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 […]
Reviews
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 […]
Review: The Unkillable Princess (The Kystrom Chronicles #2) by Taran Hunt
In between breakneck action worthy of the Mission Impossible franchise, reckless yet efficient spaceship piloting, and badass hand-to-hand combat, Hunt delivers another truly excellent romp, across planets and moons this time, that is in no way lacking in tons of heart and hilarity. You just need this in your life.
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: Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum
Synopsis: It’s 1900, and Louise Wilk is taking her dying husband home to Buffalo where he grew up. Dr. Edward Wilk is wasting away from an aggressive and debilitating malady. But it’s becoming clearer that his condition isn’t exactly a disease, but a phase of existence that seeks to transform and ultimately possess him. Review: […]
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: Deliver Me by Elle Nash
Synopsis: At a meatpacking facility in Missouri, Dee-Dee and her coworkers kill and butcher 40,000 chickens in a single shift. The work is repetitive and brutal, with each stab and cut a punishment to her hands and joints, but Dee-Dee’s more concerned with what is happening inside her body. After a series of devastating miscarriages, […]
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: The Wishing Stone (Chronicles of Gam Gam Book Two) by Adam Holcombe
Synopsis A mythical relic believed to have the ability to grant any wish. A map, leading the way through ancient and sealed catacombs. Gam Gam’s return to Capital City is not what she expected when she stumbles upon her first clue to the Wishing Stone’s whereabouts. Joined by Mina and her new friend Emil, along […]