Tag: High Fantasy

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.

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Posted on October 4, 2022 by - Book Review

Typically I meander about a review before letting you know that it’s a good read or something worth passing. With Legends & Lattes, however, I’m just going to come straight out and tell you to put down whatever you are reading and pick this one up. Yes, you heard me, and do so immediately.

This tale mixes bits of High Fantasy with an amalgamation of fanciful engineering, slow-burn romance, self-discovery, and the building of a family-like community. All of that together makes for one of the most refreshing and fun books I’ve read in a very long time.

Viv is an orc barbarian who is tired of the warrior life and what it entails. Having fallen in love with the mystery of coffee (widely unknown), she decides to cash in her fortunes and open a coffee shop in Thune. Bolstered by almost supernatural luck, Viv quickly begins to pull new friends into her business, and life, and her dreams begin to become reality.

There is a lot more that transpires in this relatively short gem of a novel, but I do so hate spoiling things for potential readers.

What strikes me the most about Legends & Lattes is the absolute ease with which Mr. Baldree slides us all into Viv’s world and the mechanics of Thune. There are wonderful aspects of discovery since Viv is, herself, new to town, and that is leveraged in my favorite way to progress the worldbuilding. While there are just a few very serious moments in this novel, it is the lightness and humor that pulls the reader along. Every character introduced provides their own little brand of sparkle, and the wide variety of personalities are what really bring the brightest shine to the story.

Like I said at the beginning, this is an absolute must read for me. Pouring through this made me realize that I have a very heavy diet of gritty High Fantasy, Space Opera, and Grimdark; and not enough light fare in my library. All of those are very relevant, and a delight to dive deep into, but sometimes something light and poppy fits the bill perfectly. Legends & Lattes is definitely that pop.

House of Bastiion (The Haidren Legacy #1) by K.L. Kolarich

Posted on July 21, 2022 by - Book Review

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

When it comes to high fantasy, I find myself attracted to those with oodles and oodles of political intrigue, and that is exactly what House of Bastiion provides.

Here’s where we start. Bastiion is the ruling House in a kingdom recovering from the Forgotten Wars. To ensure peace, the three other Houses — Pilar, Darakai, and Boreal — forged and alliance to provide a single advisor from each House to help the King keep peace.

While there are many points of view in this novel, the one of primary import is that of the Boreal al’haidren: Luscia Tiergan. House Boreal is an outlier compared to the other three houses, and much mistrust abounds surrounding Luscia and her people.

Naturally, all manner of plot and scheme ensues, along with some unexpected alliance building and a lot more mystery.

Books like House of Bastiion have to be given some leeway. The first in a planned five book series, House of Bastiion ramps up slowly to ensure that proper due is given to good worldbuilding; and my what worldbuilding it is. It is very obvious that Ms. Kolarich understands the power of building a massive fantasy world. Her attention to detail just in the first few chapters allowed me to realize that, while the pacing started slow, a nice thick foundation was being laid that would allow for some “short-cutting” later in the story when the action really rolls in.

Unlike a lot of fantasy authors, Ms. Kolarich also doesn’t shy away from showing the flaws in all of her characters. There is inner struggle, pain, self-doubt, and odd confidence that comes out of each and every character germane to the plot lines. That is a downright Herculean task to keep organized and running smoothly, but the care and detail definitely show in the ease at which the reader can just fall into the tale.

I cannot wait to tackle book two!