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Tag: 5 stars

A Time of Dread (Of Blood and Bone, #1)

A Time of Dread (Of Blood and Bone, #1)

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

A Time of Dread by John Gwynne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Time of Dread is a work conceived in the mind of a genius.

Simply amazing and almost impossible to put down, A Time of Dread is truly a masterful start to a trilogy which I envision will be crowned as one of the best series I’ve ever read by its end. John Gwynne has proven himself once again to be the constant harbinger of superlative epic fantasy that only the greatest of authors can achieve. …

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The Bonehunters (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #6)

The Bonehunters (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #6)

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The Bonehunters (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, #6)The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Brilliant is an understatement, The Bonehunters is a leviathan of a masterpiece in convergence.

With this installment, Steven Erikson has cemented himself as an irreplaceable author for the genre of epic and military fantasy. This is the already the sixth book in the series and it’s simply unbelievable how he was able to keep producing such an amazing book. I thought Memories of Ice would end up being the absolute best installment of the series but as it turns out, The Bonehunters ended up being another best of the series so far; it’s truly up to the masterpiece quality of Memories of Ice and I can’t decide which one I loved more between the two. Let’s just say I’m honestly shocked by how incredible this installment was. It took six books of the series but I’m extremely confident about putting Erikson into my list of favorite authors of all time now. …

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Book Review: Bloody Rose (The Band, #2) by Nicholas Eames

Book Review: Bloody Rose (The Band, #2) by Nicholas Eames

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

Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Band (Book #2 of 3)

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Comedy

Pages: 544 pages (UK paperback edition)

Published: 30th August 2018 by Orbit (UK) & 28th August 2018 by Orbit (US)

Attention avid fantasy readers; it’s time for me to ask for your consideration once again. Nicholas Eames did it again. As of now, I’m calling Bloody Rose one of the best sequels of all time.

Last year, Kings of the Wyld made it into my small “favorite debuts of all-time” list. Since then its sequel, Bloody Rose, has easily become my most anticipated new release of the year. Expectations were high, and a fear of disappointment was certainly there, but as it turns out I needn’t have worried. It is with a heart full of joy that I proclaim Bloody Rose’s tour to be another successful tale; this is truly an excellent sequel to Kings of the Wyld, which was already amazing on its own. Those who follow my reviews should know by now that I’m a devoted series binge reader. When I started a new series to read and review, I usually finish every book available in the series first before moving to a different series or standalone. Bloody Rose however was one of the incredibly rare exceptions where I simply had to drop everything in my TBR pile immediately; it was completely irresistible. …

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Midnight Tides (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #5)

Midnight Tides (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #5)

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Midnight Tides (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, #5)Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After the huge disappointment I had with House of Chains, Midnight Tides brought my love for Malazan Book of the Fallen back magnificently.

Midnight Tides marks the fifth book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. That’s right, this means that I’m halfway through the series now! Knowing that this is the fifth book in the series, it surprised me at first that instead of continuing the story from everything that has been built in the previous four books, the narrative shifted its focus back to several years before the time in Gardens of the Moon; in a completely new continent with a new conflict and shockingly—with the exception of one character from House of Chains—a completely new set of characters. I mean, this is the fifth book of the series already! Isn’t it crazy that we don’t get to see the majority of the previous four book characters in it? Well, it IS crazy but please don’t be intimidated by this fact. …

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Dear Fahrenheit 451

Dear Fahrenheit 451

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Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian’s Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life by Annie Spence
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m so tempted to frame this review as a letter to the book in question. Should I? Shouldn’t I? I think I should.

*Clears throat*

Dear Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks,

You are exactly what a book about books should be. …

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Chemistry (Stella Blunt, #1)

Chemistry (Stella Blunt, #1)

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Chemistry by C.L. Lynch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you put Warm Bodies and Twilight in a blender and add a heaping helping of sarcasm, you would end up with Chemistry. It’s billed as a “sassy, body-positive, snarky twist on Twilight,” and it is absolutely the truth. I love the Twilight Saga and probably always will; it’s incredibly addictive and one of my ultimate guilty pleasure reads, even though I know it’s problematic on multiple levels. But Lynch added an element to her parody that was missing in the original; humor in droves. While Twilight might make you giggle or roll your eyes in places, it never made me physically bust out laughing, which this book did countless times. …

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Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3)

Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3)

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Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3)Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A peerless and jaw-dropping epic installment; I consider myself damn lucky to have witnessed this powerfully evocative tale.

I’ve stated that it’s mandatory to read at least two books of the series in order to truly find out whether you’ll love this series or not. I retract that statement now and change it to three books instead. Trust me, if you don’t love Memories of Ice, you might as well drop the series now. And that’s okay because no series can work for everyone. Honestly speaking, I had a bit of doubt about the series, but this incredibly mesmerizing installment has convinced me to finally become a fan of the series. …

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The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)

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The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are very few books that combine both plot and prose in a way that burrows into my soul and becomes part of me. The Name of the Wind is one of those few.

“It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”

Plenty of books touch me and move me. There are stories that enchant me and carry me away from reality. There are writers whose prose I meditate upon as I read, choosing a handful of sentences to store within myself like a private lyrical bouquet so that I can recall the beauty of said prose always. There are authors whose creativity and craftsmanship I trust so much that I will purchase anything they write and consume it with pleasure. …

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City of Blades (The Divines Cities, #2)

City of Blades (The Divines Cities, #2)

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City of Blades (The Divine Cities, #2)City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Dying nobly is preferable to living savagely.”

I’m completely blown away by Bennett’s world building. City of Blades thrilled me and surprised me and cut me to the quick with its rich character development and lore. I cared so much about the characters, and felt every emotion they felt as I read. Bennett’s world is unlike any I’ve ever come across; he absolutely excels at creating both empathetic characters and compelling mythology and history to add a depth and uniqueness to his writing that I believe to be rare.

“O, the things we kill for our dreams, forgetting all the while we shall wake up to find them naught but dust and ash!
What fools we are to pretend that when we walk to war we do not bring our loved ones with us.”

…

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We Ride the Storm (The Reborn Empire, #1)

We Ride the Storm (The Reborn Empire, #1)

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We Ride the Storm (The Reborn Empire, #1)We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A new gale of hope for self-published fantasy blows with all its might as Devin Madson summons a new triumphant tornado in We Ride the Storm.

Open up your thesaurus and look up the word “underrated.” Devin Madson’s name truly belongs there. I bloody loved this book, even more than all of Madson’s previous works which were great themselves. You can check my review history and you’ll see that for self-published/indie books that I’ve read and reviewed so far, I’ve given a full 5 stars rating (without rounding up on Goodreads) to literally only one book, The Mirror’s Truth by Michael R. Fletcher. We Ride the Storm is the second occurrence. …

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