Gunmetal Gods is a dark fantasy epic set in a world reminiscent of the crusades. It has elements of military fantasy and eldritch horror that are expertly woven into a story with big stakes, epic worldbuilding, and convincing characters. Kevah is an aging janissary, one of the Shah’s slave soldiers. He is renown throughout the […]
Norylska Groans is a stylish fantasy thriller with a pitch perfect noir aesthetic. In a setting with post-revolutionary Russian themes, the brutal reality of a city on the edge of the tundra shoves two inhabitants of Norylska into a deadly power struggle. Conscripted into Norylska’s secret police, Katyushka juggles the expectations of her conventional life […]
An Altar on the Village Green is a fantastic tale of madness and horror. Nathan Hall weaves a story that ebbs and flows with a unique atemporal logic. This, more than anything else, sets it apart from your run of the mill fantasy novel. At its core, The Chained God is a series that is […]
A Little Hatred is a character driven novel that continues the ongoing saga of the Union’s conflict with the untamed north. Many elements in the book will be familiar to readers who have enjoyed Abercombie’s other excellent works. The First Magi, Bayaz, is still pulling strings from the shadows, and the rest of the world […]
Contains spoilers for book one… Ravencry is another fast paced and well imagined installment in the Raven’s Mark series and while I’m at it “GOOD GOD WHY HAVEN”T YOU READ IT YET!” If you are a fan of the darker side of adult fantasy then stop what you’re doing and go get these books…….aaaaand welcome […]
I usually like to present a balanced review that mentions the highs and lows of any particular book I read. But shucks…I just couldn’t fill out the cons side of the list. Allow me, instead, to gush. Blackwing was hands down my favorite read of 2019. What a world! It’s got hard-bitten characters, magic that […]
Another excellent installment in the Rhenwars Saga. Spencer’s writing just gets better with every book. In the third chapter of the Rhenwars Saga, the characters that we’ve invested in continue to evolve, and the world-shaking conflict develops in new and terrifying ways. If you love high-stakes fantasy in a morally gray universe, you’re in for […]
Buckle up kiddos this is going to be a rant. Scott Bakker has indisputable writing chops. He is always swinging for the fences and he managed, in my humble opinion, to hit The Second Apocalypse Series out of the park. That’s the first series, if you’re keeping score. You have to love his quasi-poetic, quasi-philosophical […]
The Wheel of Osheim, by Mark Lawrence, concludes the Red Queen’s War series in spectacular fashion. This epic fantasy follows a spoiled prince and a heroic Viking as they try to rescue the Viking’s family and turn the tide of an ancient war, on which hinges the fate of existence itself. NBD. The structure of […]
I love this series. In my humble opinion it is among the very best in the genre on many counts. However, there were a few points in this particular installment where the “purple prose” got so over the top that I couldn’t picture what was literally happening at key moments. If you’ve read much Bakker, […]