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Month: August 2021

Book Review: City of Blades (The Divine Cities, #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett

Book Review: City of Blades (The Divine Cities, #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Divine Cities (Book 2 of 3)

Genre: Urban fantasy, fantasy, post-apocalyptic

Published: 26th January 2016 by Broadway Books (US) & 7th January 2016 by Jo Fletcher Books (UK)


City of Blades was one of the best sequels I’ve read; it has everything I could ask for that expands upon an already fantastic start to a trilogy.

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Book Review: Mistress of the Empire (Riftwar: Empire, #3) by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts

Book Review: Mistress of the Empire (Riftwar: Empire, #3) by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts

Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Riftwar: Empire (Book #3 of 3), The Riftwar Cycle (Book #7 of 31)

Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Classic Fantasy

Pages: 864 pages (UK Paperback edition)

Published: 1st April 1992 by Doubleday


This is the second series I finished this year, and it’s a thrilling and rewarding conclusion to the Riftwar: Empire trilogy.

“Love doesn’t demand; it accepts. It has taken me my life to learn this.”

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Book Review: Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Book Review: Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty


Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nine Perfect Strangers was not a book I intended to pick up. The idea of a novel this long set at a health resort sounded tedious to me. But after seeing the trailer for the Hulu series, I found myself intrigued. I enjoyed another of Moriarty’s books, Big Little Lies, and it was also a story whose premise did nothing for me, so I decided to give Nine Perfect Strangers a try. I’m glad I did, because it ended up being one of the best non-fantasy novels I’ve read all year. I was honestly incredibly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this book.

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Cover Reveal: Nectar for the God (Mennik Thorn #2) by Patrick Samphire

Cover Reveal: Nectar for the God (Mennik Thorn #2) by Patrick Samphire

Hi everyone! Eon from Novel Notions here.

Today we are honoured to be able to do the beautiful cover reveal of Nectar for the God by Patrick Samphire. This book is the sequel to Shadow of a Dead God which was one of my favourite reads of 2020, a delightful page-turner of a story featuring a down-on-his-luck, heart of gold, scrappy mage protagonist. And it’s funny as hell.

The first book in the series intitally had a cover made by Patrick himself, and he did an excellent job of it, but he then decide to update it and asked Ömer Burak Önal to design a new cover which turned out to be a showstopper. It’s no surprise then that he asked Ömer to also design the artwork for the sequel after that magnificent previous effort. So, without further delay, here it is, the cover reveal of Nectar for the God!

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Book Review: City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett

Book Review: City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett

(This is a repost of an old review I wrote in May 2018)

Cover art illustrated by: Sam Weber

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series:The Divine Cities (Book #1 of 3)

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Urban fantasy, Post-apocalyptic, Horror

Pages: 452 pages (US paperback edition)

Published: 9th September 2014 by Broadway Books (US) & 2nd April 2015 by Jo Fletcher Books (UK)


A truly wonderful start to a trilogy and one of the most original world-building I’ve ever had the chance to experience in a novel.

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Book Review: Shadowblack (Spellslinger, #2) by Sebastian De Castell

Book Review: Shadowblack (Spellslinger, #2) by Sebastian De Castell

Shadowblack by Sebastian de Castell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Spellslinger (Book 2 of 6)

Genre: Fantasy, YA fantasy

Published:  5th October 2017 by Hot Key Books (UK) and 21st August 2018 by Orbit (US)


Enjoyable and engaging, Shadowblack was an excellent sequel which builds on the characters and the intriguing world they live in.

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Book Review: City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett

Book Review: City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Divine Cities (Book 1 of 3)

Genre: Urban fantasy, fantasy, post-apocalyptic

Published: 9th September 2014 by Broadway Books (US) & 2nd April 2015 by Jo Fletcher Books (UK)


It had been a while since I’ve come across such a magnificent start to a series or trilogy; City of Stairs was a fine example of genre-redefining for urban fantasy.

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Book Review: The Pariah (The Covenant of Steel, #1) by Anthony Ryan

Book Review: The Pariah (The Covenant of Steel, #1) by Anthony Ryan

ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.

Cover art illustrated by: Jaime Jones

Cover art designed by: Lauren Panepinto

The Pariah by Anthony Ryan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Covenant of Steel (Book #1 of 3)

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 576 pages (UK Hardcover edition)

Published: 26th August 2021 (UK) & 24th August 2021 (US) by Orbit


I’ve read every novel by Anthony Ryan, and The Pariah just might have his best prose so far.

“When the task is a killing, be quick and make sure of it. Torment is an indulgence. Save it for only the most deserving.”

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Book Review: The Death of Dulgath (The Riyria Chronicles, #3) by Michael J. Sullivan

Book Review: The Death of Dulgath (The Riyria Chronicles, #3) by Michael J. Sullivan

Cover art illustrated by: Marc Simonetti

The Death of Dulgath by Michael J. Sullivan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Riyria Chronicles (Book #3)

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy

Pages: 408 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: 15th October 2015 by Riyria Enterprises, LLC (Self-published)


The Death of Dulgath is the best volume in The Riyria Chronicles so far.

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