Blood of the Chosen is rip-roaring action set in an epic fantasy universe full of rebellion, fuckery and stakes that raise the consequences of character’s actions.
Fantasy
The Hellborn King (The Hellborn King Saga #1) by Christopher G. Brenning
Synopsis A kingdom at war. A royal family at war with itself. After the massacre of his people, Damien Dreadfire leads a patchwork army of unlikely allies against the Kingdom of Betanthia. The alliance teeters on the edge of a knife, as old rivalries between clans threaten to tear it apart. With the help of […]
Monster Hunter International (#1 & #2) by Larry Correia
Monsters are real. But Monster Hunting is [semi] privatized. Enter Monster Hunter International (MHI)! Not all worlds need to be rich and fancy. Sometimes the solution is as simplistically elegant as picking up a gun and shooting a monster in the head. The author describes this as “a conglomeration of B-Movie stereotypes but tackled from the perspective tactical realism” and it’s just that.
Review: Shackled Fates (The Hanged God #2) by Thilde Kold Holdt
Shackled Fates is the second volume in the Hanged God trilogy, the story that carries right on from the first. Right back into the action, right back into the tale; the bard strums his guitar and continues the fireside tale of Vikings, their gods, and the impending final battle. Holdt effortlessly writes with a voice that’s whispered from ear to ear, passed down through the histories and into the story we have in front of us; with face-paced action, large-scale battles, and whispers in the wind, we’re transported through the Nine Worlds again on a story that promises to change the fate of them all.
Review: Priest of Bones (War for the Rose Throne #1) by Peter McLean
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.
Draigon Weather (The Legacies of Arnan #1) by Paige L. Christie
Synopsis Draigon Weather The brutal, drought-bringing heat that arises from the colossal, near-mythical Draigon, is a fell portent, heralding the doom of a striving woman. When Leiel’s mother is Sacrificed to the Draigon to relieve the terrible drought, Leiel is marked by the shame brought to her family. She must leave school, relegated to a new […]
Series Review: The Age of Madness by Joe Abercrombie
The Age of Madness series consists of three books: A Little Hatred, The Trouble with Peace, The Wisdom of Crowds. It is also part of Joe Abercrombie’s First Law universe, but it is hard for me to place exactly when this story takes place in relation to the rest because it was a very long time ago that I read them. Suffice to say, though, The Age of Madness fits perfectly within Abercrombie’s grimdark theater.
Review: The Living Waters (Weirdwater Confluence #1) by Dan Fitzgerald
The Living Waters is the first in a new duology from Dan Fitzgerald, the author of The Maer Cycle trilogy of books. I haven’t read his other series, but they are now definitely being shuffled closer to the top of my TBR, as The Living Waters grabbed ahold of my heart from the first page and didn’t let go. It’s a story bursting at the seams with adventure, wonder, and heart, and it’s one that has catapulted itself to the top of my favorite reads this year.
Review: Among Thieves by M.J. Kuhn
Among Thieves is the debut novel from author M.J. Kuhn, but you’d never guess that from reading it. Among Thieves is a slick heist novel centered around a group of outlaws planning and attempting the heist of a priceless object from the one place in the world that may be impossible to burgle and the last man in the world they’d wish to piss off. What follows is a story chock full of adventure, mayhem, and snark. I’m so angry that I sat on this ARC for so long!
Review: The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga #1) by John Gwynne
Gwynne has seriously delivered in this epic beardy saga. All three of his protagonists would warrant their own separate story, so their three spectacular narratives entwine into a true behemoth of a book.
Review: The Liar of Red Valley by W.L. Goodwater
A wildly imaginative urban fantasy!
Review – Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide (to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons (A Miss Percy Guide #1) by Quenby Olson
Synopsis Miss Mildred Percy inherits a dragon. Ah, but we’ve already got ahead of ourselves… Miss Mildred Percy is a spinster. She does not dance, she has long stopped dreaming, and she certainly does not have adventures. That is, until her great uncle has the audacity to leave her an inheritance, one that includes a […]