Tag: Fantasy Fiction

Echoes of the Imperium (Tales of the Iron Rose #1) by Nicholas & Olivia Atwater

Posted on March 4, 2025 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review **

It’s the end of the year, and I’m looking for something amusing and Fantasy to pick up to get me into the first bit of 2025. I was perusing synopses, and one caught my eye: pirate goblin with a ragtag group of swashbuckling/steampunk adventurers.

Yeah, I was hooked.

The engaging thing about Echoes of the Imperium is that it hit the ground running and spalled off lore, history, world-building and character development while we were in the throes of getting this adventure going.

William Blair is a goblin who went from being a lowly young cabin boy to the captain of his own airship: the Iron Rose. Wil, and his very eclectic crew have a very unique history and are attempting their best at trying to eke out a living in a post-Imperium world that isn’t always the most sympathetic to their cause.

Wil’s closest friends, and confidants, however, are his ever-supporting crew, and they will do just about anything for their captain.

The real adventure in Echoes of the Imperium kicks of in a two-fold action that gets the Iron Rose in a bit of a pickle. First, Wil agrees to deliver a “no questions asked” shipment of “something,” while, at the same time, takes on a mysterious passenger who seems to need to be getting out of town rather quickly: Miss Hawkins.

Oh, this is very important to know going into this. This world revolves around subservience and worship of the Seelie Fae. That little twist really carries a lot of weight on the history of this realm, as well as to the impending future of survival and conflict.

I’ll cut right to it: I loved this book. The characters were all beautifully developed, and a lot very likable. There were sufficient flaws that helped drive the story along while not being the typical cliches that often get thrown into High Fantasy. The dialogue is very diverse, and random enough to build a nice, tightly woven, story with an excellent variety.

To me, the characters were very autonomous. I never felt that I was on a predestined path, aside from the few parts that were actually intended to be that way.

Echoes of the Imperium is, already, one of my top reads of 2025. I cannot wait for the continued adventures of the Iron Rose, and I’m really dying to see what kind of pickles Wil and his crew can get into going forward.

The epilogue, alone, set the state for much more sinister things rising up in the future. I’m here for it.

Onyx Storm (The Empyrean #3) by Rebecca Yarros

Posted on February 4, 2025 by - Book Review

I’m just going to cut straight to the meat of this. I loved this book, and think it’s the best, so far, of The Empyrean series. I know there are a lot of “hot sports opinions” out there about this book, but that does nothing to diminish the collective impact this story, and this series, have had on readers and booksellers.

Does. Ms. Yarros write “important” literature in the series? Absolutely not. What it is, however, is fun as hell. The tropes and situations are all familiar, but it’s that cozy kind of familiar that leaves the reader fulfilled while not flexing the little grey cells too much. Granted, Onyx Storm, more than the other two, generates quite the flurry of conspiracies and fan theories in its wake. Yes, I have my theories, but I’m not even about to put those in writing on a book that came out two weeks ago, and is still flying off shelves so fast that sellers can’t keep it in stock.

Seeing all three books in the first, second, and third slot on the New York Times Best Sellers list is a force to be reckoned with.

What I do want to talk about a bit is the larger impact of Onyx Storm (or as we call it in my circles: The Dragon Book, Black Dragon Surprise, Dragon-palooza, and many more even more silly).

Ms. Yarros is getting people to read and talk about this. From some circles of readers I’m hearing there is too much war, and not enough sex, and from other circles quite the opposite. What is still happening, though, is that they are reading these books and talking about them. Outside of the weird fandom circles I tend to find myself in, I’ve only really seen that happen about a couple of books/series over the past few years. First of those are the Sarah J. Maas books that seemed to bring all of the Romantasy folks out of the woodwork. If you’ve got a few hours, I’m happy to regale you with how much I dislike those books, and dislike how they still occupy headspace with me, but that’s another discussion. Second have been the Murderbot books by Martha Wells. If you haven’t read them, get on that right now. The third have been Travis Baldree’s Legend & Lattes books. All three of these series (I guess four I am now including the dragons) are so incredibly different, but they are having an impact that I can’t help but enjoy.

Because of this visibility, I now have friends, I had no idea were readers, asking for my recommendations and what I’ve liked over the past couple of years. I’m seeing folks who have been pretty regular in their genre selections branch out and try new things because others around them are talking about it. That kind of behavior is win-win for everyone.

Circling back to Onyx Storm, it’s been very interesting to see how it’s been received, and how it’s being talked about. This book definitely expanded the worldbuilding in a major way, and really pushed emotional limits. Yeah, the Violet/Xaden thing is the main course, but my favorite parts of the series, and especially this book, have been the growth and utilization of the secondary characters. Without Ridoc, for example, this book would probably fall a little flat. Same with the expansion of Aaric’s character.

Yes, there are, allegedly, two more books left in this series, and a million conspiracies floating out around the web as to where we are going next. Hell, Ms. Yarros, herself, said that she hasn’t even started blocking the story yet. Is that frustrating, yes, but just imagine how incredible the community buzz will be when we get our next fix.

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Posted on December 30, 2024 by - Book Review

Imagine eating a book, map, magazine, etc. and being able to retain the information in it? Imagine also that you are part of a not quite human society ruled by rather draconian patriarchs, and daughters are basically passed off to other bookeater families to ensure their lines continue.

Oh, but there’s a twist. Not all children born are book eaters. Some come out as mind eaters: which is a source of great shame for The Family.

This is the premise of Ms. Dean’s The Book Eaters. We follow the story of Devon, a young woman who is desperately trying to find some resolution to sticky situation of having a mind eater child, and has escaped The Family.

I’m not sure who recommended this marvelously dark novel to me, but I loved it. There is oodles of intrigue, espionage, and a fair amount of unbridled panic, as Devon tries to find a hidden family that could have the Redemption she needs to help her son.

One of my favorite things about this novel was Ms. Dean’s use of flashbacks to help flesh out Devon’s education and situation. Through this, we learn that what has been accepted as the history of record regarding certain events definitely isn’t.

While she is a wild and unruly character, it is very easy to sympathize with Devon. She is definitely a victim of her own circumstances, and, honestly, not very likable throughout most of the story, but does develop a sideways sort of redemption when everything goes down towards the end.

I would definitely love to read another novel set in this particular universe.

The Initiates by Ryan Hyatt

Posted on November 18, 2024 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review **

This book tackles a lot, and it starts out pretty innocuous. Myles Harper is a recent high school graduate, and he has no idea what he wants to do with his life. It’s 2036, the earth is in a climate crisis, the United States has split in a few ways, and folks are generally miserable. Welcome to Mr. Hyatt’s world of the Terrafide. There are a few books that precede The Initiates, but it’s not vital you revisit those before you read it.

What you will quickly learn, is that while Myles is trying to figure out what he is going to do with his life, He has decided to apply to Camp Friendly Forest as a camp counselor for the Summer.

Ever charismatic, Myles charms his way through his interviews and ends up in charge of a cabin of young boys in the mountains, and starts to learn how to interact with his fellow camp counselors to keep this well-oiled machine running.

As Myles gets settled in and starts to form bonds with his camp crew, we pan to Oakland, California where Henrik Gustavo (Gus) is meeting up in a diner with a blast from his past: Alice Walker.

If you’ve read other Terrafide books, you know all about Alice. If not, let’s just say that she knows everything that is going on in the world far before it occurs. Read The Psychic’s Memoir (Terrafide #2) to get up to speed on Alice and Gus’ history.

Alice puts Gus in an uncomfortable position by passing out, and he is forced to flee with her unconscious body.

That’s when Alice’s first Bestagram post in ten years pops up on Gus’ screen: changing everything for everyone.

I’m going to stop there with the recap other than to say that in a wild set of situations, the planet gets attacked by these weird space bear/dog monsters called the Kiaskis, and all hell breaks loose for both the campers and Gus and Alice. I like to think of the Kiaskis as resembling the monsters from Attack the Block, but that’s just my visualization.

Per usual, Mr. Hyatt really nails the pacing of this story. Jumping back and forth between Gus’ adventures and the campers really puts a multi-focal view on how time is unfolding, and you can see both storylines careening toward some sort of end.

The characters are all very well-rounded, and masterfully developed to lean on their strengths. The Camp Friendly Forest crew learn very quickly about teamwork, and how to rely on each other in this time of crisis.

The Initiates was a very enjoyable read, and I really hope there will be a follow-up to continue the paths of these intrepid adventurers. Knowing Mr. Hyatt, I’m sure he has something in the works.

Lightfall (The Everlands Trilogy #1) by Ed Crocker

Posted on October 15, 2024 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review **

Lightfall is a book about vampires, werewolves and sorcerers. In fact, it might be the most innovated novel about vampires, werewolves and sorcerers that I’ve read in decades, and I do not say that lightly.

Mr. Crocker has managed to create a world of immortals and make the reader worry about their humanity. This book really tilts everything with its politics and hierarchy plays. That this is Mr. Crocker’s first novel is even more amazing. Some authors just have the gift right out the gate.

The city of Lightfall is a fallback haven for the vampires who were basically chased out of their primary city of First Light by the very mysterious Grays. Blood determines the rules, and if you are nobility, you have access to the powerful blood, and if you are a worn, you get basic stuff that causes you to show age over time. Nobody leaves Lightfall in fear of being killed by the Grays.

One problem, though. The city’s ruler’s youngest son is murdered, and by some ingenuity, and a lot of luck, palace maid Sam finds the only substantial clue. What entails pulls in a magic-less sorcerer cult, an apex predator werewolf, and a whole lot of mystery and intrigue.

This book is super high on my best books of the year list, and it doesn’t even come out until January 2025! The way Mr. Crocker has written each character’s point of view is masterful, and the worldbuilding is absolutely top notch. It’s been a very long time since someone brought something this dynamic to the genre without it falling back on cliche. This is a novel that came to me out of left field and I could not be happier.

Let me just tell you that the last quarter of Lightfall is an insane roller coaster that had me guffawing and gasping with each turn of the page. I absolutely cannot wait for book number two, and I will be giving many friends “raincheck” Christmas presents so I can get this in their hands come January.

House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias

Posted on September 25, 2024 by - Book Review

“All stories are ghost stories.”

I’ve sat on reviewing this book for a couple of weeks. This isn’t because I didn’t like the book (I loved it), it’s because words about this book need to be thought out. House of Bone and Rain is wonderful horror writing, but it’s far more than that. Mr. Iglesias has managed to tuck a massive amount of social commentary into a novel about five pretty different teenage boys living in Puerto Rico seeking revenge while a hurricane is about to hit.

Now what I just wrote seems like a pretty standard plot approach, it’s the individual bits of it that make this so profound. Puerto Rico is a country with a fascinating culture and history. I won’t delve into to much here because that actually gives away some of the plot (I do hate spoilers), but there has always been a bit of an air of mystery surrounding the island.

As Bimbo and his friends seek out revenge against the biggest drug kingpin on the island, with a storm ready to strike, House of Bone and Rain begins it’s spiraling decent into chaos and madness.

My favorite thing about this novel is the timing between the supernatural and the hurricane. As Maria starts to swell, so do the strange things the boys encounter. This parallel really enhances the experience, and adds a significant degree of tension.

While I thought a couple of the side stories were just flavor to take a break from the insanity that the boys were undertaking, they turn out to fold right in and be some of the most significant aspects to what happens with Bimbo and his friends.

It’s not often that one finds harsh realities in a fantastical horror story, but Mr. Iglesias really delivers it here. The amount of grief and devotion just cannot be matched.

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde #2) by Heather Fawcett

Posted on July 12, 2024 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review **

I’m not sure what it is about Ms. Fawcett’s Emily Wilde books that just make me stop everything else and rabidly consume them, but she is two for two, so far, in getting my full attention.

Emily Wilde is a dryadologist from Cambridge who, seemingly, is quickly becoming a pioneer in her field just through pure tenacity and grit. In her previous adventure, Professor Wilde managed to get herself betrothed to a Fae of the Winter realms, and, through help of fellow scholar Wendell Bambleby, escaped.

In this next chapter, Emily is working on a sort of atlas of the faerie lands when she and Bambleby learn that Bambleby’s step-mother is trying to have him killed. If you haven’t read the first book, then you don’t know that Wendell Bambleby is actually a faerie king in exile, and quite besotted with one Miss Emily Wilde.

In order to set things straight, Wendell and Emily must find one of the many doors to Wendell’s former realm, and attempt to set things straight with dearest step-mother before anyone ends up deceased prematurely.

this plan, Emily and Wendell plan to set out to the Austrian Alps to do this, but are interrupted in their plans by an attack by assassins at Cambridge in front of their department head — Dr. Rose — and Emily’s niece/assistant: Ariadne.

Now this quad is all set to head to the Alps to find this doorway: a simple plan when anyone else but Emily and Wendell would be involved.

Needless to say, there are a ton of mysteries, a wide variety of Fair Folk, some mystery, some intrigue, a wee bit of violence, and even a smattering of romance.

Ms. Fawcett is just extraordinary at building amazing world of both the fantastic and mundane, and she flexes that muscle liberally in this gem. I quite literally consumed over half this novel in one overnight session while sitting in a cabin in the woods, and it was perfection.

One of the things that makes this book so approachable is that it puts the reader in a very comfortable spot to observe what is happening without being condescending or trite. Yes, this novel has a ton of footnotes in what can only be described as one of the most endearing traits that Emily has in attempting to separate the academic from the real, and the bluntness adds a degree of humor that I greatly appreciate.

I, for one, cannot wait for the further adventures of Emily and Wendell. Hopefully I won’t have to wait long.

Lore by Alexandra Bracken

Posted on June 24, 2024 by - Book Review

Been on a bit of a mythology kick lately, and this title was recommended to me, so I took a swing.

Lore Perseous is the last of her line. Her parents and sisters were brutally murdered by a rival line at the tail end of the Agon: a “tournament” of sorts that happens every seven years wherein descendants of ancient bloodlines hunt nine of the Greek gods in mortal form for a week. If someone is able to kill a god, they get their immortality and power.

After her family’s death, Lore ran away from the Agon and started over in New York City: hiding from everyone in her previous life.

Here it is Agon time again, and, as luck would have it, it is in New York City. Determined to stay out of it, Lore keeps doing what she’s always done, but is approached by her old training partner, Castor, and then a very wounded Athena shows up on her doorstep.

Lore can run no more.

By and large I enjoyed this book, and it was a fast and easy read. There were some stumbles in the worldbuilding, but nothing Earth shattering to note.

The action builds up, and the intrigue gets deeper and deeper. There are so many more conspiracies than anyone would have imagined, and more and more of Lore’s life gets dragged into the fray.

Then I got to the end, and was so incredibly disappointed. In a matter of paragraphs, Ms. Bracken took this well-developed story, and quite literally shat on the effort of the characters. Yeah, I get the intentionality of what happened, but that was a serious groaner. Yes, this is a Disney Hyperion released book, but it could have retained a little edge until close.

Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1) by Rebecca Yarros

Posted on March 1, 2024 by - Book Review

Well, I finally caved in and read the dragon book everyone has been raving about for the past year. I fought picking it up because I find a large portion of what is pitched as “romantasy” just awful to read. This book was so hyped by my reader friends who fawn over Sarah J. Maas’ stuff, so it was definitely near the top of my “just not going to ever get there” list.

Then I started hearing from some other reader friends of mine that it was a book that I would definitely enjoy, and very much of the ilk of some of my other favorite authors. Cue the torment.

Soooo, I broke down and gave it a go.

Let’s be real about Fourth Wing. By and large it has an overarching plot that telescopes itself like crazy from the first few chapters. It hits the standard YA-ish tropes of rivals to lovers and “bad boy with a heart of gold” pretty damn hard, but it’s a really really really fun read. Ms. Yarros really knows how to flesh out very likable, and very hateable characters with ease, and she’s really not afraid of throwing weakness out there and exploiting it.

Violet’s journey at Basgiath War College to become a rider is definitely a rollercoaster with more than a smattering of death and destruction. I started getting some Pierce Brown PTSD because of the ease at which Ms. Yarros kills of characters: some expected, some unexpected.

In addition to the harrowing journey that Violet is taking to become a rider, there is a larger political storm that is brewing in this book. There are subtle hints that facts are being hidden or redacted, and that there is a bigger issue getting ready to rear its head. That’s the depth of writing that keeps me absolutely sucked in.

So yes, I’m now a Fourth Wing fan, and I jumped right in to Iron Flame, so expect my thoughts on that one soon. If anything, I just want to learn why Ms. Yarros loves using “subluxated” so damn much.

We Are the Crisis (Convergence Saga #2) by Cadwell Turnbull

Posted on February 28, 2024 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review **

I’ve been waiting for this book for a long while. No Gods, No Monsters took up a lot of my headspace, and I really needed Mr. Turnbull to move some of these characters along for the sake of my sanity.

I was not disappointed in the slightest.

The thing about Mr. Turnbull’s writing, especially in this Convergence Saga is that you can’t help but get very very invested while also being completely lost as to where you are, and who you are dealing with.

Continuing on a couple of years after No Gods, No Monsters, We Are the Crisis continues with how the world is reacting to the revelations of the “Boston incident.” Monsters are now known to the general public, but there is a massive political debate over what rights monsters should have (if any), and a human-supremacist group, Black Hand, is committing more and more atrocities against monsters and monster supporters.

On the flip side, there is a pro-monster activist group, New Era, who is working to build a cooperative network between monsters and humans, but there is also an even more esoteric bit of subversion going in within New Era perpetuated by the cosmic elements we were introduced to in No Gods, No Monsters.

All of the tensions from all sides — and there are a lot of sides — seem to be pressing together into a Gordian knot situation that seems both hopeful and hopeless at the same time.

Much like the previous book, We Are the Crisis is one that is going to require re-reading and analysis to fully follow what is going on. While it is very complex, it is amazingly entertaining. I read almost three quarters of it in one sitting: it’s that captivating.

This series is very important in regards to how it approaches civil rights, and the concepts of autonomy and free will. Mr. Turnbull deftly glides between story lines and locations while building up a slow pressure that comes to a head in a way that, while everyone saw coming, nobody expected.