Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu
Twelve Kings in Sharakhai is the first book in a new series by Bradley P. Beaulieu set in the great desert city of Sharakhai, ruled for centuries by the same dozen Kings who long ago made a pact with the gods to fend off the desert tribes and establish their power. As a novel that comes to its own semi-resolution, it’s nicely rewarding in its own self-contained way (if not without some issues), but Twelve Kings in Sharakhai,
September 8th, 2015. Bill Capossere, Kevin Wei and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Bradley P. Beaulieu | SFF Reviews | 13 comments |
We’re very excited to have novelist and short story writer Seth Dickinson here with us today. Most recently, Seth is the author of the short stories Kumara, Anna Saves Them All, and Sekhmet the Dying Gnosis: A Computation and the novel The Traitor Baru Cormorant (my review here), set to be published September 15th by Tor. Seth writes humorous and intriguing posts on his blog.
September 1st, 2015. Kevin Wei | Seth Dickinson | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 30 comments |
Warning: Will contain mild spoilers for Half a King and Half a World
One of the worst aspects of Joe Abercrombie’s Half a War, book three of his SHATTERED SEA trilogy, is the cover art — a depiction of assorted medieval weaponry formed by tongues of flame lapping at the darkness. Needless to say, the cover art is pretty freakin’ awesome, so Abercrombie must have put an extraordinary amount of work into the substance of Half a War to make it even better than the attention-grabbing visual that serves as its housing.
August 14th, 2015. Kevin Wei´s rating: 4.5 | Joe Abercrombie | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
The Price of Valor by Django Wexler
Warning: May contain mild spoilers for the preceding books.
If The Shadow Throne combined war and politics, the amalgam of these elements Django Wexler presents in The Price of Valor is much more effective and well-balanced. The latest installment in THE SHADOW CAMPAIGNS, The Price of Valor sees our protagonists battle both militarily and politically for Vordan’s freedom. After the Sworn Church persuaded the nations of the world to declare war on Vordan,
July 24th, 2015. Kevin Wei´s rating: 4 | Django Wexler | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Shadow Throne by Django Wexler
Book two in Django Wexler’s THE SHADOW CAMPAIGNS series, The Shadow Throne sees our heroes Janus bet Vhalnich, Winter Ihernglass, and Marcus d’Iviore return to the capital of Vordan, Vordan City, upon hearing of the king’s dire illness. Confined to his sickbed, the king promotes Janus to Minister of Justice, who then places Marcus in command of the city guard. As Janus works to promote the independence of Vordan from foreign influence and establish the power of the monarchy,
June 23rd, 2015. Kevin Wei´s rating: 3.5 | Django Wexler | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Shadow of Elysium by Django Wexler
The Shadow of Elysium is the second novella in Django Wexler’s THE SHADOW CAMPAIGNS series. In The Penitent Damned, the preceding novella, we witnessed Alex’s untimely capture by the Priests of the Black. This installment is a continuation of Alex’s story, albeit I didn’t realize it at first because the story is told through the viewpoint of Abraham, a newly introduced character who also has demonic abilities. When the story begins,
May 29th, 2015. Kevin Wei´s rating: 4.5 | Django Wexler | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Half the World by Joe Abercrombie
Joe Abercrombie’s Half the World is book two of his SHATTERED SEA trilogy. Although Yarvi and some of the cast from book one do make an appearance, Half the World isn’t exactly a sequel to Half a King, and I almost think you could read it without having read book one. The overarching storyline follows Father Yarvi’s quest to find allies abroad as Gettland’s enemies close in,
April 7th, 2015. Kevin Wei and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 5 | Joe Abercrombie | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The High Lord by Trudi Canavan
Published in 2003, The High Lord is the action-packed third and final book of Trudi Canavan’s THE BLACK MAGICIAN trilogy. In The High Lord, Canavan brings us back to Sonea’s troubles and her “capture” by Akkarin, the High Lord of the Magician’s Guild. It’s hinted throughout book two, The Novice, that Akkarin might not be as evil and corrupted as his practice of black magic seems to suggest, but it’s in book three that we finally discover some of Akkarin’s motives and end goals.
March 30th, 2015. Kevin Wei´s rating: 2 | Trudi Canavan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The sequel to The Magicians’ Guild, Trudi Canavan’s The Novice is book two in her THE BLACK MAGICIAN trilogy. After being mentored by the kindly Lord Rothen for a number of weeks, Sonea meets the rest of her class at the Guild as the term officially begins. Although she attempts to be friendly with them, all of her class eventually turns against her for being a lower class slum girl rather than members of the nobility like them.
March 13th, 2015. Kevin Wei´s rating: 2 | Trudi Canavan | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Magicians’ Guild by Trudi Canavan
The first installment of Trudi Canavan’s THE BLACK MAGICIAN trilogy, The Magicians’ Guild is the story of a young girl, Sonea, who discovers that she possesses magical abilities. As a lower class street girl living in the slums of the imaginary city of Imardin with her aunt and uncle, Sonea’s life has been one of destitution and hatred of the city’s snobbish upper class. Every year, the magicians of Imardin hold a Purge,
March 5th, 2015. Kevin Wei and John Hulet | Trudi Canavan | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Not entering! I actually read an SF book in November--System Collapse by Martha Wells, the latest Murderbot book. Excellent, as…
I'm continuing with the Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock. The third book in the series, "The Weird of the White…
Alan Garner's Treacle Walker was best of November for me, a short novel that was also surprisingly readable, given how…
I enjoyed a couple of good MG/YA fantasy books. The first is apparently some kind of Dutch classic--"The Cat Who…
"North Woods is a novel of terroir" love this!