Helen Fray (she/her) is an author of Fantasy Romance books with fated, yet fatal, love stories and life-or-death, secret society situations. She lives in Manchester, England, with her children and unpredictable, fluff-ball cat. She likes to put her English degree to good use, writing novels whilst relying on her editor to fix her commas. Transcendent, […]
Fantasy
Review: Caine Black Knife (The Acts of Caine #3) by Matthew Woodring Stover
Synopsis In Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle, Matthew Stover created a new kind of fantasy novel, and a new kind of hero to go with it: Caine, a street thug turned superstar, battling in a future where reality shows take place in another dimension, on a world where magic exists and gods are up close and personal. […]
Review: The Soft Touch: A Low Town novella by Daniel Polansky
Synopsis: Time passesKings fallLow Town endures Low Town is the worst slum in the Empire, where lives are sold on the penny. Once its heir apparent, Wren returns after fifteen years to a city in turmoil, the syndicates feuding and the city on the brink of rebellion. Drawn into a tangled web of intrigue and […]
Ironbound (Ironbound #1) by Andrew Givler
Synopsis In the Iron Empire, only the strongest are given a chance to Ascend.As long as he can remember, Castor has wanted nothing more than to fuse with a Cor Heart. Made from an otherworldly metal, it would give him the ability to bind a Symbol and manipulate the elements. The day of trial has […]
Review: The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by H. G. Parry
Synopsis: From the author of The Magician’s Daughter comes a captivating historical fantasy where dreams come to life and Arthurian legends are reborn. Wales, 1941. As the second world war ravages the globe and bombs fall from the sky, people all over the world begin to dream of King Arthur. The dreams spread like a fantastical plague, […]
The Eye of Leviathan by M.A Carrick
From the author of The Mask of Mirrors comes a sweeping adventure set in a world where fae secretly walk amongst those who seek to persecute them. In an alternate Spanish Golden Age, the Council of the Sea Beyond has risen to unrivalled power, exploiting the Otherworld’s most precious resources for their own gain. Estevan […]
Review: The Ashen Viper by Joseph John Lee
Synopsis: Were we not meant to know the truth? It is by the hands of loresmen that heroes and villains are risen from history’s foundations, today’s stories that became yesterday’s histories that became the legends of yore. And from those legends emerge truths…of a sort. The truths that best serve a story when the facts […]
Review: Pariah (Bequin #1) by Dan Abnett
Synopsis In the city of Queen Mab, nothing is quite as it seems. Pariah, spy and Inquisitorial agent Alizebeth Bequin is all of these things and yet none of them. An enigma, even to herself, she is caught between Inquisitors Gregor Eisenhorn and Gideon Ravenor, former allies now enemies who are playing a shadow game […]
A Murder Most Fungal (Hofmann Report #1.5) by Adrian M Gibson
Synopsis The knives are out in this fast-paced, standalone Fungalverse novel. Set several months after the events of the award-winning Mushroom Blues, this side story combines the culinary wonder of Jiro Dreams of Sushi, the kitchen chaos of The Bear, and the explosive tension of Hong Kong crime thrillers. In the aftermath of the “Fuyu Massacre,” riots and […]
Only Death Lies That Way by E.L. Montague
Synopsis The first duty of a man is to his family… With an army flowing into the highlands like a plague of locusts, Rolf the skull breaker flees the front lines to get his family to safety, but the siren call of glory awaits him. Only the brave will have a seat the at the […]
The Envoys of War (The Envoys of Chaos #1) by Dave Lawson
Synopsis Don’t kill the messengers. Gen has the perfect job: traveling the realm, drinking wine, and hitting things with her sword. Her latest assignment should be a simple one. Escort Cordyn, an envoy and her closest friend, through enemy territory to deliver vital military intelligence. Except the mission is fake. The King suspects Cordyn is […]
Review: He Who Fights With Monsters (# 1) by Shirtaloon (aka Travis Deverell)
Synopsis Jason wakes up in a mysterious world of magic and monsters. It’s not easy making the career jump from office-supplies-store middle manager to heroic interdimensional adventurer. At least, Jason tries to be heroic, but it’s hard to be good when all your powers are evil. He’ll face off against cannibals, cultists, wizards, monsters…and that’s […]