My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1 by Emil Ferris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Beautiful. I had no concrete expectations for this going in, but My Favorite Thing is Monsters is hands down the most unique graphic novel I’ve ever read. The story, the art style, and the character development where all absolutely brilliant. I was incredibly moved by it.
“Never let anyone’s darkness provoke you into your own midnight.”
Cover illustration by: Chris McGrath
Changes by Jim Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: The Dresden Files (Book #12 of 25)
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 554 pages (US Kindle edition)
Published: 18th March 2010 by Orbit (UK) & 6th April 2010 by Roc (US)
Changes was insane, a true Game-Changer for the series.
Paternus: Wrath of Gods by Dyrk Ashton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: The Paternus Trilogy (Book #2 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mythology
Published: July 2018 by Paternus Books Media (Indie)
If I’m limited to just two words to describe The Paternus Trilogy so far, I would say that it’s fun-tastically spectacular. …
ARC provided by the publisher—Gollancz—in exchange for an honest review.
Cover illustration by: Tomas Almeida
The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: The Age of Madness (Book #2 of 3), First Law World (Book, #9 of 10)
Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Grimdark fantasy
Pages: 512 pages (UK Hardback)
Published: 15th September 2020 by Gollancz (UK) & 15th September 2020 by Orbit (US)
Incredibly mesmeric and brilliant. The trouble with reading Abercrombie’s newest book is that there’s no more new Abercrombie book to read. …
The Once and Future Witches
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: Stand-alone
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Published: October 15th, 2020 by Orbit (UK) and October 13th, 2020 by Redhook (US)
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Witchy as HELL! The Once and Future Witches was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and Alix E. Harrow absolutely, unequivocally, brought the magic.
I first picked up The Ten Thousand Doors of January earlier this year (2020) and loved it beyond description. In fact, that book now occupies a space on my favourites shelf. It is unsurprising then, that The Once and Future Witches was one of my most anticipated book releases of the year. Luckily, I have been fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to read this book before the official release date. The icing on the bookish cake is that I have had the privilege of reading not just one, but two of Alix E. Harrow’s spellbinding stories in less than seven months and both have filled me with an unbridled sense of wonder.
ARC provided by the publisher—Harper Voyager—in exchange for an honest review.
Cover Illustration by: JungShan
The Burning God by R.F. Kuang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: The Poppy War Trilogy (Book #3 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Grimdark Fantasy, Military Fantasy
Pages: 640 pages
Published: 26th November 2020 by Harper Voyager (UK) and 17th November 2020 by Harper Voyager (US)
Bursting with violence, devastation, death, and profound emotions. The Burning God is by far the best book R.F. Kuang has written in her career so far. …
Hi everyone! Petrik from Novel Notions here. We, the team at Novel Notions, are very thrilled and honored that we were asked by Orbit to participate in the blog tour for the We Ride the Storm, the first book in The Reborn Empire quartet, by Devin Madson.
I’ll keep this introduction brief, We Ride the Storm was one of my favorite self-published books, to have it picked up by Orbit—one of my favorite publisher—still gives me joy up to this day. With that in mind, on this blog tour I decided to re-post my review that I wrote two years ago when I finished reading We Ride the Storm—the self-published edition—for the first time. Once you’ve read this full-of-praises review, let it sink into your head that the traditionally published edition of We Ride the Storm is even more refined and polished. …
Cover illustration by: Matt Duffin
The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 6 of 5 stars
Series: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books (Book #4 of 4)
Genre: Historical fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Translated Edition Published: 2018 by Weidenfield & Nicholson, Orion Books (UK) & Harper (US)
The Labyrinth of the Spirits is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It has it all – evocative history, engrossing mystery, atmospheric setting, compelling characters, incredible emotional depth – wrapped up in writing so beautiful that it moves your soul.
Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars.
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen (Book 9 of 10)
Genre: Epic fantasy, grimdark fantasy, fantasy
First published: 2009 by Bantam (UK) and 2010 by Tor (US)
The denouement of the Malazan Book of the Fallen is so long that it had to be written over two enormous books. Dust of Dreams is the first act of this grand finale and it was glorious!
…
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“There are worse prisons than words.”
The planet lost an incredible talent today. Carlos Ruiz Zafón, the author of this truly magnificent book, lost his battle with cancer, at the age of 55. Zafón had a brilliant, gorgeous way with words, and told stories in a way that sink into your bones and stay with you long after you read the last pages. Though he left the world too soon, he left behind him an amazing legacy in the novels that have touched countless readers across our world, which have been translated into more than 40 languages. I’m so thankful to have read and been touched by The Shadow of the Wind, and I’m grateful to have the rest of his catalogue in my future.
“Well, this is a story about books.”
“About books?”
“About accuse books, about the man who wrote them, about a character who broke out of the pages of a novel so that he could burn it, about ta betrayal and a lost friendship. It’s a story of love, of hatred, and of dreams that live in the shadow of the wind.”