Blood of Assassins by R.J. Barker
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy, mystery
Published: 13th Feb 2018 by Orbit US & 15th Feb 2018 by Orbit UK
An impressive sequel to an excellent debut, Blood of Assassins draws upon the compelling character development of Girton Club-Foot to underscore a storyline which is at once engaging and unpredictable.
Age of Assassins by R.J. Barker
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy, mystery
Published: 1st August 2017 by Orbit US & 3rd August 2017 by Orbit UK
An excellent debut, Age of Assassins was a well-crafted and compelling coming-of-age tale – one that’s not exactly what you expect a typical assassin story to be.
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The featured image above was specifically designed by Felix Ortiz for Novel Notions’ Top 20 List.
Hello everyone! This is the first time I’m listing my top reads for the year 2019. Initially, I wanted to opt for Top 10 but having read 100 books and rated a lot between 4.5 and 5 stars, I felt that I would struggle to limit it to ten. The parameters for my list are as follows:
With exception of #1, none of these are ranked. I’ve merely listed them in the chronological order of when I’ve read them this year. I’ve also included my favourite classic read of the year as we’ve started the Novel Notions Classic Club in July. All of these have been reviewed by me on Novel Notions and Goodreads.
ARC provided by the publisher, Orbit, in exchange for an honest review.
The Bone Ships by by R.J. Barker
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars.
Series: The Tide Child (Book 1 of 3)
Genre: High-fantasy
Published: September 26th, 2019 by Orbit (UK) & September 24th, 2019 by Orbit (US)
Bold and inventive, R.J. Barker sailed through new, uncharted waters with The Bone Ships and emerged with a brilliant tale of seafaring adventure and deeds of derring-do.
ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.
The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Series: The Tide Child (Book #1 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, High fantasy
Pages: 496 pages (UK paperback edition)
Published: September 26th, 2019 by Orbit (UK) & September 24th, 2019 by Orbit (US)
Highly imaginative world-building with a large focus on sea voyages and naval warfare. …
Time really flies huh? Another year is coming to an end soon! This year I’ve read and reviewed 129 books. It’s been another fantastic reading year. Considering the high amount of 4.5 and 5 stars books I’ve rated this year, I’ll even say that this year miraculously ended up being my best reading year so far. There will be four rules I set in this list in order for me to give appreciation to more authors rather than having only a few authors hoarding this list.
All the books listed below received a rating of 4.5 or 5 out of 5 stars from me. Without further ado, here are the top 20 books I’ve read in 2018! (All full reviews of these books can be found on my Goodreads page; some are already available on this blog.)
King of Assassins by R.J. Barker
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
I honestly can’t believe I almost didn’t pick up this trilogy; King of Assassins was a superb finishing touch to The Wounded Kingdom.
Bloody, poignant, intense, heartwarming, tragic, and dark; I finished this entire trilogy within six days, I just didn’t expect it to be this damn good and engaging. The Wounded Kingdom trilogy practically stole my life for an entire week, and the only antidote to my addiction was to finish reading the entirety of the series. …
Blood of Assassins by R.J. Barker
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Blood of Assassins magnificently transitioned The Wounded Kingdom into a much darker series in an awesome way.
Girton and his master have been living as a mercenary for five years since the end of the event in Age of Assassins. The past five years experience has changed or repressed Girton’s personality to something worse. This sequel was a much darker book than its predecessor; at times I feel like it totally belongs in the grimdark genre due to how grey the moral code of Girton was. Barker strengthened his storytelling skill in this installment by making sure the story was unpredictable, full of intense twists and turns, and the entirety of the book to focus heavily on the theme of redemption and prejudices against sorcerer/magic. Plus, the murder mystery aspect in the book also was much more engaging to follow than before. …
Age of Assassins by R.J. Barker
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
A highly enjoyable debut; I finished Age of Assassins in less than 24 hours.
I think people need to set their expectations right when they’re going to read this book. If you expect this to be an Assassin’s Creed type of story where the assassin goes on full throttle killing mode or be involved in a battle against another assassin for the majority of the book, you’re most likely going to be disappointed. I came into this expecting it to be something along the line of Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice and with that mindset, I had a fantastic time with this addictive debut. …