Valor doubles down on everything that worked in book one and then some. Gwynne goes darker and more epic, building out a world and mythos for his series that steps out of any lingering shadows cast by its predecessors and fully into its own identity.
Fantasy
The Winds of War (The Tapestry of the Tarnished Book 1) by Mosha Winter
Synopsis: THESE THREADS ARE SOAKED IN BLOOD. The Astaris Empire is fracturing, its realm flogged by war and fanaticism. Empress Seline and her Gold Council vie to maintain control, but what is control for a nation built on blood and lies? In the east, the storied Rhaavi people cling to their independence, but as the […]
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
Synopsis Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when […]
Review: The Dungeon Book by Gareth Hanrahan
Synopsis: Enter a world of dungeons and dragons, magic and manticores, goblins and gargoyles in this captivating standalone fantasy from the author of The Gutter Prayer. Bait doesn’t remember a time before the dungeon. Before the dragon stole her from her cot. She doesn’t know what her name was before she was handed over to […]
Cold Wind (Ironbound #2) by Andrew Givler
Synopsis Lost and forgotten, Castor is a prisoner of the very Iron Empire he once served.Thought of as a common criminal, Castor guards his dangerous secret—that he has bound a second Symbol—with his life. If the Censors knew, they’d execute him on the spot. There is only one path to freedom and avenging his family. […]
Review: Upon the Forge of Battle (Age of Wrath, #3) by Anthony Ryan
Synopsis: As the Age of Wrath reaches its bloody conclusion, the world will be reforged in steel and fire . . . Thera Blackspear was once champion to the Sister Queens. Now she’s a queen herself, with Elvine as her spear maiden, wielding a weapon forged by the gods. But while the traitorous Sister Lore […]
Review: Daughters of Tith (Children of the Trees #1) by J. Patricia Anderson
Synopsis The kandar are the children of the trees. Powerful. Immutable. Nine hundred eternal beings who need no sleep nor sustenance, created at the beginning of time to guard the nine human Earths. That was never meant to change. The youngest of five sisters, Tchardin is about to be acknowledged as queen of the kandar. […]
Review: One-Fifth Dragon by Shami Stovall
Synopsis: DRAGONS, ASSASSINS, AND NINJAS! They call themselves my found family, but they slaughtered my kin. Now, I will pay back the murderers in blood tenfold. Their ruin is a mirror they polished themselves. They took me as a child and hammered me into a weapon. They taught me the art of how to slip […]
Review: Ember and Steel (The Breitho Chronicles #1) by Donna Morgan
Ember and Steel is a dark fantasy tale that cleverly balances the gruesome and joyful parts of this richly detailed world.
Review: The Scarlet Ball by Nghi Vo
Synopsis: Judith Ban – convent girl, courtesan, and failed thief – is looking for her next identity. She’s no stranger to wealth or danger, but the glitter of New York’s Gilded Age hides a darkness even she has never imagined. Here, the city’s elite maintain their grip through opulent balls, whispered rituals, and marriages with […]
Review: The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastards #1) by Scott Lynch
Synopsis: An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges relentless danger, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentlemen Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared […]
Review: The Lion and the Deathless Dark (Crowns of Nyaxia Book 5) by Carissa Broadbent
Synopsis: Some blood tastes like vengeance. Some blood tastes like grief. Some blood tastes like nothing at all. Under an eternal night, the world has been ravaged by ten years of war between humans and vampires. Kyrene scrapes by as a bounty hunter, bearing a blessed sword from the goddess of justice. But in the […]