Albion Online – First Impressions
Geoff Matthews
I started playing MMOs back when Ultima Online (UO) was only one world, when a red name struck fear into my heart and my armour consisted of a death shroud,…
fantasy
Monthly Short Story Winner: Rebirth/Renewal
Xiagan
This is a broad theme and it doesn’t have to deal with spring, people, or the New Year. After all, what can’t be renewed? What doesn’t have the right to…
An Introductory Guide to Reading Fantasy
R. S. McCoy
Editor’s Note: Fantasy encompasses a HUGE body of works. There is literally something in fantasy for everyone. But where to begin if you’ve never tried fantasy before? Here is one…
The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi
Pippa
Originally written in Japanese and published in 2006, this edition of The Beast Player is translated by Cathy Hirano. At the heart of this book is a coming of age…
Golden Age by James Maxwell
JC Kang
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them meets 300. No, not, really. James Maxwell’s Golden Age shares only two things in common with JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to…
Knocking People Out: Easier In Fiction Than In Real Life
Nicola Alter
It’s a common scenario in many kinds of fiction, including fantasy: a character passes out, either because they’ve been knocked on the head or injured or drugged, and the world…
Age of Assassins by RJ Barker
Rakib Ahmad Khan
Coming-of-age books are quite common these days, so are the books containing assassins as protagonists in fantasy, so how does a book combing these two themes actually fare? RJ Barker…
Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck
Jo Niederhoff
With Jagannath, I return to two genres I have visited in earlier reviews: short stories and Scandinavian fiction. One of my very first reviews for this site was a collection…
Nightblade by Ryan Kirk
As a fan of epic fantasy with diverse casts, I always saw Ryan Kirk’s Nightblade atop the Asian Myths and Legends charts on Amazon, reminding me I needed to finish…
R. F. Kuang Interview – The Poppy War
Rebecca F. Kuang (writing as R. F. Kuang) immigrated to the US from Guangzhou, China in 2000. When she isn’t writing books she is a student of Chinese history focusing…
Blackmark by Jean Lowe Carlson
If you’ve followed my reviews on Fantasy-Faction, you know how I nearly gave up on some of my now-favorite books and series like Alec Hutson’s Crimson Queen and Phil Tucker’s…
The Way Into Chaos by Harry Connolly – SPFBO Review
The city of Peradain is the heart of an empire built with steel, spears, and a monopoly on magic. Until, in a single day, it falls, overthrown by a swarm…