This was touched on at the end of Nameless, and builds in Heartless.

The wonderful, individualistic, magic that was established in the first book continues to be part of the story. I love how imaginative the characters are in how they express their magical abilities. Rossi’s character’s are so vivid, and feel so real, that I find them fascinating even when they aren’t doing magic.

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Book Reviews, fantasy 2 comments on Nameless – by Matthew Rossi

Nameless – by Matthew Rossi

In Nameless, Matthew Rossi created a detailed world where vampires exist and magic is real. Magic can be strengthened by either pain or pleasure – it’s the intensity that matters. Those who use magic can conjure up monsters or heroes from mythology (be it from Greek mythology or modern comic books) and send them into battle.

I found myself wanting to escape into that world which, despite its dangers, seemed to hold more hope than this one. I mean, there’s a battle where Santa and his reindeer fight a giant, antlered, monster man. I love the idea that something as pure and good as Santa, as seen by small children, can effectively take down evil! This particular battle was one of several in the book, and each was so well written that I could almost see it, as though I was watching a movie.

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Book Reviews, fiction 0 comments on Things That Never Were – by Matthew Rossi

Things That Never Were – by Matthew Rossi

One of the things I love about books is that they are an excellent place to escape to when the real world seems dark and dire.  In Things That Never Were, Matthew Rossi gives the reader plenty of interesting, incredibly detailed, glimpses into what the world might have been like if you take what we know of history, twist it around, and see where it goes from there.

The full title of the book is: Things That Never Were: Fantasies – Lunacies –  & Entertaining Lies.  I like to think of it as a series of essays that could be described as “intelligent conspiracy theory”.  That being said, Rossi is not really trying to convince you that the essays in this book are factual (and this is where he differs greatly from actual conspiracy theorists).  These are “things that never were”, after all.   ….Right?

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