If you’re not intrigued by the title of A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, I’m not sure what to tell you. But if you think that T. Kingfisher’s pseudo-middle-grade novel can’t live up to its title, I can tell you that you’re mistaken. Whether you want humor, depth, good characters, or an interesting magic system,… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
I hadn’t heard much about Hench when it came out, but this is the time of year when an interesting premise and a couple people convinced it should be in consideration for a Hugo nomination is enough to give something a second look. And, while I probably won’t include Hench on my ballot, Natalie Zina… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
I’ve been hearing a lot of good about The Deep–Rivers Solomon’s novella, inspired by the song of the same name from the experimental hip hop group clipping.–ever since its release in 2019. And with it being spotlighted this month in one of r/Fantasy’s many book clubs, I finally decided to take the plunge. The… Continue reading Fantasy Novella Review: The Deep by Rivers Solomon
New epic fantasies always give me more apprehension than any other book. The ones that hit tend to really hit, and secondary world fantasy series dominate my all-time favorites list. But they try to accomplish so much that it’s easy to get bogged down in the setup, and I DNF epics more than anything else.… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Andy Giesler released his debut during the summer of 2019, but it didn’t hit my radar until it made the semifinals of this year’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. While it was not chosen as a finalist, I found its review more intriguing than the book chosen out of that semifinal group, so I decided to give… Continue reading Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel Review: The Nothing Within by Andy Giesler
I haven’t done many of these, so I’ll start with a word about my series reviews. They are not reviews of the last book. They are meant to be helpful for people who have not read the series at all, or perhaps who have started and are unsure about whether to continue. As such, I… Continue reading Fantasy Series Review: The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham
Guy Gavriel Kay, known for his exemplary prose, historical settings, and fondness for standalones, is one of those authors I’ve been hearing about for a long time. I consistently hear other authors I like (like Carol Berg, or Janny Wurts) recommend for fans of Kay. That probably works the other way as well, so I… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
K.B. Wagers’ A Pale Light in the Black promises a heartwarming tale of finding family in a military setting, complete with lots of sci-fi sporting competition. As someone who grew up reading sports novels as much as speculative fiction, I had to check it out, and, as promised, it was a lot of fun. A… Continue reading Science Fiction Novel Review: A Pale Light in the Black by K.B. Wagers
It’s hard to know where to start with Vita Nostra. The 2007 novel by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko was brought to the English market with a 2018 translation by Julia Meitov Hersey, and the dark magic school novel came with a solid wave of rave reviews. But unlike the last magic school novel I read,… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
After years of mostly sticking to adult fantasy, Legendborn is my second young adult book in the last five weeks (third if you count A Deadly Education, which sits somewhere between YA and dark fantasy), and if Tracy Deonn’s work is representative of the quality in YA fantasy, I’m going to have to read more.… Continue reading Fantasy Novel Review: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
