Synopsis: Kseniya and Semyon only ever knew loyalty to their country, until the death of a policeman forced them to run, raising their children as refugees and then as English. But their pasts were never far behind them, nor was caution for being what they were. Their safety isn’t the only thing at stake, it’s […]
Historical
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 […]
Australian & New Zealand Author Showcase No 25 – Assaph Mehr
An idea squeezed into my head in 2023, after seeing so many of the book community gathering at conventions across the US and UK. And once my FOMO subsided, I got to thinking about who might be gathered together if we had similar conventions closer to home. Pending the master planning required to arrange a […]
Review: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
This is by far the darkest of Arden’s books that I’ve read. Usually my issue with historical fiction/fantasy set in the World Wars is the inevitable romanticisation of the war and what people went through on the front lines. Arden instead shows the darker side, the people who didn’t want to fight, the ends people went to just to be able to survive, and the absolute horrors that those on the front lines faced. I found my heart breaking as I read The Warm Hands of Ghosts and I felt true horror at so much of what Arden shows.
Review: A Dagger in the Dark (Pillars of Peace #0.5) by Tom Dumbrell
Synopsis Twenty years before the events of The Look of a King, in a world on the cusp of change, a young man dreams of a life far from the one he has known. Is he a captain in the making, or out of his depth? The stakes are high, and only time will tell […]
Review: Undead Samurai by Baptiste Pinson Wu
Rating – 9 /10 Synopsis ” His hand moved before his brain could. His left hand pulled on the saya, while the right drove the blade forward.” 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 […]
Review: Of Honey and Wildfires (The Songs of Sefate #1) by Sarah Chorn
Synopsis From the moment the first settler dug a well and struck a lode of shine, the world changed. Now, everything revolves around that magical oil. What began as a simple scouting expedition becomes a life-changing ordeal for Arlen Esco. The son of a powerful mogul, Arlen is kidnapped and forced to confront uncomfortable truths […]
Review: The Empress of Salt and Fortune (The Singing Hills cycle #1) by Nghi Vo
Synopsis A young royal from the far north is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully. Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her […]
Review: Uncanny Vows (Huntsmen #2) by Laura Anne Gilman
Gilman opens up this sequel in one of my absolute favorite ways across media, and that is by zooming in from a seemingly normal and sweeping outdoor scene, into an indoor one of absolute chaos and mayhem. And so it is that months after the events of book one, we find Rosemary and Aaron battling pesky imps wreaking havoc during a routine hunt. Not only is this kind of scene absolutely hilarious but the medias res allows you to hit the ground running back into the action you left off from book one.
Review: Uncanny Times (Huntsmen #1) by Laura Anne Gilman
I found this first entry in the Huntsmen series an excellent start to a hopefully long saga that promises good times, feels, sibling shenanigans, and lots of action. Also, there’s a molosser dog with one upturned and one downward ear as the animal companion and his name is Botheration. Need I say more?
Review: Dark Water Daughter (The Winter Sea #1) by H.M. Long
Synopsis A stormsinger and pirate hunter join forces against a deathless pirate lord in this swashbuckling Jacobean adventure on the high-seas. Mary Firth is a Stormsinger: a woman whose voice can still hurricanes and shatter armadas. Faced with servitude to pirate lord Silvanus Lirr, Mary offers her skills to his arch-rival in exchange for protection […]
Wildwood Magic by Willa Reece
Synopsis From the author of Wildwood Whispers comes a spellbinding novel of magic and self-discovery when a woman escapes her abusive husband and finds shelter in a magical orchard. Virginia, 1959. Raised in a children’s home run by religious zealots, Rachel never forgot the wildwood orchard she turned to for refuge as a young girl. […]