Synopsis Admar’s future is a path paved with broken glass. Each step forward living under Scothean tyranny cuts away another piece of his humanity. Right down to the very bone. But even a meager life as a miner is better than a pointless death. A sister, a mother, a lover, all lost at the uncaring […]
Fantasy
Review: Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater
TL;DR Version: Like Good Omens, with chocolate and bribery. Heartfelt, delightful, and amusing cozy fantasy. Synopsis: A little bit of sin is good for the soul. Gadriel, the fallen angel of petty temptations, has a bit of a gambling debt. Fortunately, her angelic bookie is happy to let her pay off her debts by doing […]
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.
Interview with Douglas Lumsden
Well, the first thing I would do is jam the buttons so that the elevator would stop and I’d have a captive audience, because I like to take my time with my pitches. But if I was in a hurry, I might say something like: A cynical detective finds mystery, murder, and dark magic in […]
Review: The Malevolent Seven by Sebastian de Castell
TL;DR Review: Suicide Squad done right. Grim, gritty, sarcastic, and charmingly irreverent. Entertaining from start to finish. Synopsis: ‘Seven powerful mages want to make the world a better place. We’re going to kill them first.’ Picture a wizard. Go ahead, close your eyes. There he is, see? Skinny old guy with a long straggly beard. No […]
Review: We Are the Origin (Wrath of the Gods #1) by C. M. Lockhart
Synopsis She was a shadow. Forced into a life of serving the queendom before she was old enough to deny them, Brandi was a cultivator of death and the queen’s own blade, reserved only for the disloyal and the blasphemous. Crafted by the queendom and forged in blood, she was nothing more than a tool. […]
Review: Dragons of Kings (Upon Dragon’s Breath #2) by Ava Richardson
Synopsis The battle for Torvald begins. As the young heir of a noble house fallen into decay, Bower has reluctantly shouldered the mantle he was born with—that of Torvald’s rightful king. It is his destiny to throw off the shackles of King Enric and lead his people to freedom, or so he’s been told. With […]
Review: Shattered Spirits: The Fall of Ishcairn by Cal Black
Synopsis Legends say a dead god is buried under the stone city of Ishcairn, protecting its inhabitants by dashing enemy fleets into the jagged coast of Craeburn. Adjunct professor Corrie Ecksley doesn’t believe any of that, but she knows from her work excavating nearby burial sites that the ancient Craeburn people believed it enough to […]
Series Review: The Adam Binder Novels (White Trash Warlock, Trailer Park Trickster, and Deadbeat Druid) by David R. Slayton
Series Synopsis: Not all magicians go to schools of magic. Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam’s life, that power has […]
Review: Dragons of Wild (Upon Dragon’s Breath #1) by Ava Richardson
Synopsis The once peaceful kingdom of Torvald has been ravaged by evil magic, forcing Riders to forget their dragons and their noble beasts to flee to the wilds. Now, anyone who dares to speak of dragons is deemed insane and put to death. Into this dark and twisted land, Saffron was born sixteen years ago. […]
Review: Dawn of the Darkest Day (Soultappers Saga #1) by K.C. Woodruff
Dawn of the Darkest Day is a fun book full of flawed romance and rich worldbuilding, giving the Soultappers Saga a fantastic beginning and room for growth.
Review: The Hallows by H.L. Tinsley
Drugs, nuns and secrets – no, not your average weekend night out but the return of the Princess of Grimdark. Synopsis The Hallow serum was once sacred to the Auld Bloods. Used to gain access to their lost ancestral powers, now it is regulated and administered by the powerful Providence Company. Evolved from the echelons […]