Synopsis Praise be to Our Lady of Eternal Sorrows, and blessed be the Ascended Martyr.’ Those were the words on lips of the faithful: Blessed be the Ascended Martyr, and woe betide you if you thought otherwise. The word Unbeliever had become a death sentence on the streets in those days. Gangster, soldier, priest. Governor, […]
Fantasy
SPFBO XI Review: No More Levels by Benjamin Barreth
Synopsis Life sucks when you’re a potato farmer. That’s why Rin can’t wait to turn sixteen and conquer the nearest beginner dungeon. Only then can he acquire a powerful class in the Game of the Gods and begin the earnest grind to leveling up. With enough monster kills, he might even become someone truly strong, […]
Review: Broken Dove (Silver Elite 2) by Dani Francis
Synopsis: LINES WILL BE CROSSED. After blowing her cover as a double agent within Silver Elite and fleeing the Prime-controlled capital, Wren Darlington is finally safe behind allied lines. As her lover and former commander Cross Redden works to disrupt the Primes from inside their ranks, Wren turns her focus toward assisting the Uprising in […]
Review: The Heart of the Nhaga (The Bird That Drinks Tears #1) by Young-Do Lee, Translated by Anton Hur
Synopsis: Welcome to Lee Young-do’s epic classic series, The Bird That Drinks Tears. The master of Korean fantasy—often cited as the J.R.R. Tolkien of South Korea—Lee Young-do has created a tale of castles built on the backs of flying mantas, giant birdmen, heartless immortals, and a quest that will change the very nature of the […]
Review: Mother of Death and Dawn (The War of Lost Hearts #3) by Carissa Broadbent
Mother of Dawn and Death’s best character arc is Aefe, hands down. In Children of Fallen Gods I was very fond of her, and then over the course of Mother of Death and Dawn I went through so many emotions with her. From seeing her as a villain, to seeing her just as a broken, used person who makes the wrong choices for love, to making the right choices for herself. Her growth and change is what carried the emotional side of this book for me.
Review: The Sunrise Dagger (Memories of Kenjir #2) by Abel Montero
Synopsis The empire is splintering, and the gods’ dominion grows weaker with every passing day. Out of the chaos, old loyalties fracture, new dangers emerge, and the line between faith and betrayal blurs beyond recognition. For Andik, survival means constant flight. Pursued across the empire, he follows a trail of secrets that lead him closer to […]
Review: Legacy of the Brightwash (Tainted Dominion 1) by Krystle Matar
Synopsis Follow the law and you’ll stay safe. But what if the law is wrong?SPFBO Finalist Indie Ink Award Finalist BBNYA Finalist Stabby Nominee—Best Debut 2021 Stabby Nominee—Best Indie Book 2021Tashué’s faith in the law is beginning to crack. Three years ago, he stood by when the Authority condemned Jason to the brutality of the […]
Review: Clara & the Devil: Collection One by Olivie Blake, Little Chmura
Synopsis: He’s tall, dark and infernal. She’s ready to be corrupted . . . A deliciously dark tale of Faustian bargains and seduction, Clara & the Devil is a graphic novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Masters of Death, Olivie Blake and fan-favourite artist Little Chmura. Clara thought she had the rest of her life figured out. But […]
Book Review: Don’t Die Dave by AR Witham
TL;DR Review: A cranky boomer gets dropped into a Fortnite-esque video game world…and you can imagine how poorly that goes! Synopsis: A death game where the prize isn’t power or money — it’s health insurance. + Insert coin to keep breathing. + To erase his crippling medical debt, 50-year-old Dave signs a contract that uploads […]
SPFBO XI Review: Flint in the Bones (Norwich Map Runners #1) by Eva St. John
Synopsis In a city where history bites back, murder is just the beginning.Detective Eliza “Bish” Barnaby thought she’d left her home behind—along with its plague outbreaks, random time-shifts, and tendency to accidentally host people from the 1600s during breakfast. But when a dangerous practitioner escapes custody in London, Bish is forced back to Norwich, a […]
Violence and Vigilance: (Turesia Untamed Book 1) by David T. List
Synopsis: Violence & Vigilance is book one of Turesia Untamed, an epic fantasy series featuring an eternal vendetta, scars of grief and loss, untethered rage, and hope against all odds. Irdessa the Undying, a renowned arena fighter in Fohrvylda, has escaped imprisonment but at great cost. Broken and alone, she must outwit and outfight her […]
Review: Fire in the Hearth (Scars of Magic #2) by Steven Raaymakers
A stunning return to the Scars of Magic series, improving on just about everything while retaining the brutal survivalist tale of Esterra Stake.