Journies are important in a tale; they must hook the reader in order to arrive at an ending, but an end that leaves one bitter at the time taken on the journey is to no one’s satisfaction. The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne arrives at an end that left me wanting to turn …
The end of Arc 1 of Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive is here, and Wind and Truth feels enormous, metaphorically and physically. The release of The Way of Kings feels like another lifetime, and yet just yesterday, as the end of the first arc seemed so far away in 2010. Now we’ve reached the midpoint where one …
It feels often, in fantasy, magic is a blessing. It’s not the magic that makes the arch-typical, the top of the mountain, evil but in how they decide to use it. Not as we know it, Gods of the Wyrdwood by R.J. Barker. In the north of Crua, the land is locked in eternal winter, …
The Blighted Stars by Megan O’Keefe is a mix of the horror of human expansion, the fear of limited resources, and humanity’s resolve. Her characters are engaging with conflicting motivations in a situation where they must work together. The first book in The Devoured Worlds series is full of action and small character moments that …
It’s the kind of book I’ll recommend to everyone to read simply so there are more people to talk to about it.
Do you like violence? Alexander Darwin’s The Combat Codes is about a world where society has traded war for hand-to-hand combat bouts. Where the Grievar are trained, given performance-enhancing stimulants, and all sorts of experiments by the Daimyo in order to win their newfound way of waging war. Murray, who used to be a knight …
Since the release of her novella Silver in the Wind in 2019, I’ve been a fan of Emily Tesh, so her debut novel, Some Desperate Glory, was high on my anticipation list for 2023. In this science fiction thriller, contact with aliens has happened, and it ends with the destruction of Earth. Now Valkyr is …
Fantasy has always had a gift for being malleable to incorporate other genres of fiction from horror, historical, mystery, folklore, fairy tale, humor, romance, suspense, and westerns, so why not slice of life? It has been a staple for anime for years and has become quite popular as a video game genre, so it’s about …
We decide what is the way of the world. Us. People. – Uspa Whoever told the people of John Gwynne’s series The Bloodsworn Saga that the gods would stay fallen after the Guðfalla may have spoken too soon. The Hunger of the Gods, the follow-up to The Shadow of the Gods, picks up right where …
Before Fate of the Fallen by Kel Kade, it had been a while since both an inciting event and an ending took me by such a surprise. Though they were well done, making total sense within the story while being utterly shocking, one cannot lean on those types of moments without getting diminishing returns. Luckily, …