Newest Fantasy Reviews

	The Parentations by Kate Mayfield Fantasy, Historical Fiction In eighteenth century London, sisters Fitzgerald, Constance and Verity are changed forever when they become entwined with the Fowler family - and charged with protecting a mysterious child. Fast forward to the London of 2015, and the sisters are still waiting - with no way of knowing if the boy is alive or dead. Far away, a hidden pool grants those who sup from it eternal life, but also forces them to keep a secret for two hundred years. As those years pass by, those who were granted immortality find that it's far from a blessing - with true darkness emerging in the absence of death. Full Review
	The Seer's Curse by J J Faulks Confident Readers Although The Seer's Curse is billed as a pre-teen novel, I would say that it would appeal to a wide audience interested in fantasy and mythology, as well as just a good tale. Full Review
	The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton Fantasy One minute here is richer than a thousand moments there In the resplendent world of Orléans, beauty runs through the blood of a select few: the Belles. Only they have the power to transform the appearance of a population cursed with grey skin and red eyes, who covet beauty above all else. Camellia Beauregard is a new generation Belle, ready to fulfil her duty and help the people to love themselves. Like her sisters, she's in the running to be the favourite – the most accomplished Belle in the land, personally chosen by the royal family to live in the palace and tend to members of court, with the power to make a difference. It's what she's been wanting and training for her whole life… but so too have her sisters. And only the best will be selected. Full Review
	The Beasts of Electra Drive by Rohan Quine Science Fiction, Fantasy Meet Jaymi. He's a world-class video games designer, and fresh to a new mansion in the Hollywood Hills on the basis of some recent success. But he's seen the future and he doesn't like it. His current employers, able to bring any amount of class, skill and culture to the world of gameplay, are beset on appealing to the most lunkheaded and lowest common denominators instead. Indeed, their next big thing will change the world for the worse – it will be a massively disturbing environment, where people progress through the world of the entity by spreading fake news about anyone and everyone else on the planet, whether they're playing along or not, and by getting kind of prestige points on spoiling and shaming anything beyond a user-accepted, algorithm-designed, status quo. With a much more Reithian approach, Jaymi goes freelance, and sets up a way of restoring the balance with a launch of his own, where aspects of his more humanitarian mind are played out by avatars of him in the game. He sees this as a way to improve society and get his own back – but the chance of getting revenge more quickly comes about when those avatars leave their encoded background, and become fully playable characters in reality… Full Review
	The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden Fantasy In the second book of the trilogy Katherine Arden builds on her original story to create something even better. This book is utterly wonderful and it is at the same time complex and gentle. The first book set up the characters in the Petronova family but sometimes left the characters feeling a little thin; this book builds on the first to give depth to the family members and their ties to each other. It's a great story but I would strongly advise reading the two books in order to get the full effect of the plot. Full Review
	Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft Fantasy Thomas Senlin embarks on his honeymoon with high hopes. He and his young wife Marya are travelling on a sleeper train across Ur to that engineering marvel, that fabled centre of culture, the Tower of Babel. It's a place he's read books about, taught his pupils about, and longed to visit, but the bustling and chaotic surroundings of the Tower in the desert are a long way from the quiet fishing village in which Senlin teaches. When he loses sight of Marya shortly after their arrival, he has no option but to look for her in this strange and overwhelming place. For all his background reading before the trip, he is ill-prepared for what he finds in the Tower, both its marvels and its horrors, and thus begins Thomas Senlin's arduous quest to recover his wife. Full Review
	Strange Weather by Joe Hill Horror, Fantasy, General Fiction Strange Weather is a collection of four short novels all linked by, unsurprisingly, strange and cataclysmic weather. Each novel is distinct and showcases Hill's restrained yet vivid style which takes everyday events and makes them bitingly, acerbically macabre or blindingly beautiful, often switching from one sentence to the next. As Hill himself says the beauty of the world and the horror of the world were twined together, never is this truer than in Strange Weather where moments of abject horror are coupled with raw beauty. Full Review
	Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester Paranormal, Horror, Fasntasy Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, a grim reaper and his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a stoner in the records department) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clean surface to sit on in their flat. Full Review

The Two of Swords by K J Parker

Fantasy

This is a difficult book to review, to be honest, because I am still not sure if I liked it. It is the first book of a trilogy so I expected that a lot of it would be to set the scene and the characters but this doesn't really happen. The novel is set during a long standing war between east and west that has been going on for so long no-one is really sure why they are fighting. Currently in command are the Belot brothers, each one a military genius and each one fighting for the opposing side, there is also the guild of craftsmen whose purpose we never fully know and their role is to manipulate and interfere to serve their own interests. Full review...

Mageborn (Age of Dread) by Stephen Aryan

Fantasy

Magic will destroy us all

Ten years after the devastating battlemage war when mages used their immense power to tear each other apart and sundered the world itself, suspicion of those who wield magic is at an all-time high. With the recent resurrection of the Red Tower, an institution for students to learn to control and expand their magic, Seekers visit villages each month to test children for magical abilities. But for those children and their families it is not a gift, it is a cursed For Habreel, who will never forget the destruction during the war, the elimination of all magic will save countless lives and is the only solution to long lasting stability. He will stop at nothing to achieve his aim; he will deal with the devil, crush villages and kill anyone in his way. Full review...

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

General Fiction

I've read several of Alice Hoffman's novels, although strangely, not the one she's most famous for Practical Magic, which went on to be made into a film. The Rules of Magic is the long-awaited prequel to that book, and tells the story of three siblings of the Owens family; Franny, Jet and Vincent. The two sisters, Franny and Jet, go on to become the two aunts in the Practical Magic story. Full review...

Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Fantasy

imon would not have considered himself a hero. In fact, by all accounts, particularly that of his parents, Simon is an epic failure. He's large, he's hairy, he has a ridiculously oversized nose and he's been kicked out of boarding school and kept on a federal watch list. But Simon is sure something is up with his friend Kat. She won't speak to him. So he resorts to buying an incredibly expensive new virtual reality video game for them both - Otherworld. Otherworld engages your senses with graphics so good, you'll swear they are real, and it's here that Simon really wants to talk to Kat. But it isn't real, it's a game… until a turn of events lands Simon in Otherworld in an all together different way. This time, whatever harm his avatar suffers has real consequences. And if it dies? Simon would rather not think about that. If he wants to save Kat, he has to keep pressing on. Simon is the chosen one, this is not a game. Full review...

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso

Fantasy

The Raverran Empire is run by a doge and the council of seven, the governing group formed by the aristocratic families of Eruvia. The Empire thrives from trade, culture and the obedience of the cities surrounding Raverra. The Empire has obtained this power and dominance by harnessing and controlling the magic of Eruvia and all the mage-marked that possess it. For years the Raverran empire has known peace, but with whispers of a rebellion, the discovery of a fire-warlock and the disappearance of children, the Empire's authority over Eruvia is in danger and war is looming on the horizon. Full review...

Seventh Decimate by Stephen Donaldson

Fantasy

The Seventh Decimate is not a book with compelling characters or buzzing personalities; it is not a book that allowed me to invest in the struggles of its protagonist, Prince Bifalt, with any particular ease. Though it is a book about war and the desperate extremes a nation will go to ensure absolute victory against its greatest foe. Full review...

Infernal Machines by John Hornor Jacobs

Fantasy

Having discovered the evil intent of the Autumn Lords, Livia Cornelius is trying to beat the inferno that the ensuing war is creating in order to get back to her husband Fisk. That's not as easy as it sounds though as she and her entourage including (her sister Carnelia and Livia's baby) will be caught up in the conflict more than they'd like to be. Meanwhile Fisk along with fellow mercenary Shoe, doesn't have it any easier… and the world is burning. Full review...

The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli

Fantasy

Once there was a girl who was drawn to wicked things

The Last Namsara revolves around Asha, a fierce young woman who has whispered stories to dragons all her life. But where once she told them in friendship, now she uses stories to hunt all those that still plague her father's fracturing kingdom. Full review...

Son of the Night by Mark Alder

Fantasy

In Son of the Morning, author Mark Alder plunges the reader into a chaotic, dangerous world, taking them back to the turbulent reign of Edward III and the dangers of the Hundred Years War. Adding elements of fantasy and theology to the mix, Alder created an intriguing read which is continued in Son of the Night. With Lucifer, Satan, God, Devils and Angels interacting with a cast of real and well researched characters, Alder continues his exploration of the Hundred Years war whilst rather incredibly keeping his readers as educated as they are entertained. Full review...

Wilderness of Ice by Keith Devine

Fantasy

Hans Schröder was not best pleased to be going to the Nazi party headquarters in Alexanderplatz, Berlin. It was a snowy night in December 1937 and even then Heinrich Himmler of the SS Protection Squadron had something of a reputation. Schröder know that his beliefs were not completely in tune with those of the party hierarchy, but on this occasion it was an order which would find him leading an expedition to Tibet in search of the yeti: Hitler and Josef Mengele were keen to see if improvements could be made to the master race and the thought of a humanoid with amazing capabilities was too tempting to dismiss. In January 1938 the expedition was on its way via Transylvania. Full review...

Princess of Blood by Tom Lloyd

Fantasy

Toil – unpredictable and dangerous even for an assassin, now wears the Princess of Blood on her jacket. Mercanery Lynx still has his doubts about her – but a new mission to escort a dignitary soon throws the old team back together. Travelling to an ancient city that conceals a mysterious labyrinth, the situations go from bad to worse, with new threats and worse horrors on every corner. The group argue and bicker as they go along – but will they be too concerned with their own disputes to see the far blacker evil that threatens to surround them? Full review...

The Iron Hound by Tim Akers

Fantasy

Ruling with an iron hand, the Church has eliminated the ancient pagan ways. Yet demonic gheists terrorise the land, hunted by the Inquisition, while age-old hatreds rage between the north and the south. Three heroes Malcolm and Ian Blakeley and Gwendolyn Adair must end the bloodshed before chaos is unleashed. Full review...