Synopsis Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire & Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, […]
Historical
Book Review: Scales of Balance (A Vengeful Realm #1) by Tim Facciola
TL;DR: Spartacus meets Game of Thrones. Magic, manipulation, insurrection, and bloody spectacle galore. Synopsis: Peace bought by blood seldom lasts, for vengeance knows no end. The same is true for mortals and Gods alike. Decades, centuries, eras may pass, but the cycle remains. As war and revolution rise again, Zephyrus finds himself at the center […]
Review: The Ministry of Time (#1) by Kaliane Bradley
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK “This summer’s hottest debut.” —Cosmopolitan • “Witty, sexy escapist fiction [that] packs a substantial punch…It’s a smart, gripping work that’s also a feast for the senses…Fresh and thrilling.” —Los Angeles Times • “Electric…I loved every second.” —Emily Henry “Utterly winning…Imagine if The Time Traveler’s Wife […]
Review: Daughter of Calamity by Rosalie M. Lin
Synopsis In Jazz-Age Shanghai, Jingwen carefully balances a double life of glamour and grit, dancing as cabaret showgirl while also running errands for the city’s most powerful gang. When a series of cabaret dancers are attacked and their stolen faces start appearing on wealthy foreign socialites, Jingwen realises that to help save her closest rivals […]
Review: His Ragged Company (Testimonies of Elias Faust #1) by Rance D. Denton
Synopsis A pissed-off warlock with a taste for revenge. An army of sand-golems with fistfuls of magic. A wishing well with a mind of its own. No wonder Blackpeak, Texas never got its spot on the map. Town marshal Elias Faust thinks that he can make any problem go away if he throws enough lead […]
Review: A Heart Full of Malice (The Fractured Kingdom #2) by Tony Debajo
Synopsis: There are no true victors in war. Even those that prevail cannot escape the burden of guilt for those who have fallen, and all those who witness the ugliness in the hearts of men are forever tainted. Ile-Ife has fallen and with it, the greatest ruler to have ever sat on the throne. Now, […]
Review: Babel by R.F. Kuang
Babel is a brilliant historical fiction novel, and a deeply uncomfortable read. Kuang writes it beautifully—whether she’s discussing lemon cakes or opium dens.
Book Review: Bridge of Kings by Logan D. Irons
Synopsis: Two Warriors. Two Kings. One bridge. Some men hold secrets that are far darker than war. An old oath obligates Ulf Bodvarsson to join King Harald Hardrada’s army of Norsemen, seeking to assert his claim to the English crown. Yet near Stamford Bridge, enemies await, seeking to fulfill their own oaths of blood. The […]
Review: Motherland (Eve #0.5) by Mark Jonathan Runte
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 […]
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.