Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan Archives

Book Review: The Broken God (The Black Iron Legacy, #3) by Gareth Hanrahan

June 4, 2021 Petrik Leo Comments 2 comments

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

Cover art illustrated by: Thea Dumitriu

The Broken God by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Black Iron Legacy (Book #3 of 5)

Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy

Pages: 578 pages (Paperback edition)

Published: 20th May 2021 by Orbit (UK) & 18th May 2021 by Orbit (US)

The Broken God continues The Black Iron Legacy’s reputation as one of the most imaginative ongoing fantasy series right now. …

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2nd Interview with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

January 9, 2020 Petrik Leo Comments 0 Comment

Hi everyone, Petrik from Novel Notions here. Today I’m bringing you a second interview with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, the author behind The Gutter Prayer and its recently released sequel, The Shadow Saint. I’ve read and reviewed The Shadow Saint since the end of last year and upon finishing it, I knew I have to interview the author AGAIN because I have a few things to ask his brilliant mind, so here we are.

You can check out my review of The Shadow Saint on the blog and I hope it will convince you to order it if you haven’t already done so. Now, without further ado, here is my second interview with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan. …

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Book Review: The Shadow Saint (The Black Iron Legacy, #2)

January 7, 2020 TS Chan Comments 0 Comment

ARC received from the publisher, Orbit, in exchange for an honest review.

The Shadow Saint by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Black Iron Legacy (Book 2)

Genre: Fantasy, high fantasy, dark fantasy

Published: 7th January 2020 by Orbit (US) & 9th January 2020 by Orbit (UK)

The Gutter Prayer had been constantly lauded as one of the best debuts of 2019. Hanrahan’s imaginative and extraordinary dark fantasy worldbuilding, as well as his unique voice, continued to impress in its sequel, The Shadow Saint.
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TS’s Top 20 Books Read in 2019

December 30, 2019 TS Chan Comments 8 comments

The featured image above was specifically designed by Felix Ortiz for Novel Notions’ Top 20 List.

Hello everyone! This is the first time I’m listing my top reads for the year 2019. Initially, I wanted to opt for Top 10 but having read 100 books and rated a lot between 4.5 and 5 stars, I felt that I would struggle to limit it to ten. The parameters for my list are as follows:

Rereads don’t count
One book per author
Not limited to books which are released this year. Those not published in 2019 will be specified.

With exception of #1, none of these are ranked. I’ve merely listed them in the chronological order of when I’ve read them this year. I’ve also included my favourite classic read of the year as we’ve started the Novel Notions Classic Club in July. All of these have been reviewed by me on Novel Notions and Goodreads.

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Petrik’s Top 20 Books of the Year (2019)

December 23, 2019 Petrik Leo Comments 28 comments

The featured image above was specifically designed by Felix Ortiz for Novel Notions’ Top 20 Lists. Check out his portfolio, he’s brilliant.

Click here if you want to see the list of all the books I’ve read this year: Petrik’s Year in Books (2019)

Here we are, we’re reaching the end of 2019 very soon! This year, I’ve read and reviewed 115 books (96 traditionally published books + 19 indie books.)

It’s lower than the previous two years, but I must say that it’s been another incredible reading year for me. Putting the high amount of 4.5 and 5 stars books I’ve rated this year into consideration, I will be applying four rules into this list; doing this will help me give appreciation to more authors, and I’ll be able to include both new and older books (many of them still need attention) rather than having only a few authors/books hoarding the list every year.

Rereads don’t count.
One book per author.
Unless specified, the books listed here are published this year.
Number one spot aside, none of these are in particular order. All have merit, and most have different strengths that make them stand out from each other; it’s too difficult for me to rank them accordingly.

All the books listed below received a rating of 4.5 or 5 out of 5 stars from me. Without further ado, here are the top 20 books I’ve read in 2019! (Full reviews of these books can be found on Novel Notions and my Goodreads page.)

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Book Review: The Shadow Saint (The Black Iron Legacy, #2) by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

November 25, 2019 Petrik Leo Comments 6 comments

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

The Shadow Saint by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Black Iron Legacy (Book #2)

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Dark Fantasy

Pages: 592 pages (UK paperback edition)

Published: 9th January 2020 by Orbit (UK) & 7th January 2020 by Orbit (US)

The Shadow Saint, the sequel to my favorite debut of 2019, is here and it successfully met my high expectations with so much energy.

Firstly, a shout out to one of my favorite artists, Richard Anderson, for creating another gorgeous cover art. Remember what I said at the beginning of my review of The Gutter Prayer? I tend to find the content of an SFF book with Anderson’s cover art to be as good as the cover, and this statement holds incredibly well once again. Secondly, if it’s been a while since you’ve read the first book, please remember that the author has a detailed recap (thank god!) of the previous book on his website. I finished reading The Gutter Prayer almost exactly a year ago. Back then, despite the book being released this year, I made a bold claim that The Gutter Prayer would be my favorite debut published in 2019, and seeing there are only five weeks left in 2019, I don’t see any possibility of this claim being proven wrong. I loved The Gutter Prayer so much, and with that in mind, The Shadow Saint managed to not only live up to my high expectation but also, once again, become one of my favorite reads of the year. …

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Petrik’s Top 10 Books of the Year So Far (January 1st, 2019-June 30th, 2019)

July 1, 2019 Petrik Leo Comments 21 comments

The featured image above was specifically designed by Felix Ortiz for Novel Notions’ Top 10 List. (More info on this at the end of the post.)

Between January 1^st, 2019 and June 30th, 2019, I’ve read and reviewed 61 books (33.6k pages). So far, it’s been an incredible reading year. There will be three rules I set in this list in order for me to give appreciation to more authors rather than having only a few authors hoarding this list. The rules are:

Rereads don’t count.
One book per author.
The book listed here are not exclusively published this year.

Do note that although this time there’s a rank to this list, I highly recommend every book listed below because I loved all of them immensely and they received a rating of 4.5 (rounded up on Goodreads) or 5 out of 5 stars from me. Without further ado, here we go! (All full reviews of the books listed can be found on Novel Notions and my Goodreads page.)

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Interview with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

January 22, 2019 Petrik Leo Comments 4 comments

Hi everyone, Petrik from Novel Notions here. Today I’m bringing you an interview with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, the author behind the recently released debut, The Gutter Prayer. I have read and reviewed The Gutter Prayer since last year and upon finishing it, I immediately claim that it will be the best fantasy debut of 2019 and I’m sticking by my words. It was really that good if you stick through it. I decided then that I simply have to interview the author so here we are.

You can check out my review of The Gutter Prayer on the blog and I hope it will convince you to order it if you haven’t already done so. Now, without further ado, here is my interview with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan. …

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The Gutter Prayer (The Black Iron Legacy, #1)

January 17, 2019 TS Chan Comments 6 comments

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

The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

A truly extraordinary debut, The Gutter Prayer strikes an intense chord with its powerful worldbuilding, vivid imagery and evocative prose.

Two things about this book caught my attention. Firstly, the blurb which indicated that the main characters were three thieves (I have such a weakness for stories with thieves). And then, my co-blogger’s review which raved about the dark worldbuilding. Alright! I’ll admit that the gorgeous cover also played some part in this.
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Petrik’s Top 20 Books of the Year (2018)

December 12, 2018 Petrik Leo Comments 10 comments

Time really flies huh? Another year is coming to an end soon! This year I’ve read and reviewed 129 books. It’s been another fantastic reading year. Considering the high amount of 4.5 and 5 stars books I’ve rated this year, I’ll even say that this year miraculously ended up being my best reading year so far. There will be four rules I set in this list in order for me to give appreciation to more authors rather than having only a few authors hoarding this list.

Rereads don’t count
One book per author
The book listed here are not exclusively published this year.
Outside of the two top spots (for good reasons), none of these are in particular order. All have merit, and most have different strengths that make them stand out from each other; putting a rank on them feels odd to me, especially when every book in this list now resides on my ‘favorite books’ shelf.

All the books listed below received a rating of 4.5 or 5 out of 5 stars from me. Without further ado, here are the top 20 books I’ve read in 2018! (All full reviews of these books can be found on my Goodreads page; some are already available on this blog.)

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