This page details some of the pro and am media reviews for Igor’s books and short stories.

Praise for Decay (Humanz)

Decay review by Calbe Polk, in Reviewer’s Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review, December 2017:

OMG! Zombies have feelings too! Who knew?

Praise for Prince Dietrich (Woes & Hose)

Dietrich review by Clabe Polk, in Reviewer’s Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review, June 2017:

The Amazing Adventures of Dashing Prince Dietrich is a study in human nature; the part consisting of envy, greed, pervasiveness and disobedience, and the part consisting of murder, back-stabbing and the demands of self, without the benefits of self-awareness. It is well written and edited, and should be enjoyed by a broad spectrum of readers along with a mixture of disgust, a little dark humor, and compassion for Dietrich’s companions. 4-Stars

Dietrich review by BookLife (Publishers Weekly), December 2016:

Ljubuncic’s odious novel takes the idea of the fantasy quest to a new low: Prince Dick is crude, self-involved, greedy, lazy, and completely dishonorable. He has no redeeming qualities and never gains any through his ridiculous attempts to dodge his royal duties.

Dietrich review by Lynne Hinkey, Undergroundbookreviews.org, October 2016:

The writing is excellent and Ljubuncic keeps the reader walking a tightrope between wanting the “dashing prince” to succeed and wanting him to get his comeuppance. The author’s ability to keep the reader turning the pages despite so few not- despicable characters, is truly a feat to behold.

Dietrich review by N. E. White, SFFWorld.com, September 2016:

Despite all the completely unsympathetic characters, I couldn’t stop reading. It was like watching a train wreck. Truly gut-wrenching and dreadful, but you can’t look away. As the author says in his blurb, you just got to know what Dick will do next.

Dietrich review by Wendell Adams, bookwraiths.com, July 2016:

All in all, Igor Ljubuncic has crafted a fine grimdark with The Amazing Adventures of Dashing Prince Dietrich. Filled with gray characters, political machinations, amoral actions, and non-stop twists and turns, it will satisfy most every grimdark lover’s craving.

Praise for The Betrayed (The Lost Words)

The Betrayed review by Evgeny, booklikes.com, August 2014:

This fantasy debut exceeded my expectations … The final verdict is 4 solid stars with the next book of the series promptly going to my to-read shelf.

The Betrayed review by Wendell Adams, bookwraiths.com, June 2014:

Without a doubt, The Betrayed is an undeniably well written novel that is thought provoking, fast paced, and full of dramatic action. It relies on its sweeping storyline and constant narrative shifts to create suspense and leave a reader thoughtfully introspective about the story’s serious themes. The characters are gritty and raw, the battles gory and realistic, and the atrocities of war and of sadistic people plainly described.

The Betrayed review by Chris Brunt for Neutral Magazine, May 2014:

The narrative voice is gritty and mud-splattered, apt enough for a grim and dogmatic reality where the various creeds, corresponding to their various gods, loom over the land as real and immediate as Orwell’s ‘Big Brother is watching you’ maxim.

The Betrayed review by Readers’ Favorite, April 2014:

The characters in The Betrayed are fascinating people who are placed in extraordinary circumstances… This is a lightening-fast novel in which subtle political and religious messages abound.

The Betrayed review in Reviewer’s Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review, August 2012:

The Betrayed is an enticing fantasy that should prove very hard to put down, much recommended.

War to End All Wars anthology

Detailed and quite fascinating review of my short story The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, which was featured in this WWI anthology. Best of all, the story was nominated for the 2014 Sidewise Awards for Alternate History!

Randomly selected readers’ quotes

Anna says:

i like the style of his writing … we’ll see how it goes :)

Danijel asks for more:

The story culminates, but it leaves a lot open, making us wait for the next book (hopefully not for very long).

Marvpel feels there’s more work to be done.

The Broken fixes its predecessor’s faults, but doing this, it introduces some new weak spots, losing the original freshness and giving the feeling of being a bit more generic. Still, altough I may have sounded a bit harsh during this review, i liked it and it deserves attention nonetheless.

Doron opines thusly:

This sequel picks up the best things from the first book: gripping characters, each unique and twisted, never quite the protagonist nor the antagonist; story telling rarely seen these days where the author breaks the fantasy mold time and time again in interesting and unexpected ways; intrigue, politics, murder and betrayal. I read this book until having to get to sleep, while brushing my teeth, in elevator rides longer than three floors and whenever else I could sneak a page in.

Poulichet has the following to offer:

This one is far much better than volume I. The style of the author reminds me Roger Zelazny’s. That book is a very good read.

Peter felt you can find tender moments and breathe now and then:

The cover promises a dark and grim world inside. And dark and grim world it is. Full of violence, of desperation, full of evil. But not like in majority of other books, you feel that all this has its purpose, and through this the author has something important to say. You still can find tender moments, when you can take a deep breath.

Cristian aims for the PG rating:

At last, few words about the audience for the book,which IMO should be mature only. There are several sexual allusions mentioned during the story,as well as (sometimes too explicit) gore and violence brought by the war and city destruction. Keep this book away from children!

DarkDuck discovers the wonders of human-ness in the book:

When you first read the word “fantasy” in the book description, it is very likely that you imaging world full of unusual creatures: trolls, hobbits, orcs, goblins. Don’t expect them to appear in this book by Igor Ljubuncic. Instead, his universe is inhabited by usual people, like most of us.

Ben agrees with the rest:

Like other reviewers mentioned – it isn’t easy to write a fantasy book. It’s even more difficult to write a good fantasy book – one that draws you into the world it describes, without being overbearing and redundant. Remarkably, this is what the author managed to do in his debut work.

This book describes a dark sinister world – with people that match it. Violence is a-plenty. There are a few places where the author may have been too focused on the violence and military details, but in my opinion those incidents are negligible when considering the breadth and depth of this book.

Marv likes it, but let’s focus on the criticism, as it’s more important than praise:

And here comes the first problem: it totally lacks depth in ambient descriptions. It’s hard to imagine the places where characters move, no way to picture landscapes in our head. All the action is focused on characters. The second, big problem, is fragmentation. Chapters are very short and each of them is related to one character. There are about 3-4 plots that proceed at the same time. Combine these two things and you have a fragmented story which is not easy to follow.

Anyway, I had a great fun reading this book. It has a lot of action, very fast paced and it’s one of the few fantasy books that is grim, dark and realistic. Not a masterpiece, but a good start for a saga that i hope will continue. Overall, I give it 3.5/5 rounded to 4/5 because it’s Igor’s first work and some faults are easily forgivable.

Danijel shares in the R-rating opinion:

It is intended for adult readers, as there are very violent parts.

Another nice review from a guy named Dan with some good pointers for The Betrayed sequel:

Also, it should be noted that (as the title states) this is the first book of a series, and its ending is somewhat abrupt and leaves more questions than it answers. Overall, I enjoyed the original story, the diversity and colorfulness of the characters, the fact that no one and everyone is a protagonist and the large universe which I feel will be a very fertile soil for the next books in the series, that will hopefully build upon the solid foundations laid by this book.

This lovely melodramatic quote from the official fan page:

Well, I didn’t finish reading this book… yet. I read about two thirds. As a fellow earthman, as a human being I should warn you, dear readers, whoever you are reading this book, it might color your day in black and darker black. Reading this violent, blood-flesh-bones-throwing-all-over book consequently day after day will bring violence into your life and feeling that hope is not for you. If you want to feel the joy of simple things like sunshine, air and knowing that there are people around you who do not wish you dead by suffocation and blood spilling, just read the book for a while (start where you’d like) and then close it and look around, take a deep breath. It will be like reincarnation, but you will be remembering you were dead for a while. The book is evil, mostly because of the combination of a good story, which makes you want to read further, and unspeakable violence and cruelty – beware, it’s a trap!

From someone named Marc, via email:

Because I’m a cheap bastard, I took advantage of your generous free download offer. Unfortunately, because I didn’t pay anything, Amazon won’t allow me to post any reviews.  So, here goes with my opinion. Firstly, I’m an avid reader, mainly sci-fi and fantasy, NOT an armchair critic. And, I like your style of writing and world-view as Dedoimedo.

The Betrayed – The first few pages I found relatively hard to get into. But, suddenly, I couldn’t put it down! It reminded me of the Wheel Of Time- now don’t get a big head- I said reminded, not the same as. Again, similar in that there are lots of interesting characters to follow. Overall, left me impatient for the next book, thus recommended, or, to use your favourite expression, lovely jubbly. Rating: 8.5/10, or 4.2/5,

The Broken – Appreciated that there was more to read and characters developing. A little taken aback that it continued 18 years after the first book ended (I do realise that you’ll probably fill in some gaps in the books to come). I haven’t quite finished it (about 80% through), but I am enjoying it. I’ve found it to be a little less gripping than the first book and get the impression that you may have rushed it a bit. Overall, looking forward to the next book, still recommended, mostly harmless (geddit?). Rating: 8/10, or 4/5.

Thank you for your great debut.