fantasybooknerd

For the past week or so, I have been living in Mike Shakle's apocalyptic world, and I have to say it has been a harrowing experience.

Both Fool's Hope and We Are The Dead, are a tale of War. However, this is not epic fantasy battles where everyone puffs out their chest and prepares for combat. This is war in its most brutal and basest form. And guess what, it ain't pretty!

If you have read the first book in Mike Shakle's ‘The Last War' series you know what to expect, right? Wrong!

Yep, you got it folks - expect the unexpected! And that is me covering the plot elements of the book. You need to experience this book with no preconceived ideas. You need to go in totally blind and let the story take you where it's going to go. And then, when you get to the end of the book, get back to me and tell me what you thought. I guarantee, you'll be like, whaaat?

So, let's get onto the other things about the book.You know, those bits I can talk about! I have to say that when I first read ???We are the Dead???, I was taken aback by the story. Mike Shackle writes a phenomenal war story and he mixes this in with all the elements of fantasy to make something that is absolutely amazing.

In Fool's Hope, the story begins immediately where the last book ends. Shackle seamlessly continues with the ‘what happens next'. And from page 1, the action begins and you are thrown into the story as if you never left it. As you will know with Mike's pacing, full throttle is just too damn slow and you immediately get thrown into the story and shown what it???s like to live in a world that has been torn apart by war and oppression.

At the beginning of our journey, we start with a new character and a new perspective, and through the introduction of these new characters, Shackle introduces the world view of the oppressors, as well as the oppressed. This is the thing with Mike Shackle. All the elements of fantasy are there. There???s world building, there???s magic systems and all the other elements of fantasy that you expect to see. However, in his hands, these elements are malleable and are shaped in ways that you don???t expect or hidden in the places that you least expect to see them. Honestly, I can???t say how much I have been impressed with his books. For me, he has brought something new to the genre and surprised me.

In both his books, Mike Shackle has a really good way of writing prose. I suppose in the old days it would have been called hard boiled, but it???s not wholly that style of writing in that he does have elements of tenderness in his books, like the relationships between Yas and little Ro, or Tinnstra an Zorique. However, when it comes to the violence of the battle or fight scenes, Shackle presents them in a tough and realistic way. He doesn???t flower up the violence. He describes it in a way that are both unglamorous and unsentimental and this style adds to the cinematic flow of his action scenes. It???s not that his fight scenes don???t have flourish and flair because they do, but let???s be honest here, battle and death are not pretty, and in Mike Shackle???s world they are not presented as such. What matters most is survival, and that is why the characters do what they do. They do not revel in the glory of battle or tell stories of the foes they have vanquished, they simply do it to survive.

In terms of the characters in Fool???s Hope, their journeys are expanded in such an unexpected way. I never saw any of these things coming and I could never have predicted that the main characters' arcs would develop in such a way. On that note, I am going to have to stop there because to do so would invite spoilers, and we know that I am staying away from them as much as possible. What I can say is that a couple of new characters join in this book and I am sure that you will take to at least one of them like I did. Ralasis, is the swarthy sea captain that we meet at the beginning of the book. However, he gets more of a supportive role later in the story and again, Shackle does not waste a single character and he quickly becomes a major part of the story.

I really enjoy Mike???s way of writing. It???s extremely graphic and cinematic.He writes action scenes that at once remind me both of the Matrix in one aspect and then flits to Tarantino levels of brutality. I could easily imagine this as a graphic novel, and having seen representations of Tinnstra on his website (which are pretty darn good, I tell you), I would definitely be up for reading it.

No word of a lie, I really do rate Mike Shackle books in the top ten of my favorite books of all time. They are stunning books which totally blew me away, and in a year where we have had so many good books, Mike Shackle presents us with one of the most memorable stories that I have read all year. He is now on my list of authors that whatever they write, I will be up there buying it straight away, no questions asked!

Honestly, when you start reading Fool's Hope, you will not put it down. It took me two days to read because I simply could not bear to leave the story for one minute, the book grabbed me by the throat and wouldn???t let me go until I had finished. And if you think I am being a bit fanboy in my review, I don???t care, coz I am!.

There is a story told long ago that Ira Levin, H. P. Lovercraft, Kevin Smith and Robert Rodriguez met in a bar. On this night (and after consuming far too much alcohol and possibly lots of other tangibles) they decided that they would form a dark collaboration. The Cursed Diary of a Brooklyn Dog Walker is the bastard child of this dark alliance.

Full of hidden death sex cultists hiding amongst the elite of the Brooklyn glitterati, evil forces that want to subjugate the planet and mysterious gods hammering at the barriers of our world, Michael Reye???s book is a glorious piece of bloody fun.

The story starts with our hero, Jesse Ventura, finding a mysterious diary in the park where he walks the dogs of his favourite client (as he is the said dog walker). When he opens the book, strange events and mysterious portents occur. Clouds take on the visage of snakes, mysterious animals appear in the park in the middle of Brooklyn. What on earth is going on? Well, that becomes clear later as the story starts on its frenetic journey to get the girl and stop the baddies.

Well, I have to say that I enjoyed this book, and thanks to Michael Reyes for reaching out to me to read this book. It is an amphetamine paced, absolutely, full on Nick Cage piece of sublime madness. I honestly did not know what to expect when I started this book, but when I started, I simply could not stop! Honestly, this book goes completely all over the place.

Now, whilst I say that this book is fun and all over place, do not think that I mean in terms of Michael Reyes Writing. Structurally, the book is tight! The plot, the pacing, the characters and the dialogue are all excellent and Michael Reyes takes you on a tightly wound journey right until the end.

To say this is a short book, Michael Reyes packs in a hell of a lot of stuff. I am not going to tell you much about the plot, but suffice to say that the book gets going, Reyes ramps the action up to eleventy stupid and my advice is to just go along with it. It???s well worth the ride.

The characters are all well developed even though most of them are just batshit crazy, especially Jesse???s room mate, Marvin Trout. The LArpg???ing loving drug dealer who, when he makes his short appearence is completely off this planet. Then we have Jesse???s best friends, the dogs. Jesse renames most of the dogs, giving them all names that he finds funny or maybe describe their personality. We have the Chow Chow brothers and Dirty Little Bastard (I think you get the general tone).

Unfortunately with all the stuff going on in the book, the antagonists do not get as much development as other characters. I would have liked to have seen some more backstory to how the cult was able to hide and how they developed through the ages, but it doesn???t spoil the enjoyment of the book and there is only so much you can put in this amount of pages, and there is a short diary entry from Jesse???s mentor, that whilst brief, does give a whole load of information.

I really liked Reye???s dialogue. It???s funny, snappy, full of slang and about as frantically paced as the plot.

Reyes book is so much fun. It is a full throttle barrel ride that chucks everything at you, including the kitchen sink. And when it ended I was gasping for air.

???Eyes of the Sleeping Children??? is the bold new debut from D. A. Butcher, and is a psychological thriller set in 1930???s depression era Kansas at the height of a massive dust storm called The Beast of Black Sunday.
The story centres around Louis Lockhart and his family, beginning on the night of the storm hitting the family farm. After taking safety in the cellar, the family retire to bed. However, a shocking tragedy hits Louis and his family when he discovers that his son is missing. There is no sign of forced entry and no evidence that he has left the house.
As Louis frantically searches for the missing child, his wife???s fragile mental health fractures and she lays the blame of the disappearance on a figure of nightmares, The Sandman
However, Louis looks for an explanation that is based on reality. As he uncovers the truth, it will lead him on a journey, one that will take him to the past and to secrets long forgotten.
D. A. Butcher???s debut is an interesting one. Part locked room mystery, part psychological thriller and part depression era family drama. I don???t want to discuss the plot too much as part of the experience is to uncover the different elements of the plot as they unfold. However, the plot is tightly woven with different elements bringing themselves together as the story reaches its climactic conclusion.
The book shows Butcher???s skill at researching the events that the novel takes place in. This is a particularly important feature in this type of book as if there are any discrepancies it could take the readers focus away from the story that Butcher is telling. I mean this is a setting that not everybody is going to be familiar with, and I know one of the first things I did was immediately go searching for information.
The backdrop of the storm is particularly effective as it adds to the cloying and claustrophobic atmosphere to the story. Evoking a sense of disquiet and an almost dreamlike quality to the narrative
The main character of the story Is Louis Lockhart and the main perspective is recounted through his eyes. He is quite an introspective character and we get a good grasp on his motivations and perspectives. There are several other characters, Louis???s wife who experiences a serious bout of depression throughout the first part of the book, and his brother Buck.
The book is essentially divided into two parts, the immediate aftermath of the disappearance and the search for Louis???s son and the effects that the disappearance has on the family as a whole as hope dwindles.
I found that, for me, when the second part of the story begins, it had some effect on the impetus of the story. As whilst we have the initial feverish pace of the first part of the book, the second part???s description of the slow deterioration of Louis???s mental health upset the equilibrium a little. However, it picks up pace again towards the final third of the book. There is a particularly disturbing scene which highlights Louis???s grasp on his sense of self which will definitely stay with me for quite a while, even though I would rather forget it.
All in all, this was a solid debut from a new voice, and it will be interesting to see what D. A Butcher does next

I had seen Ritual of Bone and was interested in reading this, so I thought, yep ok then! I am glad that I did as I really enjoyed this book. In fact, I liked it more than I thought as I keep catching myself mulling over something I had read in the book, and then something else would pop into my head about it.

Now, if anyone doesn???t know, A Ritual of Bone is a horror story set in a fantasy world. It tells the story of the walking undead, otherwise known as zombies, who invade the viking inspired world of Arnar.

When I started reading this, I quickly found that the book was not what I expected. In my head I thought it was going to be the typical zombie invasion set in a fantasy world and that there would be a whole load of sword and zombie action. I think I thought that it would be something like The Walking Dead meets The Vikings.

Well, I soon found out that it was so much more than that, it???s a slickly written atmospheric chiller that builds the tension slowly, deliberately turning the screw ever so slowly that all of a sudden you realise that you are holding your breath in anticipation for the next chapter.

Let me tell you, there is a lot going on in this book. Initially, the book is told in multiple points of view and it flits to different parts of the country as there are multiple events happening at the same time. At first, I did find this confusing, but it is not something that I am unused to. It???s quite a cinematic device and it works well. Although, you don???t necessarily form the typical relationship with the protagonists until later on when the points of view become more condensed as does the world view.

As I said there is a lot going on in this book.Not only do we have multiple points of view, but we also have the differing strands of the infection and its effects. There are the scholars performing ancient rites in places they should leave well alone. A contagion that comes in with a ship, the return of ancient cannibalistic tribes that come forth from the dawn of time, the rise of the shambling dead and the infected.

I liked all sorts of things in this book, and as I said, little things keep popping in my head about it and I will find myself dwelling in certain aspects of the book. One of these are the ???zombies??? themselves. Conley doesn???t just draw from one aspect of zombie fiction, but there are a couple in there. For instance, I thought that the depictions of the walking dead would revolve around the Romero representation, and in some aspects they are there. But the ???infected??? are different. These are more like Girl with all the Gifts/28 Days Later type of representations. The fast moving animalistic zombies. I thought I also caught a whiff of ???In the flesh??? too, particularly when Conley describes the infected, and the fact that at some points they still maintain some semblance of consciousness before they turn into animalistic hunters.

Conley really makes use of atmosphere and from the start he adds layers upon layers to create a pervading sense of doom. He smatters the narrative with an isolated incident here, an isolated incident there. However, most of these narrow by the end of the book to give a satisfying culmination to the book. However, I still have questions and I am hoping that these get answered in the second book. Like what is the significance of The Apprentice, an unnamed character that opens and closes the book. Why are the cannibalistic tribes there? Who is driving this? Is there some driving force? See, it keeps creeping in!

Whilst Conley???s book is intrinsically a horror story, there is the fact that he is walking between two worlds. I cannot forget to mention that the book also has a strong fantasy world. Conley does a good job in mixing the two together, as not only does he ramp up the terror but he also builds a pretty solid fantasy world, and it has to be said that he does some pretty excellent world building. You get a really good sense of the world that the story is taking place in and it creeps up on you how good this world is. At no point did I lose my directions even though he goes from location to location throughout the book.

Additionally, he has some good characters in there too. And again, he cleverly uses horror tropes in there that you recognise and come from all different classes of people. He has the upper crust rich bloke in Arnulf, who is pulled from the comfort of normal life to be thrown into inexplicable circumstances. The everyman with Bjorn, who is once both relatable and likeable and then the lower class Nym, who is ekeing a meagre existence for her brother and herself.

I cannot forget the action sequences in the book. Conley writes really good action. You can feel each blow as it falls.

All in all, I enjoyed A Ritual of Bone and will certainly be moving on to the next. As I said, I have questions and I want to see what happens and if they get answered.

Lindsay Cummings' new novel is an enjoyable genre-fusing mix of Sci-fi and Fantasy.

Maybe, when picking your next book to read you might have a hard time deciding between SciFi or fantasy. Lindsay Cummings must have been thinking this when writing Blood, Metal, Bone. But then she just thought, well why do I need to choose? Let's stick ‘em in a blender and see what it tastes like.

Blood, Metal, Bone tells the story of Sonara. Cinderella bastard child of the warrior queen of Soeria, who when we first meet her is forced to maintain the horses of her mother's stable. She has a deep bond with her brother, Soahm the crown prince of the aforementioned land and jewel of his mother's eye.

However, one fateful day, a spaceship with a phoenix symbol takes Soahm, we don???t where or why, he???s just taken. Subsequently, Sonara gets the blame for this and it is assumed that she has nefariously done away with the crown prince. She is then publicly flogged by her mother, placed on a horse that her beloved brother gave her, and then forced to ride over the edge of a cliff.

Well, there???s no coming back from that one! The End!

Not quite the end, because Sonara comes back from the dead as a Shadowblood, a mysterious, magicy type of ??? person. The story then moves forward ten years and we meet Sonara again. Now she is working with a gang of cutpurses and she has taken up the mantle of The Devil of the Deadlands, a badass thief with magical powers. However, the shadow of her missing brother hangs over her and she is determined to find out what happened to him.

Lindsay Cummings' book is an interesting one, in that she mixes a number of different things together in this plot-driven story. In fact, she chucks everything at you Medieval fantasy that includes dragons, magic swords and quests, and then she also has a Sci-Fi story that has space smugglers, shady conglomerates, and alternative earths.

The points of view are mainly from Sonara (the medieval fantasy bit) who after been brought back from death, is surviving by being a thief in the Deadlands with other like-minded individuals who have also been brought back from the dead and now have magical powers. The other point of view comes from Karr (the sci - fi bit) who is a space smuggler aboard a spaceship called Starfall. Initially, the book is split into these two protagonists' individual story and you are wondering what on earth the girl with the sword and the boy in the spaceship has in common.

Well, it???s obvious innit, Einstein! Brother gets pinched from his planet by a strange spaceship, what more do you need? Yep, that is what I thought too. However, Lindsay Cummings skilfully weaves, twists, and manipulates this story to leave you with answers that quite honestly, I didn't see coming. And I enjoyed the spaceship ride that she took me on.

However, not only are there two points of view, there are two separate stories happening at the same time and at first, this can make the book a little disjointed, making you split your brain a little bit because you have to throw yourself into two separate settings.

Firstly there???s Sonara???s adventures in the Deadlands as she tries to steal stuff from the tyrannical King of the Deadlands, gets sent to jail, gets saved by her gang (who have a Dragon!), and then gets hired by a deposed princess and her skeleton encased friend to undertake a quest. Oh, and she has to come to grips with the magic powers that she gained when she was brought back from the dead, why she was brought back from the dead with all her mates, and work out her relationships with those around her, including her ex-boyfriend who also had a bit of a thing with the deposed princess and is a bit of a one!

Phew, that???s enough for one book there! However, Lindsay Cummings doesn???t stop there, she also gives us the tale of Karr and his brother Cade, who are escaping the tyrannical Jeb, who took them in as children when their parents were murdered and forced them to do some pretty underhanded jobs for him. To escape him Cade decides that taking up with a mysterious head of the shady conglomerate is the best way to escape Jeb???s clutches

The Head of the shady conglomerate then gives them a quest to get a mysterious object that is located on Sonara???s planet and can save the galaxy from a deadly disease called the ???Reaper???, which has decimated the people of Earth and forced them to create a second Earth called Beta Earth. In the process, Karr realises that he doesn???t want to do the space smuggling thingy anymore and wants to be an artist, and he has to work out his relationship with his brother.

Now, I know that that sounds like a lot and that it may be a little confusing. But honestly, it kinda works. The stories do converge and become one and that is quite a feat, but Lindsay Cummings manages to pull it off well, and when the stories do converge we rush headlong onto the end of the book and what on earth all those things have to do with each other, beat the bad guy and discover why the Deadlands gang all have these mutant powers and who or what brought them back from the dead in the first place.

I enjoyed this book. Lindsay Cummings is a writer that treats her audience with respect. Whilst it is not up there with something like Grimdark, Cummings does pepper the story with some violence and does not shy away from it. She also introduces some complexity to the plot that twists and turns and keeps you guessing to the very end. She introduces curveballs constantly throughout the plot that leaves your brain a bit numb. In fact, at some points I met myself coming back, there were that many twists and turns in the story.

The only downside is that because there is so much in the book. I didn???t feel that I connected with the characters enough. It was like being in a perfectly decorated house, but something was a little amiss. At times, I didn???t feel that the characters quite hit their mark. For instance, Sonara was not particularly devilish, she could be a bit grumpy, but she wasn???t entirely devilish. For me, it was the same with quite a lot of the characters. I don???t want to go into it too much as this would spoil the plot.

Additionally, I felt that since there was so much in the book, a couple of storylines just didn???t feel finished. Particularly the shady space conglomerate. I just felt that I needed to know some more about them.

I???m not sure if there is another book planned, but there is definitely lots more room to carry on the story of Sonara, Karr, and the magic gang.

On the whole, the book has a mix of fantasy and sci-fi that I enjoyed right till the very end.

This was an advanced reading copy from Netgalley and the publishers in exchsng for an honest review.

Matthew Ward???s debut novel is a grand sweeping affair that whilst being expansive, is a tightly knit story that weaves war, rebellion, magic, political intrigue and legacy into a compelling drama that is unputdownable.

The Tressian Republic stands at the centre of the world, yet it???s might is being tested. Rebellion threatens in the Southshires and Josiri Trelan, the son of the rebel Katya Trelan and now imprisoned in his own home, is gathering his forces so that he can lead the rebellion started by his mother 15 years ago and free his people from Tressia???s harsh rule.

Meanwhile, the Hadari Empire is rising, ready to overwhelm the empire and become the leading power in the world bringing war and death

However, underneath the waves of military upheaval, a dark power is stirring. Gods walk the world, choosing their champions and setting in motion their own plans.
Ward???s tale is magnificent in its scale. The scope is an entire world, and yet, he can seamlessly change his focus to the smallest aspects of his tale and concentrate on the minutest aspects of the drama, like Revekaah and Kurka???s tale in the woods during the titanic battle against the Hadari, or Calenne???s story under the battlefield as she discovers terrible secrets.

The cast of characters is impressive, although at times this can become confusing, and sometimes if I took my brain off the plot for a second, I was left wondering what was happening and had to go back a page or two to reconnect. However, the book demands your attention and concentration, and if you feed the story well with these two things, you will be richly rewarded.

The characters themselves are excellently written, with the Lady Ebigail being a standout of scheming and general maleficence. However, she never once falls into parody as she joyfully plots and weaves webs of intrigue, murdering, blackmailing and manipulating anyone who gets in her way.

The other players in this book are Viktor Akadra, the champion of the Tressian council. A knight who gains this title after he kills Josiri and Calenne???s mother, Katya. Viktor is an interesting character, portrayed as a stoical villain initially, yet as the story progresses, his character is explored more, and we learn that his character is more faceted than we originally thought, and Ward plays with these facets to great effect. An especially touching aspect, is his relationship with Calenne, who originally believing him to be the monster who killed her mother and haunts her nightmares, forms an unlikely friendship and even allies with him to save the Southshires after she learns the truth of her mother???s death. In fact, far from being the monster and killing machine that he is believed to be, Viktor is a thoughtful, socially anxious man that is afraid of his own shadow (that part will become clear!)

Calenne, is the other prominent figure of the story. At first, she is portrayed spoilt brat of a child that generally mopes around her prison, dreaming of a way out, even if it is by dying. She is afraid of the legacy that her mother, the hero of Southshires has left her, and yet when the need arises, she wears this persona to motivate others around her. Again, Calenne is a rounded individual that has flaws, and at times shows that she can be as manipulative as Lady Ebigail, in order to get what she wants.

And then there???s Josiri, an ineffectual leader who dreams of freeing his family from the past. At times, Josiri can be the strong leader that is needed. However, other times he can be impulsive and not recognise the consequences of his behaviour. But, as with Viktor, Ward brings him to life showing us that his character has more sides than a twenty - sided dice.

Additionally, the main characters are bolstered by equally memorable side characters, like Anastacia, either an angel or a demon, depending on which characters point of view. And, the gods themselves, with some memorable cameo roles by the God of Death, known as the Raven, who reminds me in some parts of Baron Samedi crossed with old Father Time, a Herne the Hunter type figure who makes an infrequent appearance in the story and the capricious, Ashana

Don???t be put off by the fact that this is a weighty book and the fact that the plot simmers for the first part of the book. When the gears are turned up, the story explodes and gallops along at full speed.

As with every other aspect of this book, Ward skilfully manoeuvres his cast of characters around the chessboard of his plot, carefully placing them where they need to be so that we reach the finale of the story. He carefully weaves plot, pace and characters, all the while building a richly complex world, magic system and mythology that will surely delight fans of epic fantasy.

You know when the review starts with the lines “I wanted to like this book......” It ain't going to be good! Well, I did genuinely want to like this book, that is why I bought it, but I didn't.

The book charts Picard's unimaginable task of relocating the Romulan Population before their star goes supernova and destroys their galaxy. Throughout the story, Picard has to battle the Romulans and their utter psychopathic need for secrecy, the beauroracy of the federation and the growing anti romulan sentiments on earth that could ultimately lead to the collapse of the federation.

Throughout the book, there is a recurring quote used to highlight the scale of the task - “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!” And I have got to say that is how I tackled this book. I just couldn't get on with it. I didn't like most of the characters, couldn't care less about the impending disaster and thanked the lord when the end came.

The characters that annoyed me the most were Bruce Maddox and Agnes. When he finally tells her at the end of the book to “Shut the f-bomb up”, I thought, “I know it's not nice, but I couldn't agree with you more”

There are some interesting insights into Romulan culture that I quite liked, but for me I couldn't wait till the impending supernova finally blew up.

Daleth's army is at the gates of King Tristan's mighty fortress which is the sole obstacle in his plan to overrun the Freestates.

A beacon of resolve in his quest for dominance.

However, things are not as it seems. As the Witch King batters the wall in his attempt to crush the resistance, dark forces are at work within the fortress. Who will be left standing as the mighty fall.

Tristan's Folly is the second in The Gifted & the Cursed Trilogy by Marcus Lee and is very much a continuation of the story begun in Kings & Daemons, and I think Tristan's Folly is best regarded as a continuation rather than a separate book.

In this second chapter, Maya and the rest of the party have made their way to the Freestates and have pledged their services to King Tristan to attempt to stop the Daleth's invading hoardes.

The story revolves around the siege of the fortress and is very insular in its setting and not as expansive as Kings & Daemons. However, this provides a sense of claustrophobia and focus, which increases in the second half of the book.

The book is very definitely a game of two halves. Initially, the book has a sense of hope. However, as the siege becomes more protracted, this dissipates as tensions within the fortress become increasingly fraught.

Marcus Lee conveys this really well and does a masterful job of introducing plots and subplots that adds to the mounting tension and puts strain on the relationships between the party.

I have to say that I enjoyed this book immensely and this second book moves the story on in ways that I didn't expect. As I said earlier there is very much a darker tone than Kings & Daemons. Whilst the previous book is dark fantasy there was always that corona of light, and whilst this continues initially in Tristan???s Folly, the tone becomes much darker towards the latter part of the book

One of the standout points in Marcus Lee???s work is the depth of the characters, and this continues in Tristan's Folly. Each of the characters develop in some way and what I found to be the most interesting is that the characters will move between good decisions and pretty bad decisions depending on the events that affect them individually. This is one of the things that I like about Marcus Lee???s writing. He writes realistic characters that do have faults, that will make mistakes and thus making them more human and multi faceted, making you care for them more. Even Daleth, the Witch ??? King is not omnipotent, but has the ability to make mistakes and show bad judgement.

One of the themes that caught my attention is duplicity. And this theme seems to run throughout the book. Even the title is duplicitous in its meaning. What exactly is Tristan???s Folly? However, this is not something that I will go into ??? Plot spoilers! And I want to stay away from those.

I really liked Kings & Daemons and thought it was excellent. Tristan???s Folly develops the story of Maya and the rest of the party so much more and I found everything to be taken that one step further. Not just in relation to the the plot, but in the development of the characters and even in the writing. Marcus Lee has always had a unique voice, however in Tristan???s Folly everything is honed to absolute sharpness.

If you haven???t read The Gifted & The Cursed, I really recommend that you do as it does not disappoint, and I am really excited to be reading the third instalment of this enjoyable series.

Luke Tarzian's wonderfully complex book is an ambitious and mesmerising read.

I have read a lot of reviews about Vultures and wondered what I was getting myself into. I had read that it was difficult. That it required thought and concentration. Was I ready for this?

Well the answer to this was yes! I think I was!

Now I had this book before I was accepted on the blog tour and was always immensley interested about Luke Tarzian's debut. The blog tour just solidified my resolve to actually get on with it. So with a deep breath, I plunged into the book.

I have to say that I didn't know what I was expecting at first, but suffice it to say the book confounded all my expectations and pulled me along breathlessly towards the end.

One of the things that I like about Luke Tarzian's writing is that it places an incredible amount of faith in the reader, in that you are going to go with the flow of the story. That you are willing to enter into this world and trust that, whilst at times you may not understand it all, you are willing to suspend your preconceptions and follow the tale regardless of where it goes.

Whilst the structure of the book does not follow conventional rules, the actual plot does have sembelences of epic fantasy. We have the dark force - Te Mirkvahil. We have the chosen hero - Theilys An and we have the hunt for the weapon that will destroy the said dark force.

However, it is what Luke Tarzian does with these conventions that makes the book something else. The book reminds me of a dry stone wall, in that there are solid foundations, but how the hell is the rest of it going to stand up? Somehow, as if by magic, it does. And the reason for this is because Luke Tarzian uses words like stones to create something magical.

The story takes place in a world where everything has been devastated by Te Mirkvahil, who has unleased a hoard of demons to ravage the land and the people.

There are many different characters, but the narrative centres on three main points of view, Theilys An, a demon posessed warrior who dissacociates when the demon inside him takes over to destroy the Lokyns (the nasty evil types), and when he wakes he usually wakes to find scenes of devastation . Serece, a plague infected phantaxian, who may or may not be posessed by a goddess, and Behtreal, a mysterious figure trying to resurrect a lost people, who again may be possessed by a demon. However, there other characters and points of view that add to the story and bring different perspectives.

With any fantasy book, you have to mention the magic systems and the world building, and again Luke Tarzian's magic systems are orignal and complex. There's Mirkur, which is a power that was used by Behtreal and Thealys An, which seems to be a power borne of darkness, and then there's Illum which grants the user the power to interpret dreams and premonitions. And then there's Yssa which is the dreaded power of the phantaxians which when used can have a disasterous effect.

On top of that, the world building is beguiling, it flits between the real and unreal, the corporeal and the incorporeal seamlessly. Sometimes, I wasn't entirely sure of where I was, but once I learnt that this was the structure of the book, I just went with it.

Added to this are the characters. At times I found them likeable and understandable, other times they frustrated me. At other times, I didn't know what I thought. But one thing is for sure is that Luke Tarzian certainly writes characters with depth.

Ultimately, I found Vultures to be a compelling read that I will need to revist at some point and get the full effect of Luke Tarzian's dreamlike writing, and knowing that there is more to this story fills me with longing for the next one.

Louise Carey???s stylish and sleek first book is a sci fi thriller set in a post - apocalyptic London.

Following a cataclysmic event called The Meltdown, the world has been taken over by Corporations, run by boards and CEO???s. These Corporations are warring factions that dominate the people of the world and the story revolves the cold war between Intech and the breakaway corporation Thoughtfront, who have both taken control of London, dividing it equally on each side of the Thames.

The story starts with a mission to retrieve some stolen data files that have been taken to a place that has no allegiance to either of the two Corporations called the ???Unaffiliated Zone???. And it is here that we meet Tanta. A rookie agent for the Intech Corporation who has been given the task by her mentor ???Jen??? to retrieve the stolen files. However, the mission is a disaster and the squad is attacked by an enemy agent.

After returning to Headquarters, Tanta is debriefed and despite her first field assignment not going to plan, she is given the task of finding out what was on the stolen files. She is quickly promoted from rookie to Agent and later in the story, introduced to her ???partner??? Cole. A neuro engineer that has been involved in a corporate accident, that whilst leaving him incapable of carrying out his original job, he is still a valuable asset, particularly in relation to this case.

As we move through the story, we are introduced to the world of Inscape. From the very beginning of the book, Louise Carey carefully starts introducing to the world and the technology that is predominant in the book. We are shown that the Inscape is a piece of biotech that overlays the world that the protagonists live in with an Augmented Reality. I really like this idea of the Inscape, and Louise Carey does a fantastic job of showing the reader how the it affects the characters and those around them.

One of the strengths of the book, is that Louise Carey does not info dump the world on you but unfurls the environment as the story progresses and we are always learning some new nugget of information about the city. She carefully adds layer upon layer of information showing how the environment, monetary systems, political systems and technology impact on those living in this world and it organically feels part of the story rather than one big info dump which you can get in both sci ??? fi and fantasy novels.

Inscape mainly revolves around the two main characters, Tanta and Cole. These are the two that have to hold the weight of the story on their shoulders. So, it is a good job that they are solid, believable and relatable characters. Especially Tanta!

When we first meet Tanta, I didn't wholly gel with her. She???s a little too quick to please the commands of her mentor Jen, and the corporation as a whole. It almost seems to border on subservience. We learn that she is a Corpsward, an orphan who has been brought up by Intech and we know that there is something a little off about Tanta (I am not going to elaborate too much as this is part of the plot). As the plot moves on and events come into play. Tanta changes and you warm to her more. Particularly in the second part of the book! This is when Tanta starts to learn and experiences things about those she works with and herself. As she realises the impact of the thing she discovers, she changes, and we get to share that change with her.

Cole is a little different. As I said earlier, he has been involved in an accident that has rendered him unfit to complete his original job. In some ways, when they first meet it reminded me of the traditional pairing story in a police procedural. One cop does it strictly by the book and is teamed with the maverick who breaks all the rules. However, the relationship between the two grows throughout the book, and again, Carey cleverly layers this growing relationship and we learn that this friendship doesn???t come out of the blue. As the story progresses we can see that there are reasons for this relationship and that Cole has some latent feelings for Tanta.

From the very first chapter, Louise Carey immerses you in the story from the outset. And, even though initially you are a little disorientated with the world of Inscape, trying to work out what this does, why this works the way it does etc.go with the flow and you will find that all is revealed one way or another.

It took me a little bit to get used to the book at first as it is written in the present tense. I have always found that I have a bit of a difficulty getting into books that are written in the present tense, for some reason. I don???t know why, but I need a period of adjustment. However, it didn???t take me long and then I was fine, happily immersed in the world of Inscape.

Obviously, as a thriller, you need to be able to write good action sequences. And Louise Carey certainly can write good action sequences. The hand to hand combat sequence with the enemy agent for instance is cracking. The visual aesthetics of it really worked and I felt that I was actually watching this on a screen in my head rather than it being a sequence of letters on a page.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book. The pace is cracking, the writing immersive, the action sequences excellently visual, and the characters are solid and relatable. http://www.fantasybooknerd.com/2020/12/some-information-about-book-title-we.html Apparently, this is the first one of a series. So I cannot wait to see what happens next.

I initially received an advanced reading copy for Inscape from Netgalley and the Publishers. My thanks go to them for this opportunity to read this ARC.

The book will be released on
21st January 2020

Advance Reading Copy (ARC) kindly provided by Netgalley and Orbit. The actual joy and pleasure to read this book was all my own!

Legacy of Steel continues the story a year in the future from where Legacy of Ash left off. The story begins with Melanna, the tradition smashing Princessa of the Hadari, finally being accepted as the Emperor Kai Sadarn???s heir. However, the ceremony is marred when an unknown assailant attacks her father.

Meanwhile, the Tressian council is rebuilding and order is being restored to the Republic after the events that ended the last book. Councillor Malachi is elected to lead the council as First Councillor. However, the promises and bargains he made in the past reverberate in the present, subsequently pitching the City of Tressia into a war with forces long thought dead. This will lead to horrifying consequences, both personal to First Councillor Malachi and to the people of the city itself.

However, this is not the only threat. The Emperor Kai Saran of the Hadari has raised the full might of the Hadari Empire in a Holy war against the Republic. He will lead his armies to the border, and with the aid of the divine Ashana, he overruns the impenetrable fortress of Ahrad. Vowing not to stop until he has tore apart the Tressian Republic, at any cost!

As the battles rage, one man is needed. Viktor Akadra, the champion of the Republic. But he has forsaken the Republic and his role as champion,lost and broken by grief.

Matthew Ward???s latest instalment in The Legacy Series is pure joy to read. This book has everything that will delight fantasy readers. Exhilarating battle scenes, political intrigue, Gods walking the land and a scope of utter Epicness!

I cannot tell you how much I adore this series. When I read Legacy of Ash I gave it five stars, Legacy of Steel firmly blows the previous book out of the water and shatters all my expectations.

In this second book, Ward???s narrative gripped me from beginning to end. Building on the story that he had established in Legacy of Ash. He develops his characters superbly, bringing to the fore some of the minor players from the previous book and giving them major roles on the impact of the story.

One of the main things that I love about this book are the characters. For me they simply walk off the page and reside firmly in my imagination. He masterfully builds on the relationships of the characters, such as the touching and, often laugh out loud funny, friendship between Captain Kurkas and Anastacia.

In Legacy of Ash, Ward introduced the Crowmarket. A shadowy league of assassins and cutpurses. In Legacy of Steel, the Crowmarket becomes a more prominent entity in the story and attempts to influence the City of Tressia. With this storyline, this gives Ward the opportunity to turn his spotlight to Apara, who with her Raven Cloak, is a fantastic character and we join her on her journey as she changes and develops.

Now one of the standout characters for me in the first book was The Raven. He immediately captured my imagination and joy of joys, he gets so much more of a role in this book. I was hopping off my seat in glee everytime The Raven walked on to the page. He???s more of a God of Mischief than the customary resolute figure of Death.This is left to Jack O???Fellhaven. In this book the Gods become more involved and we get more of an insight into the gods of Aradane as we are introduced, not only to the full pantheon of the Gods. I really like Wards representation of The Otherworld, it reminds me both of the Celtic and Faerie mythos that I love and incorporates elements of British Folklore that I am fascinated by.

However, not only are Apara and The Raven???s characters expanded, but Sidara, Malachi Reveque???s daughter, and Roslava both have storylines that are absorbing and captivating at the same time.

I recently saw a comment from Matthew Ward (and I am paraphrasing), in which he says that you can have more fun with the side characters as they are not constrained by the expectations of the story. Well, he certainly does have fun with the side characters in Legacy of Steel, and so do we.

And for me that is one of the things that has pulled me into this story. Ward doesn???t waste a single character, he uses them all to build the wall of his plot, each one a foundation to the narrative that he carefully constructs.

As if that isn???t enough, Ward???s action sequences are incredible and so well paced. There were many times I had to stop myself punching the air in exhilaration when he was in full swing describing the battle sequences. They are so blood pumpingly described, that you feel that you are front and centre of the action, dodging the swords and arrows as they rain down on everyone around you.

I simply did not want this book to end, and if I had a time machine, I would send myself forward to the moment that I am holding Ward's third book in my hands and continuing this mesmerising journey with the characters of the book, and seeing how this series will end.

Mind you, I don???t think I want it to end!

This is a novella by L.L. Macrae and is the precursor to The Dragon Spirits series.

The story is about life long thief Apollo Tamlin, who given the choice between execution or a pardon where he could escape his life of crime by organising a journey that could end in certain death, decides on the second .

When a robbery has gone wrong in the Royal palace, Tamlin is forced to take a stolen artifact to be destroyed by the Spirit of the Eternal Blizzard by the Conqueror Queen, Suraya.

In order to complete the task he and his party, comprising of his friend Malora and cell mate Yorik.

The Citrine Key is a thrilling little story that involves dragons, mystery and long forgotten terrors.

L.L. Macrae does an excellent job of plunging you headling in to the story from the begining, doing a pretty decent job of introducing the characters and building the world immdiately so that you feel familiar with the environment and the characters.

The thing that I like about novellas in that there is no room for procrastination due to their compactness and this story works well in the confines of this format.

The characters are all solid, with enough backstory to flesh out their character without being bogged down with unnecessary exposition. I particularly found the lead character Apollo to be an interesting character that I would definitely like to see more of. He uses humour to hide his emations but he is extremely loyal to his friend Malora.

Similarly, Malora has some history. She is a spirit blessed whose power has deserted her and has fallen on hard times.

There is definitely an epic fantasy feel to the story, and I like that the characters are not your usual heroic chosen types but are flawed and have some depth to them.

One of the things that is always going to get my attention are dragons, and I really like how L.L. Macrae uses them. Each one is identified as a spirit. In this story we meet the Spirit of the Eternal Blizzard, who is an ice dragon, but we also get hints of other dragons too, such as the Spirit of Iron that belongs to the conqueror queen.

As an introduction to L. L. Marae's writing I found that this was a satisfying and enjoyable read and I will definitely be investigating the main story when it comes out, which is set five years after this story.

With The End of Dreams, Marcus Lee's The Gifted & The Cursed comes to a close.

When it comes to the last of a series of books, we know that there will be an inevitable conclusion and the series will end. It's always bittersweet when we get to the final chapter of a series. On the one hand, you want to see how it all ends. Will good triumph over evil, or will there be a twist of events that will somehow change the outcome and give us an unexpected ending that we didn't see coming. There are a multitude of ways things can end, but end they will. And so it comes with The End of Dreams.

However, whilst the ending is important, it is not the be all and end all. The most important aspect is the journey to get there. Therein lies the joy! And, oh, what a journey this is.

The book starts immediately from where we last left our main characters. Taran, Rakan and Yana are escaping from the fortress of Tristan's Folly. Whilst Maya is fulfilling her obligation to Tristan that she made to keep Taran alive.

It's pretty fair to say, that at this present moment in time, mostly everyone is not happy about the current situation that they find themselves in. Well, except for Yana, who is quite happy that things seem to be going according to plan. In that Maya is off with Tristan and she has time to see her wily plans of making Taran her own come to fruition.

In amidst this, Taran has made the stupendously wise decision to continue to wear the amulet of the Witch King and repress all his emotions pertaining to the current state of his relationship with Maya. You know that isn't going to end well, don't you! However, Rakan tells him this and he completely ignores this advice. Suffice it to say, Taran walks a pretty dark path, believing that the most appropriate way to deal with the Witch King is be like the Witch King.

Meanwhile, Daleth is currently holding up, injured as a result of the events at Tristan's Folly. However, he is not entirely idle in his God given right to dominate the whole world and suck off its life energy so that he can live forever and sets off a series of plans so that his victory can be orchestrated.

Maya, on the other hand has decided that although she is not in the best place, what with Tristan wanting to get his wicked way with her (in more ways than one), she feels that the best course of action is to defy Tristan at every given turn and also make the best of her situation by doing what she does best, caring for others and thus telling them the truth about Daleth and his army.

I think that tells you enough about plot without giving too much away.

I have loved this series as whole and with each book, it has gone from strength to strength, and the End of Dreams is no exception. Marcus Lee delivers plots and subplots, weaving each one delicately to reach the final ending of what for me is a memorable series of books.

Again, he shows inexplicable skill in mounting tension, introducing new characters and subsequently completing this journey.

What I like about, Marcus Lee's writing is that he wears his heart on his sleeve. He loves epic fantasy in all it's forms. He is able to write about romance without it turning into mawkishness, he can write about other relationships, such as Rakan's care for his son and make it believable and he can satisfy even the bloodthirstiest of readers like me. That's a pretty good balancing act to perform if you ask me and he does it with style.

Now we have to talk about characters. Marcus Lee writes fantastically believable characters that are worth getting attached to. From Maya, with her beguilingly innocent view of the world to the despicable Tristan. Yes, I say Tristan, because whilst Daleth is the big bad, he's a smidgen less odious than Tristan, who I virtually hissed at every time he entered the stage.

One last thing that I have to mention, is that surprisingly, amongst all the plot and the characters, Marcus Lee manages to squeeze in some pretty awesome world building with the introduction of the Horse lords, which to me, reminded me of a mix between the Rohirrim, the Mongol Hoardes and the Knights of Solamnia and I thought were a welcome addition to the book.

So, we come to the close and I must say that this is a satisfying ending to a memorable series.

Irreverent, anarchic and just bloody good fun.

Welcome to the world of the Loners. A band of merry mercenaries looking for just one thing.

Retirement!

Bounty hunting is a complicated job; some love you, most despise you. But if Jari Rockjaw showed up with a poster, it was your final day on Labrys.

Meet Jari Rockjaw, the Merc with a heart. His trusted companion Betha, a Minotaur with a past she doesn't want to talk about. And then there's Toli Hookhand, whose main pastime is Dwarven lasses asses, and Kala who also has a bit of a past.

This book promised to be such good fun and it didn't disappoint.

The story revolves around Jari and the rest of the Loners who initially head out to collect the bounty of a bunch of dark elves. However, in order to do that they need to swell the ranks of their party and are joined by Gnok, Jari's cousin. Sinda Rockgut, a beautiful dwarf with a score to settle and Arnak, a turtle humanoid called a Hah - Nu - Nah.

However, things don't go according to plan when they are hired to undertake a scouting mission on behalf of King Zista, to find a particular ne'er do well by the name of Boro Spiderbinder, a raider who has been, well, raiding.

As they lurch from one misadventure to the next, things become slightly more complicated, and Jari and his bunch of Loners find themselves in one impossible predicament after another.

I have to say, I enjoyed this book immensely, from the very moment it opened. It immediately promised mirth as we open with Jari Rockjaw fighting a fire breathing giant snail in his birthday suit.

The characters are all likeable. Jari, as I said earlier is full of heart, but is definitely not perfect, and he is quite happy to fight for a cause. Betha is hard headed, but underneath it all cares for each of her companions and Toli is the impudent comic relief, and there is a full cast of characters along the way that add their little bit to the story.

I also have to mention the setting. Whilst it is a fantasy world, it put me more in mind of a classic western setting for some reason. I don't know if this is because I listened to this by audio, and the narrator, Walt Allen, reads it with a drawl, but it put me in mind of the Saturday afternoon westerns I watched as a kid. There's lots of scalp hunting, deserts (called the expanse in the book) and general riding about (mainly on battle goats) and I could easily picture Jari as a John Wayne type figure.

The book is full of action, with the pacing starting at full throttle. And it continues at this pace throughout, with D. B. Bray & Wahida Clark never letting their foot off the accelerator all the way through.

So, if you need a book that is fun to read but with a lot of heart, look no further than Loners.

Thank you for D. B. Bray for getting in touch and giving me a review copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

The Two-Faced Queen is Nick Martell's exhilarating sequel to his debut The Kingdom of Liars.

I must say when I read The Kingdom of Liars, I was pretty impressed. Nick Martell did a fantastic job, writing an intriguing and well-paced plot. He introduced characters that are engaging if sometimes a little annoying, and endearing. There was intricate world-building and a complex magic system.

So, when I saw that the story of The Two-Faced Queen continued in the city of Hollow, I was wondering how Nick Martell was going to expand on something that he had done a pretty good job of building in the first place.

Well, he showed me, didn't he? It turns out that Nick Martell had a whole lot more up his sleeve and The Kingdom of Liars was just the tip of the iceberg.

The story takes place shortly after the events of the Kingdom of Liars and we find him indentured to Dark, the Orbis Corporation Assassin. His mother is no longer a Forgotten and the family are now living in Kingman Keep.

Outside the walls, the rebellion is still encamped slowly strangling the city of Hollow. In addition to this, refugees are flooding into Hollow, making a bad situation worse.

As part of his apprenticeship with Dark, they are tasked to find out where the refugees are from and who leads them.

This sets off a series of events. Firstly, a series of horrific murders lead to the return of a serial killer that has lain dormant for a number of years. The city of Hollow is now in the hands of Serena, The two-faced Queen of the title, who just happens to be Michael's childhood best friend and has set out to kill him because she thinks he killed her father. Oh, on top of that he has to pass his apprentice assassins test.

Just another day at the Kingsman residence then!

Structurally, Nick Martell does not shift much from the first book. Michael is the main character. However, in this book, he is not as difficult to spend time with, and Nick Martell does a nice job of retconning book 1, which gives a different perspective of Michael???s behaviour in Kingdom of Liars. Additionally, Michael grows in this book, which I liked a lot. I think the skill that Nick Martell shows in growing his characters organically is clearly evident. Michael seems more like a real person. Yes, he does make mistakes, and at times he does not see the bigger picture, but we see him learning from his mistakes.

Unfortunately, some of the characters that we spent time in book 1 with, such as Kai do not get as much page time as the previous book, but I found that the relationship that grows between Michael and Dark is quite a fascinating one, and made up for the absence of the other characters.



Naomi is a lot more prominent in the Kingdom of Liars, and we see the after-effects of the incident that involved the Crooked Prince. We learn that as well as losing her job, it is also causing her pain to the extent that she has to seek other means in order to control this.

However, a number of the characters get their time in the spotlight. For one the Two-faced queen herself, Serena, who deluded by her grief, relentlessly chases Michael. Symon, the King of Stories, who I have to say I found quite interesting and wished we could have spent some more time with him, although he gets two interludes in the book in order to change the focus from Michael. Most interestingly, however, is Gwen. I have always found Gwen to be a character that I wanted to spend more time with, and in this book, we get to do that.

The plot of the book runs at full pace, yes there are some lulls in it, but generally, Nick Martell creates a sense of urgency as the book comes to its conclusion. One of the things that I really like about Nick Martell???s writing is that he successfully weaves cross-genre plots. In one instance there is the serial killer plot and the race against time to find the killer before they strike again, interweaved with a solid fantasy book of rebellion and unrest.

On top of this, Nick Martell massively increases the world that the characters inhabit. We get more about the magic system and the lore too. And as we spend time with Dark and Michael, we get more information about the Assassins company and get to meet the crew.

In the Two-Faced Queen, Nick Martell successfully weaves a thrilling plot, expansive world-building with fantastic characters in a book that you won???t want to put down.

First off, I need to say thank you to Luke Daher for contacting me to review his book. As you can guess I did receive a copy, and obviously I said I would love to read it, but I will be giving an honest review. He said ???fair enuff!??? So there you have it.

Now, down to brass tacks, what did I think?

I have to admit that I knew nothing about this book at all. I didn???t read the blurb before diving in, so didn???t really know what to expect.

I like to do this, you have no preconceived ideas and whatever happens is a surprise, and let me tell you that this was a surprise.

The story revolves around master swordsman Normyn Stormcoat. However, when we meet him he is just plain, simple Normyn, a boy from Catchcreek, a backwater village in The Wilds. He's a boy that is able command respect despite his young age,but is quite self conscious about a facial blemish that marks him out as being different.

The other main character is Xylia, a self assured artist from the Kyrese society. A member of the blessed who is constantly pushing against what she sees as the constraints of the society she lives in. She is always striving to be more, to be the best, and above all others.

The book mainly follows these two characters' points of view, although there are some points of view of other characters who enter a bit later in the book.

There are a number of things to mention in this, Luke Daher???s first outing. Firstly, his world building is vivid, and at times oppressive, particularly when we are in the wilds, which is painted as an arid, desolate environment. However, when we switch to Kyrel, the picture is the exact opposite. This is a city of beauty, plenty and the pursuit of perfection, but there is an undercurrent of nastiness. And when we change each point of view, we see the contrasts of each environment.

However, it is not just in the physical landscapes that we see these contrasts but also in the landscape of each of the characters' psyche. Normyn is equally as desolate as the landscape that he lives in, whilst Xyria similarly reflects her landscape in her pursuit of perfection.

In addition to the vivid world building, Luke Daher presents us with intriguing and engaging characters that you want to spend time with. However, they are not particularly likeable. Normyn, for instance, is a man that is plagued with mental health problems, but he does make it difficult to have any sympathy for him. He has gone through some significant trauma, and whilst he is a man of great power, he is plagued by guilt and has subsequently given up on life. He has given up caring and has become withdrawn from everything. He does not want to become involved with anything and will let himself be beaten and imprisoned rather than interact. He is a reluctant hero and tries his damned hardest not to become a part of anything.


Conversely whilst Xylia does have some degree of likeability, even though is she self serving, arrogant and blinded to anything but her own desire to be the absolute pinnacle of what she perceives is perfection. And this is one of those things that Daher does very cleverly. He instils a sense of certain paths for each character, but the series is called Meandering Paths for a reason, and characters reach their destination from different directions


However, the characters are strong and intriguing, which is good as for the first half of the book we spend a long time living with these characters, learning about them, breathing with them, and as you can imagine to pull this with off with a degree of success, you have to be able to write characters that are able to carry the story.

As well as these two, we have others that enter the story. Ley, a precocious, unruly boy who is imprisoned with Normyn, who in all actuality takes Normyn under his wing and sticks by him, irregardless of the fact that Normyn is unable to care for anyone. We later get Tabita, an insular Highlander that just tags along and becomes part of the group.

Well, when it comes to the check boxes, we have world building covered, we have characters covered. What else do we need? Ahh, that???s it - the magic. Yes, there is magic aplenty in First Steps. And what Luke Daher has done is to successfully make it part of each individual character, each power different depending on who wields it, collectively known as different names depending on which part of the world that you come from, in some ???the blessed??? and in others ???the powerful???

The pacing is not immediately explosive, it takes time to build. However, if you are used to such books as the Wheel of Time, I don???t think that you will have any trouble with this book

As a debut, this is a solid, entertaining debut that is certain to appeal to fans of epic fantasy and that I think needs some more exposure as I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

At its heart, First Steps is epic fantasy, and Luke Daher presents us with the tropes that you expect to see in epic fantasy - the good vs evil, the chosen one, enchanted swords etc. However, Luke Daher uses these effectively and subverts them to present an engaging fantasy that by the end leaves you wanting more.

Shameless meets gritty gangland noir in RJ Dark's story of the criminal underbelly in the Wilds of a Yorkshire council estate.

‘A Numbers Game' is the first book in a new Northern Noir series written by RJ Dark, the once underground musician and club promoter, who now spends his life tottering around his ancient mansion.

If you have seen interviews with RJ Dark, you will be familiar with the fact that most his personal reading revolved around crime novels that he got from local second hand shops and that this is the type of fiction that he gravitates towards, and I have to say that I enjoyed his inaugural foray into a fictional Yorkshire gangland immensely. It seems that whatever RJ Dark writes, he spins pure gold.

Now, let's get to ‘A Numbers Game'. The story is based around our two main characters, Malachite Jones, or Mal as he prefers to be called, and Jackie Singh Khattar. A borderline sociopath, with a rigid ethical code and a heart of gold at his core.
On top of that, there is a whole host of characters that provide a depth to the story.
There's ‘Trolley' Mick Stanbeck. The main gangster of the piece, who whilst being an absolute brutal shit of a man who rules the Blades Edge with an iron rod of fear, he also has a penchance to look after his family.

Alongside Trolley Mick,.there's ‘Russian' Frank. The other antagonist of the story who Mal and Jackie come into contact with when they are tasked to find a missing lottery ticket that is worth 8 million pounds and everyone thinks they have a stake in.

As I said earlier, the story revolves around Mal and Jackie. Mal is a medium/conman who communes with the dead. Well, not really, as most of his work is pretty much a community service that he does for various people around the infamous Blades Edge Estate, a council estate in an unnamed town in Yorkshire. Whilst Jackie is a ‘legitimate businessman' who works a small time protection racket in the local area.

After the death of Lawrence ‘Larry' Stanbeck, Mal is visited by his widow (a job set up by Jackie) to find a missing lottery ticket that could, if you will pardon the pun, be her ticket off the Blades Edge Estate. As the search for the missing lottery ticket ensues, the danger to Mal and Jackie increases as the stakes become higher and higher.

I absolutely adored the mismatched pairing of Mal and Jackie. Mal has a past, and one that he struggles with everyday, whilst for some reason, the local school bully, now medium sized hardman, Jackie looks after him like a mother hen. Always magically turning up whenever he is in trouble.

One of RJ Dark's skills (amongst many) is that he writes utterly compelling characters that you cannot help falling in love with. And ‘A Numbers Game' is packed full of them.
As well as the main ones that I talked about earlier there is a plethora of supporting characters that are both comedic and relatable. For instance, there's Mal's assistant, Beryl, who is an overbearing she bitch with mysterious talents, who yet again, looks out for Mal and has his best interests at heart, even though he drinks coffee. And then there's Mick Stanbeck's twins (named ‘The Kray Twins, but don't call them that to their face) who only have one brain cell between the both of them and carry a dictionary in their back pocket so that they can ‘better' themselves. Like their dad told them they should!

For me, one of the standout aspects of this book is that it is filled with utter warmth towards the characters and to the world that Mal & Jackie live in. Whilst, Dark pokes fun at the council estate mentality and it's inhabitants, there is never any spite towards them. Yes, at times he can make some cutting observations about life on a council estate, yet you always get the impression that he is willing to forgive the characters their faults.

As well as this, the book is full of RJ Dark's unnerring silliness, which at times sails very close to being pythonesque parody, and had me laughing out loud on a number of occasions, but he pulls it back enough to maintain the reality of the situation, and the jeopardy of lead characters situation.

However, don't think that the book is all comedy and innocent tomfoolery, because it's not. It goes to some pretty dark places at times and there is plenty of violence in there. And, the inclusion of this violence serves to increase the sense of danger that face our heroes and gives a palpable feeling of menace to the various gangsters that are present in this book.

As this is a crime thriller, we have to mention the plot. Yep it's twisty and turny and keeps you guessing right to the very end. That's what you expect right! You don't want a plot that goes from A to B in a straight line. You expect that it will take a detour to b,c & d and back again, and in this Dark does not disappoint, but the main point is that the end is believable.and that it ends in a way that does not bring in inexplicable plot revelations.

If you haven't got it yet, I enjoyed this Northern Noir crime caper with its inimatbale sense of fun and warmth, I think it is up there as my favourite RJ Dark (but don't tell that Barker bloke) novel and I cannot wait to see what Mal & Jackie get embroiled in next?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to review ‘A Number's Game'. The enjoyment was all my own! Welcome to the Dark side!

Give me a little while! I just need a bit!

The Conductors is a mix of murder and magic, set in an alternate history of post-civil war USA, following the emancipation of slavery..

This is a really inventive setting and Nicole Glover vividly weaves a tale of murder, magic, and friendship, to make a book that grips you from the start.

The story revolves around Hetty & Benjy, who previously aided slaves to escape from their lives of servitude in their roles as conductors. Now, they live in Philadelphia, with Hetty working as a seamstress and Benjy as a blacksmith. However, on the side, they work as a husband and wife detective team and continue to aid the community that they live in by dealing with crimes that the police would generally consider as not their problem.

One night, at a party at their friend's house, they are approached by local entrepreneur (and all-round dodgy bloke) Charlie Richardson. However, both Hetty and Benjy want nothing to do with whatever problems Charlie has.

When Charlie turns up dead in an alleyway with a cursed sigil carved in his chest. Hetty and Benji are drawn into a mystery that will have them questioning everyone around them, from a local political institution to their friends. In their efforts to solve the crime, they will uncover truths about those around them, including their nearest and dearest.

Nicole Glover does a fantastic job of weaving magic into this riveting mystery tale. You would think how could the two co-exist? But Nicole Glover sews the magic system into the very tapestry of everyday life.

There are two aspects to the magic system in the book, Sorcery (which is the magic system used by white people) and Celestial magic (which is used by the African American population) and Glover clearly describes the distinction between the two systems, with Sorcery primarily using wands as a focal point for magical emanations, whilst Celestial magic uses the constellations to manifest power.

Now, obviously, a book cannot be carried by a magic system alone. We need characters, plot, and world-building.

And with this we need to move onto the characters. This has definitely got to be the most enchanting aspect of the book. Hetty & Benjy are solid and intriguing individuals that you want to spend time with. Hetty is strong, dogmatic, level-headed, and individualistic, whilst Benjy is insightful, meticulous, and introspective. However, whilst all these characteristics are positive aspects, particularly in a detective, in real life they can turn around and bite the characters in the ass. For instance, Hetty's obsession with finding her sister leads to problems. Sometimes, she can be so short-sighted that she does not see what is in front of her.

Not only do we have two strong leads, but we have a well-written cast of supporting characters, such as Penelope and Eunice.

Now, let me get this out of the way. Murder/mystery is not usually my cup of tea. However, Nicole Glover deftly interweaves elements of murder with domestic and social issues, drawing you into the world she has built. In addition, the book is peppered with interludes, shedding light on Hetty and Benjy???s past and their exploits helping other slaves to flee from their life.

Obviously, with any fantasy book, you have to mention the world-building. I liked Nicole Glover???s world-building. She manages it so deftly that I actually believed that post-civil war, America did actually have magic as she seems to make the world-building part of the very fabric of the book.

So, if you like murder/mystery stories, interwoven with a fantastical edge and vivid characters, you wouldn???t go far wrong if you gave Nicole Glover???s ???The Conductors??? a try.

(note: more like 3.5)

Misery loves company! Especially in R. J. Rettger's debut novel, Oathbreaker, as it chronicles the tale of newly knighted Mario Deschamps.

When we initially begin the story of Mario, the book does not give any indications of where this book descends and by the end of Mario's story, nothing prepares you for it's culmination.

At the start of the story, Mario is a bright eyed, bushy tailed newly anointed knight. However, as he embarks upon his first quest, events will lead him to become a very different person from the one he envisages and fantasizes about.

In his head, he is going to follow in the footsteps of his esteemed father, Pablo Deschamps. A renowned knight who single handedly quelled the uprising of the elves that populate the world.

However, Mario will be challenged and stripped bare of all the things he believes!

At the start, he firmly believes that the world around him follows a set of rules that fit into his steadfast worldview. However, all this ideals and fantasies of being a courageous knight are brutally stripped from him. There are many trappings of classic fantasy here, such as the Knight on his destrier, non-human races, such as elves, dwarves and halfling. In addition to this, there are monsters, and bandits.

But you will find that most things are turned on their head, particularly with the non - human races. Yes, the elves seem to be typically aloof and haughty. However, the elves are hated and subjugated. They are dehumanised, beaten and treated as something less than human. Additionally, this attitude permeates to the other non human races, and you feel that the hatred towards other races is pernicious and deeply ingrained.

We follow Mario as he embasrks on his first quest. This quest will strip away everything that he holds dear. It will be the hardest thing he has ever done. It will take him on a journey that will change his life forever.

I found the book to be a bleak story, and as Mario and those around him experience tragedy after tragedy, the trauma just piles up. If I could pick a soundtrack for this book, it would be Walk with Me in Hell by Lamb of God, primarily because it is like walking through hell as Mario is stripped and disabused of his innocence one layer at a time, one trauma at a time. If I think back on this, I cannot recall one moment of peace or happiness. Oh, no sorry I lied, one does spring to mind. However, when it does happen there is a foreboding that this is going to not go well.

Now, I hope that I haven???t put you off this book, but there is no shying away from it, this is a dark book. There are no rays of sunshine or knights on white chargers coming to save you.

On the whole, Oathbringer is well written debut. As I said previously, A.J. Retinger has a head full of ideas. Mostly, these ideas work but there were times when some of them didn???t click with me. I found that the intrusion of Mario???s inner thought processes took me way from the narrative, and I felt that these interrupted the flow of the story. That is just my personal opinion, and most people had no problems with this aspect

If you like your fiction dark, then I think you will enjoy this. After the ending of this book, I really want to know what happens next and will be looking forward to the next instalment.

I think second books are the most difficult to review (and I would suspect that they are more difficult to write), primarily due to the fact that they have to have so much going on. In one aspect they have to continue the story that is started in book 1, whilst propelling the story to book 3, and then stand on their own two feet as a book in its own right. It is so tough being the middle child!

However, SC Gowland does this admirably and for me fulfils all the criteria above.

The story starts immediately from the end of the last book, and Kaoldan has to deal with the revelations that he learnt in the first book. Not only that, he has to continue to build his relationships with his daughters and has to learn how to be a father again to two children who he basically abandoned whilst he went off to not deal with his own problems.

On top of that, there is a new threat to deal with in the land of Essealer and there is a palpable feeling that things are moving forward to a culmination that no one expects.

I have to say, that the second book in The Souls Abyss is just as good as the first and the story moves along well.

One of the main things that I have enjoyed in SC Gower???s books are the characters. There is not one that I have not resonated with and wanted to spend time with.

It???s interesting in this book that as new characters are introduced, and these characters add more to the book. The one that stands out for me is the character is Onala, who is introduced at the beginning of the book as the daughter of the big bad of the story, Rhazien. She is given the task of guarding Kaoldan???s daughter, Romina, as she is held hostage by the Otan. However, as the story progresses, Onala and Romina???s relationship blossoms and she gets a really good character arc that I thoroughly enjoyed as she moves from being a follower who blindly accepts orders, to one with some free will and thought, and there is an especially good scene in which she is given a gift by a character, which she does not know how to respond to.

With the introduction of the Otan, who are primarily the antithesis of The Walkers. SC Gowland gets chance to open the world up a bit more and expand the story. We spend quite a bit of time with the Otan as Romina is taken hostage and we get to see the culture of the Otan through her eyes.

I have to admit in Coven of Shadows, there is one particular scene that I am not going to forgive SC Gowland for, although I can see the reasons for it. And yes, he did go there! However, it does show very well how a certain character (and I will keep that vague due to spoiler issues!) has changed and what they are prepared to do.

Whilst there is the introduction of new characters, the ones that we know and love are all experiencing changes. Kaoldan ends up in a role that he did not expect, and in addition to this, he is still coming to terms with the prospect of fatherhood being thrust upon him.

Also, Zahala gets thrust into the limelight a little a bit more. And guess what? She isn???t all sweetness and light like she was in the first book. And her personality comes more to the fore with the loss of her sister Romina.

Whenever I read this book, there are two things that always come unbidden to my mind. The first one is Phillip Larkin???s poem, This be the verse. Which goes something like they this.

???They f*ck you up, your mum and dad. They may mot mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had. And add some extra, just for you???

And the other thing is a particular scene in The Haunting of Hill House. I think the actual scene is in episode 6 at the funeral parlour. There is this one scene that has stayed with me in particular. It is when the father looks at his children sat on the sofa, all grown up. And for one second you get the view of them from the father???s perspective in which the adults are replaced by the children as they were when they were little.

The reason that I brought this up is that this seriously applies to Kaoldan???s relationship with his two daughters. He constantly sees them as the two children that he left at the Walker training school and has difficulty accepting tha they have grown into capable young women. And with short sightedness, he is always trying to protect them, and subsequently, rather than making the situation better, he ends up making it worse.

There is quite a lot going on in this book, and I like that SC Gowland takes the time to get all the pieces in place before it reaches the ending. The book is more character driven in this respect, but as I said previously, I looked forward to spending time with these characters and wanted to immerse myself in this world.

But, don???t think that there isn???t plot, it???s just that I haven???t touched on it as I don???t want to give anything away.

If you cannot tell, I like these books immensely. And it is the mark of a good book that when you have finished it, it stays with you, and you find yourself just looking back on a particular scene or part of the book, and I found myself revisiting it several times in my head.

Review to come!

Just to get this out of the way, I was contacted by the author, Christopher Laine, to review this book. He was very nice and gave me a copy of his book and then said write what you want about it, but it would be nice to have a review! So here goes!
??
Screens is the fourth book in Christopher Laine's??The Seven Coins Drowning??series, and are intrinsically linked by the theme of the seven deadly sins. There are several stories in the series, but it is not essential to have read the others to enjoy Screens, and I have to say that it did not spoil my enjoyment of the book.

Screens is one of those books where there is so much going on, you don???t know where to start. It took me to places that I didn???t expect, to different realities, dimensions and times. Honestly, I did not know what to expect at all when I started reading this book.??

The book tells the story of James, our 404: narrator not found. He is a nobody. A bicycle courier in San Francisco. A casualty of his own ego. A recovering substance user. He is many things, but mainly, he is the teller of our story.??

In all honesty, as a narrator, I found him to annoying, gruff and he grated on my nerves at times. He has a propensity to call you, the reader,?? Chumley. He is incredibly egotistical, and at times I wanted to punch him! However, what he is not, is uninteresting. Yes, at times he preaches at you, and you throw your hands up in exasperation at him, but ultimately you want to hear his story and how it plays out.??

The story of Screens itself, revolves around Frank Belknapp Long???s ???The Hounds of Tindalos???. For those of you who aren???t aware of F. Belknap Long, he was a contributor to the Cthulhu Mythos and his mate was H. P. Lovecraft. So from that, you know that this book is going to be in the vein of cosmic horror/weird fiction.

When I say that the story revolves around The Hounds of Tindalos (THOT), I mean Christopher Laine basically uses it as a coat stand to hang the coat of his story on. We watch as James the nobody becomes more and more involved with the events of the death surrounding Halpin Chambers (one of the main characters in THOT) and the secrets that he has uncovered.??

I have to say that initially, I found this book a little difficult to get into, not because of the structure of the book, but the fact that as a narrator, James makes it particularly hard. It does take a while for the story to hit its full speed.There is a large investigative aspect to the first part of the book.?? However, when it did hit its critical speed, Christopher Laine opens the throttle and the book just hurtles along at a phenomenal pace.??

Like I said earlier, when it comes to the plot there are a number of things going on. Initially, Christopher Laine cleverly taps into the worldwide paranoia of increased screen time and the effects that it is having on our brains, both biologically and socially and how this impacts on society as a whole, such as increasing the negative ideologies of hatred and making them more commonplace. This is the springboard for the main antagonists of the story to attack the human race.

I found that when I was reading this aspect of the book, it reminded me of the film They Live, in that there is an alien invasion happening under our noses, but yet we, the human race, are not aware of it. And when James dons his proverbial glasses, he cannot unsee the threat that is invisible to everyone else. However, the plot goes into a completely different direction to what you would expect, and it is at this stage the book goes (just to nick a phrase from the book) batshit crazy. However, this is not in a bad way, but in a way that elevates the story that one notch further.

In terms of characters in the book, they are seen through our narrators eyes, and in all honesty, he is quite disingenuous to most of them and you see them through his warped eyes, which makes it difficult to connect with them, except for the one at the end (which I cannot tell you anything about as it would totally ruin the last part of the book. However, on the whole, I felt that the different characters of the book are introduced to move the narrative along rather than as tangible characters that you can latch onto and identify with.??

The main character of the book is James. He is the one constant of the story, and you know how I feel about him.??

Structurally, Screens is an interesting book. It uses a kind of mixed media approach to tell the story and how it plays out. Sometimes there will be police reports of incidents, or there may be something resembling a confidential dossier of events, or a newspaper report of an incident that has an impact on the story as a whole, whilst having a structured narrative in between these differing forms of media. People may find this a little choppy initially, but you get used to it, and as the story progresses, these other pieces become quite important.??

I have to say that by the last third of the book, I was wondering how Christopher Laine would tie up numerous loose ends that he had introduced, but he manages to fit the whole thing together well. Giving the end of the story a satisfying conclusion.

Once I got into Screens, I found it to be a story that grabbed me, dragging me into the horrifying and space warping tale and never letting me go till I had reached the ultimate dimension called the end.????

I wrote a review, and it is on the website www.fanyasybooknerd.com, and today I am being inordinately lazy, so there!

I like J.C. Kang???s writing immensely! He has a knack of drawing you into the story immediately. As soon as I read the prologue and he mentions Avarax the dragon, I was hooked.

I always like the fact that at the beginning of the book, J. C. Kang gives us a cast of characters. I always find this useful. However, you never really need it as the characters are all distinctive and well imagined.

During the promotion for Crown of a Sundered Empire, I recently read in an interview with J. C. Kang that Crown of a Sundered Empire is his most accomplished work, and whilst I have very little to compare it to, it is very easy to tell that the story is a well-crafted piece of work. It is so slick in it???s writing, and it simply oozes charm.

Initially, the story revolves around an invasion of the village of Lorium by the Bovyans of the Teleri Empire, whose main motivations for invading the countries that they invade is due to their horrific ideals in relation to obtaining the next generation of soldiers. This is pretty awful, however, whilst sexual violence is referred to several times, it never occurs. However, that does not diminish the horror of the invasion.

In the midst of this, is Tomas, a young streetwise fisher boy who attempts to rescue the girl that he is smitten by. However, he is punished by the Bovyans who remove his eye as recompense.

However, Crown of a Sundered Empire revolves around five points of view, which includes the half-elf super-spy, Jie.

I love Jie, the half-elven spy. I met her first in Songs of Insurrection, and she stole the show in that book, and similarly, in Crown of a Sundered Empire, she steals the limelight each time the story centres on her.

When Jie enters the story, you know that there is going to be heaps of intrigue, and guess what Crown of the Sundered Empire is filled with the stuff. Even the subplots have subplots. But J.C. Kang is such a skilled writer that he keeps a tight leash on them all and then carefully draws them together at the end.

As I mentioned earlier, I had previously read Songs of Insurrection, so this aided me at times with Crown of a Sundered Empire as several times throughout the book, J. C. Kang puts in little easter eggs to other books, which I recognised. I don???t think it impacts on the story if you haven???t read any of the other books, but I did like these little references to the other books in the series.

There are a number of other storylines in the book, that include arranged marriages, the theft of priceless artefacts and infiltrating spies.

If you cannot guess, I enjoyed this book and there are many good things about J.C. Kang???s writings. One of these is his ability to write strong female characters. In fact, when it comes to characters, the female characters stand out more than the male characters and for me they appear to be the main driving force in his stories.

Additionally, I like the fact that he does not coddle the reader in his stories. He simply throws the reader in at the deep end and he expects that whilst the reader may find the introduction to the world and the environment a little confusing, he trusts that the reader will catch up and stick with it. If you do, you are richly rewarded with a satisfying tale of daring dos that and an intriguing plot.

If you like your books to be full of political intrigue, then Crown of a Sundered Empire is definitely a book for you.