This is not your father (or mother)’s epic fantasy. In fact, this may be as far from epic fantasy as possible. This is more like a poster child for grimdark or sword and sorcery, and it is (mostly) glorious. Life in The Circle is hard. The people live in clans (think Germanic tribes), sometimes warring amongst themselves, but mostly just […]
Another day, another audiobook finished. This time we have CT Phipps’ homage to HP Lovecraft, and we run the gamut through much of HPL’s more popular stories, tying it all together nicely along the way. The Old Ones have returned and laid waste to the Earth, leaving a planet greatly changed from the one we know. Much of the Earth […]
Doesn’t seem like five minutes ago I was writing my last review, a fine historical fiction piece. A big genre jump this time, as I delve into another favourite, this time horror. I reviewed Alan Baxter’s Manifest Recall not so long ago, and I loved it. I read today in an interview with Baxter that one of his main influences […]
I’m quite the fan of historical fiction, I love how it can breathe life and perspective into great characters and events that we know of, but will never really know. But that’s not all historical fiction can do. An author such as James Mace can take an obscure and mostly irrelevant piece of history, and create an enjoyable tale with […]
It’s been an interesting first few months reviewing for Netgalley. Some of the books have been, let’s say “less fun,” while others have been great. This one definitely leans towards the latter category. When I signed up for it a while back, the premise sounded interesting, but by the time I actually started it (about 36 hours ago), I had […]
It’s over. Nine glorious books (ten if you include Darkness Forged) and Ragnarok is here. This has been one of the finest series I’ve ever read, independent or otherwise, and it’s been a pleasure to be on board as a beta reader for the last half of it. All the characters are back, and the stories are brought to their […]
Another day, another Netgalley review. This is the first book by this author, and it’s a decent enough first effort. The plot revolves around Alaezdar, a former mercenary who ran from his unit after killing one of his fellow mercs. He finds some peace in a town called Valewood, where the locals welcome him and he settles in helping out […]
You may (or may not) remember I wrote a review for Darkstorm, the precursor to Darkmage, a while back. As far as I know (yell at me if I’m wrong), Darkmage was actually written (or at least published) before Darkstorm, so this is essentially book one, and Darkstorm is book 0.5. I liked Darkstorm, but most of the first 70% […]
I read Blackwing, Ed McDonald’s debut novel, earlier this year and I absolutely loved it. It was about as close to perfect (for me, anyway) as a novel could get – great characters, awesome setting and a slap in the jaw ending that Nostradamus wouldn’t see coming. When the first novel is this good, there is always an air of […]
I’ve been meaning to read some of this author’s stuff for a while now, but the weight of my TBR always pushed it back. Needless to say, when Netgalley gave me the chance to check out his latest, while also applying a deadline, I was more than chuffed. And it’s a good book, to boot. The story is told from […]
