This is a heartfelt fable with a pure message and has been a really enjoyable surprise for 2022.
Review: Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
Barnes’ shithousery makes for an entertaining and likeable protagonist, the premise is original and excellent, plus the fact I had to scrabble to find two comp titles should give a good indication of what a breath of fresh air Mickey7 is to read!
Review: The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews
The Leviathan feels like one of the biggest releases of the year. It’s awesome in its execution and perfect pacing. What starts out as a witchy is she/isn’t she? mystery novel darkens and darkens into something bigger, something so malignant and powerful that you really shouldn’t be anywhere near whether you’re a sceptical protagonist or not.
The Bone Spindle (The Bone Spindle #1) by Leslie Vedder
There’s countless heart wrenching twists, turns, kisses, pledges of love and betrayals that just feels so satisfying. I hope we have a chance to go ruin-delving with Shane and Fi again very soon because I really wasn’t ready for this book to end.
Review: Of Darkness and Light (The Bound and The Broken #2) by Ryan Cahill
For me personally Of Darkness and Light could have been 900 pages longer and it wouldn’t have mattered. It’s that epically good.
Tom’s Top 10 Reads of 2021
A beardy look at 2021’s best books.
Review: Of Blood and Fire (The Bound and the Broken #1) by Ryan Cahill
Cahill’s prose, which glides between brutally epic and elegant, has a playful tone that at times reads like a sassy John Gwynne. It is a series being crafted by someone who loves the fantasy genre and is fully adept at making it sing.
Review: Sinopticon by Xueting Christine Ni (Translator and Editor)
An incredible omnibus of Chinese Science Fiction compiled and edited by self-confessed geek, translator and author of From Kuanyin to Chairman Mao, Xueting Ni.
Review: The Fall (The Bound and the Broken #0.5) by Ryan Cahill
Cahill doesn’t hold back in depicting every exploding wall, dragon roar, and arterial spray of blood. The Fall is just completely epic and awesome.
Review: The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga #1) by John Gwynne
Gwynne has seriously delivered in this epic beardy saga. All three of his protagonists would warrant their own separate story, so their three spectacular narratives entwine into a true behemoth of a book.
Review: Last Resort by Josh Reynolds
Last Resort doesn’t reinvent the wheel of the zombie genre but it delivers a classy zombie romp in a way that will appeal to fans of Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and the Left for Dead video games, in every squishy, chompy chapter of this perfectly-paced zombie splatterfest.
Review: The Hood (Anti-Matter of Britain Quartet #2) by Lavie Tidhar
The Hood delivers myth and magic with a splatter of sweary violence and comedy in all the right places in what is one of the most unique and masterful reads of 2021.