TL;DR Review: Fascinating worldbuilding, high-stakes adventure, and a subtly, well-crafted message about climate change. Synopsis: Amid the chaos of a dying city ruled by colonizers, three rivals—a thief, a slumlord, and an heiress—race to find a hidden cache of magic that will decide the city’s fate. In the occupied city of Tejomaya, calor—a magical fossil […]
Fantasy
Review: New Rock New Role (Book #1 of the New Rock Series) by Richard Sparks
Synopsis With millions watching on live stream, Daxx and his teammates Qrysta and Grell win the role-playing Games (RPG) Grand Championship. But winning the game was was a piece of cake compared with what comes next. Daxx wakes up to find he’s turned into his own avatar and is in the middle of a wilderness […]
FLASHBACK REVIEW: Dragon Mage (Rivenworld #1) by M.L. Spencer
SYNOPSIS Aram Raythe has the power to challenge the gods. He just doesn’t know it yet. Aram thinks he’s nothing but a misfit from a small fishing village in a dark corner of the world. As far as Aram knows, he has nothing, with hardly a possession to his name other than a desire to […]
Review: The Alchemy of Sorrow edited by Sarah Chorn and Virginia McClain
Synopsis Here be dragons and sorcery, time travel and sorrow. Vicious garden gnomes. A grounded phoenix rider. A new mother consumed with vengeance. A dying god. Soul magic. These stories wrestle with the experience of loss—of loved ones, of relationships, of a sense of self, of health—and forge a path to hope as characters fight […]
Review: The Jaguar Mask by Michael J. De Luca
Synopsis Felipe K’icab doesn’t know who he is. He only knows he was born different than his human family, and he can’t relax unless he’s blasting reggaeton in his cab weaving through the streets of Guatemala City. The jaguar mask and his other human faces keep him safe–until El Bufo, a corrupt ex-cop, commandeers his […]
Review: The Gods Below (Book #1 of The Hollow Covenant Trilogy) by Andrea Stewart
Synopsis In this sweeping epic fantasy comes a story of magic, betrayal, love, and loyalty, where two sisters will clash on opposite sides of a war against the gods. A divine war shattered the world leaving humanity in ruins. Desperate for hope, they struck a deal with the devious god Kluehnn: He would restore the […]
Book Review: A Pocket of Lies (Amefyre #1) by R.A. Sandpiper
TL;DR Review: A beautiful balance of magic and intrigue, action and romance, underscored by a lovely “Persephone and Hades” flavor. Synopsis: BLOOD BOUND AND PENNILESS. EXILED INTO CURSED LANDS. HUNTED BY DEATH. When the thief Suri suffers a humiliating robbery, she has one day to pay off an ugly debt. Her solution: abduct and impersonate […]
Book Review: The Land Herself (A Tale of Cirilliarc) by Ainy Cormac
Synopsis: This faith is a double-edged sword, indeed. In the deserts of Utter Ung, there lies a great stone dagger, buried in the heart of the dead goddess. Sahul. The mother. The land herself. For hundreds of millennia, the artefact has drawn broken people to it; those in search of answers, and those in search […]
Review: Absolute Batman #1
Synopsis Without the mansion…without the money…without the butler…what’s left is the Absolute Batman! Review A violent gang runs amok in Gotham. Only one man can stop them. Sounds like your usual Batman plot. But there’s nothing usual at all about Absolute Batman #1. Written by Scott Snyder, with art by Nick Dragotta, Absolute Batman #1 […]
Book Review: Gift of the Shaper (Highglade Series #1) by DL Jennings
TL;DR Review: Familiar-feeling classic high fantasy with some wonderfully surprising twists. Synopsis: Armies will clash and gods will die… For thousands of years, the Breaker of the Dawn has been locked away in the ethereal plane of the Otherworld. Now, a young blacksmith’s apprentice finds himself trapped in a war between the noble Athrani, a […]
Review: Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley
Synopsis It’s January 2314, and Rowena Savalas is obsessing over a mysterious text in the internet archives. The text relates the story of Fairly — who walks the Horned Road while being chased by the ‘Breathing Man’ — and was posted in the summer of 2024. Rowena finds herself being drawn into the mystery of […]
Book Review: Spark of the Everflame (The Kindred Curse Saga #1) by Penn Cole
TL;DR Review: A spitfire of a heroine. A lovely balance between warrior and healer, fighter and caretaker. Synopsis: When old secrets catch fire, everything will burn. In a mortal world colonized by the gods and ruled over by the Descended, their cruel offspring, Diem Bellator yearns to escape the insular life of her poor village. […]