Browsing all articles in Reviews.
A Wind from the Wilderness by Suzannah Rowntree – SPFBO #6 Finals Review
Hunted by demons. Lost in time. Welcome to the First Crusade. Syria, 636: As heretic invaders circle Jerusalem, young Lukas Bessarion vows to defend his people. Instead, disaster strikes. His family is ripped apart. His allies are slaughtered. And Lukas is hurled across the centuries to a future where his worst nightmares have come true… […]
Fantasy-Themed Cookbooks
Hello fellow nerds! A little while back I wrote about the Firefly: Big Damn Cookbook and how awesome it was to prepare recipes inspired by the show. Well, that got me thinking, are there other cookbooks themed around our favorite fantasy books and movies and such? Hell yes, there are! Here are a few that […]
The Name of All Things by Jenn Lyons
Many fantasy stories tend to focus on a set of characters within one central setting. Then, there are the stories that take place across generations and various locations. The former follows a story that can end within one book, and the latter can result with either a saga, or a series. Jenn Lyons does the […]
The Brightest Shadow by Sarah Lin
“When Epic Fantasy Meets Cultivation” Sarah Lin is best known for revolutionizing the English-original cultivation (or xianxia) subgenre with her late 2019 release, Street Cultivation. Instead of cultivators wearing flowing robes and belonging to martial sects who dueled in quaint towns and countrysides, it featured gritty back alley duels and mobile apps that measure energy. […]
The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
Stories are told as entertainment, and we all become familiar with certain tropes: the lost heir, the fulfillment of the prophecy, the quest for a mythical sword, etc. Nowadays, some of these stories twist readers’ expectations of these tropes to the point where one cannot predict what will happen next. Then, there are the stories […]
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
I never enjoy describing things with, “It’s like X meets Y!” since I always felt it was a rather lazy way to describe something. No one says, “Hamsters are like if Rats met Gerbils!” or “Oranges are like if Apples met A Different Color!” (At least, I hope no one has ever said that.) Yet […]
Twilight of the Gods by Scott Oden
The climax of Twilight of the Gods begins on a misty morning with characters as blind to their fate as the gods they fight for, and against. The mist hides surprises not only for the combatants but for all fans of Grimnir, Oden’s immortal orcish antihero, whom we first meet in A Gathering of Ravens. […]
They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Role-playing Game Review
Written by: Larry Blamire, Jacqueline Bryk, John Burke, Matthew Dawkins, Steffie de Vaan, Susann Hessen, Danielle, Lauzon, Myranda Kalis, John Kennedy, Bianca Savazzi, Hilary Sklar, Michael F. Tomasek Jr, and Eddy Webb Developed and Conceived by: Matthew Dawkins Storypath Line Developer: Eddy Webb Creative Director: Richard Thomas Editor: Dixie Cochran Art Director: Michael Chaney Interior […]
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
Dragons are one of the most familiar—and overused—tropes in fantasy. These mystical beings intrigue and fascinate all who have heard of them. However, since oral tradition, dragons were either an Eastern or a Western entity. This is strange because if most dragon species can fly, then why could they be found in just two regions […]
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
Inspiration and influence comes from anything from an ephemeral moment to a persistent belief; from one line in a song to a passage in a story to a scene from a movie. The Birth of a Nation remains as one of the most infamous films ever made. Praised for its cinematography and belittled for its […]
Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #6: Our Round One Winner
When we began posting our semi-finalist reviews at the beginning of this week, we didn’t know which book we would be sending on to the finals of the sixth annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. In fact, the deliberations went on until late Thursday evening for our US team members, early Friday morning for the Europeans in […]
Where Shadows Lie by Allegra Pescatore – SPFBO #6 Semi-Finals Review
Today we review the last book of our thirty-book batch in the sixth annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off with our fourth semi-finalist Where Shadows Lie. How this book stacks up against the other members of our final four will be revealed on Friday, October 30th. The Chosen One is dead. Magic is going haywire. Time is […]
