Category: Fantasy

A couple of months ago, I put out a tweet asking people where I should start with Ben Galley as I'd seen some good things about him. A few people came back, including Galley himself - his suggestion was to start with the Chasing Graves as it was the series he was most proud of. He then decided to DM me and said he'd be happy to send me a copy if I wanted to get started and you can't say no to that! So it was only fair that I slotted his book to the top of my TBR when it arrived. Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means that if you purchase any products via the links below, I may receive a small commission at…

When I received the sequel to The Ember Blade, The Shadow Casket, from Gollancz, I quickly went out and ordered the first book in the series The Ember Blade. I did some quick research on it and quickly saw it had received a lot of praise from people who'd read it with some even claiming it to be "the best fantasy" they'd ever read and "Lord of the Rings for the modern age" so I went it to it with high expectations. Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase any products via the links provided below, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of these products. The…

The Fall is a prequel novella to Ryan Cahill's much-praised The Bound and The Broken fantasy series. It's a series I'm desperate to start at some point this year and so I thought, after a slow reading month last month, I'd pick up his sub-100 page prequel novella The Fall. And wow. Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase any products via the links below, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product. Ryan Cahill‘s name is constantly being bounced around my Twitter feed as someone whose books are an absolute must and that, topped with some wonderfully mature and appealing front covers, has made…

George R.R. Martin's second book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, A Clash of Kings, is a very successful follow-up to the huge hit with me that was A Game of Thrones. It continues the politics, and the stories, it introduces new characters and sets us up for future books to come. But is it completely flawless? Please note that this article contains affiliate links, this means that if you choose to purchase products via any of the links below then I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the products. A Clash of Kings picks up quite soon after A Game of Thrones so if you've not yet read my review of that,…

The third and final book in the His Dark Material trilogy by Philip Pullman is the climactic The Amber Spyglass. It aims to round up everything from the previous two books - settle scores, unify worlds, fix problems and prevent evil. The question is - does it do enough to feel like the end to one of the most popular trilogies in fiction? The Amber Spyglass brings us once again back to the lives of Lyra and Will. Will has the Subtle Knife that can cut through into worlds and Lyra is said to be the chosen one who will change the fate of the worlds. How will this all end up then? The Amber Spyglass plot - 3/5 I'll be honest, the first half of The Amber Spyglass felt…

Fire and Blood is a Game of Thrones prequel. Though it isn't a book about a set of characters with lots of speech and a simple overarching plot, instead it tells the story of the hundred years leading up to Game of Thrones. It covers many kings, queens, families, wars, betrayals and stories. Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase any products via the links below, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of any of the products. Fire and Blood starts off just prior to Aegon's Conquest which upon his coronation resets the year date to 0 AC. Essentially Aegon reunited the seven kingdoms, starting the…

John Gwynne is quickly becoming one of the biggest names in fantasy with his recent release of The Hunger of the Gods. Malice is where it all started - his debut fantasy novel of over 600 pages. It's an epic in every sense and it is absolutely brilliant. Please note that this article contains affiliate links - this means if you choose to purchase any products via the links below, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product. Malice by John Gwynne, as I stated above, was Gwynne's very first novel back in 2012. Since then he's been smashing out a book almost every year since then creating quite the portfolio of some of…