‘Stabenow brings Alexandria’s Hellenistic period to life… She is now as much at home in ancient Egypt as she is in the Alaskan wilderness’ Publishers Weekly ALEXANDRIA, 47 BC. Cleopatra – seventh of her name, avatar of the goddess Isis, ruler of the Kingdom of Egypt – watches over her city. The war is over, […]
Fiction
Review: Servant Mage (#1) by Kate Elliot
Fellian is a Lamplighter, able to provide illumination through magic. A group of rebel Monarchists free her from indentured servitude and take her on a journey to rescue trapped compatriots from an underground complex of mines. Along the way they get caught up in a conspiracy to kill the latest royal child and wipe out […]
A Song of Steel (The Light of the North #1) by J.C. Duncan
A roaring Norse saga of war, honour, love and loss. Vikings face Crusaders in an epic battle for the soul of the North. ‘A gripping, well-executed story, with a fun, original premise.’ – Angus Donald‘A Song Of Steel is a rising light of Norse Mythology.’ – Daniel Kelly‘I thoroughly enjoyed the authenticity, the historical underpinnings and the […]
Review: This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone – a Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award winner – is one of my favorite reads of 2021.
Review: Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
This is one of those books that is hard to explain, but should be experienced.
Review: Gods of Rome by Gordon Doherty and Simon Turney (Rise of Emperors Book 3)
Gods of Rome is the sweeping cinematic finale to the most important battle of Roman History: The Battle of the Milvian Bridge. Gordon Doherty and Simon Turney are veteran writers in the Historical Fiction Genre of the Ancient World, and they have delivered an astounding finale!
Review: Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente
A gloriously weird little novella!
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.
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 […]
Review: Sistersong by Lucy Holland
Sistersong by Lucy Holland is heartbreakingly beautiful. I had never heard of ‘The Twa Sisters’ murder folk ballad but looked it up after I finished reading. Sistersong proved to be as evocative as the ballad is.
Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham
Synopsis Everyone has wanted their favorite book to be real, if only for a moment. Everyone has wished to meet their favorite characters, if only for a day. But be careful in that wish, for even a history laid in ink can be repaid in flesh and blood, and reality is far deadlier than fiction […]
Review: The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
The Cat Who Saved Books is a truly enchanting tale of a boy who loses his Grandfather and his journey with a talking cat to save books. Translated from the original Japanese by Louse Heal Kawai it flows wonderfully as it draws you through the story.