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 …
In Christopher Buhelman’s The Daughters’ War, Galva dom Braga, a knight from, tells the tale of her time in the third goblin war to who we can assume is her traveling companion, Kinch, from Buhelman’s previous book The Blacktongue Thief. That third war with the goblins, later called The Daughters’ War because the women had …
Throughout The Traitor of Redwinter, the follow-up to The Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald, dread seeped from the story, page by page. A title with the word traitor in it, with a main character whose power to see the spirits of the dead, comes with the punishment of death, and all the emotional baggage …
It feels cliché to say, even though it rings true, but Tress of the Emerald Sea feels like it’s the Brandon Sanderson remix of William Goldman’s The Princess Bride. Not only will I not be the first to say it, but the author outright says it in the Postscript in a lovely story about how …
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, …
It’s Halloween so here’s a spoOoOoOky bookling: Red River Seven by AJ Ryan! This tense horror thriller is a fantastic quick and creepy read. Check out the episode for more discussion (remember there will be spoilers!) Your hosts are Josh MacDougall (FourofFiveWits), Christina Ladd (christinaladd), and Steph Kingston (StephOKingston) and you can find us all …
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 …
The Traitor, the last installment of Anthony Ryan’s The Covenant of Steel, staked me through the heart. The ending of the previous book, The Martyr, left little doubt that the events of Alwyn Scribe’s life would be entering the heartbreak section of the trilogy when it ended with not only Alwyn sleeping with Evadine covered …