The Grand Dark by Richard Kadrey is my first foray into the genre known as Dieselpunk, a style that combines diesel technology, retro-futuristic technology, and the feeling of uncertainty, paranoia, and hopelessness. This novel takes place in the fictional city of Lower Proszawa in a period of peace after their own Great War. Largo Moorden …

A story can move you to anger, to cry, to empathize with people you do not know or who are imaginary. A story can inspire you to write your own story. But what happens to those stories that never get told, that never make it to the file on your computer, the page of a …

Note: Jenn Lyons’s first book Ruin of Kings was such a hit with Geekly readers that we wanted to do even more to showcase her second book, The Name of All Things. And as Josh MacDougall pointed out, there are two narrators for this second volume, so what better than two reviews and two extras–an …

Jenn Lyon’s debut The Ruin of Kings is one of the best books of 2019, and now, not even a year later, we’re getting the second installment, which is another contender for the “best of” list in its own right. We had the good fortune of grabbing some of Lyons’ time to discuss her spectacular …

It feels as if Joe Abercrombie has been mentioning a new trilogy in the world of The First Law since Red Country was released and his young adult novel, Half A King was announced. Finally, A Little Hatred has arrived and has brought the industrial age to the Circle of the World. Magic moves aside and makes way for an era …

Vaelin Al Sorna has returned, both literally and spiritually. While Blood Song, the book that introduced us to Vaelin, is a must-read for any fantasy reader, its follow-ups left much to be desired. Disappointing is the best way to describe them, as they are in themselves not bad books, but they are a decline from …

Max jokingly claimed in the second season of Stranger Things that she would be the party’s “zoomer.” Obviously that’s not a thing. And since we never actually saw a successful game of D&D in Stranger Things 3, we don’t know how the gang would interpret that. I choose to believe Max would have ended up …

Seven Blades in Black is easily the best work by Sam Sykes yet, which is saying something considering his previous series, Aeons’ Gate and Bring Down Heaven. While his world building and the plot has never been shabby, where Sykes shined in his earlier series was his characters. Seven Blades in Black fills the Venn …

In the port city of Vastai, to serve as the Raven’s Lease is to one day sacrifice yourself to the god known as the Raven so he will, in turn, serve and protect that port and its citizens. It is a great honor, and one Mawat, the heir to the current lease, has come home …

Perhaps you, the humble wizard, are deep within the stacks of the archives, but when it comes to those tomes on the arcane arts you’re having a hard time of it. You’ve been pouring over glyphs, runes, and cryptic dead languages trying to brush up on your school of magic. While you examine those dusty …