Book Review: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

Book Review: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry


The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is another of those books that’s been sitting on my shelf for years, but news of an upcoming adaption made me finally pick it up. I didn’t expect to love The Essex Serpent. I bought it at a library sale because the cover is stunning, but it sounded more than a bit slow, and I’m not a huge reader of historical fiction. However, when Tom Hiddleston was cast as one of the leads in the television series, I knew I had to finally dust it off and read it. I’m so incredibly thankful that I did, because this novel was gorgeous. I was incredibly surprised by how much I ended up loving it.

“If love were an archer someone had put out its eyes, and it went stumbling about, blindly letting loose its arrows, never meeting its mark.”

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TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : April 2022

TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : April 2022

Hello all!  Welcome back to my monthly wrap-up.  I can’t believe that four months had already gone by this year.   One positive development so far in 2022 is that international borders are opening up and I’m looking forward to be able to travel again, one of my other favourite things to do besides reading.

April was another great month of reading, as we continued our Middle Grade series reads and started the epic reread of all the Mistborn books in preparation for the release of The Lost Metal in November this year.

NB. Books are rated within its genre.  For avoidance of doubt, rereads are not considered for Book of the Month.

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Book Review: The First Binding (Tales of Tremaine, #1) by R.R. Virdi

Book Review: The First Binding (Tales of Tremaine, #1) by R.R. Virdi

ARC was provided by the publishers—Tor Books & Gollancz—in exchange for an honest review.

Cover art illustrated by: Felipe de Barros

The First Binding by R.R. Virdi

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Tales of Tremaine (Book #1)

Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy

Pages: 832 pages (Kindle Edition)

Published: 16th August 2022 by Tor Books (US) & 18th August 2022 by Gollancz (UK)


The First Binding is a South Asian inspired high fantasy debut reminiscent of The Name of the Wind. I walked into the book in search of the most important thing in the world of escapism. An unforgettable story. And I ended up swept into one of the most memorable ones.

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Book Review: Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, #5) by Stephen King

Book Review: Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, #5) by Stephen King


Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I first read The Gunslinger, I wasn’t a fan. But I was determined to get past that first book, because I know King views The Dark Tower as his magnum opus and I really wanted to at least try to read that. Then I got to The Drawing of the Three and fell in love it. I couldn’t help but think that it would be the highlight of the entire series for me, but then I read The Wastelands. And Wizard and Glass. And The Wind Through the Keyhole. And I’ve loved them all just as much. Wolves of the Calla was no exception. I would have never thought that a western-horror-fantasy would become one of my favorite series of all time, and yet here we are. If King doesn’t drop the ball in the last two books, this will have quite possibly been the most epic literary experience of my life.

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Short Story Review: Hounds by Clayton Snyder

Short Story Review: Hounds by Clayton Snyder

Hounds by Clayton Snyder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Grimdark
Pages: 15 pages (Kindle Edition)
Published: Grimdark Magazine #30, 22 April 2022


Short stories are tough to review, especially in the case of Hounds. There’s a very limited amount of real estate you can work with, and Snyder tips his hand at many new ideas and characters that we barely get to spend time any time with. Before we know it, the story is over, and I’m left wanting more – which is a good thing! On the flip side, why introduce certain elements if they’re never going to be dug into? Not that every detail must be explored, but I felt that a lot of potentially interesting ideas were just barely touched upon and then dropped entirely, be it an allusion to power, a relationship status or history, a mention of ancillary characters, or important world-building elements. In some cases, less is more, but I would have appreciated more being more, here.

Onto the story itself.

Hounds is about making tough choices while raising children out in the wilds of a plague-infested land. In this world, the morality is so grey that our narrator must consistently remind himself to take the higher ground. But as the story progresses, what constitutes the higher ground keeps changing for the worse. When there’s no easy choices left, at what point should survival be considered optional?

It is a bleak story with a dark ending, and Snyder’s writing is powerful and effective at conveying the hopelessness of the narrator’s journey. But without knowing more about the surrounding circumstances, I couldn’t fully relate to the decisions of the narrator. There was a bit of a disconnect in understanding his motivation and reasoning. However, the experience of reading the story itself I very much enjoyed; Snyder has a knack for quickly creating effective atmosphere in his stories and Hounds brings this in spades. If you’re a fan of creeping dread, walls-closing-in tales of paranoia, then this is a story for you.

Book Review: They Mostly Come Out at Night (Yarnsworld, #1) by Benedict Patrick

Book Review: They Mostly Come Out at Night (Yarnsworld, #1) by Benedict Patrick


They Mostly Come Out at Night by Benedict Patrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

They Mostly Come Out at Night is a case of judging a book based on its cover. I bought this and the next three books in the series literal years ago, because I thought that the cover art was gorgeous. And there they have sat since I pulled them from their packaging. I very randomly decided this week that they had wasting away, unread and thus unloved, for more than long enough. I’m glad I did, because I ate up this little book in two sittings and enjoyed my time with it.

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Cover Reveal: THE LESSONS NEVER LEARNED (The War Eternal #2 – Hardback Edition) by Rob J. Hayes

Cover Reveal: THE LESSONS NEVER LEARNED (The War Eternal #2 – Hardback Edition) by Rob J. Hayes

Greetings, everyone! Adam here, and I’m thrilled to announce Novel Notions’ participation in the cover reveal for Rob Hayes’ hardback edition of THE LESSONS NEVER LEARNED, book two of The War Eternal series. Let me turn it over to Rob to discuss the backstory of how these stunning hardback editions came to be.


Here we go with something a bit fancy. To mark the 2nd anniversary of The War Eternal (I still can’t quite believe it’s been 2 years already), I decided I wanted to give Eska some nice hardbacks. I don’t know about anyone else, but I love collecting hardbacks. There’s something a bit different to owning a book that solid. But I didn’t just want to use the old artwork. I wanted to make these books a bit special. So I commissioned Felix Ortiz and Shawn King to bring whole new art to the books and to splash some new colour on the series.

If you’ll indulge me a short story, it all started with this image.

This was the original concept for Along the Razor’s Edge Felix produced so long ago now. I loved it. I loved it so damned much. But in the end we decided to go with something a bit more traditional for the covers. But I’ve never stopped loving that original version. So when I approached Felix with the idea for the new hardbacks, I told him I wanted them done in that style. He took it as a challenge.

For the new THE LESSONS NEVER LEARNED cover, I told Felix I wanted three major components. The first was Eska looking a bit older and wearing some badass armour and wielding a couple of swords. The second was Ssserakis (the demon) looking no less scary, but more of an ally than an enemy. And the third was lightning because book 2 would not be complete without lightning! We played around with a few different colour schemes, and in the end settled on blues and greens. So I present to you all, the jacket cover for the The Lessons Never Learned hardback.

But that’s not all. The case of the hardback is also printed with the naked artwork and the book’s tagline on the back done in the same bespoke font that Shawn created for the titles. I’ve also completely reformatted the interior for as professional a book as I can make.

The hardbacks are available now from Amazon and probably some other online retailers.

And I sell signed copies direct from my website. But please be aware international postage is currently a bit ridiculous.

And, of course, I have to remind you all here that The War Eternal series is continuing this year. SINS OF THE MOTHER (book 4) is releasing on May 3rd. And DEATH’S BEATING HEART (book 5) is coming in December.


Check out our advance review of SINS OF THE MOTHER. You can also find the cover reveal for ALONG THE RAZOR’S EDGE from our friends over at FantasyBookCritic, and the cover reveal for FROM COLD ASHES RISEN at FanFiAddict here.

Book Review: Relic of the Gods (The Echoes Saga, #3) by Philip C. Quaintrell

Book Review: Relic of the Gods (The Echoes Saga, #3) by Philip C. Quaintrell

Cover art illustrated by: Chris McGrath

Relic of the Gods by Philip C. Quaintrell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Echoes Saga (Book #3 of 9)

Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy

Pages: 526 pages (Kindle Edition)

Published: 1st June 2018 by Quaintrell Publishing (Self-Published)


An epic and action-packed conclusion to the first arc of The Echoes Saga.

“I will teach you what I can in our time together but, ultimately, it will be your actions that define you, that guide you to your place in the world.”

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Book Review: The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy, #1) by Chelsea Abdullah

Book Review: The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy, #1) by Chelsea Abdullah


The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an advance copy of this novel from the publisher, Orbit Books, in exchange for an honest review.

The Stardust Thief is the first in what is sure to be a solid, atmospheric new fantasy trilogy. This is Abdullah’s debut novel, and I found it to be a strong, well written story with compelling characters and an enchanting setting. A new riff on the classic tale of The Thousand and One Arabian Nights at its core, The Stardust Thief carves a new path into uncharted territory while still beautifully honoring its inspiration. I’ve read very little Arabic-inspired fantasy, but this book made me thirsty for more.

“Death in a free land is better than life in a gilded cage.”

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Book Review: The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Book Review: The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean


The Book Eaters
 by Sunyi Dean
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy, Horror
Pages: 304 pages (Hardcover Edition)
Published: 2nd August 2022 Tor Books (US), 18th Aug 2022 HarperVoyager (UK)


The Book Eaters is a feast of a story, with an aperitif of supernatural mystery, an amuse-bouche of family politics, three courses of contemporary Gothic horror, a vintage bottle of vengeance and a well-earned finale where diners get their just desserts.

Devon is a book eater, part of a race of supernatural entities that consumes tomes while absorbing the knowledge they contain. Devon is raising her five-year-old son Cai, who is not a book eater, but a mind-eater: he must sustain himself by feeding on the brains of others. This process is more vampiric than zombie: the feedings imprint the victims’ personalities upon Cai, so this five-year-old must contend with multiple identities constantly fighting for control of his mind.

Female book eaters are rare, so Devon’s Family—and the other Families of book eaters across modern day United Kingdom—arrange temporary marriages between Houses for procreative purposes. Eater women are used as little more than birthing cows before being forcibly separated from their children and moved onto the next marriage. It’s a patriarchal society full of empty promises and it’s horrifying.

The narrative structure of the book divides its time between Devon’s past, alternating chapters with present day Devon and Cai on the run. Dean is a brilliant world-builder, farming out just enough bits of information along the way to help fill in the gaps of Devon’s early years while helping the reader understand her motivation and goals in the present timeline. Not all is as it seems.

Everyone is a monster in this book, and they are all terrifying. Flashes of Atwood’s The Handmaiden’s Tale rears its ugly head as Devon’s desperation becomes agonizing and palpable. One of my favorite themes of the story is how painful love can be, and this is a driver of so many of Devon’s major life choices, which sometimes lead to ruin. But throughout it all, there is a sliver of hope for a way out. All the years of terror and loneliness and desperation might lead to freedom and companionship with a side order of vengeance if her wild plans could somehow fall into place…

The Book Eaters is one of my top reads of the year. It is atmospheric, it is brutal, it is exciting and emotional, and I planned my evenings around it. It tackles themes of identity, parenthood, the dark side of love, the importance of hope and sacrifice, and what it means to grow up different. It resonated hard with me. Highly recommended.