TL;DR Review – A wonderfully complex examination of cultural whitewashing and complicated families. Synopsis: Despite Rosha’s best efforts, she will never fit in. To her classmates, she is forever an outsider, a girl from the fringes of the empire just lucky enough to have well-off parents. To her teachers, she is either a charity case […]
Asian Inspired
REVIEW: Mushroom Blues (The Hofmann Report #1) by Adrian M. Gibson
SYNOPSIS ENTER THE FUNGALVERSE. BEAT THE WINTER BLUES. Blade Runner, True Detective and District 9 meld with the weird worlds of Jeff VanderMeer, Philip K. Dick and China Miéville in Adrian M. Gibson’s hallucinatory, fungalpunk noir debut. Two years after a devastating defeat in the decade-long Spore War, the island nation of Hōppon and its capital city of Neo Kinoko […]
Review: Five Broken Blades (The Broken Blades #1) by Mai Corland
Hello book that involves court politics but is so easy to follow & I mean that as the biggest compliment ever. I’m forever getting lost in court politic books and while this one isn’t really set in a court at any point it’s all about assassinating the God King so it’s basically court politics, you get me?
Review: The Sword of Kaigen (A Theonite War Story) by M.L. Wang
Synopsis: On a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful warriors in the world, superhumans capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name […]
Review: Undead Samurai by Baptiste Pinson Wu
Synopsis Japan, 1625 A new Drum Master has risen, and soon the nation will fall to the curse of Izanagi. Answering the call of his kotsuzumi, dead warriors abandon their peace to once again roam the land of the living, swinging rusty blades and chattering rotten teeth at his behest. Japan’s last hope lies in […]
Review: The Last Phi Hunter by Salinee Goldenberg
Synopsis Ambitious Phi Hunter and perpetual lone wolf, Ex, finds his road to glory interrupted when a heavily pregnant runaway enlists his help to escape through the ghost-infested forest… Ex, the youngest member of the Phi Hunters Order, has spent his life slaying the ghosts and demons of Suyoram Kingdom. While he takes great pride […]
Review: The Burning God (The Poppy War #3) by R.F. Kuang
Synopsis: After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead. Despite her losses, Rin hasn’t given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much—the people of the southern provinces and especially […]
Review: The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War #2) by R.F. Kuang
Synopsis: The war is over. The war has just begun. Three times throughout its history, Nikan has fought for its survival in the bloody Poppy Wars. Though the third battle has just ended, shaman and warrior Rin cannot forget the atrocity she committed to save her people. Now she is on the run from her […]
Review: The Way of the Renegades by Steve D Wall (The Bards and Dragons Saga 1)
Rating: 8/10An action-packed flintlock fantasy book about guns, mages, bards and dragons! Ulric, former war hero, has been living a quiet life of exile in the frontier city of Quinport and wants only to continue hiding from the mistakes of his past. But then he discovers the invention of a revolutionary new kind of rifle, […]
Review: The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang
Synopsis A mother struggling to repress her violent past,A son struggling to grasp his violent future,A father blind to the danger that threatens them all. When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies […]
Review: Elder Epoch (Gunmetal Gods Series #3) by Zamil Akhtar
Synopsis The protector of the land is dead. A blood plague infests the soil and sea, eldritch angels vie for dominion over hearts and souls, and holy war boils between four gunpowder empires. The line between truth and falsehood, the righteous and the wicked, hope and annihilation is buried deep beneath blood-soaked sand. Review By […]
The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi
Synopsis Elin’s family has an important caring for the fearsome water serpents that form the core of their kingdom’s army. So when some of the creatures mysteriously die, Elin’s mother is sentenced to death as punishment. With her last breath, she manages to send her daughter to safety. Alone and far from home, Elin soon […]