Browsing all articles in Reviews.
God of Gnomes by Demi Harper
“eSports meets Civilization” I never understood the appeal of eSports, and my every attempt to read LitRPG could be described by Thomas Hobbes: brutish, nasty, and short (the attempts were not solitary, since the other LitRPG books I tried to read were otherwise popular). Enter God of Gnomes, by Demi Harper (aka, Laura Hughes), which […]
Last Memoria by Rachel Emma Shaw – SPFBO #6 Finals Review
Sarilla has learnt one thing from stealing memories. Everybody lies. There’s nothing Sarilla hates more than stealing memories, but the king forces her to, just so he can keep his subjects in line. She wants to escape to where nobody knows what she is or what she can do, but her plans go awry when […]
The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons
Epic stories—especially epic fantasy (the term “saga” is used for science fiction)—are known for their long narration. Epic fantasy stories consist of a slew of characters, layered and complex plots and subplots, and A LOT of worldbuilding—which often includes family trees and timelines of historical events. In the midst of these factors is the recollection […]
Oh, That Shotgun Sky by Sarah Chorn
The other night I caught the Cohen Brothers’ remake of True Grit. When I saw it in the theater, I thought it a profound meditation on the price of freedom—that fabled freedom of the Old West, which comes at such a high cost that most of us would choose the safety and strictures of “civilization.” […]
Infernal by Mark de Jager
A man called Stratus wakes up paralysed in the middle of nowhere. He has no memory of how he got there or of anything else, except his first name. Vultures are preparing to eat his unmoving body. Stratus is ‘rescued’ by a group of soldiers, led by a Deacon who heals him with magic. His […]
Darkness Forged by Matt Larkin – SPFBO #6 Finals Review
Vengeance is wrought. Darkness is forged. The greatest crafts on Midgard come from the dvergar realm of Nidavellir. Volund, a gifted smith and once apprentice to the dvergar, escaped their dark realm to find solace in the arms of a Valkyrie. Nine years of respite. And then she was gone. What would you do to […]
The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison
It was the name that first attracted me to this book. An angel associated with a pagan symbol of death and mysticism; the possibilities set my mind racing. Then, I learned that Addison was the same author who wrote the highly inventive, characterful, and absorbing fantasy novel, The Goblin Emperor. I was pretty much sold. […]
Black Stone Heart by Michael R. Fletcher – SPFBO #6 Finals Review
A broken man, Khraen awakens alone and lost. His stone heart has been shattered, littered across the world. With each piece, he regains some small shard of the man he once was. He follows the trail, fragment by fragment, remembering his terrible past. There was a woman. There was a sword. There was an end […]
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. […]
