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= George Mann
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|author=A G Slatter
|title= Affinity Bridge
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|title=The Briar Book of the Dead
|rating= 3.5
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|rating=5
|genre= Crime
 
|summary=London, 1901: airships and automata herald a shining future in a city of steam-powered road trains and carriages. Queen Victoria is still alive (after a fashion) and one of her trusted Crown Agents has his work cut out investigating some decidedly odd goings-on in the capital alongside the chaps at Scotland Yard. Revenant corpses and vengeful, ghostly policemen in the dense fog of Whitechapel don't phase Newbury, however, accustomed as he is to dabbling in the occult.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783298278</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Benedict Jacka
 
|title=Veiled
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=It's a time of great change for future divining mage Alex Verus. He's come to the decision that his apprentice Luna has reached a stage where she needs more multi-faceted training than he can offer. An additional teacher is therefore sought and one applicant in particular isn't exactly Mary Poppins. Meanwhile Alex adds a new chapter to his life by working with the Keepers, the Council's police force, adding perhaps a little more danger than is good for him. However his past is never far away and no, that's not a good thing.
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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>0356504379</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=Tom Holt
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|author=Rachel Greenlaw
|title=The Good, the Bad and the Smug
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|title=Compass and Blade
|rating=4.5
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|rating=3.5
|genre=Fantasy
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|genre=Teens
|summary=Mordak, award winning goblin king, is on a quest for truth. His companion Efluviel is a journalist whom he'd sacked and who is elf – that's two counts against her, without taking the smugness into account. Meanwhile a little man spins gold from straw, offering benefits as well as a riddle. He may sound familiar, but forget the fairy tale; this Rumplerimp… Rumpski… bloke has a more sophisticated strategy.  Oh and have you heard about the two chaps who pre-invented the Hadron Collider in their garden shed?  No? Well, stay tuned.
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|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356502554</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
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{{Frontpage
|author=Marie Phillips
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|author=T Kingfisher
|title=The Table Of Less Valued Knights
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|title=Thornhedge
|rating=4.5
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Sir Humphrey has been demoted from King Arthur's Round Table to the Table of Lesser Valued Knights. The only way to get his comfier seat back is to redeem himself via a quest.  Therefore when damsel Elaine seeks help to find her kidnapped fiancé, Humphrey and his ward, the teenage giant Conrad, eagerly set forth.  Meanwhile in the kingdom of Tuft, new Queen Martha has run away after a disastrous wedding to… a… well… disastrous Prince Edwin. She may not realise it yet, but she too will have a job for Humphrey!
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|summary=''You had a right to retake your place.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099555875</amazonuk>
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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.
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|isbn=1803364238
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=James P Blaylock
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|title=Beneath London
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Fantasy
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|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary= The collapse of the Victoria Embankment uncovers a passage to an unknown realm beneath the city. Langdon St. Ives sets out to explore it, not knowing that a brilliant and wealthy psychopathic murderer is working to keep the underworld's secrets hidden for reasons of his own. St. Ives and his stalwart friends investigate a string of ghastly crimes: the gruesome death of a witch, the kidnapping of a blind, psychic girl, and the grim horrors of a secret hospital serve the strange, murderous ends of perhaps St. Ives' most dangerous nemesis yet.
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783292601</amazonuk>
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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.
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|isbn=1803362340
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ben Aaronovitch
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|author=Thomas D Lee
|title=Foxglove Summer (Rivers of London 5)
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|title=Perilous Times
|rating=5
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|rating=3
|genre=Fantasy
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|genre= Fantasy
|summary=After the disappearance of two girls in Herefordshire, PC Grant finds himself assisting with the investigation.  It may be countryside rather than the London patch he's used to, but crime is crime, especially when there's a supernatural element to it. He also has a little help and comfort from his home patch to augment the ethereal beings… just in case. And remember Lesley and ''that'' taser moment?  She's not exactly totally off the scene either.
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|summary= ''Hate is the path of least resistance''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0575132523</amazonuk>
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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.
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|isbn=0356518523
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Natasha Pulley
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|author=Amelia Estelle Dellos
|title=The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
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|title=Delilah Recovered
|rating=4.5
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|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=London 1883: Thaniel Steepleton, a telegraphist in a government office, finds himself  living and working in a city at siege during a Clan na Gael bombing campaign.  It's around this time that he also realises that his pocket watch seems to have some odd, previously unnoticed functions.  Grace Carrow, a 'bluestocking' physics student also owns such a watch. The two total strangers may think their watches odd, but 'odd' takes on a new meaning when they meet Mr Mori, the Japanese watchmaker. His clockwork pet octopus is only a small measure of the oddity ahead.
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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>1408854287</amazonuk>
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|isbn=B0BKYFDLLV
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Anthony Ryan
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|author=Hadeer Elsbai
|title=Queen of Fire: Book 3 of Raven's Shadow
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|title=The Daughters of Izdihar
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE FIRST TWO RAVEN SHADOW BOOKS (ONLY)
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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.
Queen Lyrna has been badly burnt but lives to rule and seek vengeance through her massed armies. She also lifts the prohibition of the Dark due to their healing properties and three Gifted, the practitioners of the power are promoted with less than popular approval. Meanwhile Lyrna's right hand man Vaelin Al Sorna has lost his blood song, that precognition that made him such a strong and feared opponent in the past.  Talking of opponents, the Volarians have a surprise – the mysterious entity known only as The Ally.  To Vaelin he's anything but and so he must go to the ends of the world (or at least to a pretty inhospitable climate) to find him… her… it.
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|isbn=0356520471
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>035650249X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Anna Caltabiano
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|author=Heather Fawcett
|title= The Seventh Miss Hatfield
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|title=Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries
|rating= 4.5
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|rating=4
|genre= Fantasy
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary= Cynthia is a simple, All American girl who whilst generally happy – she’s fed and watered with a roof over her head - and relatively care free, she is somewhat bored of her existence in Suburbia. Miss Hatfield is Cynthia’s mysterious and rarely seen neighbourWhat an enigma she is and how compelling and irresistible it is for Cynthia to attempt to discover more about her.  Ever hear the phrase ''Be careful what you wish for''?.
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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 faeries. Whilst 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>1473200415</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0356519120
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Guillermo del Toro, Daniel Kraus and Sean Murray
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|author=Christopher Golden
|title=Trollhunters
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|title=Road of Bones
|rating=4.5
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|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
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|genre=Horror
|summary=West Coast USA in the 1960s, and the city is wracked and wrecked by a slew of missing children reportsThe parents with their new anguishes, and new rules against playing out after dark, have no idea of the horrors in their vicinity – literally under their feet lies a city of trolls, guilty of snatching the childrenLast to go, Jack SturgessCue the modern era and Jack's younger, now grown-up brother Jim, and Jim Jr live a sheltered life in the most barricaded and secure home imaginable, and Jim Jr's life is as exciting as you'd expectUnfortunately, however, the trolls are about to make a return to their nastiest of ways – and their intentions are a lot more surprising than Jim Jr could ever predict…
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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 routesFor 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 oftenBuilt 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 coversYou 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 projectsThey 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>1471405192</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803361476
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Tarn Richardson
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|author=Andrew Givler
|title=The Damned (The Darkest Hand Trilogy) (Inquisitor Poldek Tacit 1)
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|title=Soul Fraud (The Debt Collection Book 1)
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=France, 1914: A priest is murdered, if you could ascribe such a mundane term to such an act.  He was actually pulled apart brutally, literally and totally.  The Catholic Inquisition sends one of its best to investigate: Poldek Tacit.  Tacit may be a tortured, troubled soul fighting the demons of his own past but when it comes to eliciting information he's good, albeit via some questionable methods.  Meanwhile on the battle lines at Arras the British face the Germans in a war that will become even more horrific due to the evil that walks among them as a dark, inescapable shadow.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>071564954X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Naomi Novik
 
|title=Uprooted
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=Many years ago, in a village deep in Eastern Europe, the locals live a life of relative peace and happiness - knowing to always avoid the wood that borders their land, and safe in the knowledge that they are guarded by a powerful wizard - the Dragon. Aware that he is the one thing keeping them safe from the dangers of the wood, the villagers take part in a ritual called 'The Choosing' every ten years - when a young girl is sent to serve the wizard for a decade.
 
Agnieszka is of age for the choosing, but nobody fears that she will be picked - her best friend Kasia is pretty and graceful, and sure to catch the eye of the immortal Dragon. However, Agnieszka is not aware of the talents she holds that may attract the wizard - talents that the safety of the entire kingdom may come to depend on for their survival...
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447294130</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Michael J Ward
 
|title=The Eye of Winter’s Fury
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary= The Cold North awaits you…War is coming to Valeron, where an ill and ineffectual king is beset on all sides by the scheming of ambitious men. His youngest son, Prince Arran is sent on a fool’s errand, with the real threat waiting to be revealed. Your are Prince Arran. The ghost prince, a sickly boy who haunts the palace library. As danger threatens, you must finally prove yourself. Will you defy fate and become a great hero of legend? You decide in this epic fantasy adventure. The cold north awaits you…are you ready for the challenge?
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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>057509561X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{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=Taran Matharu
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|isbn=1958204021
|title=The Novice
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=''The Novice'', Taran Matharu’s Wattpad sensation has already received a staggering five million reads. This book doesn’t just survive the hype; it deserves it.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444923978</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Luke Scull
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|author=Olivie Blake
|title=Sword Of The North (The Grim Company) 
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|title=The Atlas Six
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=The heroes are scattered and seemingly powerless; the Age of Ruin is indeed upon the land as the new ruler may not be an improvement on the old.  Back at the heroes, Emerul the half-mage is reduced to sending a messenger rather than acting upon it himself and Shanna is reduced to being that messenger.  Davarus Cole is dying but it won't be the last time and what of the Sword of the North?  He, Brodar Kayne, continues to seek someone he thought he'd never see again even though there's no guarantee of finding her.  Meanwhile he has more pressing problems in the form of a Brick and a Grunt.
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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>1781851557</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1529095239
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Dave Zeltserman
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|author=Daniel Abraham
|title=The Boy Who Killed Demons
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|title=Age of Ash
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Henry Dudlow is 15½ and has had a hidden gift since he was 13. It was then he discovered that some people are in fact demons and – what's worse- he can see their real demonic formHow, after two years of knowing what Mr Hanley a couple of doors down is really like and hearing that children are going missing under under the most bizarre circumstances, it's time to do something about it.
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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 possibleIt 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>0715649892</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0356515427
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Lucy Hounsom
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|author= Ann Sei Lin
|title=Starborn
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|title= Rebel Skies
|rating=3.5
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|rating= 5
|genre=Fantasy
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|genre= Teens
|summary= On the day Kyndra comes of age, she accidentally destroys the relic of an ancient ceremony, ending centuries of tradition. So when terrible phenomena target her community, Kyndra is blamed. Fearing for her life, she is saved and rescued by two mysterious strangers one who wields the power of the Sun, the other – the Moon. Together, they flee to the hidden citadel of Naris. And here, Kyndra experiences disturbing visions of the past, and is brutally tested in a bid to unlock her own magic. If she survives the ordeal, she'll discover a force greater than she could ever have imagined. But could it create as well as destroy? And can she control it, to right an ancient wrong?
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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…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447268458</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1406399590
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Angus Watson
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|isbn=B09Q3P283Y
|title=Clash of Iron (The Iron Age Trilogy)
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|title=Shadebringer
|rating=4.5
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|author=Grayson W Hooper
 +
|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Lowa is now queen at Maidun Castle as she, Dug the reluctant (but highly effective) warrior and his young ward Spring attempt to defend it from the local tribes chancing their arm. Spring seems to have lost her magic but hopefully this is only temporary. There are bigger worries however; Lowa knows that the Romans will come and so sends Ragnall and Dunstan, former prince and his druid tutor Durstan to Rome on a mission to gather intelligence about the enemy. Unfortunately things don't go to plan on either front!
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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>0356502627</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Marie Brennan
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|author=Jennifer Saint
|title=Voyage of the Basilisk: A Memoir by Lady Trent (A Natural History of Dragons 3)
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|title=Elektra
|rating=3
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|rating=4
|genre=Fantasy
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|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=It's time.  Lady Trent – Isabella Camherst – can finally leave her educational soirees in her own salon and go and discover more about her beloved dragons.  This time it's going to be epic – not only has she for the first time taken her young son with her, she is on a sailing ship with a whole two years plying the seven seas to be looked forward to.  The world is on the tip of a seesaw as regards dragons – just as one side weighs down with new knowledge, so the other side comes down with industrialised exploitation of the creatures – and Lady Trent must make sure that she has a (decorous, Victorian-styled covered) firm bottom to keep things on the side she wants. But she has no idea how buttock-clenching the whole voyage will turn out to be…
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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>1783295066</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1472273915
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Melanie Rawn
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|author=Dean Koontz
|title=Glass Thorns - Window Wall (Book Four)
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|title=Quicksilver
|rating=4.5
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|rating=2.5
|genre=Fantasy
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|genre=Thrillers
|summary=The Touchstone Players begin another season but, once again it differs from previous years. Now each of the quartet have become or are about to become fathers; all apart from Cade that is. He still has to find that special person but isn't particularly looking as he has problems of his own. His kid brother Derien is starting to come into his own magical gifting which could potentially attract the wrong attention.  Cade's elsewhens (his visionary glimpses of possible futures) have also stopped; or rather he has chosen to thwart them. Meanwhile there has been an accident badly maiming Jez, one of Mieke's brothers.  At least everyone believes it's an accident until Mieke finds something suspicious in the debris.
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781166668</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1542019885
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Tasha Suri
|author=Guy Adams
+
|title=The Jasmine Throne
|title=A Few Words For The Dead
+
|rating=4
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary= Warning: spoilers for both [[The Clown Service by Guy Adams|The Clown Service]] and [[The Rain-Soaked Bride by Guy Adams|The Rain-Soaked Bride]] so best read them first. 
+
|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.
Remember the near-demonic Fratfield?  Well, the honeymooning Toby and Tamara find themselves – and Fratfield – in the South American jungle. However, things aren’t running smoothly. Not only does Fratfield still control the forces of nature, now he has some help. Meanwhile back home a hit man prepares to continue his profession. The target?  August Shining, Toby's boss, friend and wanted as an interview subject by MI6, should he live that long.
+
|isbn=0356515648
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091953197</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Stephen Hunt
+
|author=Genevieve Gornichec
|title=In Dark Service (Far Called Trilogy 1)
+
|title=The Witch's Heart
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=4
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Jacob Carnehan has settled down. He's minding his own business while raising his son Carter, and his days of adventure are - thankfully - long behind him. Carter Carnehan is going out of his mind with boredom. His humdrum life is dull, and he longs to escape. To test himself against the world.
+
|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>0575092076</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1789097061
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Ian Tregillis
+
|author=Hannah Whitten
|title=The Mechanical (Alchemy War)
+
|title=For the Wolf
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=There is a truce between New France and the Dutch; a truce during which the Vicomtesse Berenice wants to learn the secrets of the Clakkers.  These are robotic slaves that power everything Dutch just beyond the New French border: culture, industry, domestic duties, transport and they're also the most dangerous, relentless kind of soldier the world has ever known. Common knowledge confirms they're incapable of free will, thought, communication or freedom. Common knowledge is wrong: Clakkers' free will is suppressed by pain, their thoughts and communication are only shared between themselves and their freedom?  Jax may be a Clakker, but he's working on freedom.
+
|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>0356502325</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356516369
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=George R R Martin and Lisa Tuttle
+
|author=John Gwynne
|title=Windhaven
+
|title=The Shadow Of The Gods
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=As a huge fan of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', I love George RR Martin’s writing style and the vivid world and characters he created, and was interested to see what his other work might be like. Conversely, not being at all familiar with Lisa Tuttle, I was even more intrigued to read this book.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473208947</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Patricia Briggs
 
|title=Dead Heat: An Alpha and Omega novel
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=Just because you're werewolves, you still can find love, like Charles and Anna.  Even with your new nature (although in his case, new is a couple of hundred years) you can still have joint hobbies.  A little lycanthropy doesn't stop you wanting a fabulous horse to go riding through the mountains on.  So Charles and Anna are holidaying on an Arabian stud farm to check out the stock and meet up with his old friends, when something nasty happens.  One of the young women in the host Pack of werewolves suddenly turns nasty, and has to put herself through a serious ordeal just to stop herself from stabbing her young children.  Such is the torment that Charles has to take the life-changing – but life-saving – decision to turn her.  The problem is, the very magical strength to push the situation to such an end is definitely a mighty one – and things and people turning into nasty entities are going to be a recurring theme in the days ahead…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501620</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=George Mann
 
|title=Ghosts of War
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=In 1920's Manhattan, a lone hero patrols the streets and the skies, using his immense wealth and futuristic technology to keep evil at bay. However, at the start of ''Ghosts of War'', the Ghost is in mourning, following the tragic events that concluded [[Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann|Ghosts of Manhattan]], the first book in the series. Thankfully for the Ghost (and for the reader) -  Manhattan is under seige, and he has little time to lick his wounds. Mechanical winged beasts roam the skies, an alcoholic ex-lover is back on the scene, and a British spy may have to be dealt with in order to prevent a cold war turning hot...
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783294140</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Karen Maitland
 
|title=The Raven's Head
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=In 13th century England, Gisa, niece and ward of an apothecary attracts the attention of one of his more sinister clients.  Elsewhere Wilky, a small child, is taken from his parents in lieu of a debt and then taken to a monastery which is a cover for something less than Christian.  Meanwhile in France, Vincent, a scribe's apprentice, is framed for a theft and has to run for his life.  The three will meet but under circumstances that turn out to be the stuff of dark, bloody nightmares.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472215060</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Mark Lingane
 
|title=Sucker
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Private Investigator Van H Avram is living in odd times.  At least that's what he decides on the day he has to step over a dead body to get from his office to the street and not just any body: it's that of a skinny blond thing – the first of many.  However life goes on and bills have to be paid so when a woman called Mina walks into Van's office and asks him to find Hugo Jorgen he doesn't refuse. Perhaps if at that point he'd realised where the search would lead, the brutally bloodied body count he would uncover and the link to a recurring childhood nightmare that materialises, then he may have refused. Too late now though…
+
|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>1508455988</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356514218
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest For Sharing Reviews]]
|author=Ronald Welch
 
|title=The Gauntlet
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=''The Gauntlet'' was one of the iconic books of my childhood. Why iconic? It's an over-used word. Why not say 'most memorable', 'outstanding', 'most magical and exciting', -- or simply 'best'? Any of those would do but I think I'll allow myself iconic. The gauntlet of the title justifies that word.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192738593</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Donald Hounam
 
|title=Gifted
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Fifteen-year-old Frank is a forensic sorcerer, employed to solve murders and other grisly crimes in a world where adults get the blur and lose their eyesight by their mid-twenties, and only the young have enough sorcerous power to summon demons and angels.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552571873</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Hermione Eyre
 
|title=Viper Wine
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Venetia Stanley lives in Seventeeth century London. A celebrated beauty, she has had poems written in honour of her, and portraits painted by one of the leading artists of the time. Married to a handsome, kind and adventurous man, Venetia is kept in a life of luxury, and, at first glance - has everything she could ever have dreamed of. Except Venetia is not happy. A woman who has made her name and fortune because of her beauty, she is convinced that her allure is quickly slipping through her fingers. Signing a pact with an apothecary for his famed restorative 'Viper Wine', Venetia is set on a dangerous path.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099581663</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

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

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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