Novel Notions

Book Review: Boy’s Life by Robert R. McCammon

August 9, 2020 TS Chan Comments 4 comments

Genre: Historical fiction, magic realism, horror, mystery

First Published: 1991

Boy’s Life is a beautifully written and captivating coming-of-age story.

I would like to highlight first of all that while this book might have won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1992, I would say that it was more akin to magic realism with a dose of horror in historical and fictional setting of a small town named Zephyr in Alabama.

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Book Review: Turn Coat (The Dresden Files, #11) by Jim Butcher

August 5, 2020 Petrik Leo Comments 0 Comment

Cover illustration by: Chris McGrath

Turn Coat by Jim Butcher

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Dresden Files (Book #11 of 25)

Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Pages: 545 pages (US Kindle edition)

Published: 4th June 2009 by Orbit (UK) & 9th March 2009 by Roc (US)

Turn Coat is one of my favorite volume in the series so far, it’s up there with Dead Beat and White Night.

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Book Review: A Chorus of Fire (The Sorcerer’s Song, #2) by Brian D. Anderson

July 31, 2020 Eon Comments 0 Comment

I received an ARC of A Chorus of Fire from the publisher (Tor books) in exchange for an honest review.

A Chorus of Fire by Brian D. Anderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Sorcerer’s Song (Book #2 of 3)

Genre: Fantasy

Published: 11^th August 2020 by Tor Books

A captivating continuation, A Chorus of fire expertly sets up the series for a climactic finish.

The Bard’s Blade was the first book I read by Brian D. Anderson and I loved it. As I stated in my review for that book, there are not many fantasy stories where music plays a major role. That does not seem to have changed much since I wrote that and I was eagerly looking forward to immersing myself back in this world. When I was given the chance to read the sequel early, I had zero hesitation in saying “YES, PLEASE!” Before I carry on though, I would like to give a shout out to Felix Ortiz for the gorgeous cover art he created for this book.

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Book Review: Nemesis Games (The Expanse, #5) by James S.A. Corey

July 30, 2020 Petrik Leo Comments 0 Comment

Cover Illustration by: Daniel Dociu

Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Expanse (Book #5 of 9)

Genre: Sci-fi, Space Opera

Pages: 535 pages (UK paperback)

Published: 4th June 2015 by Orbit (UK) and 2nd June 2015 by Orbit (US)

It’s all about the crew of Rocinante, and that’s the main reason why Nemesis Games is the best book in the series so far. …

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Book review: Shadow of a Dead God by Patrick Samphire

July 29, 2020 Eon Comments 1 comment

Shadow of a Dead God cover Shadow Of A Dead God

Shadow of a Dead God by Patrick Samphire

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Mennik Thorn (Book #1)

Genre: Fantasy

Published: May 27th, 2020 by Five Fathoms Press

Copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

A real page-turner; Patrick Samphire has crafted an excellent, mage-ical adult fantasy debut.

I am for the most part very wary regarding what I choose to read, and as such, I rarely read books that I have not heard a lot of good things about, with the exception of authors whose previous work I loved. Shadow of a Dead God by Patrick Samphire fell smack-bang in the middle of this category, with neither the author nor the book being known to me, but I was seriously tempted from the first time I read the blurb and it shows the importance of a well-written description. Still, I wavered until my co-blogger, Emma, said that she was also interested in this fun sounding book and ready to give it a shot, and I thought, what the hell, let me join in. I am SO happy I made that decision.
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Book Review: Ashes of the Sun (Burningblade & Silvereye, #1) by Django Wexler

July 27, 2020 Petrik Leo Comments 4 comments

ARC provided by the publisher—Head of Zeus—in exchange for an honest review.

Cover illustration by: Scott M. Fischer

Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Burningblade & Silvereye (Book #1 of 3)

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Post-apocalypse, Sci-fi.

Pages: 593 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: 21st July 2020 by Head of Zeus (UK) & Orbit (US)

A captivating start to a series; if you’re worried whether Ashes of the Sun will be as good as The Shadow Campaigns or not, feel free to incinerate those doubts away now. …

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Book Review: The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2) by J.R.R. Tolkien

July 23, 2020 Petrik Leo Comments 4 comments

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Lord of the Rings (Book #2 of 3)

Genre: Fantasy, Classic Fantasy, Epic Fantasy

Published: 11th November 1954 by George Allen and Unwin

“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.”

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Book Review: If It Bleeds by Stephen King

July 21, 2020 Celeste Comments 1 comment

If It Bleeds by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve honestly come to believe that King can simply do no real wrong in my eyes. And I’m still baffled by this turn around, as I vividly recall years of my life when I couldn’t get past the first chapter of anything he wrote. Whatever the catalyst for this change in taste might have been, I’m grateful for it. King is now firmly planted among my favorites. While not every book or story is a masterpiece, they’re all enjoyable. This newest collection of his is no exception. Below are micro-reviews for each of the four stories contained in this collection. Even if I didn’t adore them all, I had fun reading them. …

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Book Review: Rebirth (Divinity’s Twilight, #1) by Christopher Russell

July 20, 2020 Petrik Leo Comments 0 Comment

ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Cover illustration by: Chris McGrath

Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth by Christopher Russell

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Divinity’s Twilight (Book #1)

Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Sci-fi, Steampunk

Pages: 498 pages (US Paperback edition)

Published: 2nd June 2020 by Morgan James Fiction (Indie)

This was good, an ambitious SFF debut to what I foresee will be a large series.

Due to my TBR pile that continues to exponentially grow uncontrollably, I have to say that I rarely accept an ARC/review copy from an unknown author these days. My gut, however, told me to accept the request to review Christopher Russell’s debut, Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth, and I’m glad I gave this one a go. I mean, how could I say no when Russell himself said that he’s a huge fan of The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson; the inspirations from that epic series was evident in his debut. …

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Book Review: The Angel’s Game (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #2)

July 18, 2020 Celeste Comments 2 comments

The Angel's Game
The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (translated by Lucia Graves)
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

For close to a decade I’ve thought that The Shadow of the Wind was one of the most brilliant novels I had ever read. I had no idea that it was a preamble, setting up for an even bigger story. And I truly believe that The Angel’s Game just scratched the surface; I can feel in my bones that there’s far more to come. I’ve also been reliably informed by TS and Petrik that all of the questions I found left frustratingly open at the end of this book will indeed be answered later in the series, which does nothing but add to my excitement.

“Poetry is written with tears, novels with blood, and history with invisible ink.”

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