FanFiAddict
A gaggle of nerds talking about Fantasy, Science Fiction, and everything in-between. They also occasionally write reviews about said books. 2x Stabby Award-Nominated and home to the Stabby Award-Winning TBRCon.
I really enjoyed The Gifts. Told from several perspectives it starts with a hook and doesn’t let you go until it is over. This is a story that is both incredibly dark but told in such a way that the real darkness of the story never actually really comes to the surface.
I spent all of the book rooting for the women, and towards the end I really wasn’t sure what was going to happen. It became hard to put down as I just wanted to know what was going to happen.
Synopsis How far would you go to resurrect someone you love? Would you change who you are to show you belong? The world of Avarin is tearing itself apart. The Domain worships life, its leaders lead eternal lives and death is a shame that must not be mourned. But, for the clans to the south, […]
Synopsis Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city […]
Synopsis ‘We Men of Ash and Shadow’ is the first book in the Vanguard Series and follows the journey of protagonist, John Vanguard, through the dark and corrupt city of D’Orsee. A Grimdark gas lamp novel, ‘We Men of Ash and Shadow’ explores themes of redemption, loyalty, and betrayal against the backdrop of a world […]
Synopsis From a major new debut author in epic fantasy comes the first book in a trilogy where action, intrigue, and magic collide. The Justice of Kings introduces an unforgettable protagonist destined to become a fantasy icon: Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an Emperor’s Justice, who is a detective, judge, and executioner all in one. But these are dangerous […]
Synopsis An aging alchemist seeks the key to the Universal Tincture said to unlock the Thousand Worlds of the Mind, but she never expected to solve the riddle of the hermetic heart. A meditation acolyte travels the mystical social media known as the Caravan and finds that the Thousand Worlds lie just below the surface, […]
Synopsis All painted-faced nobles can choose to go on a roughabout at some point when they are young adults to experience life outside of their luxury and comfort. Usually these experiences lead to uncomfortable situations that are short lived and the nobles are well watched over by trained professionals. However, when two nobles, Temi and […]
Synopsis Tomas Piety has been many things: soldier, priest, gangster…and spy. As Tomas’s power grows, the nobility better watch their backs, in this dark and gritty epic fantasy series. People are weak, and the poorer and more oppressed they are, the weaker they become–until they can’t take it anymore. And when they rise up…may the […]
Following the story as told/written by Tomas Piety in first person, the reader is met with a matter of fact recounting of events that reveals a character who is choosing to share his story, while also keeping some of the details to himself. This is all done while commenting on it all in a manner that, I don’t want to say is bleak, cause it’s not really that, more like with very few fucks left to give and heavily influenced by the protagonist’s principles. This sort of unreliable narrator is the kind that fascinates me the most, especially because when done well, and I’d argue that McLean did it brilliantly, it reveals more about the characters themselves than what they’re actually telling the reader. At the same time, this makes for a fast moving story that doesn’t waste time on world building through long expositional paragraphs, but rather only focuses on the relevant details and events.
The Sword in the Street has been one of the hardest books for me to review. I’ve been putting it off for a while now, fiddling with the draft over and over. Not because I don’t have anything to say about it or that it was bad in any way. If anything, maybe it’s because I am too close to it. It was a very emotional read for me.
