I usually get like action packed novel but "The Hound of Hell" was just not my cup of tea. I wish I liked it more but I just can't connect to the writing style.

The story was a bit hard to get into for me with the way it was written it was just a little hard to follow at first. After the first few pages the plot moves at a breakneck speed, twisting, turning, totally surprising the hell out of me. At that point I was so immersed in the book as I could not guess what would happen next – several hours went by without notice and I finished the book.
My one complaint is that it ended much too soon leaving me with that cliff-hanger ending. Now, I'm patiently waiting for Book Two. I can’t wait to see what will happen next.

You ever read something and feel like you’ve stepped into it in the middle?

If you haven’t read Brotherhood of Merlin, read it before reading The Hound of Hell. Things will make better sense, I’m sure.

I just felt too lost and didn’t finish.

I loved the cover. Loved the synopsis. Then...just wasn't wowed by the story or the writing. I think it has a lot of potential, but overall was just hard to follow the story, and at times difficult to read.

I could not finish this. I barely made it through the first two chapters; the gore was too much for me. There is a way to write a fast-paced SFF novel without the first five pages detailing gruesome murder scenes without much substance. The writing was stilted and hard to get into, and the first chapter dives you right in. This may be for other reviewers, but not for me.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for the early copy!

I could not connect with the writing style/plot. I decided to put it down.

I was really surprised that i loved this book! I wasn’t too excited about the description but man i was wrong! Loved every bit of it!

Started this book but only made it about 20 pages before I had to put it down. I found the writing to be very awkward and stilted and hard to follow. I might come back eventually and try again but not today.

The Hound of Hell, written by Roy D. Nelson, is a fast, action paced novel that involves tendrils of the Arthurian legend.

And, this is really only a book for those who like a lot of action. And gore. And people dying. And a lot of action. By that I mean that this is written in a very... aggressive manner? From the first page we are thrown into a world where a man somehow made it into prison with knives on him and lock picks in his hair, and then kills all of the guards who are coming to move him.

Which sounds neat, but the pages of gory description were just a little much for me.

If you want something that is truly action-packed, this would be a good choice. Just, not for me.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick DNF. 

I barely made it 30 pages in before I knew it was a lost cause. I kept rereading passages to the point where I was going nowhere. 

The characters. The plot. Nothing stuck, so unfortunately, I had to put it down even though the synopsis initially intrigued me.

I found the book a little confusing to follow. Why were they trying to rescue this guy? Sometimes if could not remember who was on whose team. I knew few wanted to kill the main character. Not my cup of tea. Thank you for the read though.

I jumped at the chance to read this book as an ARC through Netgalley because of the awesome cover and the description of the book. Alas, it was not at all what I expected. Is it Fantasy? Western? Alternative history? I'm still not sure.

I love the legend of King Arthur and this book was touted as being somehow connected with that legend. The only thing Arthurian that I could find in this book was the name Merlin. Renault is a spy working for Merlin, but I had an extremely difficult time figuring out what his mission was most of the time and what was happening.

I really tried to like this book and wanted to enjoy it, but it just wasn't for me. I thought maybe I was missing something, but it seems that the reviewers are very divided along two lines: 5 stars/loved it or 1 star/UGH!

The opening chapter has Renault in prison, but he is able to break out and kill numerous guards because he's such a bada**. Violence, blood and gore greet the reader in the first three chapters to the point that I almost said, "Forget it!". I don't mind some violence, but when it is used to cover up the lack of a good story, it's just gratuitous.

There might be more books in this series (since this is called #1), but I won't be bothering to find out.

I tried with this book. I got about five chapters in, but it was in no way what I expected. In the end, it was a DNF for me.

When I saw the cover and read the synopsis, I expected a Western about spies and a train heist gone wrong. Which, now reading it again, I can see where I came to that conclusion. But I can also see where I was way off. Also, I was unaware of the other series by this author, The Brotherhood of Merlin, which may have shed some light on what to expect from The Hound of Hell.

The first novel was intense, exceptionally violent, and very graphic. And the second chapter left me with a WTH sort of feeling. I made my way through a few more chapters, but just could not get into it.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this ebook on NetGalley in exchange for this review.

Loved this book! It's a genre blend of Retro Western - Steampunk - Mystery - Paranormal with a good dose of bloodshed. The author drew me into the story from the first page, and I simply couldn't put it down. The main character is multi-layered with a history of violence and suffering that fuels him on. It has a Deadwood vibe, but definitely it's own unique world, and this is clearly the first book in what should be an incredible series. So much potential with plenty of intriguing plot points developed for future mining. While it can be annoying to read a book only to find out the end is just the beginning, in this case, a running series is the only way to go. Cannot wait for the next book!

Although described as 1st in series, this is heavily dependent on earlier titles and doesn't stand well alone. Very violent and the writing seems clumsy

I must admit that I was very misled by the description of this book. I thought it would be a sort of Arthurian Knights of the Round Table story in a western setting. Nope. The only thing “Arthurian” about this story was the name Merlin.
And while I truly dislike having to give a bad review of someone’s work, I must be honest and say this was a poorly written (seriously in need of editing), ridiculously violent (bloody, gruesome murder on nearly every page and the same, few stupid methods of killing over and over), and overly foul-mouthed free-for-all — like a teenaged boy’s fantasy spewed across the pages. I couldn’t even tell if the misspellings were intentional or not, since the spelling of some words would change randomly.
There wasn’t much of a plot (except blood, body parts, and f-bombs flying everywhere), and what little story line there was seemed to have no real motivation or logical reasoning behind it. I never actually figured out why they were springing Crixus from the train, other than Merlin told them to and it was an excuse to kill a bunch of people and destroy a train.
It took everything I had to finish this book, but I kept going, hoping it would eventually make sense and have some redeeming quality. Unfortunately, it really never did. Maybe I’d need to read the original Brotherhood of Merlin series to understand what’s going on. However, after slogging through this mess, I can tell you that’s not going to happen.
I always try to find something good to say about a book, but it’s very difficult to do with this one. I guess I could tell you that one female character (which, by the way, are all over-sexualized) cared about her kids. That’s about the nicest thing I can come up with. Okay, and the cover is pretty cool, but that’s it. Sorry to say, but this is one I highly recommend you don’t buy. The author could truly benefit from an honest group of beta-readers and a well-paid editor to clean this up and make it even remotely worth reading.
I picked up a complimentary digital ARC of this book from NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All opinions are my very own.

From the first pages I knew that this book was not for me.
It begins with the the primary character ,chained to a stake awaiting execution. His guards enter, to take him out to killing field. Hah! Suddenly he slips his bounds , files his hands with blades stashed in in clothes and on his body which the guards , oafs, of course, did not find in body searches. Then follows a porno-orgy of blood letting as the jailers are stuck, slashed, gored and speared. Throats gape, bellies spill entrails and eyeballs juicily pop . That is only the first of many such scenes in the boo’k.
The setting is a retro-old west mixed with sci-fi fantasy land of mages, and steam punk( as I understand the word). Martinis at the Long Branch, Merlin as the less than friendly town doctor. None of it was written above the comic book level, not characters, plot or world making.
Note that one of my favorite reading genres is sword and steel fantasy , mixed with might and magic. I can stand a lot of close combat and extreme danger if it is part of a good story.
Hound of Hell did not qualify. You can tell it was not of interest to me because I cannot remember any character’s names. Only that they repelled me.
Only my opinion, of course. Try it for yourself.

I couldn't get into this book but the part I did read seemed interesting. I read from an advanced copy so it may be fixed in the future but within the chapters whenever there was a scene change it looked like just a new paragraph (no extra space/extra line to tell it apart). The new scene would sneak up on you and break up your reading as you'd confused and have to trace your way back and realize there was a scene change, This was big enough to stop me from getting fully immersed in the story. Otherwise it seemed written well and a book you could sink into.

A novella by Rory D. Nelson,

Renault is Merlin's right arm and faithful servant. He is also a remorseless killer who rejoices in violence; his sobriquet is "The Hound of Hell." It's a title well earned, as 9000 dead men will attest. When tasked with breaking General Crixus of the Sandanistas, a dangerous condemned revolutionary, out of a train stuffed with marshals, soldiers, Gatling guns and every armament the King of Sene-Gaul can buy, Renault's only reply is, "Done." He and his men will do or die, despite knowing that there is a traitor in their midst. So, what'll it be, boys? Heroic martyrdom, or ignominious failure?

To call "The Hound of Hell" an "adult" fantasy is to forget adolescent male obsessions with sex and violence. Blood and body parts fly right from the start of this excessively violent, profane, obscene, and artlessly plotted book. The continually changing cast of flat characters will confuse, but why bother to keep them straight? Rest assured that Renault's shooters, knives or hands will leave them dead in heaps as he passes through. And although the language used does show some imagination, when you see, "at tempest halt," "Tom Fu__ery" and "set watch and warrant it" on almost every other page, the novelty wears away rather quickly.

I do not recommend "The Hound of Hell" and would view the reading of the promised sequel as a trip to that aforementioned Inferno. Set watch and warrant it!

NetGalley and author Rory D. Nelson are guilty of foisting this piece of work on the public; too bad I fell for their blather.

I was provided The Hound of Hell by Rory D. Nelson from Net Galley in return for my voluntary review.

I was so excited about the premise of this story, the cover is great. I couldn’t wait. That feeling was very short lived. I spent more than half of this book trying to understand the language and follow the characters, finally after 70% I couldn’t take anymore. I sadly gave up. It was just so difficult to follow. The language was all over the place and the word choices were frustrating. The characters speaking would change mid-sentence. Half of the time a person would be talking and suddnely they aren’t but they are – the editing needs some serious help. It became too difficult to follow what was happening to continue on.

What I could make out of the story, it’s a brutally gory story about a secret club that’s led by Merlin. There’s sex and gore. Maybe some magic. A town run by what the author believes are strong women. There’s a TON of death and some of it makes no sense.

I really did want to give this a chance but I couldn’t.