Synopsis: The epic conclusion to Moses Ose Utomi’s critically-acclaimed Forever Desert series, The Memory of the Ogisi shatters every truth, interrogates every lie, and is a story of oppression you’ll never forget. Even deserts have a beginning. Even gardens have an end. Even water has a story. The City of a Thousand Stories stands resolute on the […]
Books
Book Review: A Graveyard for Heroes (Dreams of Dust and Steel #2) by Michael Michel
TL;DR Review: Ambitious, imaginative, and incredibly compelling. The most epic grimdark world I’ve read since Abercrombie. Synopsis: Treachery looms across the land. The Scarborn have deposed the once-great Ironlight family. With scores to settle, the lowborn shake rust from their knives and trade allegiances for a promise of blood while the highborn rally their armies. […]
Book Review: Words of Power by Shami Stovall
TL;DR Review: A new approach to leveling up and gaining power. A progression fantasy hero unlike any other, and a fresh addition to the genre. Synopsis: Power is not given. It’s taken. In the Tze Empire, spirits and demons rule the wilds, but Ring Warlocks control civilization. For Rimon, the son of a courtesan and […]
Review: Garden of Rotten Roses (World Without Love #2) by Nicole Hidalgo
Synopsis: While investigating the kidnappings of young, impoverished girls, Arianell Acraea uncovers a sinister conspiracy involving rogue Champions of Ares and forbidden sacrificial rituals fuelled by a magic that defies the laws of the Supreme Goddess herself. Ellis, a nomad with an aversion towards divinity, wants nothing but the peace of a quiet life, away […]
Review: The Godsblood Tragedy (Passage One of the Divine Godsqueen Coda) by Bill Adams
Synopsis: An orphan, without a trueborn name, returns to the city of her birth to uncover her past. Hounded by the servants of the Dark God and dying from the poisonous mist that covers the land, her path leads to one of the magical seals protecting the holy ruin of Eminence. A father, murdered and […]
Book Review: The Palace of Illusions by Rowenna Miller
TL;DR Review: Slow in pace but rich in wonder. A quirky character you’ll enjoy following as she discovers the world of magic is real—and there is a threat only she can stop. Synopsis: The Palace of Illusions brings readers to a Paris breathless with excitement at the dawn of the twentieth century, where for a select […]
Review: The Veil by E H Bradley
Synopsis: They would have you believe, (the police and mainstream media), that I, Charlie Macall, and my friends, were the deadliest killers since Manson or Bundy. That’s only half true. Yes, we’ve killed, but to put us in the same category as those two I’ve just mentioned, is wrong, a fallacy. For starters, they’d have […]
Book Review: Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me (Dark Lord Davi #2) by Django Wexler
TL;DR Review: Beautifully balanced between epic and cozy, it’s an adventure as action-packed as it is heartwarming. Synopsis: Dark Lord Davi rules the kingdom, but she must now break the time loop that binds her in this hilariously bloody conclusion to the Dark Lord Davi duology. After countless failures (let’s not dwell on it), Davi […]
Book Review: Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
TL;DR: Van Helsing, but as played by a Murderbot-style ship’s AI, with the delightfully cozy and heartwarming flavor of Becky Chambers The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. Synopsis: Spaceships aren’t programmed to seek revenge—but for Dracula, Demeter will make an exception. Demeter just wants to do her shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha […]
Book Review: Crueler Mercies by Maren Chase
TL;DR Review: Rapunzel meets Man in the Iron Mask. A helpless, naïve prisoner becomes a cunning, revenge-driven queen. Synopsis: “Vita’s rage overflowed until she was prepared to drown in it, and she knew that she would never again dam this anger to please another.” After nine years as the people’s beloved princess in the sun-soaked […]
Review: The Pawns of Havoc by Dave Lawson
Synopsis: No Mercy, No Questions Asked. Cork has quickly made a name for himself among the Kosellan mercenaries, but now his boss has come to him with an unusual job. Cork’s erstwhile countrymen, the Winn, have hired him to travel into the barren Frozen Lands and destroy a convoy, leaving only one survivor. Cork isn’t […]
Review: Wraith and the Revolution by A.J. Calvin
Synopsis: Kye Verex is trapped. Due to a fluke of genetics, the decisions of the galaxy’s elite, and a lack of finances, he’s stuck on his polluted and noxious home world indefinitely. And it’s slowly killing him. Then his more fortunate sister returns one day, bringing the promise of salvation. Kelsey has always hoped to […]