I’ve been trying to think of a witty way to start this review. Maybe I could start with a sailing joke? Instead, I’m going to begin with a statement; The Bone Ships, by Robert Holstock Award winner RJ Barker, is utterly phenomenal!
Epic Fantasy
Review: King of the Rising (Islands of Blood and Storm #2) by Kacen Calendar
The King of the Rising is the follow-up to 2019’s Queen of the Conquered (my review of that book is here) and the finale in Kacen Callender’s Islands of Blood and Storm duology. This is a complex fantasy series built around themes of colonialism and power dynamics. I have mixed feelings about the direction this book ended up taking, so let’s dig in.
Review: Mistborn (Book 1) by Brandon Sanderson
Reading Mistborn, formerly known as The Final Empire or book one of the Mistborn series, felt like arriving late at a party when everyone’s drunk—like I had missed out on something special! I bought the Era one trilogy a few years back and never got to it until now, and man was I missing out on the kool-aid. This book took all my expectations, put them in a blender with a high dose of sugar and hit frappe. I haven’t been that much engaged in a book since I read the Harry Potter series.
Review: The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1) by Stephen King
The Gunslinger is an experimental book for sure, but there is no better way to start your quest to the Dark Tower than this.
Review: Call of the Bone Ships (The Tide Child Trilogy #2)
The Call of the Bone Ships is part 2 in R.J. Barker’s The Tide Child Trilogy, and, in my opinion, while it does represent an expansion on the first book in the series, The Bone Ships, and presents some similarities it is also very different in a lot of ways. That being said, I still found it to be a very enjoyable read.
Review: The Warded Man (Demon Cycle #1) by Peter V. Brett
The Warded Man, published as The Painted Man in the UK, is one of the best epic fantasy books that I have read in a long time. Like most of the things I read, for one reason or another I put off reading this one entirely too long. Because of my manic compulsion to buy everything I see that even remotely piques my interest, I bought this book several years ago and it has languished in my TBR ever since.
Review: Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen #1) by Steven Erikson
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Gardens of the Moon. Steven Erikson, along with his friend and collaborator Ian Esselmont, has created something truly remarkable. This serves as a great introduction to the sprawling world of Malazan Book of the Fallen and the carrots that Erikson dangles in front of you at every turn only makes you hunger for more.