standalone Archives - Novel Notions

The Vanished Birds is a beautiful, heartfelt, and tense standalone space opera story about kindness, choices, love, pain, ambition, and found family.

“Geniuses are born all the time, but kindness is rarer, these days especially. The world could use more kindness.”

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Book Review: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

July 7, 2023 Petrik Leo Comments 4 comments

This review is a copy of the transcript of my video review on Yumi and the Nightmare Painter.

Cover art by Aliya Chen

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Cosmere

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 479 pages (Kindle)

Published: 1st July 2023 by Dragonsteel Books (Kickstarter) & 11th July 2023 by Tor Books (US Ebook)/Gollancz (UK Ebook)

This was utterly brilliant and satisfying. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter will be the best of the secret project novels, and it is easily one of Sanderson’s finest books in his career. …

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Book Review: Ruination (League of Legends) by Anthony Reynolds

June 5, 2023 Petrik Leo Comments 0 Comment

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

Ruination: A League of Legends Novel by Anthony Reynolds

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: League of Legends (Book #1)

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy

Pages: 448 pages (Hardcover edition)

Published: 6th September 2022 by Orbit Books

Surprisingly better than I expected. Ruination is a fast-paced and compelling standalone novel in the universe of League of Legends.

“A fool with power is a dangerous thing. And we live in a world overflowing with fools and power. —Extract from “The Helian Primer of Light”

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Book Review: Witch King by Martha Wells

May 24, 2023 Celeste Comments 2 comments

Witch King by Martha Wells
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

As soon as it was announced, Witch King immediately intrigued me. I loved the title and the cover and the premise, and while I’ve never read anything from Martha Wells, her Murderbot Diaries series is highly loved and lauded by those I trust. I’m much more of a fantasy reader than a sci-fi reader, so when I saw that she was writing a fantasy, I knew that I wanted to read it as soon as possible. And I’m happy to report that, in spite of those sky-high expectations, I was not disappointed. Witch King is a high-octave quest through a very original world littered with compelling characters, captivating locales, and some deeply disturbing magic and monsters. But, at its core, it is the ultimate story of found family, one of the best I’ve ever read. …

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Book Review: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

April 7, 2023 Petrik Leo Comments 0 Comment

Cover art by Steve Argyle

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone

Genre: Science fiction, Portal fantasy

Pages: 420 pages (ebook edition)

Published: 1st April 2023 by Dragonsteel

Sanderson’s experimental and bizarre comedic sci-fi novel with the theme of redemption will be a big hit or miss.

“Your life isn’t unremarkable. You are merely living in the wrong time. Find your Perfect Dimension ™. Embrace your destiny— whether it be to bring Promethean light or exert relentless domination— and travel the dimensions. Become a wizard.”

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Book Review: Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee

March 15, 2023 Petrik Leo Comments 0 Comment

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

Cover art illustrated by: Jaime Jones

Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy

Pages: 160 pages (Hardcover edition)

Published: 11st April 2023 by Tordotcom

Judging this by my novella standards, Untethered Sky is one of the best standalone novellas I’ve read.

“We cannot know the price others pay for their good fortune.”

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Book Review: The Magician’s Daughter by H.G. Parry

January 26, 2023 Celeste Comments 1 comment

The Magician’s Daughter by H.G. Parry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an advance digital copy of this novel from the publisher, Orbit/Redhook, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Magician’s Daughter is a book that excited me as soon as I saw the announcement. I love H.G. Parry. Her debut, The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep, is one of my favorite standalones of all time. It is a love letter to book lovers, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. I have yet to finish reading her Shadow Histories, her incredibly well-researched (but dense) duology, but I was thrilled at the prospect of having another standalone from her. I didn’t love it quite as much as I hoped I would, as there was something about the plot and pacing that didn’t quite compel me to burn my way through the story, but The Magician’s Daughter was an absolute delight to read. …

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Book Review: Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

January 5, 2023 Petrik Leo Comments 0 Comment

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Cosmere

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Epic fantasy

Pages: 483 pages (Kindle)

Published: 1st January 2023 by Dragonsteel Books (Kickstarter) & 10th January 2023 by Tor Books (US Ebook)/Gollancz (UK Ebook)

Tress of the Emerald Sea was simply whimsical and wonderful. Starting the year 2023 with the first secret novel from The Year of Sanderson is the correct action for me.

“Even small actions have consequences. And while we can often choose our actions, we rarely get to choose our consequences.”

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Petrik’s Top 19 Books of the Year! (2022)

December 28, 2022 Petrik Leo Comments 0 Comment

Click here if you want to see the list of all the books I’ve read so far this year: Petrik’s Year in Books (2022)

Between 1st January 2021 and 28th December 2022, I’ve read 65 novels + 162 manga/manhwa volumes (69k pages).

Please read this first. 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. These rules allow me to highlight more authors, and at the same time, I’ll also be able to include both new and older books (many of them still need attention) that I read within this year.

Rereads aren’t included.
One book per series.
The books listed here are not all exclusively published this year; the list consists of the top books I read for the first time within this year. Non-2022 published books on this list will have their first date of publication included.

Do note that although there’s a rank to this list, I HIGHLY recommend every book/series 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. Honorable mentions are for books I rated 4.5 stars but I didn’t round up the ratings. And I will also mention my favorite novellas first this year. Without further ado, here are the top 15 (or 19) books I’ve read this year! (All full reviews of the books listed can be found on Novel Notions and my Goodreads page.) …

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