Tethered Spirits fantasy Book
tethered spirits High-fantasy book review Tethered Spirits (StoryGraph) has several strong points: solid prose, decent characters, several strong ideas, a good plot that supports its action elements with some mystery/questions, and strong use of its cored idea/inspiration. But it also suffers from some significant technical flaws. It’s takes nearly sixty percent of […]
THE THIRTEENTH HOUR high-fantasy
THE THIRTEENTH HOUR High-fantasy book review There was a lot I liked about The Thirteenth Hour, (StoryGraph) at multiple levels: the characters are dynamic, likable, and full of personality. The world building is complex and immersive while also being well implemented. The narrative is consistently humorous while also landing the darker moments, themes, […]
Scales and Sensibility romantasy book
scales and sensibility High-fantasy book review Fun, solid romance, with decent characters. This is through and through a lighthearted romance, albeit one assisted by magic and dragons. The comedy is decent and present but didn’t particularly work for me, and the characters are likable but without particularly compelling subtext or archs. The […]
Stormless fantasy book
stormless High-fantasy book review The concept of having to live in a world continuously ravaged by cataclysmic storms, and not just one but a variety, is a fun, interesting, and ultimately cool idea. The idea that these storms power the magic system is again solid (albeit the author doesn’t quite distinguish enough from […]
Small Miracles indie-fantasy book
small miracles High-fantasy book review Enjoyable, mostly lighthearted and consistently amusing, Small Miracle is just a fun indie-fantasy book that is relatively short read. The characters are full of personality (Gadriel, our MC, especially) and immensely likable, with strong motivations. There many scenes and interactions where their personalities and those motivations […]
The Tale of the Young Witch fantasy book
the tale of the young witch High-fantasy book review The Tale of the Young Witch is a story I wanted to like more than I did: the beginning is strong, delivering potent motivation to our primary character that I could buy into, there is a strong aesthetic/setting in the age of steam, and […]
Godeena sci-fi
godeena High-fantasy book review The science-fantasy book Godeena is complicated to review: the world-building is strong, particularly the canvas of inter-galactic warfare and politicking. The bones of the plot itself are excellent, from collecting disposable convicts from a prison megalopolis to explore the ruins of world controlled by a psychotic and malignant deity, […]
The Rogue (Sons of Ferassi #1)
The Rogue’s prose and characters are solid, and the pacing for the first half is good, but as the narrative progresses and starts to build toward the climax it began to feel like it needed more time to mature. That might sound weird, but neither of our two main characters have any real connection to […]
Crystalborne Sigils fantasy book
There’s quite a bit I liked about indie-fantasy book Crystalborne Sigils. The magic system is comprehensible and detailed but versatile, the pacing is smooth and consistent, and the characters decently complex. Its strongest element is probably the first odd third of the book, where we are introduced to our characters and the setting.The Atturei empire […]
Four Puppet Kings and a Fool
four puppets kings and a fool High-fantasy book review The indie-fantasy book Four Puppet Kings and a Fool is either a book of intense right-wing political allegory, or one that drew inspiration heavily from conspiracy theory, and I lean more towards the former. There’s manufactured pandemics where the main character rails against lockdowns, […]
A Bad Place to be a Hero
A Bad place to be a hero High-fantasy book review A bad place to be a Hero starts slow, needing to introduce our three primary characters, their motivations, quirks and various criminal situations before the plot kicks fully into gear, where upon the story becomes more of a mystery. The mystery elements […]
A Touch of Light – fantasy book
A touch of light High-fantasy book review Actual rating 2.5 While competently written, the fantasy book A Touch of Light just failed ever really catching my interest. I think there are several reasons for this and I’ll start with the characters. The characters are solidly constructed, given decent personalities, individual motivations, […]
Open Sorcery -fantasy
open sorcery High-fantasy book review The fantasy book Open Sorcery is a book based on the premise of Magic operating like coding in a modern world setting. It executes this premise excellently, both from the feel of how the spells are crafted arduous over a period of days or weeks, to how the magic system […]
The Stone of Farewell -Tad Williams
the stone of farewell High-fantasy book review The Tad Williams book Stone of Farewell improves on the Dragon Bone Chair simply by virtue of beginning more immediately, the conflict has already begun and the characters must endure or attempt to influence it according to their situations. (As opposed to the lengthy beginning a […]
Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons book review
For me, Miss Percy’s can best be described as ‘fine’ despite its components being largely strong: the prose is strong, the main character is well defined with a fare bit of complexity, and I usually very much enjoy period pieces. Even the pacing, which is superficially part of why i didn’t enjoy the book more, […]
Ever the Night Road by Michael Breen book review
Ever the Night Road feels like a coming of age adventure novel, driven very much by a main protagonist that feels lost about her place in the world, with what she wants being denied to her by the world. You add in some soft magic, some horror elements, and a grand sense of mysticism and […]
A Song For the Void -fantasy
A SONG FOR THE VOID HISTORICAL-HORROR book review Full of slow, brooding, and often macabre, eldritch horror, A Song For the Void (goodreads) is well written and delivers excellently on its time period. The ‘Charger’ is wonderfully tangible in the way it operates, from the ship itself to the command structure and interactions […]
Mythera Chronicles: The Lost Athenaeum- fantasy
Mythera Chronicles fantasy book has a strong foundation, with solid world building and fairly complex characters, but the pacing is too quick, often diminishing the values of these foundations by allowing only superficial or glancing attention to be payed to them. Our main character visit a major dwarf settlement while in the course of their […]