Difference between revisions of "Newest Fantasy Reviews"

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[[Category:Fantasy|*]]
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|author=A G Slatter
{{newreview
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|title=The Briar Book of the Dead
|title=Before the Fall
 
|author=Francis Knight
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=After destroying Mahala's power source, Rojan really, really wants to keep his head down. The Ministry thinks he's dead - which helps - but with the last scraps of power fast fading, people are starving and the danger of riots and chaos looms.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501671</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
 
|author=Anthony Ryan
 
|title=Blood Song: Book 1 of Raven's Shadow
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Young Vaelin Al Sorna's father takes him to the gates of the Sixth Order of the Faith and leaves him there.  Vaelin's father is the King's Battle Lord and Vaelin's mother someone the lad has sorely missed since her death but this doesn't matter. As a member of the Order Vaelin has no family except his Order brethren. The long life-threatening training binds him closer to his fellows while exposing him to greater dangers and mysteries than he's ever known. However one day he'll outgrow his comrades.  One day he'll become a name whispered with fear and awe.  For Vaelin will become a deadly weapon: Hope Killer himself.
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|summary='' There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356502465</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
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Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's, a family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands. Though she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since she was young, her training as a steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a maelstrom of chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat.
|title=The Mirror Chronicles: the Bell Between Worlds
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|isbn=1803364548
|author=Ian Johnstone
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=The hero of this long and engrossing book is a boy of twelve, orphaned, lonely and unloved. He spends the little free time he has in creating beautiful kites covered in complicated, colourful designs until the day he meets a strange old man who sets him on the path to his destiny as a saviour of not one but two worlds. But in line with the traditions of the genre, this path will be fraught with fear, danger and loss.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007491220</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Rachel Greenlaw
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|title=Compass and Blade
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|rating=3.5
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|genre=Teens
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|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''
  
{{newreview
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Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. But when the Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, they capture the island's leader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the heart of the smuggler's territory, Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to save the future of her home and the ones she holds most dear.
|author=Marie Harbon
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|isbn=0008664730
|title=Seven Point Eight: The First Chronicle
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|summary=Following several main characters - scientist Paul, businessman Max, remote viewer Tahra and mystery woman Ava - across two time frames spanning the 1940s to the present day, ''Seven Point Eight'' blends science fiction and fantasy in a sprawling, absorbing, diffuse novel that will attract fans of both genres.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B005IBYKC0</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=T Kingfisher
|author=Royce Prouty
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|title=Thornhedge
|title=Stoker's Manuscript
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|rating=5
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=In a world where vampires are the new romantic heroes, Stoker’s Manuscript is a bit of a Godsend. I, for one, am absolutely delighted to find some good old fashioned evil as sin, night dwelling, blood guzzling, crucifix hating Romanian villains. Of course, this means sacrificing sexiness, romance and attractively sulking out of a window but since what we get in exchange is stunning views of Transylvania, thought-through biology (for want of a better word) of the creatures and stakes that are elevated beyond one person, I say sharpen up the spike pit.
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|summary=''You had a right to retake your place.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099574454</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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T Kingfisher's latest novella is a lovely reimagining of a fairytale that is well known and well beloved. But whilst there is a princess trapped in a tower, sleeping under an eternal enchantment, Thornhedge is not her story. Instead, our protagonist is Toadling, who was stolen away by fairies when she was a new-born baby and secreted away to the land of fairie where her childhood was spent being taught how to draw magic from her veins and cast spells.
|author=Bee Ridgway
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|isbn=1803364238
|title=The River of No Return
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary= Nick was born in England in 1790 and is rather partial to pickled bits of pig and beef jelly. He finds this rather difficult to explain to his girlfriends, him being a young man and this being America, 2013. His 19th century Napoleonic war wounds are hard to explain away too.  His second lease on life in the 21st century is thanks to the mysterious Guild whose main rule is that no one can return to the time or home country from which they originated.  He doesn't mind as they pay him well for his silence but all this is about to change.  Eventually they seem to think that they can send him back and won't take no for an answer.  Any thought of a possible catch is suppressed by thoughts of Julia, the girl Nick left behind in England.  It's all a bit fishy though.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718176987</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|author=Mur Lafferty
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
|title=The Shambling Guide to New York City (The Shambling Guides)
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Fantasy
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|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Zoe is an unemployed book editor who had to leave her last job, and indeed her last city, in rather a hurry.  Zoe's personal exodus brings her to New York and the possibility of a job that sounds perfect: editing a travel guide to NYC itself.  However, its projected readership isn't one for which Zoe has written before.  New York City is full of monsters or coterie to be polite.  Vampires, werewolves, demons, sprites, zombies… the list goes on as all alternative life is there, both in and out of the office.  So the first question is if she survives her colleagues, will she survive her readership?  The second question being, of course, who or what is Granny Good Mae?
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501906</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
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Cast out from Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which her art can find a home and where her future can thrive rather than stagnate. But as some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the powerful Accademia, the self-proclaimed guardians of the healing magics that through paintings have the power to protect the city and its citizens from plagues and curses. The all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for centuries and guard it above all else. To them, Artemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society.
|author=Stephen Lloyd Jones
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|isbn=1803362340
|title=The String Diaries
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary= Hannah Wilde flees into the Welsh mountains with daughter Leah and husband Nate while the life blood slowly seeps out of him.  They run to escape the evil that has relentlessly haunted Hannah's family for generations.  Some people see it as a Hungarian legend but to the Wildes it's real and insatiable and won't forget them.  They know what to do: verify everyone, trust no one and, if in any doubt, RUN!  Although one day that may not be enough.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472204670</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Thomas D Lee
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|title=Perilous Times
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|rating=3
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|genre= Fantasy
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|summary= ''Hate is the path of least resistance''
  
{{newreview
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Set in the near-distant future, in a world on the verge of climate collapse, Britain is in great peril. The British Isles desperately needs a hero (or several) to save the day and rescue what little remains. What no-one expected was that one of the Knights of the Round Table would answer the call.
|author=Susan Cooper
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|isbn=0356518523
|title=The Dark is Rising Sequence
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=As a child, I read The Grey King, book 4 in Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising Sequence. I loved the book so much it topped my Christmas list for years, but sadly Santa never delivered. As an adult I finally bought the entire sequence for myself. This book is intended as a child's book, and it is brilliant as book for children, but it is also well loved by many adults, whether as a cherished memory of their own childhood or as a book discovered as an adult. I'll admit that as child, this can book can completely draw into other worlds in a manner not possible for an adult, but this is still an excellent read, whatever age you may be.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0140316884</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Amelia Estelle Dellos
|author=Lilith Saintcrow
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|title=Delilah Recovered
|title=The Red Plague Affair
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|rating=4
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Sorceress Prime, Emma Bannon, has done many things in service of Queen and Country, and willingly. Her latest mission to track down a missing doctor puts her in the path of a deadly contagion - the Red plague.  Mentath Archibald Clare is perhaps the only person capable of helping her find the doctor in time. But asking Clare, and Valentinelli his assassin servant, to assist in the chase risks exposing them to the Red. And Clare does not have the sorcerous advantages that Emma possesses.
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|summary= We meet Dee at a point when her life isn't going as planned but things might, just might, be about to look up. Out of work, about to lose her flat, Dee is up for an accountant's job. But it's not to be. Dee is attacked by two men calling themselves witch hunters. She survives the attack but not unscathed. Witch hunters? What on earth has that to do with Dee? She's just an ordinary woman, living an ordinary life. Slivers of memory of things that are not ordinary at all return to her and things will never be the same....
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356500934</amazonuk>
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|isbn=B0BKYFDLLV
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Hadeer Elsbai
|author=Susan Ee
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|title=The Daughters of Izdihar
|title=Angelfall (Penryn and the End of Days Book 1)
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Angels have ransacked the Earth and humankind is facing the apocalypse. The people who are left are desperate and starving. Penryn is one of the survivors and the protector of her disabled younger sister Paige, and when Paige is kidnapped by an angel for an unknown purpose Penryn has to do everything within her power to find and rescue her. Embarking on a quest containing all manner of horrors both human and supernatural, Penryn is forced to make dangerous decisions and question her own humanity.
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|summary= Drawing inspiration from Egypt, ''The Daughters of Izdihar'' explores the lives of two women who could not be more different, yet find themselves fighting for the rights of women and weavers – those with magical abilities - in a society pitted against them. Nehal, born into the upper class, wishes to attend the Weaving Academy to learn to control her abilities and then join the military, but instead she is forced into an arranged marriage with Nico. Giorgina on the other hand did not have a privileged upbringing like Nehal and feels great pressure to provide for her family and maintain their reputation, whilst secretly attending meetings of the Daughters of Izdihar – a group campaigning for women's rights. Giorgina also happens to be in love with Nico. What follows is a story of an unjust society, filled with hypocrisy and cruelty, from which blossoms a group of admirable women fighting for their rights and overcoming their personal obstacles.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144477851X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0356520471
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Heather Fawcett
|author=Daniel Abraham
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|title=Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries
|title=The Tyrant's Law (Dagger and the Coin)
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=Cithrin Bel Sarcour has arrived in Suddapal to complete her apprenticeship with the Medean Bank, but her past actions may have put her in danger. After being betrayed by his comrade Yardem, Marcus Wester has set out with Kitap rol Keshmet to kill a goddess. Clara Kalliam, who should be disgraced after her husband's treason, is surviving on the edge of high society thanks to her youngest son's friendship with the Lord Regent Geder Palliako - and is ready to risk everything to save her nation from Palliako. Meanwhile, all Geder wants is peace and prosperity for that nation. Even if it means killing everyone who disagrees with him to make sure he can get it.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0316080705</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Howard Andrew Jones
 
|title=The Desert of Souls (The Chronicle of Sword and Sand)
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Fantasy
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary= Place: Baghdad  Time: 8th century Arabian-Nights-Time  A dying man gives Dabir, tutor at the Caliph's palace, a precious artefact, making him promise to look after itUnfortunately it gets stolen before he has the chance to.  Jaffar the son of the Caliph's vizier realises that it has magical qualities that make it even more precious than it appears and isn't too well pleasedHe gives Dabir a chance to redeem himself, sending him and Asim, Captain of the Caliph's guard, to find itThe men set out on their quest facing danger, death, sorcery and someone whose presence could get them into even deeper trouble.
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|summary=Emily Wilde is an expert academic scholar on faerie lore, and she has travelled extensively, and researched meticulously, to write her life's work, the very first encyclopaedia of faeriesWhilst she is brilliant at research and speaking to faeries, she is not so good with peopleSo when she finds herself far, far North in the small village of Hrafvsnik, having somehow offended the village matriarch, she is not sure what she has done, nor how to redeem herself and put her final investigations for her book back on the right trackEnter Wendell Bambleby, her dashingly handsome and insufferable rival who arrives unexpectedly, all charm and delight, much to Emily's frustrationBut why is he here?  What does he want?  And what exactly is going on with the faerie folk around Hravsnik?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781854637</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0356519120
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Christopher Golden
|author=Jon Courtenay Grimwood
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|title=Road of Bones
|title=The Exiled Blade
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|rating=3.5
|rating=4.5
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|genre=Horror
|genre=Fantasy
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|summary=The Kolyma Highway… the 'Road of Bones'… the R504. Stretching for over a thousand miles across Siberia, it's one of the world's most notorious routes.  For months of the year it's a spread of sheet ice suspended above the permafrost surrounding it, while its 'spring' sees it turn into a huge blodge of unremitting, apocalyptic-level mud, which dries into rutted, puddly dust.  I don't think google streetview updates it very often.  Built because Stalin wanted so much uranium and other Siberian minerals, and because he wanted to give too many people a lesson, it legendarily cost a life every metre it covers.  You can easily find documentaries about it online, but that's a bit rich, for one of our main characters, Felix 'Teig' Teigland, is a film-maker, doing a recce with his cameraman buddy, John Prentiss – who's mostly there to encourage the project to fruition to claw back some of the funds he'd invested in the pair's prior TV projects.  They pick up their oh-so-chatty local guide, gain the company of a local beauty, and fetch up at the guide's childhood village. And that's where things start to go awry…
|summary=Tycho is back to face the dangerous intrigue of the Venetian Court. While he wants nothing more than to spend his nights with beautiful Guilietta Millioni, when the worst winter in living memory hits the city, and Duchess Alexa's treacherous rival builds a stronghold in Montenegro and attacks Guilietta's son, Tycho must really take up the responsibility of his office as Blade.
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|isbn=1803361476
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841498505</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Andrew Givler
|author=Richard Ford
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|title=Soul Fraud (The Debt Collection Book 1)
|title=Herald of the Storm
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|rating=4
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Nobul is a blacksmith and ex-mercenary who thinks he has next to nothing until even that is taken away from him.  Rag is a young waif, surviving on the streets from stealth and a talent for stealing. Waylian spends his days poring over books and dodging verbal abuse as a witch's apprentice. Meanwhile Merrick, drinker, gambler and for hire by anyone who can afford him (i.e. by anyone) receives a commission he can't refuse no matter how much he'd like to.  River the assassin and Kaira one of the temple guard Shieldmaidens just continue what they always do, day in, day out. For in Steelhaven daily life is a routine round of existence until one day something happens… and suddenly it's not.
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|summary=''Matt has a terrible life. Seriously—it's awful. It is so bad that Dan the Demon is shocked when Matt turns down his infernal offer: 10 years of a blissful life in exchange for his soul.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472203925</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
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Poor Dan! I know, I know, we shouldn't feel sorry for soul-catching demons. But he really is a terrible salesman. He never hits his targets and, when he fails to get even Matt to sign on the dotted line, he's so desperate that he simply forges Matt's signature.
|author=Ian Irvine
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|isbn=1958204021
|title=Rebellion: Tainted Realm: Book 2
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=The former heir Rixium is now just plain Rix as he flees his ancestral castle in Hightspall hotly pursued by the marauding Cythonians, invading his home along with his homeland.  Accompanying Rix are Glynnie, a young maidservant and her little brother Benn. Hampered by his entanglement with the enemy resulting in the brutal loss of his right hand, Rix is also still mourning his best friend Tobry, killed when hurled from a tower. Meanwhile, Rix's other friend, a Pale and therefore ex-slave of the Cythonians, Tali has been kidnapped on the orders of the evil chancellor.  He isn't the only one after her, just her current possessor.  The other is Lyf, the Cythonian King who needs only one more of the legendary black pearls to secure his omnipotence, i.e. the black pearl embedded in Tali's head.  Tali's escape from slavery came at a price, but the future for both her and Rix seems a lot more costly.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841498297</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Olivie Blake
|author=Brian McClellan
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|title=The Atlas Six
|title=Promise of Blood (Powder Mage Trilogy)
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|rating=4
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary= Adamat, investigator and ex-police inspector, is summoned to the Skyline Palace for, he assumes, an audience with the king.  However, when he arrives, the grounds are in darkness and a greater darkness lurks within.  The King's Hielman bodyguard are all dead and the royal family won't be around for much longer as Field Marshal Tamas of the home-grown Adros Military has led a coup.  Tamas wants to hire Adamat for his investigating prowess but neither Adamat, Tamas nor the mages and sorcerers under Tamas' command realise what will be unleashed as a result… or perhaps Tamas does.  Meanwhile a servant girl starts the fight for the survival of herself and a small but very important child.
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|summary= Dark, sharp, and highly inquisitive, ''The Atlas Six'' makes its publishing debut after becoming a Tik-Tok sensation.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>035650199X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1529095239
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Daniel Abraham
|author=C Robert Cargill
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|title=Age of Ash
|title=Dreams and Shadows
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|rating=4.5
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Once upon a time, a sweet boy met a sweet girl and they fell perfectly in love. Their love is rich and fulfilling and true. They did what people in love do: moved in together, got married, had a baby. And then something most people don't believe exists crawls into their house through an open window and exchanges their perfect baby for a changeling. It's the start of something bigger than even the switcher can begin to imagine.
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|summary= We meet Alys under the most northerly of Oldgate's four bridges, she has a knife in her hand and a meeting that she dreads.   Meanwhile the City of Kithamar is at a point in the turning of years when the worlds are at their thinnest and all things are possible. It is the night between the funeral of a Prince and the coronation of his successor.  For a night the Kithamar is un-ruled.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0575130091</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0356515427
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author= Ann Sei Lin
|author=Helen Lowe
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|title= Rebel Skies
|title=The Gathering of the Lost
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|rating= 5
|rating=4.5
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|genre= Teens
|genre=Fantasy
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|summary= Kurara has spent her entire life as a servant on the Midori, a massive dining hall floating in the sky where soldiers of the Empire come to drink and make merry between their conquests. However, when a man named Himura arrives to tell her that she is a Crafter like him, someone with the power to form paper into whatever she desires – a power sought after all across the Empire. He asks her to come with him, to leave the life of dreary servitude that is all she has known. Well, soon Kurara won't have any say in the matter, because the Midori is destroyed by a monstrous paper spirit known as a shikigami, and she is forced to flee out into the world. She joins Himura aboard the Orihime, a sky-ship whose express purpose is to hunt down shikigami, and a whole world of adventure awaits her…
|summary=It may only have taken a year for the second in the ''Wall of Night'' series to hit the shelves, but on Haarth five years have passed since [[The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe|The Heir of Night]] disappeared from the Wall. She's known not to have died in the Swarm attack, but was last seen in the wilds of Jaransor and many believe her now to be dead.
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|isbn=1406399590
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356500039</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=B09Q3P283Y
|author=Graham Thomas
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|title=Shadebringer
|title=Maria & The Devil
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|author=Grayson W Hooper
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=''The Devil has ridden out''.
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|summary=Clyde Robbins signs up for the US Army during the Vietnam War. He's not really that invested in the fight against Communism, nor is he particularly interested in a career in the military. If he's honest - which Clyde usually is, with himself at least - he hasn't got many choices and this one, at least, gets him out of the rut he's in. He's good in training and is quickly put onto a non commissioned officer training course. He's chuffed with himself.
 
 
Maria's lover is Montana's most feared outlaw. He has left her alone in a secluded cabin deep in the wilderness. Maria is pregnant. Left in solitude, she develops a familiar routine that feels safe. But the isolation is pervasive and Maria's defences against it are crumbling. And while she waits for her lover to return, she is discovered by Rickman Chill, whose gang is tracking the Devil in a relentless quest for revenge. What will happen when Chill discovers Maria's identity? Will the Devil return in time?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00BFEC2NI</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Jennifer Saint
|author=Mark Lingane
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|title=Elektra
|title=Beyond Belief
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|rating=4
|rating=4.5
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|genre=Literary Fiction
|genre=Crime
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|summary='Elektra' by Jennifer Saint tells the story of three women who live in the heavily male dominated world of Ancient Greece. Cassandra, Clytemnestra, and Elektra are all bit players in the story of the Trojan War. Yet Jennifer Saint shows us that often the silent women have the most compelling stories and the most extreme furies.
|summary=Joshua Richards isn't the most successful PI; clients aren't exactly lining up around the block but he lives in hope that one day his luck will change… and it does. Within a couple of weeks he has a sudden plethora of enquirers; the bad news is that none of them seem to live long enough to pay him. Meanwhile elsewhere, the Engine powering the world (literally) is dying, although the populous is blissfully oblivious. Is there a connection? Joshua Richards doesn't know, but there seems to be a huge part of himself he's not acquainted with either… at least not yet.  
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|isbn=1472273915
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0987478605</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Dean Koontz
|author=Francis Knight
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|title=Quicksilver
|title=Fade To Black
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|rating=2.5
|rating=5
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|genre=Thrillers
|genre=Fantasy
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|summary=Meet Quinn Quicksilver. He's not had the chance to get to be a mercurial character yet, for he's lived in a nun-run orphanage since he was a three-day old foundling, and now is starting a career on a needless magazine's staff. But when this book starts he IS now ''subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind'', for something – call it unearthly intuition, call it mind-control, call it a supernatural urge – has demanded of him that he go to a derelict diner, find a gold coin worth a fortune, cash the value of it out of his bank and prepare for going on the lam. And all this is just in time for two of those typical Men in Black types to turn up and suggest he's of interest to them. Helped to escape, he finds his flight is interrupted by other instances of him acting without being in control, the discovery that he is not unique in having some kind of burgeoning power – and a whole lot more besides.
|summary=In a city hemmed in by mountains that's grown the only way it can - upwards - Rojan's job is to find people. Usually they're runaways or bounties, easy money and guilt free, just like Rojan likes it. But then Rojan's niece is taken, and despite never having met her, Rojan will do anything it takes to get her back.
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|isbn=1542019885
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501663</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Tasha Suri
|author=Melanie Rawn
+
|title=The Jasmine Throne
|title=Glass Thorns - Elsewhens (Glass Thorns 2)
+
|rating=4
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary= Only a little while has passed since we last spent time with Touchstone, the touring theatre company that not only shows the audience the performance, but enables them to experience, feel and taste it as a 4D hallucination.  This time they're being taken beyond their comfort zone as they're cornered into escorting a princess home from the foreign Continent.  Meanwhile Cade Silversun is still getting his 'Elsewhens': the premonitions of alternative futures that come as nightmares and daydreams.  Yes, Elsewhens, those things that warned him about a woman; the same woman that friend and colleague Mieka Windthistle is in love with.  Indeed, Touchstone is forced to cope with foreign travel, foreign attitudes and, for some of them, the feeling that all isn't as it should be.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781166625</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Aimee Bender
 
|title=Willful Creatures
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Short Stories
 
|summary= In this collection we're shown the reaction of ten men with terminal illness prognoses, a large man purchasing a very unusual pet and the case of a hard-done-by boyfriend.  There are also delights like the shop that sells words crafted into what they read, a boy with keys instead of fingers and the beautifully touching tale of the pumpkin-headed mother who gives birth to an iron-headed baby.  No, this isn't your average collection of predictable short stories; these are [[:Category:Aimee Bender|Aimee Bender]] short stories.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099558858</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Will Storr
 
|title=The Hunger and the Howling of Killian Lone
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Killian Lone grows up in a home lacking in love and security.  For these he relies on his elderly aunt Dorothy, an accomplished cook.  Indeed his visits to Dorothy revolve around food as he absorbs all she can teach him, slowly inheriting her passion and skill along with her knowledge.  This attachment to food then becomes his career choice, leading to the unfortunate discovery of a family secret that has remained hidden for a very long time.  Why 'unfortunate'?  There's a reason for its concealment… a very, very good reason.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780720807</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Luke Scull
 
|title=The Grim Company
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=The gods are dead. The Magelords murdered them and hurled their bodies from heaven and are also slowly dominating the world below. Dorminia is already in their iron grasp, policed by the feared Crimson Watch and the terrorising Augmentors. It's not even safe to think as Mind Hawks monitor and punish with pain and suffering. However there is a resistance, albeit fragmented and comparatively impotent but the situation is worsening so they must make a stand or lose everything (and everyone) they love.  Is the evil magic stronger than the heroes' own resources?  They're dying to find out.
+
|summary= On the night of her sacred burning, Princess Malini defies her brother and refuses to step on to the pyre. She is immediately sent to be imprisoned on the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once filled with a community of people who got powers from the mysterious deathless waters. But now the temple is nothing more than an overgrown, decaying ruin. One day, Malini witnesses a girl kill someone with magic. Instead of reporting her for such a gruesome crime, Malini claims that the girl saved her from an attacker and begs for the girl to become her own personal maidservant.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781851328</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356515648
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Genevieve Gornichec
|author=James P Blaylock
+
|title=The Witch's Heart
|title=Lord Kelvin's Machine
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=On a dark and rainy night, a weary but determined Langdon St. Ives rides out in hot pursuit of the villain who is holding his wife, Alice, captive. Catching up with his nemesis on the road, the resulting standoff between the two ends with St. Ives witnessing the cold-blooded murder of his beloved, shot in the head at point blank range whilst pinned under the wheels of a carriage. It is a scene that will play out again and again in his mind, driving him to the brink of madness and desperation. There appears, however, to be a glimmer of hope in the form of a mysterious machine in the possession of the Royal Academy of Science; a machine that may hold the secret to time itself. Is it possible for our hero to harness the power of Lord Kelvin’s Machine and rewrite history?
+
|summary= A modern and approachable reimagining of the Norse myths that centres around a witch named Angrboda. She hides in a forest at the edge of the nine worlds, remembering nothing of her past life but that fact that she was survived burnt at the stake three times because of Odin's wrath. Her attempts to live in peace, however, are quickly thwarted when Loki shows up with her literal heart—the one that was cut from her chest before she was tied to the stake—and refuses to leave her alone. After an initial period of mistrust, Angrboda begins to fall for Loki's charms, and the two start an unusual family made of up a half-dead daughter, a son that's a wolf, and another son that's a snake.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857689843</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1789097061
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=James P Blaylock
 
|title=Homunculus
 
|rating=2.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=What could possibly be the connection between a mechanical toy crocodile that eats birds, a giant emerald, an oxygenator device for a spaceship and a tiny alien man with the power of life and death? The answer, of course, is that each item on this unusual list has been placed inside one of four identical boxes. The boxes are hidden in various locations in order to prevent the contents from falling into the wrong hands, but evil has a habit of seeking things out....
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857689827</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Hannah Whitten
|author=Terence Blacker
+
|title=For the Wolf
|title=The Twyning
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary= Efren is a nobody in the kingdom of rats till he witnesses the kidnapping of the king. His future changes in a moment as he's sent up to the human world to rescue him. Talking of humans, 11 year old Peter is abandoned by his parents and left to scrape a living from London's streets.  His affinity with animals gives him the name 'Dogboy' and employment with rat catcher Bob and scientist Dr Ross-Gibbon. The Doctor's ambition is to encourage humanity to annihilate the rats by dragging them into a war.  Efren and Dogboy, both insignificant in their own worlds, must make both man and rodent see sense; easier said than done.
+
|summary=In Red's family, the first daughter becomes queen, and the second daughter becomes a sacrifice. To Red's misfortune, she is the second daughter. Sent alone into the woods with nothing but the cape on her back, Red knows what to expect: within the woods is a wolf, and he is the one who will decide the fate of their kingdom. If she is not a worthy sacrifice, the monsters he keeps contained to the woods will be released, and the fabled kings he keeps hostage will never be returned—or so the stories go. But when Red enters the woods, expecting nothing more than to be killed within the hour, she finds that the legends are lies. The wolf is not a monster—he's a man.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781850704</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356516369
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=John Gwynne
|author=Daniel O'Malley
+
|title=The Shadow Of The Gods
|title=The Rook (The Checquy Files)
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary= A woman wakes up with amnesia surrounded by dead people wearing gloves.  In her pocket she discovers a letter from Myfanwy Thomas, the previous inhabiter of her body.  Myfanwy tells a strange story of working for 'the Checquy', a paranormal version of MI5 which has been permeated by a web of betrayal and danger. The problem is that Myfanwy never discovered the source before her body changed hands (so to speak). The amnesiac has a clear choice: to continue Myfanwy's investigation or to do a runner.  It's her decision but Myfanwy's warning is less than encouraging:
+
|summary=The Shadow Of The Gods is the first installment of the Bloodsworn Saga, set in the era of the Vikings in the shadow of Ragnarok, when the Gods have battled and their bones lie scattered for all to see. This story is the ultimate in High Fantasy, and John Gwynne certainly does justice to the genre, with mythical creatures, archaic language and battles galore. This is a thick book, with an intricate plot and fascinating characters that are woven together to create a wonderfully realistic and gritty world in which our heroes must do battle.
 
+
|isbn=0356514218
::''Remember they want you dead.''
 
 
 
Something for her to bear in mind along with the fatal, unintended consequences of permitting cheap cheese into the UK.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800372</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest For Sharing Reviews]]
|author=John R Fultz
 
|title=Seven Kings: Books of the Shaper: Volume 2
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary= Runaway slave Tong suicidally avenges his lost love but death seems to elude him.  Meanwhile King Vireon is happily married to the beautiful shape-shifting sorceress Alua, although his sister has problems with her husband, King D'zan.  A courtesan is carrying his baby; odder still when you realise he's impotent.  The Twin Kings of Uruz, scholarly Lyrilan and war-hungry Tyro, can't agree on how to rule so Tyro's wife Talondra puts a real spanner in the works to force a decision.  However bad their lives currently are, evil is spreading through their world like a dark shadow and, to make things worse still, Ianthe the Claw and Gammir the Reborn aren't as dead as everyone supposes them to be.  (You'd think the clue would be in Gammir's name wouldn't you?)
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356500829</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 09:13, 18 February 2024

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Review of

The Briar Book of the Dead by A G Slatter

5star.jpg Fantasy

There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.

Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's, a family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands. Though she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since she was young, her training as a steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a maelstrom of chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat. Full Review

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Review of

Compass and Blade by Rachel Greenlaw

3.5star.jpg Teens

I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.

Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. But when the Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, they capture the island's leader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the heart of the smuggler's territory, Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to save the future of her home and the ones she holds most dear. Full Review

1803364238.jpg

Review of

Thornhedge by T Kingfisher

5star.jpg Fantasy

You had a right to retake your place.

T Kingfisher's latest novella is a lovely reimagining of a fairytale that is well known and well beloved. But whilst there is a princess trapped in a tower, sleeping under an eternal enchantment, Thornhedge is not her story. Instead, our protagonist is Toadling, who was stolen away by fairies when she was a new-born baby and secreted away to the land of fairie where her childhood was spent being taught how to draw magic from her veins and cast spells. Full Review

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Review of

A Portrait in Shadow by Nicole Jarvis

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

I want all of Florence to know my name

Cast out from Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which her art can find a home and where her future can thrive rather than stagnate. But as some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the powerful Accademia, the self-proclaimed guardians of the healing magics that through paintings have the power to protect the city and its citizens from plagues and curses. The all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for centuries and guard it above all else. To them, Artemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society. Full Review

0356518523.jpg

Review of

Perilous Times by Thomas D Lee

3star.jpg Fantasy

Hate is the path of least resistance

Set in the near-distant future, in a world on the verge of climate collapse, Britain is in great peril. The British Isles desperately needs a hero (or several) to save the day and rescue what little remains. What no-one expected was that one of the Knights of the Round Table would answer the call. Full Review

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Review of

Delilah Recovered by Amelia Estelle Dellos

4star.jpg Fantasy

We meet Dee at a point when her life isn't going as planned but things might, just might, be about to look up. Out of work, about to lose her flat, Dee is up for an accountant's job. But it's not to be. Dee is attacked by two men calling themselves witch hunters. She survives the attack but not unscathed. Witch hunters? What on earth has that to do with Dee? She's just an ordinary woman, living an ordinary life. Slivers of memory of things that are not ordinary at all return to her and things will never be the same.... Full Review

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Review of

The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai

4star.jpg Fantasy

Drawing inspiration from Egypt, The Daughters of Izdihar explores the lives of two women who could not be more different, yet find themselves fighting for the rights of women and weavers – those with magical abilities - in a society pitted against them. Nehal, born into the upper class, wishes to attend the Weaving Academy to learn to control her abilities and then join the military, but instead she is forced into an arranged marriage with Nico. Giorgina on the other hand did not have a privileged upbringing like Nehal and feels great pressure to provide for her family and maintain their reputation, whilst secretly attending meetings of the Daughters of Izdihar – a group campaigning for women's rights. Giorgina also happens to be in love with Nico. What follows is a story of an unjust society, filled with hypocrisy and cruelty, from which blossoms a group of admirable women fighting for their rights and overcoming their personal obstacles. Full Review

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Review of

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

4star.jpg General Fiction

Emily Wilde is an expert academic scholar on faerie lore, and she has travelled extensively, and researched meticulously, to write her life's work, the very first encyclopaedia of faeries. Whilst she is brilliant at research and speaking to faeries, she is not so good with people. So when she finds herself far, far North in the small village of Hrafvsnik, having somehow offended the village matriarch, she is not sure what she has done, nor how to redeem herself and put her final investigations for her book back on the right track. Enter Wendell Bambleby, her dashingly handsome and insufferable rival who arrives unexpectedly, all charm and delight, much to Emily's frustration. But why is he here? What does he want? And what exactly is going on with the faerie folk around Hravsnik? Full Review

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Review of

Road of Bones by Christopher Golden

3.5star.jpg Horror

The Kolyma Highway… the 'Road of Bones'… the R504. Stretching for over a thousand miles across Siberia, it's one of the world's most notorious routes. For months of the year it's a spread of sheet ice suspended above the permafrost surrounding it, while its 'spring' sees it turn into a huge blodge of unremitting, apocalyptic-level mud, which dries into rutted, puddly dust. I don't think google streetview updates it very often. Built because Stalin wanted so much uranium and other Siberian minerals, and because he wanted to give too many people a lesson, it legendarily cost a life every metre it covers. You can easily find documentaries about it online, but that's a bit rich, for one of our main characters, Felix 'Teig' Teigland, is a film-maker, doing a recce with his cameraman buddy, John Prentiss – who's mostly there to encourage the project to fruition to claw back some of the funds he'd invested in the pair's prior TV projects. They pick up their oh-so-chatty local guide, gain the company of a local beauty, and fetch up at the guide's childhood village. And that's where things start to go awry… Full Review

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Review of

Soul Fraud (The Debt Collection Book 1) by Andrew Givler

4star.jpg Fantasy

Matt has a terrible life. Seriously—it's awful. It is so bad that Dan the Demon is shocked when Matt turns down his infernal offer: 10 years of a blissful life in exchange for his soul.

Poor Dan! I know, I know, we shouldn't feel sorry for soul-catching demons. But he really is a terrible salesman. He never hits his targets and, when he fails to get even Matt to sign on the dotted line, he's so desperate that he simply forges Matt's signature. Full Review

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Review of

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

4star.jpg Fantasy

Dark, sharp, and highly inquisitive, The Atlas Six makes its publishing debut after becoming a Tik-Tok sensation. Full Review

0356515427.jpg

Review of

Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham

4.5star.jpg Fantasy

We meet Alys under the most northerly of Oldgate's four bridges, she has a knife in her hand and a meeting that she dreads. Meanwhile the City of Kithamar is at a point in the turning of years when the worlds are at their thinnest and all things are possible. It is the night between the funeral of a Prince and the coronation of his successor. For a night the Kithamar is un-ruled. Full Review

1406399590.jpg

Review of

Rebel Skies by Ann Sei Lin

5star.jpg Teens

Kurara has spent her entire life as a servant on the Midori, a massive dining hall floating in the sky where soldiers of the Empire come to drink and make merry between their conquests. However, when a man named Himura arrives to tell her that she is a Crafter like him, someone with the power to form paper into whatever she desires – a power sought after all across the Empire. He asks her to come with him, to leave the life of dreary servitude that is all she has known. Well, soon Kurara won't have any say in the matter, because the Midori is destroyed by a monstrous paper spirit known as a shikigami, and she is forced to flee out into the world. She joins Himura aboard the Orihime, a sky-ship whose express purpose is to hunt down shikigami, and a whole world of adventure awaits her… Full Review

B09Q3P283Y.jpg

Review of

Shadebringer by Grayson W Hooper

4star.jpg Fantasy

Clyde Robbins signs up for the US Army during the Vietnam War. He's not really that invested in the fight against Communism, nor is he particularly interested in a career in the military. If he's honest - which Clyde usually is, with himself at least - he hasn't got many choices and this one, at least, gets him out of the rut he's in. He's good in training and is quickly put onto a non commissioned officer training course. He's chuffed with himself. Full Review

1472273915.jpg

Review of

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

4star.jpg Literary Fiction

'Elektra' by Jennifer Saint tells the story of three women who live in the heavily male dominated world of Ancient Greece. Cassandra, Clytemnestra, and Elektra are all bit players in the story of the Trojan War. Yet Jennifer Saint shows us that often the silent women have the most compelling stories and the most extreme furies. Full Review

1542019885.jpg

Review of

Quicksilver by Dean Koontz

2.5star.jpg Thrillers

Meet Quinn Quicksilver. He's not had the chance to get to be a mercurial character yet, for he's lived in a nun-run orphanage since he was a three-day old foundling, and now is starting a career on a needless magazine's staff. But when this book starts he IS now subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind, for something – call it unearthly intuition, call it mind-control, call it a supernatural urge – has demanded of him that he go to a derelict diner, find a gold coin worth a fortune, cash the value of it out of his bank and prepare for going on the lam. And all this is just in time for two of those typical Men in Black types to turn up and suggest he's of interest to them. Helped to escape, he finds his flight is interrupted by other instances of him acting without being in control, the discovery that he is not unique in having some kind of burgeoning power – and a whole lot more besides. Full Review

0356515648.jpg

Review of

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

4star.jpg Fantasy

On the night of her sacred burning, Princess Malini defies her brother and refuses to step on to the pyre. She is immediately sent to be imprisoned on the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once filled with a community of people who got powers from the mysterious deathless waters. But now the temple is nothing more than an overgrown, decaying ruin. One day, Malini witnesses a girl kill someone with magic. Instead of reporting her for such a gruesome crime, Malini claims that the girl saved her from an attacker and begs for the girl to become her own personal maidservant. Full Review

1789097061.jpg

Review of

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

4star.jpg Fantasy

A modern and approachable reimagining of the Norse myths that centres around a witch named Angrboda. She hides in a forest at the edge of the nine worlds, remembering nothing of her past life but that fact that she was survived burnt at the stake three times because of Odin's wrath. Her attempts to live in peace, however, are quickly thwarted when Loki shows up with her literal heart—the one that was cut from her chest before she was tied to the stake—and refuses to leave her alone. After an initial period of mistrust, Angrboda begins to fall for Loki's charms, and the two start an unusual family made of up a half-dead daughter, a son that's a wolf, and another son that's a snake. Full Review

0356516369.jpg

Review of

For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

5star.jpg Fantasy

In Red's family, the first daughter becomes queen, and the second daughter becomes a sacrifice. To Red's misfortune, she is the second daughter. Sent alone into the woods with nothing but the cape on her back, Red knows what to expect: within the woods is a wolf, and he is the one who will decide the fate of their kingdom. If she is not a worthy sacrifice, the monsters he keeps contained to the woods will be released, and the fabled kings he keeps hostage will never be returned—or so the stories go. But when Red enters the woods, expecting nothing more than to be killed within the hour, she finds that the legends are lies. The wolf is not a monster—he's a man. Full Review

0356514218.jpg

Review of

The Shadow Of The Gods by John Gwynne

5star.jpg Fantasy

The Shadow Of The Gods is the first installment of the Bloodsworn Saga, set in the era of the Vikings in the shadow of Ragnarok, when the Gods have battled and their bones lie scattered for all to see. This story is the ultimate in High Fantasy, and John Gwynne certainly does justice to the genre, with mythical creatures, archaic language and battles galore. This is a thick book, with an intricate plot and fascinating characters that are woven together to create a wonderfully realistic and gritty world in which our heroes must do battle. Full Review

Move on to Newest For Sharing Reviews