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The familiar setting of the school for witchcraft and wizardry gets an upgrade to intergalactic academy for Superheroes in Rob Edwards' exciting and action packed adventure for Middle Graders.

The story centres around an unnamed artful Dodger type, who lives hand to mouth doing various con jobs on numerous galactic space stations, until one day he is offered a job that seems too good to be true. All he has to do is to pretend to be some rich kid for a little while so that said rich kid can escape from his magnificently rich family and disappear into the cosmos to make his fortune.

Seem simple? Yeah you would think so, but he should have heeded the advice that if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is, as the seemingly simple job as masquerading as some rich kid gets him taken to the aforementioned super hero academy and ends up with him continuing to live the life of the rich kid, Mirabor Garvane and actually finding something that he didn???t know that he needed - friends and family.

Rob Edwards???s book is a delightful romp from start to finish. The superhero academy works well and whilst it may remind you of certain other educational institutions, it does instil a little bit of realism into the curriculum, as there is the constant question of who does the superhero academy actually belong to, and are all these superheroes doing it for the love of saving people or is there a question that they may be in league with the larger corporations.

The ensemble cast led by the enigmatic Grey, as he becomes known as, is strong and well realised, with certain members of the team standing out more than others in this first adventure. Sevenfourthirty is implacable in his friendship and honest nature. He readily accepts Grey as his best friend and kind of provides his moral compass. Whereas, it is Gadget Dude who shines the brightest and while he doesn???t necessarily converse much throughout the story, he communicates so much with simple verbal expression and gesture.

The narrative itself is fast paced and easy to follow. It's full of well placed humour and lovingly crafted quips at the superhero genre as a whole. The story itself is full of adventure and familiar themes, such as the found family aspect, which when done well is always a delight. There is a little bit of spy thriller thrown in there to up the ante somewhat. On top of that, there is a legitimate feeling of threat in the book, as whilst there are no graphic details of injury, not everyone fares as well as you would expect in the story.

The Ascension Machine is an entertainingly fun packed story, full of action and intrigue and will appeal to both budding sci-fi and superhero fans.

Review to come shortly

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Hugo Award-winning authors Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal team up in this exclusive audio-first production of The Original, a sci-fi thriller set in a world where one woman fights to know her true identity and survive the forces that threaten her very existence.

In the near future, humans choose life - for a price.

When Holly wakes up in the hospital she is confused and disorientated. Her memory is confused and she does not know the events surrounding her admission into the medical facility that she now finds herself. She is confused as she awakes to find medical staff and agents of the government at her bedside. She soon finds that she has talents that she did not possess before she woke up in the hospital including the ability to kill......

As she becomes less confused and disorientated, she discovers the horrifying truth that she is in fact a copy of an original person. But it does not end there, not only is she a copy, but she has four days to track down the murderer of the man she loved, her original.

As she searches for the answers to the murder, Holly will find the answers to the questions that she uncovers. She will also find that the world she once lived in has become dangerous as she battles terrorists that want to bring down the government and kill her. But in the end, she will find the truth, about herself and the death of her husband.

The Original is a noir - ish thriller set in a future where the world is individualised to a person's ideal theme. The story moves at a break - necked speed and is action packed from beginning to end.

Sanderson has already proven that he he can genre hop at an instant and write stories that are as engaging and gripping as his fantasy novels. However, what took me by surprise is Kowal's writing. Goodness me, if this is the kind of stuff that she produces, then I am in and looking to get a hold of as much stuff as I can.

However, not only should praise go to Sanderson & Kowal, but Julia Whelan's performance throughout this audiobook. She delivers each line masterfully evoking each character that is introduced and aiding the listener to visualise every scene. Additionally, the sound design of Daniel Eaton and Paul Fonarev (not sure I am spelling this right) is skillfully done, sening the listener into the same confusion and disorientation that Holly feels at beginning and then the strangeness of the world in which Holly inhabits, making the production a completely rounded drama rather than it being just a being book that is been read to you and completely drawing the listener into an alien world.

Now to say this is a novella, the world is fully rounded, and Sanderson & Whelan build history and describe the environment with such clarity that the listener is never lost.

What is also interesting is the variety of influences that make up the story, obviously there the nods to the noir cinema of the 1940's such as DOA, science fiction classics such as Bladerunner (but in this story, it is a reversal of roles with the replica chasing the human) and E.M. Forsters The Machine Stops, with each individual living in its own little bubble, but they also manage to squeeze in the action genre as well. The writers shape these components like artificers into something new and exciting

In terms of pacing, as I said earlier, the story moves along at a break neck pace, never once stopping or losing its way. There are action sequences galore that are well written and fit perfectly into the plot.

Also, we have the characters. Each Character is believable and so real that they were there with me as I listened to the story unfurl. Each one fitting perfectly into their place and enhancing the experience.

The one thing that I can never work out though is the writing partnership and how it works. Whose writing is whose. If this were a musical collaboration, it would be easy to tell who was riffing off who, but in this partnership, these two are playing in partnership, complementing each other to give the perfect harmony.

Love, Revolution and colonialism.

So I have literally just finished reading The Unbroken, and I have to say my thoughts are mixed on this one. There is quite a lot to like about this book, and these things outweigh some of my reservations about the book.

As with many books by an author that I am unfamiliar with, my interest was piqued by the gorgeous cover art by Tommy Arnold. I love the way that the cover captures the desert setting of the book and the inner strength of Touraine pushing against both sides of the conflict that she is placed in the middle of.

The story takes place in Qazal. A country that is viciously governed by the expanding empire of Balladaire.

It???s main characters are Touraine, a conscripted member of Balladaire's armed forces, stolen as a child to be used as a frontline soldier in the ???Sands??? regiment of the army. The children are ???educated??? from an early age, with their belief systems and personalities modified to believe that they are fighting their former home for the greater good.

The other is Luca, the young monarch of Ballardaire who is sent to Qazal in order to quell the rebellion and prove her ability to rule Balladaire to her uncle, who is currently the regent and does not want to relinquish the power of the throne.

The Unbroken is quite an interesting read. It is based in a North African setting with the Balladairans resembling the French empire of the late 19th Century. Now, I found this to be quite an original premise and not one that I had seen in a fantasy book before. Clark does an amazing job of building an extensive and believable world that lies outside a normal fantasy setting. She catches the vibrancy of the country that she is describing, even though the country of Qazal is a suppressed country. She also captures the cruelties of the ruling classes and the poverty of the people. She regularly highlights the disparity of the situation, showing the nihilistic attitudes of the nobility on the one hand, with lavish balls and the like, and the abject poverty of the people that are being oppressed.

Additionally, she shows the dehumanisation of the Sands (the regiment of the army that is made up of the conscripted nationals) and theQazali people, regularly peppering the book with descriptions of the casual cruelty that is metered out to both the everyday people that live there and also to the ???Sands???.

The basis of the plot revolves around Luca???s obsession with her obtaining her rightful place as leader of the Balladairan throne.However, Luca wants to step away from the normally brutal methods that have not worked and actually wants to negotiate with the rebels. In order to initiate this plan she needs an intermediary to go between both parties.

This is where Touraine comes in.

At the very beginning of the book, Touraine foils an assassination attempt on the Princess???s life. Thus gaining her some favour with the princess who grants her a boon for her valour. When Touraine is disgraced in an incident later in the book,she calls in the Boon and the princess sees her chance to set her plans in motion by employing Touraine as her personal emissary.

What ensues is a story of two individuals that come from vastly different backgrounds learning about each other and the feelings that grow between the two, as well as learning about different cultures and wrangling with the political machinations of both the Empire and the rebels.

Like I said there is a lot to like about this book. The setting, the romance between Luca and Touraine, the political wranglings and the effervescent plot that takes you in lots of different directions.

However, I did find it a little hard to get into at first, and I found it difficult to relate to the characters initially. The pacing at the beginning of the book revolves around a lot of plot building. And at times, I found that this hampered the pacing for me, thus adding to my difficulty in relating to the story.

However, when we get to the second half of the book, the pacing picks up and I have to say it leads to a pretty climactic conclusion that had me turning pages at a rate of knots as I wanted to find out how the book will end.

On the whole, I enjoyed the book despite my initial difficulties with the pacing and I eventually related to the characters.

I have a feeling that C. L Clark will be a fantasy writer to keep an eye on, and will go from strength to strength.

Grim and hopeful at the same time, Marcus Lee???s debut is an enjoyable tale of magic, possessed knights, dark lords and Daemons.

The story starts with the birth of our hero, Maya, in a land that has been oppressed by the Witch King. This is a land ruled by darkness and the maternal mortality rate is incredibly high, as is the mortality of everyone around. However, Maya is special and her light shines through the misery that is bestowed on the land by the Witch King.??

As Maya grows, she has to hide her gift from those around her, for if her powers are detected she will be sent to the witch king to suffer whatever fate befalls those who have talents.

Marcus Lee???s Kings and Daemons is a mesmerising tale of love, redemption and heroism set in a world ruled by cruelty and misery. However, not only is the land harsh, but the suffering has permeated every aspect of people???s lives who live in the conquered Ember Kingdom and they have become just as twisted as the land they live in.

I really enjoyed Marcus Lee???s Kings and Daemons. It is filled with rich characters and has an elegant writing style that reminds me of old fashioned high adventures like Lorna Doone. Lee has a unique writing style that I have not come across before. It almost reminds you of a storyteller recounting tales by a fire as he tells the story of Maya and those around her. The story is in parts a coming of age story, a chivalric romance and a tale of redemption. However, Lee manages to combine these elements with a modern aesthetic of dark fantasy, melding the two successfully.

At its heart, it is not a dark book. Whilst everything around Maya is full of grimness and dark foreboding, Lee always manages to maintain a corona of light on the horizon. Whether that be with the redemption of Rakan, the friendship and eventual romance of Maya and Taran or the hope that the land will be healed from the malady of the Witch King???s grip and ultimately healed.

The story takes place from the point of view of the main characters, Maya, Taran, Rakan, Kallas and the Witch King himself, Daleth. And later in the book, there is the addition of the supporting characters of Astren, a seer who can travel in the spirit world and King Tristan. King of the Freestates, who is about to bear the invasion of the Witch King in his bid to take over the Freestates and drain the life from them as he has done with the Ember Kingdioms.

I fell under the spell of each of these individual characters, Maya who is at heart gentle and caring. Taran, who initially bumbles from one situation to the next, which eventually leads him into a choice that he didn't make. Rakan, who whilst initially bad, experiences acceptance and ultimately some form of redemption.??

Everybody's favourite Kallas is an interesting character, and he certainly lives up to his name throughout most of the book, dispatching all around him in a callous and bloody fashion. And finally, we have the Witch King himself.

For me, the most interesting characters were certainly Daleth and Rakan. I know that in terms of entertainment value Kallas is pretty much up there, but Daleth and Rakan are the ones that stood out for me.??

Rakan???s transformation from an angry and cruel individual to exactly the opposite is really good (although, he does still threaten everyone), and I thought I would like to see a book about Rakan and his time as a Nightstalker. Daleth is the most human of monsters, employing fear and coercion as a means to gain power. Yes, you can understand his motivations due to his gift and everything that he has endured. However, he continues the cycle willingly and with brutality and no remorse for the destruction that he causes.

The world of Kings and Daemons is richly imagined and there is a well thought out history to make the world believable and to provide the backdrop to the story. Whilst the environment is damaged, it is interesting to see that with the nudge of Maya???s magic, it appears to be lying dormant. Initially, it seems to be a world of black and white. However, vibrant sprigs of colour are introduced when Maya uses her magic more and more throughout the land, healing it in some small way, and when this happens, we see that nature can be nurtured and that it will bounce back from the pestilence that has blighted it.??

And finally, we have to mention the magic system. I like that magic has a cost, and it is not used as a deus ex machina that cures all. Each power takes its toll in its own individual way, affecting the person singularly and Marcus illustrates the cost on those that use magic in an imaginative way (I don???t want to go into it too much as I don???t want to give spoilers).

The plot and the pacing hold up throughout the story, moving it towards the culmination of this part of the story. At times it moves along with gentle flow, and at others moving like a fast flowing torrent, sometimes slowing as Lee builds the relationships between the characters of the book.??

As you can guess, I enjoyed this first book of the Gifted and the Curse and I am looking forward to the next book in the trilogy and seeing what happens at Tristan???s Folly.

Django Wexler???s genre-fluid tale of sibling rivalry, Empire and Rebellion is a fast paced, action adventure from start to finish.

Wexler has carefully crafted a tale that successfully entwines SciFi Fantasy, Space Opera and coming of age tale to begin his new series, Burningblade & Silvereye

The story centres around two siblings, Maya & Gyre.

At the age of five, Maya is torn from her family to enter The Twilight Order, so that they can save her life and teach her the ways of Deiat (the magic used by the Order). As Maya grows, she becomes an apprentice to the famed knight, Jaedia.

Meanwhile, Gyre is left to suffer the consequences of his sister???s cruel removal from the family by a system that does not care about the havoc it wreaks. Gyre grows up to become disaffected and impoverished, eventually leading him to a life of crime to survive and become an enemy of the state. The rebel, Halfmask.
The book is generally action and character driven, telling the divergent stories of Maya and Gyre from each sibling???s perspective. Maya is the most compassionate of the two characters with a strong sense of morality, idealism and justice whilst being in the confines of a bureaucratic order that stiffly maintains tradition in order to maintain control. Wexler weaves a coming of age tale with a coming out tale, as not only does Maya have to traverse the many trappings of the Twilight Order, but she must navigate her own feelings toward fellow apprentice Beq.

On the other hand, Gyre is a cold and distant individual, who, whilst bearing the physical scars left to him by the Knight who removed his sister from their bucolic lifestyle, also bears the emotional scars of this trauma, and as a result has become obsessed with finding The Tomb. A fabled city of a civilisation that was destroyed centuries ago in a bloody war. This war shaped the current civilisation forming it into the unjust and tyrannical establishment that has no regard for the welfare of the people that it states it protects.

Gyre believes that when he finds the fabled city, he will find the ultimate power to destroy The Twilight Order and the establishment that leaves its people in poverty and hunger, scrabbling for ancient pieces of technology in the dangerous tunnels so that they can make a living. However, whilst Gyre may have ideals, his actions clearly indicate that he will use anyone in the pursuit of his obsession. He has become individualistic and self-motivated in his quest to obtain the power that he strives to wield, so that he can smash the Empire that he hates. That???s not to say that Gyre is a bad character, but he is morally grey in his actions and he is made greyer at the introduction of the character Kitsrea Doomseeker, a sociopathic individual who has the morals of an alley cat, and promises to lead him to the Tomb and towards his goals.

Wexler populates his colourful world with all sorts of creatures that include mutants, evil magic wielders and mythological races, that all in all, bolster the plot that Wexler has turned up to eleventy ??? stupid, engaging the reader from beginning to end, never letting the reader have a minute by introducing a plot that involves heists, quests, treachery, romance and much more.

It???s not to say that the plot is faultless, there are some questions that are left unanswered in the book, such as the relationship between Church and State, the history of the Republic and how the effects of the war affected the people. But, as I said, this is an introduction to this world, and there is a lot more scope for these questions to be answered as the series progresses.

One of the admirable aspects of the book is the way that it does not openly tout good or evil. Maya intrinsically, is a good character who has lots of worthy qualities. However, she is a shining star in an establishment that seems to be overtly oppressive and corrupt. Gyre, on the other hand, seems to have an admirable ideal in attempting to overthrow the establishment that is oppressive and corrupt, but his character is morally redundant, and in all honesty has few commendable qualities.

On the whole, Wexler has crafted a story that introduces new facets to the fantasy world whilst drawing on established SciFi fantasy tropes and has let loose a cracking book that will leave you hoping the second instalment is just around the corner.

A review copy was provided by Netgalley and the publishers, Head of Zeus in return for an honest review. The enjoyment was all my own!

The Black Coast is an intersting fantasy, based on the assimilation of the previously feared Raiders, the Tjakorshi, into the lands of Narida. We follow the point of view of the leader of the Black Eagle Clan, Saarna Sattistutar as she attempts to gain clemency in this strange land in which they have previously been seen as the enemy.

The other point of view is from Daimon, the adopted son of Lord Asrel, who seeing a different way to war and killing betrays tradition and family, and accepts the invaders, at the cost of deposing his father and brother in order to maintain peace and accept the Tjakorshi into the community of Black Keep.

What follows is the tale of the trials and tribulations of two very different communities coming together to work for the greater good. However, not everyone in Black Keep is as accepting of the former enemies and they attempt to derail the alliance and the bonds that start to develop between the two cultures.

Besides these two main points of view, we have several others that take us to different parts of the world and also the wider political machinations of Mike Brook's gigantic world.Firstly, there's Tila. The sister of the God-King, Natan, who is organising a move to assassinate the Splinter King, a rival and threat to her brother's claim to the throne of Narida (not a spoiler, it's in the prologue!)

And there's Jeya, a street urchin in Kiburu ce Alaba, who struggles to make a living by stealing. However, her life becomes irrevocably changed when she steals the purse of a rich young man in the market.

In amidst this, there are a number of minor characters that provide a view to different parts of the country of Narida or adds different aspects to the story.

Mike Brooks creates a rich tapestry of cultures in the world he has created. For instance, the Tjakorshi seem to reminiscent of a Norse culture, whilst the Naridans are based on feudal Japan. This makes for a diverse melting pot of culture and tradition. And then there's the Alabans, which reminds me more of an Arabian culture. Added to this, particularly in Alaban, there is the question of gender in which the society is based on a non-binary culture and provides a number of pitfalls to traverse for visitors to the country.

I have to say that whilst this is my first introduction to Mike Brooks, and I found his writing to be solid and expansive. He writes rich characters, particularly Saana and Daimon, and when we went to some of the minor characters' viewpoints I couldn't wait to get back to these two.

I found both cultures to be fascinating and enjoyed the descriptions of their opposing viewpoints and attitudes. For instance, the Naridans have a liberal attitude to same-sex marriage, whilst the Tjakoshan's find this bewildering and against nature. It is interesting to see the attitudes of the Tjakorshan's change, and when the change comes from a source that Saana is not expecting she is forced to accept this difference in culture.

Similarly, with the Naridans, who have a patriarchal society that sees women as second class citizens, Daimon has to change his attitude to fit with the Tjakorshans. I really liked this examination of socio-political attitudes within the world and culture and it was a refreshing change to see these kinds of things in a fantasy series.

I liked the idea of the war dragons, although they are not exactly dragons as in the traditional fantasy sense, but based more on like giants bearded lizards, and such like.

When reading the story, it is quite obvious that some of the subplots are setting up second and third books. The story of the Splinter King or the Demon Lord of the Tjakoshan's for instance, which is in the book but doesn't really have much page time. I found the character of the Golden to be a fascinating character and I wanted to see more of him but he seems to be used as a vehicle for later stories rather than being enmeshed with the current world, although the actions of the Golden do have some minor impact in the book.

Besides the rich characters and stunning world-building, Mike Brooks writes some pretty good fight and battle scenes. I have to say, that when the battle scenes do come, he writes engrossing battle scenes that get your pulse beating that little bit faster.

So, all in all, I enjoyed this book. It has well rounded believable characters, rich and deep world-building, and topped with a good dose of pulse pumping battle scenes

This has been on my watch list for ages. I enjoyed this one quite a lot so will be reading more of it.

Disclaimer: I'm sorry but I refuse to call comics graphic novels. I have always read comics and will always read comics and refuse to give a so called air of adulthood and respectability to this art form that I love and this is a comic that shows how amazing this form of writing can be. So there!

It's very rare I give a book a five star rating, but this one is brilliant and totally deserves it. For me, this is an absolutely ace book from the tips of it's toes to the top of its spine.
Now along with many people, I do have a bit of a problem with Harley Quinn. I like the character (especially when she became a more singular entity in the comic world) but there is the matter of her relationship with The Joker and her constant over sexualisation. I mean in the Suicide Squad, M. R. made the character stand out but I was constantly face planting every time we got another shot of Harley's arse. Thank god that misdemeanor of a film got rectified. Anyway, I go off topic. That one has been brewing for years. However, with this comic things do get put into perspective. Sejic does not shy away from the fact that Harleen is manipulated from the start by the joker. I think as well , not only does it show The jokers manipulation of her, but also society's manipulation of her in the way that she is constantly alienated by those around her
The comic explores the fragile psychological state of Harleen before she completely disassociates from her old life to become the character that she becomes.
I like as well, that this is Harley's narrative, her voice telling the story, looking at the events leading up to her demise as though it's been told in a psychiatric interview.
Moving on to the artwork. Oh my goodness, this is just brilliant. I mean we all know how it ends up, but the art is constantly giving portents to her fate, using shadows and reflections as glimpses of the future.
Harley herself is portrayed as a woman, not the cartoon extreme of boobs and bottom that she is usually depicted as.
I mean, I was showing this to my daughter who is terribly arty and picking out particular panels and going look at that one, look at that one.
The Joker is drawn well as well. I am not sure, but it seems to me that it is from Harley's point of view and how her view of him changes, transforming from a monster to almost angelic. Instead of him been the misshapen monster that he is usually drawn as, in this comic, he is one handsome fella. I mean he really is.
Do you know, I am going to have to stop now I could go on and on about this all day.
All I can say, this is an ace comic and deserves to be put up there as one of the best comics .

Let's get this out there before we start, this is my first John Gwynne book. I have been meaning to read his books for quite some time, but unfortunately, commitments usually got in the way and delayed me from starting his books.

When people usually mention John Gwynne, there is always an undertone of reverence whenever his stories are mentioned, so I was eager to read this book, and this seemed the perfect time to become acquainted with John Gwynne's works.

The story is the start of a new storyline that is not based in the same world as his previous books and is set in a Viking world, full of battle-hardened warriors, Jarls and monsters (If there's something that is going to get my attention, it is definitely monsters!).

The Shadow of the Gods revolves around three main characters; Varg, Orka and Elvar. Each with their own separate storylines, running side by side. Each one showing different aspects of the world of Virgid.

With Varg, we follow him as he joins the warband the Bloodsworn (the very same Bloodsworn on the front cover that this saga is all about!). We share his experiences as he initially joins the war band and then his adventures as he travels the land of Virgid.

Independently, of this, there is Elvar's story. Elvar is a member of another warband, the Battle Grim. Elvar's thread opens up the world further, showing us another perspective of the world that the characters reside in. Elvar's story does take time to gain momentum. However, when it does, her part in this saga is gigantic (In fact, my jaw literally dropped and I found myself going Whooooa, like a big kid. Gordon Bennett, I wish I could tell you more, but you need to read it and I don't want to spoil it).

And finally, we have Orka! Upon reading many of the reviews and comments about The Shadow of the Gods, Orka's story is the one that has had the most resonance with readers, and when you read the book, you can see why. Orka is such a brilliant character, she has both warmth and depth, and is a proper badass! She is a woman fueled by vengeance And she will stop at nothing to enact it, she's like a force of nature.

One of the many strengths of this book is the rich and complex characters that populate The Shadow of the Gods. However, besides the main protagonists of the story, there is a dearth of individuals who make up the supporting cast. Each one of these adds to the texture of the book. Characters like Svik, who delights us each time he is on the page, especially when he waxes lyrical about his love of cheese. Which had me in peals of laughter.

This book worked on so many levels. Gwynne's world-building is so gorgeously crafted and immersive. In ‘The Shadow of the Gods', John Gwynne throws the reader into an expansive world made up of monsters and cities built on the skeletons of God's. It is a brutal world, ‘a world of tooth and claw, where life is battle',

However, not only that, but John Gwynne keeps you enthralled even in the quiet moments. For instance, when Svik tells the story of a time he was captured by a troll and engaged him in an eating contest. I was as engrossed at this story as much as the Bloodsworn sat at the campfire.

It's amazing how he interjects the furious battle scenes with moments of humour and comradeship, that grip you just as much as the massive, bloody fight scenes.

Let's talk about the battle scenes! Oh my goodness, John Gwynne writes some of the most blood-pumping battle scenes that I have ever read. When he writes a battle scene, you can almost hear the clash of steel reverberating around you, smell the perspiration of warriors next to you and feel the jolt of metal as sword hits shield.

I constantly marvelled at John Gwynne's masterful storytelling, I found myself unable to lift my head from the page. It's books like this that show the wealth, depth and scope of stories written in the fantasy genre and keep me begging for more.

With his new book The Shadow of the Gods, John Gwynne shows us that the pen is indeed mightier than the seax, as he swathes his way to the top of everyone's to be read list in this must-read fantasy book of the year.

Mary Robinette Kowal???s third instalment of The Lady Astronaut is a gripping space thriller set in the isolation of space.

In this third book of the series, Mary Robinette Kowal shifts the focus of the story from our eponymous hero of the first two books, Elma York, to Nicole Wargin.

Now, when I started reading the book, I fully expected this to be a continuation of Elma???s story and was quite taken aback to discover that there was a shift in the narrative to Nicole. I have to say this is quite a brave move as Elma is firmly established in the first two books with The Lady Astronaut crown. However, does the book suffer from this shift. Not at all! And I have to say that I found this book to be more compelling than its two predecessors in all honesty. Nicole is a fascinating character and as I read through the book, I found that I liked her more and more.

In the first two books, Nicole is a side character that is a shining beacon of strength and determination for Elma (obviously, as well as Nathanial). However, in this book we see her as she really is. We see that whilst she might have an exterior of steel, inside she is as fragile as sugar glass and at many points throughout the book, we see her shatter into a hundred pieces.

The story takes place in the three-month silence that was described in The Fated Sky, when the Mars expedition loses contact with Earth and we learnt that there had been some major upheavals caused by the Earth First group. It fills in the blanks of what happened to Nathanial and why he was hospitalised, the impact of the direct action that was instigated by the Earth First movement, the loss of communication with the Lunar Colony and the events that happened there.

As I said earlier, the book changes tone quite considerably and rather than being a book about exploration and colonisation, The Relentless Moon is a gripping thriller as Nicole, Eugene, Myrtle and Helen attempt to discover the saboteur of the Lunar Colony and what action they will take next.

As usual, Kowal does not shy away from the social commentary that was prominent in the last two books and she weaves the actual history of the time with her constructed alternative history. In the midst of this there is also a real-world juxtaposition of the current COVID epidemic and the Polio outbreaks that affected so many lives at this time. Although, when Kowal wrote this book COVID was not an issue. Strange how past and present repeat themselves, isn???t it?

One of the interesting aspects that she comments on is our world view of the more mature female and how that view is to see an older woman as ???old hat???.

And the other pertinent point that she brings to the fore is the effects of direct action from pressure groups and at what point does that change from peaceful protest into acts of violence.

Nicole is a perfect protagonist in this book. She is a woman who is a mass of contradictions. She is a strong woman who underneath it all is as brittle as iron, and this comes out in many ways, particularly when we discover that she has experienced Anorexia throughout most of her life and that it is not a disorder that solely affects the younger population, but is a lifelong disorder. Kowal deals with the topic in a sensitive manner, rightfully pointing out that the condition is not ???an eating disorder??? but is an extreme method of regaining control in extenuating circumstances. And we see that when Nicole???s locus of control is threatened, she will fall back on these methods to exert and regain some control over circumstances that she has no control over. Kowal never implies that as soon as she eats some food everything will be ok as people believe but challenges the perception of what the disorder actually is.

What we also learn is that Nicole???s image is built on subterfuge. The subterfuges that she enacts to give the impression that she is a strong, determined woman. The careful subterfuge and manipulation that she employs about hiding her condition and give the impression that she is eating. The subterfuge of what she actually did during the war and her own particular skillset.

I really enjoyed this book and Kowal???s writing. She shows a mastery at constructing complex plot with heart pounding pacing. Of commenting on social aspects but never preaching and writes fantastic characters. Mixed in with this is her masterful ability to write an emotive story that once or twice brought a lump to my throat as there are some events in the book that truly devastate Nicole's world.

If you want a science fiction series that has strong female leads and a story that that tackles numerous social aspects of the human existence mixed with compelling story lines and masterful writing then look no further than The Lady Astronaut series..

Sarah Chorn is one of those writers that I have had on my radar for quite some time. In fact, she was one of the first books that I bought when I started this site, but unfortunately, I have had some difficulty finding the time to actually read her books.

Big Mistake, or maybe not! Because sometimes, you need to have that right set of circumstances which mean that you enjoy the book to its full potential, and I think that this was the right time for this book.

As an editor, Sarah Chorn has been involved with some of my favorite books, and now, as an author she has written one of my favorite books.

I have literally only just finished reading this book, so as I am writing this review, you are getting my thoughts unadulterated, without the time to think of one liners or superlatives to try and describe the book.

When you see a review, how many times do you see the line ???I wanted to like this book but???.??? Well I am going to use that line. I wanted to like this book but?????? for the life of me I did not expect to like this book as much as I did! It is utterly gorgeous, and I was taken aback by how beautiful the writing is in the book. In fact, just how good everything is in this book. I most certainly did not expect that!

I suspect that if you are reading this, you may have done some investigation of what the book is about. It is a kind of weird west setting, and by that it uses a fantasy version of the wild west to tell its story. However, the wild west that Sarah Chorn writes about is full of colour. She does not give you a name for the people that live in this world. They are humanoid, but their skin, hair and eye tones are made up of the colour of the rainbow. There are green people, orange, violet etc etc..

The book primarily deals with a number of subjects that all have relevance in the real world, life, loss, love, and family, which I am sure you will have seen in previous reviews. But in addition to that, for me, I also recognised division. Not just between class, but between each other, which seemed to be personified by the boundary, an invisible construct that separates the rich inhabitants of the world that Sarah Chorn has built, from the poor. However, it also signifies the division between those that we hold dear and the boundaries that we impose or that are imposed upon us.

One of the things that I found intriguing in the book, is the use of certain fantasy stalwarts, like the magic. Sarah Chorn cleverly does not use a magic system per se. Rather, she uses a magical substance called Shine, which is used for a myriad of purposes and is intrinsic in everything that the world relies upon, from healing to flavouring food. It also has mundane uses like powering lamps, or heating the house. However, it also has a darker side, in that people can become addicted to it, or that it is used for weapons. She also uses other aspects of the fantasy genre, like the unseen dark overlord that rules the land, in the form of Matthew Esco, who whilst being out of sight for most of the book, is a constant presence throughout, and when he does finally enter the story, he is the epitome of the dark overlord.

The structure of the book is interesting too. The story is told by multiple characters in different time periods. For instance, Arlen???s story is told in the relative present, whilst Cassandra???s is told from the past. However, it constantly hurtles towards the present like a train navigating to it's ultimate destination and bringing us into the present, And then there is Ianthe???s story, which is told in the immediate present. All these stories intersect in some way to finally meet.

In addition to this, the characters are so well written, you can virtually hear them breathing.

As I said earlier, Sarah Chorn's prose is something of beauty. She can make even the mundane sound beguiling. She will effortlessly slip from emotive language that pulls at the heart to describing chopping a tree into logs in the blink of an eye, and I almost cried at that! She is able to convey a sense of tension and foreboding whilst richly describing a walk through a moonlit meadow. It's just.... stunning.

I must say, I was swept along by this book. By the shine of Sarah Chorn???s beautiful writing style, the depth of her story, and I think that this is one of those books that will stay lodged in my head for quite some time.

???This Savage Land???

Why everyone isn???t reading Mike Carey???s ???The Rampart Trilogy??? I don???t know. I simply cannot wait until the next instalment of this story hits my reading lists, it is simply brilliant and everyone should read it.

The Trials of Koli is the second book in ???The Ramparts Trilogy??? and follows our hero Koli and the rest of the crew as they travel in search of the ???Sword of Albion???. Their quest takes them through the savage land of England and what it has become following catastrophic environmental disaster and the subsequent devastating wars that have led the world to become a place that is full of cannibalistic tribes, ecological predators and a dark force that is exerting its will to take over the known world.

This second instalment moves the story of Koli, Ursula, Monono and Cup through a wider world as they travel through the devastated lands of England (or Ingland as it it referred to in the story) closer to ???The Sword of Albion??? that is coming from the mythical city of London.

Whilst Mike Carey???s story is set in a dystopian future of England, its feet are firmly planted in epic fantasy and has all the tropes of that genre that has hooked a diehard fantasy reader like me. For instance, it has the mythical quest for ???The Sword of Albion??? which is not entirely what you might expect, it has the party that comprises of a wizard (Ursala), the Fighter (Cup) and the quester (Koli) all with an end goal to save the world.

In the first book, the main protagonist is Koli, with the story being narrated from his perspective and focussing on how he came to be ???shunned??? and subsequently thrown out of his warm blanket of a life in the village of Mythen Rood and his survival following his expulsion. However, this book introduces another point of view and we spend time with Koli???s former love, Spinner. The points of view move between these two points of view and simultaneously expands Koli???s Story whilst showing what happens in the village of Mythen Rood following Koli???s expulsion through Spinner???s eyes, and also develops a separate character and another storyline. So effectively setting up two separate stories that share an equal billing.

Now one of the things that I find particularly brilliant is the language that Carey uses. However, I know that some people might find it a bit problematic because the narration is written in a mix of pigeon english and broad yorkshire colloquialisms that some people may find it difficult to get along with, for instance Koli will often say that he has ???et??? his food, which transcribes as he ate his food. And in another, when Spinner describes her meeting with ???Rampart Remember??? who is a member of the ruling elite in Mythen Rood who is tasked with getting information from an ancient piece of technology from the world before the one that exists now, she describes hat she ???done him a courtesy??? meaning she gave him a curtsy. However, I strongly urge you to keep going with it and you soon lose your preconception that this may be difficult to read and thoroughly get swept away in the story .

All in all, this is a fantastic story that left me wanting more and cannot wait until the conclusion comes in 2021.

Oh, and I want to mention that I got and ARC from Netgalley.co.uk and the publishers Little Brown Hat and gratefully thank them for letting me read this wonderful story!

As far as dystopian tales go, everybody from Mary Shelley to Ben Elton has added to the annals of the genre. So how do you conjure new stories and perspectives in this apocolyptic soup.
Well for one, you have to be Mike Carey. That could do it. With his book, The Girl With All The Gifts he managed to make a distinctive and thought provoking addition to the zombie apocalypse. With his new book ‘The Book of Koli' he adds a coming of age story set in the remnants of the Yorkshire countryside.

Koli is a young boy who lives in the fortified town of Mythen Rood. A village that is thriving despite the fact that everything and everyone is trying to kill you, or eat you or kill you and then eat you. As you can guess this is a savage world and every day is a test of survival. However, Koli is a young man who has aspirations of becoming a rampart. A member of the ruling elite who protect the village. Also, get the girl and live happily ever after. The End.

However, things do not go as planned, which is lucky for us or it would be a pretty dull book.

Now one of the first things that you will see mentioned is the language of the narrator. It is quite dense,but it wasn't to me as the language revolves around a crude broad yorkshire accent, whic is the way that I talk, so it was quite a surprise to see a book written with thsi type of prose.

Initially, the story revolves around the village and its trials and tribulations and things go well, there are loves and losses. However the story moves its settings when events ocur that change koli's life forever.

The story revolves around the main narrator Koli, who you can easily imagine being sat around a campfire telling the story to his enraptured audience. And the reader is his audience. Ursala, the technological Gandalf of the story becomes a main character that you hope will be expanded upon. The other main character of the party is Monono Aware (SE) whose charcter develop (literally) throughout.

With little snippets of information, you learn that the world that Koli and its other inhabitants live are the descendents of the remains of the human world that has been devastated by some kind of cataclysm. We are not sure when or how, but we know that nature has been turned into a voraciously savage beast and the main purpose of the ecosystem is to eat whatever it can. Even the trees have turned into carnivores and the threat of the world outside Mythen Rood looms in the background. However, nature is not the only threat.

At first, I did find the story a little sluggish, but I think that this reflects the setting. Whilst dangers threaten the life of the village, the little hamlet is as picturesque a village that could be anywhere in the English countryside with it's funny, quaint little customs. But this changes as events occur and the narrative speeds up to reflect of situation. This gear change sneaks up on you from behind and you don't realise it is there until you suddenly realise you have finished the book.

By the way, I read an advanced reading copy from the publishers - Many thanks!

The Stone Knife is a visceral and epic tale of Empire, that is set in an original world that tells a tale of heroism, love, betrayal and resistance.

The story takes place in the forest land of Ixachipan and revolves around the people of Tokoban and the Yolotlan and their struggle to remain free from being enslaved by the Pechacan, The Empire of song.

For Generations, the Pechecan have slowly been absorbing every free tribe, enslaving the people that they conquer and expanding the influence of their magic, the song. A hypnotic magic that turns the people into subservient drones, all for the good of the Empire.

However, whilst the Tokoban and Yolotlan attempt to maintain their freedom, other horrors are attacking the people of these tribes in the form of The Drowned. A two legged amphibious predator that live in the rivers, preying on those who get too close to the water.

Stephens tells the story form the point of view of about seven characters that are from both sides, and they are fully realised characters that you relate to immediately, even though you do not like some of them. The standout character for me was the despicable and devious Enet whose lust for power rivals that of Lady Macbeth. There is no depth that she will not go to in order to cement her status, and the levels of depravity that she stoops to is truly horrifying. However, there are others, Xessa the Eja who protects the land of the Tocoban from the voracious Drowned.

Xessa is a really interesting character. It has to be mentioned that Xessa is deaf. However, Anna Stephens writes her with such depth that her deafness is not the focus of her character. In fact, her deafness is not a disability but an advantage in her role as protector as The Drowned who hunt by using a hypnotic song that mesmerizes their prey so that they can feast on their flesh.

The other characters are equally as intriguing, such as Tayan and his husband Lilla, and Pelos, a military leader of the Pechocan.

The world that the story takes place in is refreshing in so many ways. For instance, same sex marriage is a norm in this world and the intricate jungles of Ixachipan are so intricately woven into the story that the environment becomes a character in its own right. Every change in temperature and climate is palpable and impacts on the story in some way.

The Drowned are fascinating aspects of the story and highlight the differing world views of the two nations. Whereas the Empire of Song sees them as living gods, the Holy Setatme. The free peoples of Tokoban see them as monsters who hunt them mercilessly.

One of the things that I found to be particularly noteworthy was her depiction of the Empire of Songs and the song itself. This was something that blew me away. The Empire seems to comprise of a hive mind and when people are under the influence of the song, they are governed by the Singer and as one they feel the emotions of what he is experiencing.

The Singer is a truly monstrous character even before the story progresses the way that it does. He is spoilt, cruel and vicious. He treats those around him with contempt and encourages the machinations of those that strove for power and influence.

Stephen's writing is enthralling and absorbing. Initially, she intricately weaves the plot, building both the world and the characters. However, when she comes to the final act of the book she commands the story like a maestro, carefully orchestrating each strand of the story to reach a tumultuous climax that literally had my jaw dropping as the story takes bloody and surprising turns. At times, the story is akin to a Greek tragedy with the twists it takes and I had to stop for a minute to take a breath.

At times, this is a brutal and bloody book, whilst not grimdark, it is definitely dark. The battle scenes are brutal and the Singers storyline is both bloody and horrific. However, whilst the story is painted in swathes of blood and darkness there are periods of lightness and romance. There is lots of love and tenderness in the book, particularly with Tayan and Lilla whose devotion to each other counterbalances the darkness. Even the Machiavellian Enet does show some niceness in her love for her son and her role as a mother.

As this is my first introduction to the work of Anna Stephens, I have to say that I will be searching out her other works while I wait impatiently for the second instalment of the Songs of the Drowned.

I received an advanced reading copy form the publishers Harper Collins and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The enjoyment was all my own!

If you liked this review, have a look at my other reviews on my blog www.fantasybooknerd.com

Son of the Storm is the first in a new series by Suyi Davies Okungbowa set in a rich West African based society.

When reviewers read books and subsequently post reviews, we attempt to convey our own interactions with the books. What captured our imagination, our level of engagement with the book and the emotive impact that it had to make us feel the way that we do.

Sometimes a book hits right to the very heart of all these things, and sometimes it misses. I suppose what I am trying to say is that whatever we write, positive or negative, the review is about the reviewer's own opinion, and whilst is not necessarily correct, it is how they feel.

Unfortunately, Son of the Storm did not hit the mark for me. I know a lot of reviewers will say ???I really wanted to like this book??? and I think that you can guess, that is pretty obvious because that is why I clamoured to review this book, and I am indebted to Netgalley and the publishers Orbit for a chance to review this book

There are a lot of positives in Son of the Storm, such as Suyi Davies Okungbowa???s vibrant voice that is prominent throughout this book. He writes with a distinctive voice that you can immediately grasp the vocal tones that the characters are speaking with.

In addition to that, he has created a world that is full of colour and it was one of the things that struck me with its vivacity.

He also describes a rich socio - political system that is complex and at times quite oppressive in its insular vision.

However, as I have said, I failed to make a connection with this book. It does have a lot of positive points, but I just could not get emotionally invested in the story. I have learnt in my time that sometimes this happens. Sometimes, a book fails to click and attach itself at the basest level. This led me to have difficulty with the book and rather than a growing investiture in the plot, I found myself becoming more and more detached from the book.

There is a multi point of view in relation to characters. Again, this was one of the areas I had problems. I could not relate to the main character of Danso and found myself not caring about what happened to the character in the story.

The breakout character for me was Esheme and her constant striving to increase her status. As a result of this she will do anything. She is a dichotomy of characteristics. On the one hand she is highly passionate about her standing, and on the other she is cold and dispassionate, and in her ambition she finds herself being led down a dark path.

As the story progresses, the character of Lilong is introduced, and similarly as with Danso, I found it hard to connect.

On the whole, I found a Son of Storms a mixed bag. Whilst there were positives, such as the vibrant world, the complex socio - political system and Suyi Davies Okunbowa???s distinctive voice but the book unfortunately did not grab me and narratively whisk me away

As I said at the beginning of this review, as a blogger the main thing that I try to convey is my opinion. There are times that I hope that you will agree with what I write. However, on this occasion, whilst I hope you understand that this is my perspective, I hope that you disagree with everything I say.

Andrea Stewart's gothic fantasy tale of love, obsession and secrets is intriguing and delightful.

Andrea Stewart weaves a complex tale that keeps you guessing and turning the pages to uncover the secrets at the heart of the book just like the character, Lin, who is searching for the answers of the bone shard magic that her father wields and guards jealously.

The story centres around Lin, the daughter of the tyrant Emperor Shiyen who rules his house and his kingdom with cruelty and mistrust.
They live in the crumbling and oppressive castle that is as much a representation of the empire that they rule as it is the relationship that the Emperor has with his children.

The book has a distinct gothic feel to it when it tells the tale of Lin's life with her father, her brother and the soulless servants that surround her.

Her father is cruel and just as soulless as the servants, continuously fostering competition between Lin and her brother as they claw their way to be their way into their father's affections.

In as much as Lin and Bayan (Lin's foster brother) are the characters, Stewart also makes the environment that they are in as much a character as the people that reside in the castle. There is a palpable air of cloying oppressiveness that reminds me of Shirley Jackson's work.

However, the story regularly shifts points of view to other characters and the wider world outside of the castle in order to show the effects of the Emperor's rule and provide some world building and backdrop to the other protagonists of the story.

Jin is a smuggler who is obsessed with searching for the answers as to how his wife disappeared eight years ago. He is a man that has made bad choice after bad choice, getting himself embroiled with the shadowy underworld of the Ioph Carn, a crime organisation that rules with the same amount of fear as the Emperor on his search for his wife.

We meet Jin as he is following a lead for his missing wife when a disaster strikes one of the islands of this world.

Prior to the disaster, he agrees to smuggle a child to another island in order to save him from the horrific trials of the Tithing Festival, a terrifying ritual in which bones are chiselled from the heads of the islands children so that the Emperor can use their power to bring life to his twisted creations that populate the islands, carrying out the orders that the Emperor commands.

As disaster strikes he saves the life of the young boy and also rescues a strange cat like creature who is as much as a child as the one that he is carrying. The creature becomes part of his life and the boy that he saves names the creature Mephisolou which gets shortened to Mephi. However, things do not go as planned and the creature the he selfishly saves from death, so that he can stop the child he has saved from crying forms a strong bond with Jin. As the relationship grows between Jin and the strange creature, Mephi changes him in ways that he doesn't realise.

There are other characters in the book, Pahlue, the governor's daughter of one of the other islands of this strange world, and Sand. A mysterious occupant of another island whose importance at first is hidden, but becomes much more of a character as the book progresses.

I enjoyed this book immensely, devouring the story of Lin, Jin and Mephi and definitely cannot wait until the next installment of this story. Stewart has crafted a world full of mystery and intrigue that promises to get better and better.

So it is, with any reviewer that we read books, and then we move on. In most cases, we love the books that we read. In some cases we don't, but above all we remember that the words that have been put in front of us are something that someone has put time and effort into. However, sometimes there is that special book. The one that touches you in some way. The one that captures your imagination or pulls at your emotions. When I started my journey with the Bone Ships by RJ Barker, I was caught up in the imagination of the world that he describes. This brave new world with strange creatures such as the Gullaimes or the Arakeesians. A world that is filled with steel woven characters who are at once harsh and unforgiving, and yet can show tenderness and belief in others. So how could this be followed?
Could this be bettered? Could the world be expanded and what would happen next on the journey of Joron Twiner and the crew of The Tide Child.

Let me tell you, I did not expect this!

In Call of The Bone Ships, RJ Barker raises the sails of The Tide Child and takes us on a completely different path than the one you would expect. My goodness, this book is harsh! I simply couldn't believe what Barker puts his characters through in Call of the Bone Ships. He takes them through ferocious maelstroms and my goodness, when they come out they come out as different people.
With most of the world building done in the first book, Barker gives himself the freedom to hit the ground running with the second book and the pace never lets up from there. We are immediately thrust into the narrative of the story and are placed into a tale that is full of high crested waves. Barker chucks everything at you with as much ferocity as the seas that The Tide Child sails in, leaving you just enough time to breathe before the next wave takes your breath away.
It is very difficult to discuss the plot as to do so would take away the enjoyment that you experience as you plough your way through Call of The Bone Ships, but my goodness, this is such a masterfully crafted tale that Barker tells. So much happens in the book it is difficult to recall how many things are going on. And that is the beauty of the book
Barker doesn't explain every little detail, he trusts that you will keep the pace and that you will keep up with him as events happen one after the other.
Of the many things that occur in this book, we must talk about the structure of the book. There are so many things structurally that had me exclaiming ‘Oh that's clever'.

In The Bone Ships, the story is told through Joron Twiners eyes. However, in Call of the Bone Ships, Barker introduces other points of view and he phrases them as little Vignettes within the story, such as telling the story of the Courser Aelleren, and how they were condemned to the the black ship, or when Lucky Meas undertakes a seperate mission and he describes the events that happen on diary format. It works so well.

And at other points he will use repetition as a device to increase tension, employing the same phrase repeatedly to convey a sense of urgency to the situation.

The book is just gorgeous (you'll have to excuse, I have just finished the book and I seem be having an attack of the emotions after finishing), but be prepared. Call of the Bone Ships is hard, really hard. I don't mean in the reading sense, but in the emotions that the book evokes. Barker pulls no punches in Call of the Bone Ships. I found myself regularly fluctuating between shock and awe, between utter elation to the lowest doldrums as the story unfurls like the sails of a ship, and once the story catches the wind it glides through the pages of the book happily stealing the hours as I became completely engrossed in the book.

There is a fantastic quote by the great film critic, Roger Ebert that states that ‘movies are like a machine that generates empathy, it lets you understand a little bit more about different hopes, aspirations dreams and fears. It helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us'.

The same notion, for me is applied to books, and this book certainly generated the emotions and empathy akin to watching a summer blockbuster, feeling the swell of excitement or the feeling of having the ground tilted at an angle so that you are completely blindsided by unexpected events. For me, this book is simply brilliant.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Do you want to be a mighty wizard?
Do you want to join a group of like minded sociopathic individuals to get on and join the elite of the wizarding world? Then:

Welcome to A Deadly Education!
(Or how to win friends and influence people, so that the nasty things don't eat you)

Right, let's get the obvious out of the way. This is a magic school for witches and wizards and this is not the sole property of he who shall not be named. Okay? Phew, glad we got that sorted.

What we have here is a tale of friendship against adversity. The old romantic mismatch. A kind of Harry met Sally situation in which the good guy is annoyingly good and the damsel is constantly distressed at being regularly rescued by the good guy, even though she is some mega evil witch that has a prophecy attached to her (whoa, stop it! We got those comparisons out of the way in the first sentence. Didn't you know that in quite a lot fantasy stories, there's a chosen one with a prophecy attached? Well, don't you? Jeez anyone would think that this is a HP reference. Well it's not! Okay?).

Glad we got that out of the way!

The story revolves around Galadriel (or El for short) who is a pupil at the Scholomance, a school for witches and wizards whose first lesson that they have to learn, is to get safely through breakfast before they become breakfast. The Scholomance is a magic school that is populated by magical teens that have been whisked away from their parents and have to board in a school that has a vast array of different ways to kill you in some horrible way. From flesh eating maggots in the porridge to demonic corridors that will strip the skin from your bones, there is an endless way to get yourself killed. Add to that psychopathic students who will happily kill you for no apparent reason, this makes my days at school seem positively balmy in comparison.

On top of that, you have to have political skills that are reminiscent of a medieval court. Where you have to form alliances or trade something of worth in order to fix your door, brush your teeth or even get a shower This place is tough beyond belief and our hero, El is always letting us know how dangerous, how tough and how many different ways to kill you there are. On every page. Okay, okay we get it.

This school is flippin dangerous!

Surprisingly, El does not have many friends. However, this changes when the handsomely, charming popular kid, Orion Lake, starts to take an interest in her and forces his friendship on her, whether she likes it or not. However, as the story progresses we see that even though they are at the opposite ends of the popularity spectrum, they both share similar experiences and are both equally isolated.

In a Deadly Education, Novak's wizarding school is not all jolly hockey sticks and full of quaint little traditions that hark back to a corner of England that is stuck in the innocence of yesteryears. It's filled with scary monsters and super creeps. It is the dog eat dog world of a capitalist society where the more power and influence you have, the more likely it is that you will survive. It juxtaposes the world outside, which again is not filled with a lovely, cutesy world that resides in the past. In Novak's world, being a wizard is a dangerous lifestyle which attracts the monsters that live under your bed so that they can kill you and eat you.

Once you get past the myriad ways in which you can die, be eaten or be killed and then eaten, you get to the heart of the story. Which is, survive. Simple as that. Everything is geared towards surviving the experience of school and hopefully get out of there. That is if you can get past a cornacopia of nightmarish beasts at the graduation ceremony that are hell bent on doing all the things mentioned earlier.

Why anyone would want to be a wizard in A Deadly Education is beyond me. I would use the same tactics that the mundanes (the non - magical community) use. Don't believe in magic. Simple as that. The mundanes do not believe in it and that saves them from the monsters. Otherwise, it looks like you are in for a life of looking over your shoulder and elevating yourself to the rank of paranoid sociopath.

On the whole, I enjoyed A Deadly Education and the story of the snarky main character and how she manages to get through everyday and how her world expands from a world of one to her development of ‘friends'. This is a fantastic setup for the rest of the series, it sets up the world, the characters and is just the start of the story. Will I be reading the next one? Hmmm, I think I will, I wouldn't mind seeing what happens to El and the gang.

If you like this review and want to look at my other reviews by going here to my blog fantasybooknerd.com

???Evil wears the skin of good men???

Alexis Henderson???s debut is a wonderfully glorious dark tale of witches, religious oppression and secrets.

I have seen mixed reviews for Alexis Henderson???s novel, The Year of the Witching, but for me I have to say from the outset that I loved it. I found Alexis Henderson??? story to be beguiling and evocative, and it seriously clicked with me.

The tale starts with the birth of our Protagonist, Immanuelle who lives in the town of Bethel. Bethel is a place that is governed by a strict puritanical religion and watched over by the Prophet, who maintains his power with the aid of his apostles.

The prologue immediately conjures a feeling of disquiet and we know that Immanuelle has a destiny, one that will unfold as she grows.

The story then jumps seventeen years to show us Immanuelle, kneeling prostrate at an altar awaiting the blessing of the father in the form of blood from the sacrificial lamb.

As Henderson tells the tale of Immanuelle, we quickly learn that Bethel is not a particularly nice place to live and that Immanuelle is considered to be somewhat of a pariah. Her mother, whilst betrothed to be one of the many wives of the Prophet, had a clandestine affair with a man from the outskirts. This does not go well, as Miriam is cast out and the poor man suffers an even worse fate.

This is a strange world in which the religion resembles a Christian religion, with the main deity being the Father, and that the opposing force is The Mother. Who we later learn is called The Dark Mother, not just because she resides in the darkness!

The town of Bethel is surrounded by The Dark Wood. The cursed home of the Dark Mother and her coven of witches. All are forbidden from entering the Dark Wood and all those who enter are immediately suspected of being witches. However, one day. On return from the market in which she must sell her ram in order to alleviate the harsh winter that her family have experienced. Immanuelle is drawn into the dark wood. And there, she is given the journal of her dead mother. The secrets that are held within will change everything. Both for Immanuelle and for all of Bethel.

This is quite a hard review to write in all honesty. It???s difficult to convey how much I enjoyed this book and not give away plot spoilers, but for you I???ll try.

I have seen many reviews likening this to The Handmaid's Tale, and it does bear a resemblance in that there is oppression both in the form of a Patriarchal religion and the oppression of women. I have also seen it mentioned that this is a horror. However, I found it to be more of a dark fantasy rather than horror.

One of things that really impressed me about the book was Alexis Henderson???s masterful ability to maintain a cloying sense of disquiet throughout the story. Whether it be from the supernatural elements, the oppressiveness of the religion, the duplicitous prophet or even from Immanuelle???s own family. Everything seemed to be off kilter and distorted in some way.

The book is populated by complex, well rounded characters. Immanuelle herself is a superb character that we see grow as the story progresses. In addition to that the other standout characters are her Grandmother Martha, the matriarch of the family, who is both harsh and loving of her granddaughter. The loathsome Prophet, Grant Chambers, whose puritanical and insidious influence spreads throughout all of the town of Bethel and he rules with a rod of iron and fear, unwilling to relinquish even the slightest bit of power. And then there is his son and heir, Ezra Chambers, who sees his father for what he is and wants to change the system.

Added to that, there are the Witches, Lillith and her coven whose influence seeps from the dark wood. She is used as a totem of fear and oppression to keep the women of Bethel in line. However, there is more to the story of Lillith who was banished to the dark wood by the first prophet David Ford, and we see that she is a multi-faceted character that whilst being an object of fear, this is not exactly the truth.

The book is peppered with a number of different prejudices. Not only are prejudices based on gender, but there is also colour of skin and class, and we learn that these views have a grip in all parts of the society. Immanuelle for instance, is of mixed heritage, culture and race. And she is not accepted by either those in the town of Bethel or the folk in The Outskirts.

Additionally, Alexis Henderson does a fantastic job of building the world around her characters, mapping out a well thought out world, complex political and religious systems. As we move through the book, she cleverly expands the story to encompass other parts of the world. The Dark Wood is malignant and foreboding, the Outskirts where the poor and the dispossessed, and those who are not white of skin reside. It then moves out to the towns around Bethel and gives us more of an insight of what lies beyond the gates

I found The Year of The Witching to be an engrossing and utterly compelling book. It has some very dark themes, but I did find the ultimate theme was one of change and emancipation. Not just from the shackles of oppression, but from the past and tradition and Alexis Henderson masterfully crafts subtle creeping atmosphere into the essence of the story and I for one loved it.

Oh, and just to mention that I actually listened to this story on audiobook which was fantastically narrated by Brianna Coleman.

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark is one of those books that I have been meaning to get to for a long time.

In all honesty, I have not seen a bad review of the book and it has had whole heaps of praise heaped on it.I can see why! It is thoroughly brilliant from the opening to the final lines.

Now, I am quite familiar with P. Djeli Clark's writing having read Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 and was totally enthralled by his story telling abilities. However, Ring Shout is a completely different animal.

The story starts with our hero Maryse Bodreaux and her team watching from on high a Ku Klux Klan march in 1920's America. Immediately from the proclamation of “I hunt monsters” I was utterly transfixed by this book.

The story itself centres around inter dimensional creatures that feed on hate and hide themselves in human form amongst the Klan where they can satiate their hunger on the finest caviar of hate. However, Maryse and her accomplices can spot the shifting faced demons and are able to fight them.

We learn through the eyes of Maryse of these creatures called Ku kluxes, who also gives us the history of the current situation. Telling us that the Klan were actually involved in sorcery and made a pact with these demons in order to further the monstrous cause of the Klan, and not only have they made a deal with these demons, but with the advent of technology, they have managed to embed a virus in a film called The Birth of a Nation, a piece of Klan propaganda made by D.W. Griffiths, that lets the demons have entry and take over a human host and become white, pointy headed monsters.

However, not only do they have Ku Kluxes to deal with, but there is a storm coming and worse is about to break through from the other side that make the Ku Kluxes look like whimpering dogs.

Ring Shout is simply an amazing book in so many ways. P.Djeli Clark is a master of the novella. He is able to pack so much in this form of fiction it's unbelievable.

He writes some of the strongest characters that I have read in fiction. Maryse is so multi faceted and she is supported by a cast of characters that are of just as much import as her. In addition to this, he does not hide from the anger that Maryse feels in relation to the Klan.

For me, Sadie is a stand out character that had me howling with laughter. She is brash and will discuss sensitive subjects with impunity that had me chuckling away.

Now, as you will have probably read in other reviews there is a prominent Lovecraftian edge to Ring Shout. However, I felt that there was so much more and I was thoroughly impressed by the horror chops that P. Deli Clark had on show here. There seemed to be elements of Cronenberg' s Videodrome, especially with the element of film influencing others. Not only that, there seemed to be nods to Brian Yuzna and Clive Barker in there too.

However, whilst there is a veritable feast for the horror fan, the historical elements to the story are solid and there were factual elements that I wasn't aware of. So not only did Ring Shout entertain me, it also educated me too.

Now, I know I have gone kinda gushy on this book, but I can't help it, it's brilliant and I think one of the best books I have read this year, and if you want a more levelled review of the book, I am sure there are some, but you are not going to find it here.

If you read one book in what remains of this year or even in the next, make sure it's Ring Shout, it is utterly stunning

She Who Became the Sun has garnered a lot of attention as one of fantasy???s summer must reads. To say there has been a lot of attention is a little bit of an understatement. Along with The Jasmine Throne, it has had praise heaped upon it from many notables of fantasy fiction, and there has been a bit of a superstar hype around the book. Obviously, opinion can go either way, as one of the problems with books that have this kind of hype attached to them, they can disappoint as expectations can be quite high.

She Who Became The Sun is the first in The Radiant Emperor duology and revolves around both a reimagining of the story of the rise of the Ming Emperor in middle ages China.

I have to say that the book starts off pretty bleak in all honesty. There is not a shred of pomposity about the main characters or the epicness of the story. It starts with famine and death. We are initially introduced to the girl, who is a resourceful little creature, but is considered worthless by her family. Her father is a harsh, contemptible thing who, after taking the son to a fortune teller, believes that he is destined for greatness. However, things do not go as planned (do they ever!) and fate decides that it is going to have a starring role and when some bandits attack the girl???s family home, killing their father, who happens to be a shining beacon of fatherhood, and offers his daughter to the bandits in the hope that they will take her and leave the hope of their life alive.

Following the death of their father, they are subsequently orphans. Zhu Chongba is totally hapless and has to have the girl looking after him, but he subsequently gives up on life and dies.

With a burning desire to survive, the girl throws on the mantle of her brothers identity and seizes the fate that was promised to her brother and becomes Zhu Chongba.

With her new determination to grasp whatever fate has set down for her brother, Zhu Chongba takes his place at the local monastery, and after four days of stubbornly refusing to remove herself from the front steps of the monastery, she is allowed admittance, and thus begins the story of Zhu Chongba

Now I have to say that I was perplexed with this novel initially. So much so that I was teetering on the brink of throwing in the towel and putting it on the DNF shelf. There were loads of things that weren???t clicking for me. I am not saying at all that there is a fault with the book, but I just wasn???t getting it?????? at all!


Yes, the writing is excellent. The character of Zhu Chongba is good, and she has a case of astounding resilience going on there, but I was not getting the fantasy element or what it was about. At times, I was totally lost as to what the heck was going on and who these people are. I found the sheer volume of people in this book just totally blew my mind and I could not keep up. Another thing was that I was not getting the fantasy element. This seemed to be a historical novel, with supernatural elements, but I wasn't getting any fantasy from it, that ???s for sure.

However, I did decide to stick with it, got past my reservations that I had with it and ended up enjoying it.

Obviously, there has been a lot made of the main character???s identity in relation to their gender fluidity, but for me I felt that there was a wider discussion happening in the book about the acceptance of role. Whether that is in relation to gender, sex, duty, expectation, marriage, the role that fate decrees etc. Throughout the book, Zhu is constantly questioning if these roles should be accepted and to strive to be more than a role assigned to you. And you can see it highlighted in this quote from the book

???Learn to want something for yourself, Ma Xiuying. Not what someone says you should want. Not what you think you should want. Don???t go through life thinking only of duty. When all we have are these brief spans between our non-existences, why not make the most of the life you???re living now? The price is worth it.???

In addition to this, I found that there was an extremely positive feminist vibrancy to the book. Again, whilst Zhu is constantly questioning roles she is also empowering women to move beyond the constraints of the male dominated society and to take power for themselves, and there is a really excellent scene in the book where instead of using force and epic battles to get what she wants, Zhu uses alternative methods and empowers a woman to take power in a quiet revolution kind of way.

As you can see, I ended up having a little epiphany about the book and liked it more than I first thought I was going to.

We have to mention other characters for whilst Zhu is the star of the show, there is a full cast of characters in the book. And we need to mention Ouyong and Esen. Ouyong is a eunuch in Esen???s army. He was initially a slave, whose father was some kind of traitor to the Mongol Khan and Esen???s father was tasked with deposing of the traitorous family to the ninth degree, and subsequently having Ouyong castrated so that the family line could not go on and also leaving Ouyong to live in shame. Ouyong is in some ways the opposite of Zhu. However, not only is he an angtagonist in some ways, he enables Zhu to fulfil her role and become what she thinks she should be.

You are never sure about who the antagonist in the story actually is, in all honesty, because every character (inc Zhu) is neither good nor bad. And for me, it again plays with that idea of role, and does the antagonist of the story need to fit into the archetypal role of the villain, and similarly with the protagonist. Again, they shift, and you are as equally fluid in your sympathies to each character.

In the end, after I had got over my difficulties with the book, I ended up enjoying this one.