Should I begin from the ambitious and chaotic theological sangria that Sullivan enriches his plot with in such a way that for all intents and purposes should not work and yet it somehow does gloriously?
Historical
Review: The Brides by Charlotte Cross
Synopsis: 1884. When Mafalda journeys to Budapest to care for her grieving aunt, her secret love, Lucy, hurries from London to comfort her, with chaperone and lady’s maid in tow. But lady’s maid Alice, blessed and cursed with the Sight, is tormented by terrifying visions. When chaperone Eliza falls prey to a disturbing wasting illness, […]
Review: The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan
Synopsis: A devastating love story. A bewitching twist on history. A blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power, and redemption. In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gévaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake. Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, […]
Review: Godstorm by Solitaire Townsend
Summary: A Female Gladiator’s Vow. A Stolen Child. A Storm to End Empires In a petrol-fuelled Roman Empire which never fell, Arrow, a gladiatrix turned governess must rescue the child she has loved as her own, a girl who could tear down the world. When Livy is abducted during a devastating Godstorm, Arrow must unleash […]
Review: The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by H.G. Parry
Synopsis: All they needed to break the world was a door, and someone to open it. Camford, 1920. Gilded and glittering, England’s secret magical academy is no place for Clover, a commoner with neither connections nor magical blood. She tells herself she has fought her way there only to find a cure for her brother […]
Review: I, Medusa by Ayana Gray
Synopsis: Meddy has spent her whole life as a footnote in someone else’s story. Out of place next to her beautiful, immortal sisters and her parents—both gods, albeit minor ones—she dreams of leaving her family’s island for a life of adventure. So when she catches the eye of the goddess Athena, who invites her to […]
Review: The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell
Synopsis: Journey to a magical hotel in the Swiss Alps, where two lost souls living in different centuries meet and discover that behind its many doors, they may just find a second chance. ‘Have you travelled a long way?’ she asked carefully. A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. ‘Well, yes,” he said […]
Review: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
Synopsis: Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters―but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten. Centuries later, Owen Mallory―failed soldier, struggling scholar―falls in love with the […]
Review: The Sovereign (Magic of the Lost, Book 3) by C.L Clark
The Sovereign brings princess Luca and soldier Touraine together one last time in the thrilling conclusion to C. L. Clark’s beloved queer political fantasy trilogy. Luca is the new queen of Balladaire. Her empire is already splintering in her hands. Her uncle wasn’t the only traitor in the court, and the Withering plague will decimate her people […]
Review: Vispilio by Audrey D. DeBoer
Synopsis: Robin Hood has a new name—the Vispilio, a thief by night, thought to be only a legend. Does he seek vengeance, or justice?Antony Bronson has never known his past-as far as he knows, he’s the second son of his father Bron and has lived an unremarkable life in the village of Barnswood, other than […]
Trollgrave by Alex S. Bradshaw (The Windborn Sagas)
Synopsis: Something stirs in the Forest of Broken Trolls… Despite all his skill in healing and runecraft, God-Speaker Alvir Einarson could not save everyone. In the wake of failure, he seeks aid from an old mentor and witnesses a wave of darkness sweep over the land that, for a single moment, extinguishes all magic. In […]
Review: Making History by K.J. Parker
Synopsis: KJ Parker’s new novella is a darkly witty historical fantasy. A group of scholars are asked to do the impossible by a ruthless king. The cost of refusal being death, of course. History isn’t truth…it’s propaganda. Academics can be cocky. Atop their perches of authority high above the thrumming masses of the unquestioning world […]