Browsing all articles tagged with dark fantasy.
A Ritual of Bone by Lee C. Conley
The land of Arnar is menaced by a vicious plague, a tribe of savage cannibals and a growing tide of the living dead summoned by a dark ritual. Warriors, hunters, nobles and ordinary folk will all have to become heroes if their home is to be saved from the cursed hordes. That’s A Ritual of […]
The Red Plains by G. R. Matthews
Spoiler Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for The Red Plains. “Listen, Jiin-Wei, Taiji, I do not ask you what you can do or tell you what you cannot. Do not presume you know the same about me. I have lived more years than you can imagine and seen more of the world than you […]
The Long War by A. J. Smith – Series Review
Introduction The Long War series is an epic fantasy/dark fantasy quadrilogy which deals with courtroom intrigue, politics, magic and gods in a world similar to ours but set during the medieval period. It consists of the following books: The Black Guard, The Dark Blood, The Red Prince and The World Raven. These four books have […]
Aching God by Mike Shel – SPFBO #4 Finals Review
* Disclaimer * Writing and reading are subjective arts. What some folks will absolutely love, others will dislike. It is a bit like Marmite in the UK—normal people dislike it intensely, but some weird folks actually enjoy the taste of warm road surface with fresh roadkill upon their tongue. To each their own, I suppose. […]
The Blackest Heart by Brian Lee Durfee
Spoiler Warning: Minor spoilers for The Forgetting Moon and The Blackest Heart. “It is what we do with our own selves that defines us. Not where we came from. Or who gave us birth.” The singular image that drew me into Brian Lee Durfee’s The Five Warrior Angels series was the German edition of The […]
The Forgetting Moon by Brian Lee Durfee
Spoilers Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for The Forgetting Moon. Please read with caution if you have yet to finish the book. “Bloodwood assassins have hunted us your entire life, boy!” Brian Lee Durfee is an epic new force in the dark fantasy genre and one I feel that can stand alongside the likes […]
The Blighted City by Scott Kaelen
The Blighted City begins with a quest and ends with a beautiful contemplation of filial love, loyalty, duty, and grief in a story that blazes a trail out of standard epic fantasy into a really fresh, original science fantasy narrative. The novel starts with an engaging first chapter in which Maros, a retired mercenary and […]
Grim Solace by Ben Galley
Spoiler Warning: Minor spoilers for Chasing Graves and Grim Solace. “They say avoiding death makes a man do desperate things, but I tell you, it’s only when you’re dead and bound that you know the true meaning of desperation.” The second installment of Ben Galley’s Chasing Graves Trilogy is undeniably one of desperate undertakings. And […]
The Blue Mountain by G. R. Matthews
Spoiler Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for The Stone Road and The Blue Mountain. “You were a diplomat, what do you know of war…” I’d like to thank G. R. Matthews for allowing me to review his first self-published trilogy The Forbidden List. This trilogy was entered into Mark Lawrence’s (author of The Broken […]
Chasing Graves by Ben Galley
Spoiler Warning: This review contains minor spoilers. Read with caution if you have yet to finish the book. “They must die in turmoil. They shall be bound with copper and water of the Nyx. They must be bound within forty days. They shall be bound to whomever holds their coin. They are slaved to their […]
The Stone Road by G. R. Matthews
Spoiler Warning: This review contains minor spoilers. Content Warning: This review contains excerpts from the book which briefly depict child murder and rape. A note is posted before and after the excerpt. – – – News would spread like the plague, everyone it touched would be changed. Fear would infect every heart, no one would […]
Fantasy Worldbuilding: From the Bottom Up – Guest Blog by Cameron Johnston
Falling down wiki-holes of research in the cause of plausible worldbuilding, and why magic shit is such an important resource. We’ve all seen those hefty articles on building fantasy worlds, the ones that discuss how to draw maps and invent the geography, trade and economies, the details of rulers, peoples and politics, and of course […]
