Difference between revisions of "Newest Fantasy Reviews"

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[[Category:Fantasy|*]]
 
[[Category:Fantasy|*]]
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ian Livingstone
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|author=A G Slatter
|title=Fighting Fantasy: The Port of Peril
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|title=The Briar Book of the Dead
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=As I promised I would when I looked back at the beginning of the 35 year history of ''Fighting Fantasy'' gamebooks [[Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone|(here)]], I took to the brand-new-for-2017 volume with my pen, mapping paper, and most importantly, dice.  For the first time in a long, long time, I would not read a book for review.  I would play it.  And so, armed with healthy stamina, reasonable luck but frankly embarrassing skill, I set off.  This is the report of that journey – as well as hopefully being the usual useful book review.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407181297</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Anthony Ryan
 
|title=The Legion of Flame: Book Two of the Draconis Memoria
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=WARNING: There are spoilers for [[The Waking Fire: Book One of Draconis Memoria by Anthony Ryan|Book 1]] from the beginning.
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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.''
Lizanne Lethridge, Blood-Blessed and secret agent of the Exceptional Initiatives Division has survived another mission, only to be forced to go out again.  This time it entails a man-hunt in a place from which no one has emerged alive.  Talking about alive, Claydon Torcreek, having escaped several types of death in the jungles now goes to the southern ice with Hilemore in their current attempt to defeat the dragons and put the world on a safe footing. What if all that waits for them is more dragons and more inventive ways to die?  That's a thought that's soon banished from his mind.  'This is where we save the world' says Clay… but he's been wrong before!
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|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356506401</amazonuk>
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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.
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|isbn=1803364548
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ritchie Valentine Smith
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|author=Rachel Greenlaw
|title=Words of Fury: Volume 2 (Words of Power)
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|title=Compass and Blade
|rating=4
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|rating=3.5
|genre=Fantasy
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|genre=Teens
|summary=Warning: Spoilers ahead…
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|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''
Emmanuel (Man) Kinross, Yoshi, Joah, the Voice and Dirk Faslane are all fleeing the Lord of the North in a giant floating bubble. This is a delicate conveyance when you consider that the stakes are high and, if caught by the evil Lord of the North, the world as they know it will end.  They just need to get to the Waning of the Moon, a psychic fortress that spells safety but there's still a long way to go and the odds are very much against them.  The Lord of the North has more power than they've seen yet and more devastating ways to use it.
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|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1544214839</amazonuk>
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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.
}}
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|isbn=0008664730
{{newreview
 
|author= Vivian Shaw
 
|title= Strange Practice: A Dr Greta Helsing Novel
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Fantasy
 
|summary=''I don't suppose it's worth trying to convince you it's too dangerous?'' <br>
 
''Not in the least.'' <br>
 
Meet Dr Greta Helsing, a highly talented, well respected physician with her own specialised medical practice, known and adored throughout London for her great work… well, at least amongst the supernatural community. Greta is in fact a descendent of the vampire hunter Professor Abraham Van Helsing, but relations have improved since then and she now spends her days carrying on her father's legacy treating vampires, werewolves, mummies, ghouls and the like. So early morning emergency calls are not uncommon; what is uncommon however, is a vampire's stab wound that won't heal.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356508870</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Christopher B Husberg
+
|author=T Kingfisher
|title=Chaos Queen - Dark Immolation (Chaos Queen 2)
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|title=Thornhedge
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Warning - spoilers ahead for Book 1 which should be read first:
+
|summary=''You had a right to retake your place.''
Winter is presumed dead by Knot, Jane, Astrid and Cinzia.  To be honest, rotting in the dungeon of Lord Daval she may as well be.  Daval himself hasn't been the same since he was possessed by the Lord of Fear and leader of the Nine Daemons.  He sees it as a positive but there's a high price to be paid in blood for everyone else.  Our remaining adventurers return to Jane and Cinzia's home as they continue their search for truth.  Cinzia may still be a Priestess of Canta but Jane's heretical ideas are making more and more sense to her.  Meanwhile Knot is having severe problems with his multi-occupancy body but there are worse problems on the horizon.  The Nine Daemons are out and doing what Daemons do best: dragging a world's population towards a particularly evil form of destruction.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783299177</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Callie Bates
 
|title= The Waking Land
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Fantasy
 
|summary=''They need something to believe in, something beyond crowns and kingdoms. They need to believe in the old stories. In the power of the land.''
 
  
It was fourteen years ago that Elanna's life changed completely. Fourteen years ago that her father's plans of revolution fell through, and at the tender age of five, King Antoine held a pistol to her head and took her hostage. Raised by the King, Elanna grows into adulthood suppressing her magic and resenting the parents she once loved. Now twenty, Elanna prepares for either study or marriage, until King Antoine dies and she's condemned to death for treason. On the run, Elanna encounters her father's men, and finds herself moving from one imprisonment to another. Her father it seems, wants to carry out the revolution that failed fourteen years ago, he wants to unite the people in creating a fair kingdom and he wants Elanna to be the face of the rebellion. He wants her to be the Steward of the Land capable of powerful magic to make the very Earth move. Elanna must to decide which side she'll align with and how she will shape her destiny. Can she deny her people the help they desperately need to build a new world?
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473638720</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803364238
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=G S Denning
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|title=Warlock Holmes - The Hell-Hound of the Baskervilles
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Paranormal
+
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a lot of Sherlock Holmes stories, but not that many novels.  Holmes adventures were mostly kept to a short story length that allowed a quick build up and reveal that would fit into an episodic telling.  The best known novel is ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' and anyone who parodies the great detective would eventually need to cover the tale of the cursed Baskerville family.  They don't come more parodic than Warlock Holmes and although he may have died at the end of the last book, this won't stop him investigating one of his greatest cases.
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783299738</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
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.
 +
|isbn=1803362340
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Christina Henry 
+
|author=Thomas D Lee
|title= Lost Boy
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|title=Perilous Times
|rating= 4
+
|rating=3
 
|genre= Fantasy
 
|genre= Fantasy
|summary= Everybody has their own story to tell, and more often than not people only see things from one perspective. In the original Peter Pan Captain Hook is an angry, perhaps slightly jealous, tyrant. But why is he this way? Christina Henry weaves a terrifying narrative together in response to such a question, a response that has the potential to alter the reader's perception of the original work forever.
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|summary= ''Hate is the path of least resistance''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178565568X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= V E Schwab
 
|title= Our Dark Duet
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Fantasy
 
|summary=''Monsters, mayhem, revenge''
 
  
Six months after the final events of ''This Savage Song'', Verity is in chaos. All-out war has broken out and the city is now divided into two – with monsters gaining more and more territory in the North and humans battling for survival in the South. At the centre of the action is August Flynn, a monster of incredible power who once longed to be human. He will now stop at nothing to fight and play the part he believes he must. No matter what the cost, no matter how much of himself he loses. Meanwhile, Kate Harker, V City escapee and kick-ass monster hunter, has been busy in Prosperity. But with the arrival of a new monster leaving devastation in its wake and heading straight for Verity, Kate knows she must to return. She must fight for humanity's survival and play her part just like August. Alliances will be tested; old enemies will rise from the dead and past mistakes will come to haunt both August and Kate at every turn.
+
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.
Will they be enough to save the city? And will they each be enough to save themselves from the darkest places within?
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|isbn=0356518523
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785652761</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= R J Barker
+
|author=Amelia Estelle Dellos
|title= Age of Assassins
+
|title=Delilah Recovered
|rating= 3
+
|rating=4
|genre= Fantasy
+
|genre=Fantasy
|summary= Age of Assassins is a very ordinary fantasy novel, which at the same time manages to slip in the occasional surprise. The central protagonists are a pair of assassins, Girton Club-Foot and his master, Merela Karn, also known as Death’s Jester. They find themselves hired by a Queen to protect her son, an obnoxious prince, and to find out who is behind the threats on his life. In doing so they discover a host of plots and problems, leaving no part of life in the castle untouched. Plots and Machiavellian figures are evident at every turn as noble families fight over the throne of a dying king. In the meantime between sorcerers in the stables, bitter rivalries between the young men who vie to be heir to the throne, and the moves of great families, there is no lack of suspects. As such the novel is as much a mystery as it is a fantasy and as much as coming of age story as it is either of those.
+
|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>0356508544</amazonuk>
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|isbn=B0BKYFDLLV
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Tom Holt
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|author=Hadeer Elsbai
|title= The Management Style of the Supreme Beings
+
|title=The Daughters of Izdihar
|rating= 5
+
|rating=4
|genre= Fantasy
 
|summary= Imagine, if you will, that the local deity and his well-beloved son Jay decide to retire from the god business and go fishing instead. After all, they've been working on, and for, the planet for millennia, and it is really is time they took a break. And the Venturi brothers, who already manage several other planets, have made them a very generous bid for the franchise.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>035650669X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Benedict Jacka
 
|title=Bound: An Alex Verus Novel
 
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Warning: From the beginning this contains spoilers for past books.
+
|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.
Alex Verus, seer, mage and former owner of a now incinerated London magic shop, is no longer under a death warrant but that doesn't mean that people don't want him dead.  His only chance of survival isn't promising either: he's gone back to the place of nightmares.  He and Anne are now working for his old apprentice master, Richard Drakh.  Richard's reasons are never straightforward so it's a mystery as to why he's made Alex an offer he'd be killed to refuse. Unsurprisingly, Alex isn't the only one who wants to the answer either. Oh and remember Rachel?  She's back and… well… shall we say she has issues?
+
|isbn=0356520471
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>035650719X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview <!-- remove 5/6 -->
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{{Frontpage
|author=Mark Lingane
+
|author=Heather Fawcett
|title=BL!NK (Hadron Damnation Book 1)
+
|title=Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Fantasy
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=iYe is a smasher: a child who is capable of sending back pictures of the future by travelling out to where the past and future meetSmashers don't usually live to see their teens as the information generally returns without themHowever iYe's mother, Captain Trix Raiden, is determined he'll be different and, indeed he is, in many waysNot only does iYe survive, he is a chip off the same block as Cally, the planetary hero. However there is a darker side: iYe carries a message that Earth doesn't want to hear. The planet is used to dealing with the aliens that Cally originally fought but worse is on its way.  ''We are coming to kill you.''
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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 frustration. But why is he here?  What does he want? And what exactly is going on with the faerie folk around Hravsnik?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0994616457</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0356519120
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= James Abbott
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|author=Christopher Golden
|title= The Never King
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|title=Road of Bones
|rating= 4
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|rating=3.5
|genre= Fantasy
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|genre=Horror
|summary= The land of Stravimon is in chaos. Cedius the Wise died leaving the traitorous Mardonius to ascend to the throne. In far off Hell's Keep (the most deadly and remote prison in the Kingdom; a place no prisoner has ever returned from alive) Xavir Argentum is contacted by Cedius' former Spy Master, Landril. Betrayal, intrigue, violence and magic follow as we travel across this strange but familiar land on a quest for vengeance, justice and freedom.
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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…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1509803114</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803361476
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Laura Lam
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|author=Andrew Givler
|title=Masquerade (Micah Grey Trilogy)
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|title=Soul Fraud (The Debt Collection Book 1)
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
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|genre=Fantasy
|summary= It's been a remarkable journey for our young protagonist. It wasn't long ago that Micah Grey was still living the life of Iphigenia Laurus, daughter of a noble family, trapped in a gilded cage forever hiding her true self. Since running away, Micah has managed to reinvent himself, first as a circus acrobat, and then as a magician's apprentice. Along the way he's discovered love and friendships that have helped keep him afloat, even as betrayal and tragedy seem ready to strike at every turn. But there's only so long he can keep running. His powers are growing, the Chimaera are returning, and Ellada is about to reach a violent tipping point.  
+
|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>1509807780</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
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.
 +
|isbn=1958204021
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Brian Staveley
+
|author=Olivie Blake
|title= Skullsworn
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|title=The Atlas Six
|rating= 4.5
+
|rating=4
|genre= Fantasy
+
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=''"Love is like killing," she said. "You do it with every part of you, or not at all.” '' Pyrre is a skullsworn; one who is devoted to the God of Death. Trained as an assassin and having studied under the deadliest killers in the world since she was eight, Pyrre is about to embark upon her final trial. A trial in which success will mean elevation to the rank of priestess, while failure will mean death.
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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>150982295X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1529095239
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= V E Schwab
+
|author=Daniel Abraham
|title=A Conjuring of Light
+
|title=Age of Ash
|rating= 5
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary= The Darker Shade of Magic trilogy concludes by continuing with the story of Lila Bard, finding her way through the different Londons', one with magic, one without magic, a London where magic has near enough destroyed their world and the last London, which balances precariously on the edge of oblivion.
+
|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>0765387468</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0356515427
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Claire North
+
|author= Ann Sei Lin
|title= The End of the Day
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|title= Rebel Skies
 
|rating= 5
 
|rating= 5
|genre= General Fiction
+
|genre= Teens
|summary= At the end of the day, Death visits everyone. Right before that, Charlie does. You might meet him in a hospital, in a warzone, or at the scene of a traffic accident.
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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…
Then again, you might meet him at the North Pole - he gets everywhere. From jungles to deserts to tundra, you may come across Charlie. Would you shake him by the hand, take the gift he offers, or would you pay no attention to the words he says? Sometimes he is sent as a courtesy, sometimes as a warning.
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|isbn=1406399590
He never knows which.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0316316741</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jen Williams
+
|isbn=B09Q3P283Y
|title=The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy 1)
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|title=Shadebringer
|rating=5
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|author=Grayson W Hooper
 +
|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Ebora is dying along with its tree-like god Ysegril but Hestillion is doing all she can to keep him alive. In fact she'll go to any lengths to save him… any lengths at all. Hest's brother Tormalin can't sit around and wait for the end so he's engaged by Lady Vincenza (Vintage) de Grazon to be her factotum and hired sword during her quest for knowledge. It's turning into more of an adventure than they'd planned even before Fell witch and fugitive Noon joins them. Now the trio must work together, putting prejudices and passions aside (others' as well as their own).  The Ninth Rain is coming and more than Ebora is in danger.
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472235177</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Andrezej Sapkowski
+
|author=Jennifer Saint
|title= The Lady of the Lake
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|title=Elektra
|rating=3
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|rating=4
|genre= Fantasy
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|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= This book was quite captivating in the beginning. The idea that the truths of ancient history and mythology can be unearthed by exploring them in the dreams of a talented sleeper is rather enchanting. It's an interesting idea, one that merges history and fantasy creating an almost dream like feel within the writing.  
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147321159X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1472273915
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Stefan Mohamed
+
|author=Dean Koontz
|title= Stanly's Ghost: Book 3 (The Bitter Sixteen Trilogy)
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|title=Quicksilver
|rating= 5
+
|rating=2.5
|genre= Science Fiction
+
|genre=Thrillers
|summary= Cynical, solitary Stanly Bird used to be a fairly typical teenager unless you count the fact that his best friend was a talking beagle named Daryl. Then came the superpowers. And the super powered allies. And the mysterious enemies. And the terrifying monsters. And the stunning revelations. And the apocalypse. Now he's not sure what he is. Or where he is. Or how exactly one is supposed to proceed after saving the world. All he knows is that his story isn't finished. Not quite yet …
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784630764</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1542019885
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Brian McClellan
+
|author=Tasha Suri
|title=Sins of Empire
+
|title=The Jasmine Throne
|rating=5
+
|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=The fantasy genre is home to some of the best books that I have ever read, but also some of the worst. The very nature of epic stories that span generations means that few fantasy books rock up under 400 pages and many are part of long running series or trilogies.  When done badly, fantasy books are bloated and boring affairs that rattle of every cliché the genre has had to offer since Bilbo exited Bag End, but done well they can be brilliant.  They can be ''Sins of Empire'' by Brian McClellan.
+
|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>035650929X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356515648
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Marisa Silver
+
|author=Genevieve Gornichec
|title= Little Nothing
+
|title=The Witch's Heart
|rating= 5
+
|rating=4
|genre= Literary Fiction
+
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=In an unnamed country at the beginning of the last century, a peasant couple longs for a child. In despair they turn to gypsy tonics and archaic prescriptions, and one cold wintery night, the couple's wish comes true. But the silence that follows the birth forewarns of darker days to come. Strangers look on askance and fall speechless in the child's presence, and villagers protectively hush their children as they pass on narrow market lanes. Pavla is no ordinary child, but then this is no ordinary tale.
+
|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>1786071274</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1789097061
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Marissa Meyer
 
|title= Heartless
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Fantasy
 
|summary= How did the Queen of Hearts become the monster we know from Alice's story? Welcome to Meyer's Wonderland and the peaceful kingdom of Hearts, where a young Lady called Catherine's heart's desire is to be … the best baker in all of Hearts. But while her mother tolerates her hobby, Catherine knows she will never consider it as a serious path for her daughter, unless Catherine can convince her. However, Catherine's dreams start to get that much more complicated once a mysterious stranger appears, a royal suitor materialises and deadly beast starts stalking the once safe Kingdom. What is Cath's destiny? To be the dreadful queen we all know or to be a dedicated bakery owner?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1509814132</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Amanda Hocking
 
|title= Freeks
 
|rating= 3.5
 
|genre= Science Fiction
 
|summary= In the spring of 1987, the carnival comes to small-town Caudry, Louisiana. Then events take a dangerous turn. For Mara Beznik, the carnival is home. It's also a place of secrets, hidden powers and a buried past - making it hard to connect with outsiders. However, sparks fly when she meets local boy Gabe Alvarado. As they become inseparable, Mara realizes Gabe is hiding his own secrets. And his family legacy could destroy Mara's world. They find the word 'freeks' sprayed on trailers, as carnival employees start disappearing. Then workers wind up dead, killed in disturbing ways by someone or something. Mara is determined to unlock the mystery, with Gabe's help. But can they really halt this campaign of fear?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1509807659</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Stephanie Garber
+
|author=Hannah Whitten
|title=Caraval
+
|title=For the Wolf
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Scarlett Dragna has had one desire all her life: to visit a Caraval. These interactive events put on by magician and entrepreneur Legend are world famous but very exclusive.  It's therefore a huge surprise when Scarlett and her sister Tella receive tickets.  These will take them away from their sadistic father and prison-like island home for the first time. Caraval is never what one expects though and when Tella is kidnapped, Scarlett experiences the sinister side of a game in which nothing is what it seems.
+
|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>1473629144</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356516369
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Neil Gaiman
 
|title=Stardust: BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=Tristan Thorn has never wanted to cross the Wall from his sleepy English village to the land of Faerie beyond. However, when the girl of his dreams – the beautiful Victoria Forester – promises to be his bride if he retrieves a fallen star, he has no choice. Without hesitation, Tristan sets out on a quest that will lead him into a series of bizarre adventures and set him against the dark forces of the strange and magical land of Stormhold.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785295624</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Susan Dennard
+
|author=John Gwynne
|title=Windwitch (The Witchlands Series)
+
|title=The Shadow Of The Gods
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Merik Nihar, the Windwitch and former fleet admiral, must lay low on account of the fact that everyone believes him dead.  He knows the attempted assassination was instigated by his sister, Vivia, but he doesn't yet realise how this attempt will change him and his powers. Safi meanwhile is regretting using her Truthwitch skills to help the Empress Vaness.  Apart from anything else, it's deadly dull and has taken her away from Iseult, friend and Threadsister.  Eventually though the dull disappears and it's not only Safi who's left with the deadly as allies appear from unexpected places and friendships are doubted while their world teeters.
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447282302</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356514218
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Su Bristow
 
|title= Sealskin
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Fantasy
 
|summary= Donald is a young fisherman, eking out a lonely living on the west coast of Scotland. One night he witnesses something miraculous ...and makes a terrible mistake. His action changes lives - not only his own, but those of his family and the entire tightly knit community in which they live. Can he ever atone for the wrong he has done, and can love grow when its foundation is violence?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910633607</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
 
|author= Jon Skovron
 
|title= Bane and Shadow
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Fantasy
 
|summary=''I am beyond redemption''
 
  
''Bane and Shadow'' picks up a year after the final events of the [[Hope and Red by Jon Skovron|first installment]] in the Empire of Storms series, which I highly recommend reading if you haven't already. Following the great characters we met in the previous novel, ''Bane and Shadow'' has even more action with brilliant battles, nail-biting tension and a new darkness to the story.
+
Move on to [[Newest For Sharing Reviews]]
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356507157</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=E M Davey
 
|title=The Napoleon Complex
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|summary=Journalist Jake Wolsey's brush with the Book of Fate and that fatal Etruscan lightening isn't over.  Historical quotes, intrigue and a call for help from former lover and MI6 operative Jenny start a whole new search for the source of power and destruction.  This time it's linked to Napoleon Bonaparte and the odd inclusion of an Etruscan scroll in his portrait.  If the scroll is what Jake and Jenny think it is, where has it gone?  Our heroes aren't the only curious people and, while their search takes them across the world, it's as much about fatality avoidance as it is treasure hunting.  Who will get the answer first and at what cost to themselves… and civilisation?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715651080</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Charlie Laidlaw
 
|title= The Things We Learn When We're Dead
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= General Fiction
 
|summary= On the way to a dinner party, Lorna Love steps into the path of an oncoming car. Waking up in what appears to be a hospital, but a hospital in which wine is served for supper, everyone avoids her questions, and her nurse looks suspiciously like Sean Connery, it soon transpires that Lorna is in Heaven, or, at least, on HVN. Because HVN is a lost, dysfunctional spaceship, and God the aging hippy captain. At first Lorna can remember nothing, but as her memories return – some good, some bad, she realises that she has a decision to make, and that maybe, she needs to find a way home…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786150352</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 09:13, 18 February 2024

1803364548.jpg

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

0008664730.jpg

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

1803362340.jpg

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

0356520471.jpg

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

1529095239.jpg

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