Never Will I Die: The inspiring Special Forces soldier who cheated death and learned to live again

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Characterization in this tale is very strong, with the author developing them admirably for what amounts to a shortish story. The standouts for me were Itami Cho & Zhihao Cheng, with both characters written beautifully, evoking understanding and empathy, but I also had a bit of a soft spot for the Wushu master, Bingwei Ma. This dream team of heroes drives the story as they struggle with the confines of being bound to an eight year old boy and his wishes. They also have no fondness for each other to start with, as their differences are vast and their personalities as night and day. So opens ‘Never Will I Die’, the autobiography of Toby Gutteridge, former Special Boat Service operative and one of the most inspirational men around; for it was not a kill shot, of course, although it was as close as it can possibly be to one. So close in fact that is leads to the main hook of this often breathtaking book: how do you rebuild your life when you have lost everything? This cookie is set by Addthis. This is a geolocation cookie to understand where the users sharing the information are located. The thing about this world, the way to survive, is you either become the worst monster you can be, or you find someone else willing to be an even worse monster, and make yourself useful.”

An assassin who's dirty to his inner core, a killer of woman and children- but who finds himself in the right side battle for once.

Never Die is full of blood and mayhem and poor odds of survival and success for our characters. But at the heart of that is hope, as each of them looks within and considers the balance between right and wrong. Never Die is a standalone Asian-inspired fantasy novel that I found to be thought provoking and brilliant. After 3 years of reviewing books, I developed a hunch for the books I will like. It is like the clinical sense in medicine, something that is gained with experience and trial. I sometimes try to give books chances even if I feel I won’t like them. They mostly end up being disappointing so I learned to follow my gut even more. Toby is one of life's most inspirational men with an amazing life story. He has endured great adversity but continues to face life head on.'

A few lines in and I was hooked. Toby Gutteridge may be physically paralysed, but his mind certainly isn’t. This puts the last military memoir I read ‘The Junior Officer’s Reading Club’ a little to shame. Both reflect on the bonds formed with fellow soldiers and cover much of the same time period; they actually intersect with the Royal Marines taking over from the Grenadier Guards at Inkerman. However, whilst they are similar, in that they contain a retelling of combat experience and some harrowing details of just what it is like to be in that situation, Never Will I Die is full of none of the bravado and effected thirst for blood that is in JORC, and all of the humanity and brutal honesty of war. Perhaps it would be different if Gutteridge had not sustained the injuries he did, perhaps his outlook would be different, but I suspect not. A plot summary barely conveys the extraordinary energy of this book. At first glance, it sounds like a simple story. Ein recruits the team and they confront the bad guy in an explosive final battle. Such a description, while sound, doesn’t do the justice to the characters and their dynamics. Never Die blends reversals, unexpected meetings, betrayals, cliffhangers and lovingly described combat. Speaking of characters, Hayes did a phenomenal job crafting this ragtag crew. We introduced to these heroes one by one, as they are unwillingly drafted into a seemingly impossible quest. As they don’t really know each other, we learn about them as they reveal things to the group. Very rarely is a team assembled like this where there are no core relationships already developed that are brought to the table, so I thought it was an interesting decision. I enjoyed how varied these characters were, in personality and physicality and fighting style. And the names! I love the titles awarded to each character based on some tactical strength they had developed and were famous for harnessing. We have characters with names like The Whispering Blade and The Emerald Breeze and Iron Gut and Death’s Echo. They’re such rich, evocative titles, and say such deep things about those who carry them. While I found all of the characters enjoyable, my absolute favorite was Itami Cho, the Whispering Blade. She was stoic but caring, badass but kind, and you could tell that she knew or suspected far more than she let on about their mission, their physical state, and the boy who had drafted them for this endeavor. She’s an incredibly strong female character and in my opinion was the shining star of the story. With such a superlative story, there’s not many faults that I find in this story. But to be objective, the only thing I can say is that the final twist is perhaps not telegraphed as smoothly as it could have been. Again I can’t talk more without spoiling the story and so I’ll just leave it at that. Lastly as an Asian, I’m glad to say this book is very much a homage to the anime and manga medium. It utilizes several aspects of Japanese mythology and their usage is done with proper context.

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Never Die is a stellar, self published debut that is worth of every praise, and raises the 'fantasy' bar sky high! I had a genuinely positive time throughout the majority of this book, however, for about 20% I was worried if it was going to be too formulaic with the team walking, fighting a demon, meeting someone to have a dual with, repeat - which did happen a couple of times. A few of the set-pieces are as if they've been taken from a level of Mortal Kombat, an end of act fight from Streets of Rage, a boss fight from The Legend of Zelda, and colourful fight scenes straight out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It is an interesting mix. Although all of the above are frequent throughout, Hayes doesn't forget how to write battles, sieges, and final confrontations.

The writing style did not disappoint and it was everything I wanted and more! It was funny, emotional, deep, relatable and easy to follow.Focusing on four characters, Itami Cho the Whispering Blade from Ipia, Zhihao Cheng the Emerald Wind, Iron Gut Chen Lu, & Bingwei Ma the undefeated wushu master of Sun Valley. Joining them in this mission in an enigmatic assassin called Roi Astara a.k.a. Death's Echo, his loyalties are unknown as are his motivations. But the only constant is that he's dying of a particular disease that forces him to wrap himself in bandages and hope that his body is able to survive till the end. Rounding out the cast is young Ein whose intention is singular and powered with death magic, he will do everything in his power to kill the emperor for reasons only shared between him and the Shinigami. The prologue of the story is short, dark and reads "Itami Cho woke to the screams of her own death. She remembered it all!" A mysterious murdered eight-year-old boy - Ein sets on a mission to kill Emperor of Ten Kings. He can’t do it alone. He needs the help of heroes, preferably legendary ones. To serve him, they must first die. Brought up between South Africa, the US and Bournemouth, he flirted with drugs, drink and criminality before joining the Royal Marines.