Threadbare has not had a very good time of it, recently. His little girl has been taken from him, and he must travel the kingdom, finding allies old and new, living and dead, to help him rescue Celia.
Fortunately, he's got a voice now, and access to all those fun skills he couldn't use before. He may only be a very small teddy bear, but he's got the persistence to plow through dungeons of rascally raccoon monsters, the wiles to turn a town full of undead on its ear, and the sanity to survive an encounter with a mediocre old one.
However, Threadbare's little girl is growing up now, and her own path is hard, and brutal. Will she even have a use for her old teddy bear, when they meet again? Will they both survive the encounter?
Warning: Contains profanity and violence, and a creepy villain who likes tentacles way too much.
My Opinion: 345 pages, $4.99, Not Available on Kindle Unlimited
Threadbare is back and now he’s made some friends. Everything you loved about book 1 has returned but now there’s more of it. There’s loads of action, adventure, crafting, leveling, skill gains, and it’s all told from the point of view of a teddy bear that’s come to life as a golem.
Things that change in book 2. The story is set 5 years past the end of book 1. This is sort of necessary to reset the story world and give Threadbare the needed space to grow and discover. Also, Threadbare can talk now. This is a big improvement and opens up all kinds of storytelling opportunities now that he can engage with other people. There’s also a growing cast of other golems that join threadbare in his quests. However, the biggest improvement over book 1 is that the story stays with Threadbare most of the novel. In book 1, towards the end of the novel, Threadbare almost became a secondary character in his owner’s story. Yes, there are places where the POV shifts but when it’s on Threadbare, it’s definitely his story.
I had a great time reading this and I read just about the entire thing in one sitting.
Score: 8 out of 10.