Synopsis A young royal from the far north is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully. Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her […]
Book Review
Review: Arc-City In The Dragon’s Eye (Dragon Reich Series #1) by Jordan Loyal Short
Synopsis Viktor’s magic is turning him into a dragon. And it’s not pretty. To save his friends from a deadly ambush, Viktor drew too deeply on the power of the Dragon Well, and now a magical tumor has begun to change him, one scale at a time. Viktor sets off on a quest for a […]
Review: The Trials of Empire (Empire of the Wolf #3) by Richard Swan
Synopsis The Empire of the Wolf is on its knees, but there’s life in the great beast yet. To save it, Sir Konrad Vonvalt and Helena must look beyond its borders for allies – to the wolfmen of the southern plains, and the pagan clans in the north. But old grievances run deep, and both factions […]
Review: Cold West by Clayton W. Snyder
Synopsis: Bastard. Killer. Husband. Father. His wife cold in the ground, and two young boys to feed, Wil Cutter turns to what he knows: Violence. But a bounty is never just a bounty, and blood is never spilled in drops. Forced to ever more violent acts, he’ll have to ask himself: Is Hell too far […]
Review: The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
Synopsis Thor broke the sword Tyrfing to save the roots of Yggdrasil, the tree that binds earth, heaven and hell. Now the elves need the weapon for their war against the trolls. Only Scafloc, a human kidnapped and raised by elves, can hope to persuade Bolverk the ice-giant to make Tyrfing whole again. But Scafloc […]
Review: Sistah Samurai by Tatiana Obey
Synopsis: Afro Samurai meets The Sword of Kaigen in this anime-inspired novella This is no revenge story. I ain’t got time for that. I’ve got errands to run and things to do and barely enough time to make it home before sundown. I don’t care why folks are going around stealing ink. I don’t care […]
Review: The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King
Synopsis John Carver has three rules: Don’t drink in the daytime, don’t gamble when the luck has gone, and don’t talk to the dead people who come to visit. It has been almost five years since the incident in Kabul. Since the magic stirred within him and the stories began. Fleeing the army, running from […]
Charlies Top Reads of 2023
Seriously we can only choose 10? Given the unfeasibly difficult task of narrowing down my ten best books from this year was no easy task. 2023 really was the year of indie books for me, that’s not intended as a slight to traditional published books. Just that I have been spoilt for choice with the […]
Review: Death’s Beating Heart (The War Eternal Series #5) by Rob J. Hayes
Synopsis The final book in The War Eternal series. Break Eternity. Sirileth has broken the world. The ground bleeds, the seas rage, the skies are torn asunder. Eska will not let her daughter face the consequences alone, but can she help without donning the mantle of the Corpse Queen once more? And will the people […]
Review: Cold As Hell (Black Badge Series #1) by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle
Synopsis In the West, there are worse things to fear than bandits and outlaws. Demons. Monsters. Witches. James Crowley’s sacred duty as a Black Badge is to hunt them down and send them packing, banish them from the mortal realm for good. He didn’t choose this life. No. He didn’t choose life at all. Shot […]
Review: Elder Epoch (Gunmetal Gods Series #3) by Zamil Akhtar
Synopsis The protector of the land is dead. A blood plague infests the soil and sea, eldritch angels vie for dominion over hearts and souls, and holy war boils between four gunpowder empires. The line between truth and falsehood, the righteous and the wicked, hope and annihilation is buried deep beneath blood-soaked sand. Review By […]
Review: Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
Synopsis “Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories — she’s come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there. Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and […]