Based more on the Roman times and Gladiators this is a short, violent and blood thirsty Fantasy.

It did draw me in but was fairly abrupt, whether this was because everything was jammed in to a short story.

I was left wanting to read more though.

The Sword of Cullen takes stories like Gladiator, old mythology of goblins, trolls, and different gods and combines them into one. There is such great potential for the story but I found it very lacking.

So much time was spent setting up the 2 days prior to battle, 60 pages, and for it to be over in less then 5 pages seemed very dissapointing.

Another issue I had with this was just that it seemed maybe a bit to much of a rough draft to put out to the public even for advance reviews. It was hard to guess a couple times with typos of what the words were suppose to be as well as there being zero breaks of different chapters.

The Sword of Cullen is the first book of Mr. Stamey's that I have read. Cullen is a human Outlander that is now a slave. When the crown prince meets Cullen, the prince is immediately smitten. Cullen is invited to a fight/duel other slaves to the death in order to win his freedom. In a world of goblins, troblins, and other creatures, humans are in the minority. Will Cullen be able to fight and win all of the duels or will he fall victim and die or remain a slave?

I have to say that the plot is consistent, but I felt like a lot of important information was missing. Cullen is a religious and worthy human who had me rooting for him. Unfortunately, the book was filled with so many grammatical errors that I was left wanting and frustrated. I do think that once the errors are fixed and more is added to the story, the book would have a better flow and be more entertaining.

I received an eArc from Mr. Stamey via Netgalley. This was my honest review.

The Sword of Cullen seemed a promising premise – an alien gladiatorial contest – but proved lacking in execution for my taste as a reader. World-building did not occur naturally; rather, items were mentioned with exposition quickly following, leading to a read where it was difficult to stay immersed in the story. Overall, not a writing style that suits my tastes as a reader but it could suit others who prefer a more abrupt style that gets to the meat of the tale quickly.
One star for an interesting premise; none for style and substance.

*Digital copy provided by NetGalley for an honest review.