Synopsis Two young men.One with a dark past, the other with a bright future. Cyrus is a storyteller frustrated by the mundane trappings of village life, while Prince Augustus struggles to meet high expectations after an upbringing of royal privilege in the bustling capital. As both try to forge their own paths, a royal assassination […]
Fantasy
Review: Flames of Mira (The Rift Walker Series, Book 1) by Clay Harmon
Synopsis An epic new fantasy in a world of ice, fire and magic! Born through life-threatening trials that bind chemical elements to the human body, Ig was forged in the boiling volcanoes under Mira’s frozen lands. One of the most powerful known elementals, he serves as an enforcer for Magnate Sorrelo Adriann, cursed with flesh […]
Review: Daughter of Redwinter (The Redwinter Chronicles #1) by Ed McDonald
Synopsis Raine can see—and speak—to the dead, a gift that comes with a death sentence. All her life she has hidden, lied, and run to save her skin, and she’s made some spectacularly bad choices along the way. But it is a rare act of kindness—rescuing an injured woman in the snow—that becomes the most […]
Review: We Men of Ash and Shadow (Vanguard Chronicles, Book 1) by H.L. Tinsley
Synopsis ‘We Men of Ash and Shadow’ is the first book in the Vanguard Series and follows the journey of protagonist, John Vanguard, through the dark and corrupt city of D’Orsee. A Grimdark gas lamp novel, ‘We Men of Ash and Shadow’ explores themes of redemption, loyalty, and betrayal against the backdrop of a world […]
Review: Jade Legacy (Green Bone Saga #3) by Fonda Lee
Endings are a tricky thing. A good ending can reframe an entire story or bring home the points that an author was making. A bad ending can sour the experience of a whole series or story. Thankfully, Jade Legacy, the third and final book in the Green Bone Saga, is a smashingly good ending.
Review: The Justice of Kings (Empire of the Wolf #1) by Richard Swan
Synopsis As an Emperor’s Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt always has the last word. His duty is to uphold the law of the empire using whatever tools he has at his disposal: whether it’s his blade, the arcane secrets passed down from Justice to Justice, or his wealth of knowledge of the laws of the empire. […]
Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Synopsis The House is the World. Countless halls line up, staircase to staircase, vestibule to vestibule. While on the lower floor the tides roar and on the upper floor the rooms are impenetrable by cloud fog, it is reasonably safe on the middle floor. Only birds and fish populate the World, along with fifteen people: […]
Review: The Last Mortal Bond (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #3) by Brian Staveley
Synopsis Emperor Sanlitun is dead and his empire lies in ruins: The powerful Csestriim, since time immemorial the deadliest enemies of humans, have returned to Annur. Mages, hitherto living only in secret, are coming out into the open to practise their dark arts, and the Old Gods, capricious and treacherous, walk the earth once more. […]
Review: The Coward by Stephen Aryan
Synopsis The Coward, by Stephen Aryan, is an adventure that takes place a decade after the world was saved from the Ice Lich thanks to the young hero Kell Krissia who returned alone after all the other heroes perished alone the way. Understandably so, that’s not the kind of life Kell wants to be a […]
Cassidee’s Favorite Reads in 2021
Here’s my favorite reads of 2021. Not all were published in 2021, but they were the ones I enjoyed most.
Review: The Providence of Fire (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #2) by Brian Staveley
Synopsis Ever since she found out who murdered her father, Adare – the daughter of the Annurian emperor Sanlitun – has been on the run, the Unhewn Throne having fallen into the hands of her enemies. At the same time, Adare’s brothers, Valyn and Kaden, are pursuing their own plans: Valyn is forming an alliance […]
Review: Hall of Smoke by H.M. Long
Synopsis Hessa is an Eangi: a battle-hardened priestess of the Goddess of War, with the power to turn an enemy’s bones to dust with a scream. Banished for disobeying her goddess’s command to murder a traveller, she prays for forgiveness—but while she is gone, raiders burn her town to the ground. Grieving and alone, Hessa—the […]