9/10
Will be posted on Fantasy Book Review shortly.
Josiah Bancroft’s debut novel is a huge deal in the world of fantasy fiction right now. I truly regret being late to the party but can safely say the hype is well deserved. Seeing only unanimously positive reviews from my blogging peers, I had to check out this 2016 #SPFBO’s entrant as soon as I could. (more…)
8/10
Review by the awesome Michael Britt
Shadow Crucible is such a strong debut novel! I’m not even sure what I could compare this to. It’s almost like a historical fiction with fantastical and paranormal elements thrown in.
There still tends to be the stigma surrounding independently published books. This book blows that stigma out of the water. I tend to keep my reviews spoiler free, so I’ll try and keep this as vague as possible. We follow a few characters in the book, 2 more so than the others, and it’s set in the medieval gothic era of London. The 2 main characters of the book are Count Mikhail, a Knights Templar, and Estella, a seer. As you can probably tell, these 2 characters couldn’t be much different. While I really enjoyed them, I think I might have enjoyed some of the side characters more. Mainly Antariel, but stating the reasons would be major spoilers. We also get a really great cast of angels and demons, which is what grabbed my attention with this book in the first place. And Lakomy sure gave us some major players! We’ve got Lucifer, Samael, I think Jesus makes an appearance, and some of the Archangels. My favorite scenes were, by far, when any of these angels or demons made an appearance. You just knew something was going to go down!
Luckily, there wasn’t much need for world-building. Some like it, but I’m picky on my world-building, so it’s nice when it’s pretty much already done for us. But what I did love was her ability to set scenes up. She’s able to make our surroundings vivid without giving us 2 pages of extensive and useless descriptions. Which seems to be something that some authors, understandably, find kind of tough. This definitely has a dark feel to it too, which I absolutely loved! This is pretty much what I pictured throughout the book:
I did have a few problems with the book, though. It obviously wasn’t anything that ruined the novel for me, or my enjoyment, but I do feel that they’re things worth addressing. Some of the action scenes tended to happen really quickly without much of a segue from it being a calm setting into the action. It wasn’t something that happened often, but I did have to go back and reread a few scenes. The other thing was actually part of what I liked. I didn’t really connect as well with the main characters as much as I did with the side characters. So I look at that one as a strength and a weakness. But I also tend to gravitate more towards side characters in every story I read, so take that for what it’s worth.
All in all, I was extremely happy that I picked this book up! It had so many elements that I really enjoyed. If her debut novel is this strong then I can’t wait to see her future works as she grows as a writer! Definitely recommend for anyone who loves a real life setting with some paranormal and fantasy twists to it.
9/10
“Not sure I really feel like fucking someone who’s part god and part suicidal drunk, you know”
I received an advanced copy of The Court of Broken Knives via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank Anna Smith Spark and Harper Voyager. This will be posted on Fantasy Book Review shortly.
2017 has been a stunning year for adult fantasy debuts and the trend absolutely continues with The Court of Broken Knives (book one of Empires of Dust) which will surely become a grimdark classic. (more…)
7.5/10
It was amazing to return to the corrupt and thrilling world where the policeman, psychologist and all around great family man, Alex Cross tries to solve insanely complex. homicide cases. Although often extremely violent and upsetting, dealing with the darkest sides of what crimes humans can commit, I love reading this series and the majority of the entries are highly addictive. (more…)
8/10
*Quick review*
Fletcher’s short story, Fire and Flesh is a standalone tale from his Manifest Delusions series. I haven’t yet read that series but it has been on my radar for a while. Fletcher advised me that this 17-page-narrative would be fine to approach before reading Beyond Redemption so, one rainy day I frequented a local British pub and whilst enjoying a pint of cider, I devoured the story within an hour. For a short book, I must admit, (more…)
8/10
I received an advanced copy of Darien: Empire of Salt via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank C.F. Iggulden, Michael Joseph, and Penguin Random House UK.
C.F. Iggulden is an alias of Conn Iggulden. The master of historical fiction who has released the critically acclaimed Emperor series and Conqueror series. The slight change of pen name is due to Darien being his first foray into creating a fantasy tale. Darien is the name of a huge city in this fantasy world that houses over a quarter of a million citizens and the majority of the narrative is set within the city walls. There are twelve ruling family’s in this complex political set-up. Each has great influence and almost act as puppeteers controlling the weak figurehead monarch. (more…)
9/10
Traitor’s Blade is the debut novel by the immensely talented Sebastien de Castell. Many of my friends are racing through and really enjoying Greatcoats so I decided to jump on the bandwagon to see what all the fuss is about.
The Greatcoats were the King’s elite soldiers simply named after their attire. They acted as magistrates, upheld the King’s law and helped keep peace throughout the land. This was until they stepped aside when a battle loomed and allowed the execution of the King at the hands of the Duke’s. Following this catastrophic event which led to the King’s decapitation and his head placed on a spike, The Greatcoat’s disbanded and are seen now as traitor’s. (more…)
