en-US Tue, 17 Dec 2024 13:43:54 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 3389 112 Mary Tomalin 0582461359 Phil 4 3.98 1994
author: Mary Tomalin
name: Phil
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 76449604
Ser Edward, an experienced sailor, embarks on perhaps the most daring expedition of the Kingdom of Esenworth so far. His mission is to try to earn the blessing of the Reverend Sven, who is none other than his love’s father, probably the most influential man in the realm. But on his journey beset by fierce storms, he and his men encounter something that could shake to the core not only their faith, but their very concept of the world as well. Meanwhile, far from the oceans, his love, Emma, is trying to disentangle herself from the spider’s web of intrigue and scheming, into which she is being drawn ever deeper by Erick the new king.

And the dark clouds just keep gathering above �� ancient beasts, stranger than ever, appear at sea, on land and even in the skies more and more frequently. They roar with a metallic screech, their eyes glow with an unnatural light, their skin hard and rigid as armor.

Can order be upheld in this age blind to divine prophecy, in the largest kingdom of the North, where the monarch’s mind is coming undone just like reality itself?

Our heroes must struggle ceaselessly to understand the hidden secrets of their world and their own origins. But what are they going to do once they have the answers?]]> 385 Norbert Zsivicz 6158185922 Phil 5 4.01
author: Norbert Zsivicz
name: Phil
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves:
review:
This is a wonderfully genre-bending romp packed with creativity and just my kind of mix of weirdness, with some horror to boot. A rather dark and different tale that takes some brave steps outside the usual fantasy norms.��
]]> 424059 0 Franz Kafka 0788702181 Phil 4 3.47 1915
author: Franz Kafka
name: Phil
average rating: 3.47
book published: 1915
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 36243224 Four nations: South, West, East and North.
Only one remains free.
So begins Siege of the Northland, the tale of a fearless young warrior called Jesyka: the Northland’s one true heir of the ancient Tribe of Skea. When called upon to fulfil her destiny and stand with her adopted people against the infamous warlord, Volger, Jesyka is drawn into an adventure which will touch her heart and scar her soul.
With King Broehain of the Northland strangely set upon appeasing Volger, his son, Lord Aran, joins forces with Jesyka and her guardians to infiltrate the warlord’s lair. As dark disturbing secrets are uncovered, Jesyka and Aran are plunged into a desperate battle to protect all that they hold dear.
With the odds stacked heavily against them, the cost of their defiance becomes clear: the threat of their own destruction and the loss of their beloved Northland.]]> 216 Ruth Rathband 1999718313 Phil 0 to-read 4.00 2017
author: Ruth Rathband
name: Phil
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 33796794 Can music really change the world?

Nadja's life was perfectly planned: marry Luca, learn his trade, have their children. But the night of their betrothal celebration, her plans go up in smoke. Now on the run, she'll have to leave behind the only life she's ever known. And to stay alive, she'll have to become something that defies everything she's been taught to believe.

But Nadja isn't the only one changing.

In Amrantir, where music is magic, nature bends to the will of the Musicians. But an echo from the past threatens the balance between Man and nature.

With her newfound security in jeopardy, can Nadja evade capture and certain death? Can she unravel the mysterious circumstances linking her to Amrantir's checkered past? And can she fend off the advances of the handsome woodsman determined to help her?��

Inharmonic is the first book in The Music Maker series. If you love strong female characters, mystery, romance, and a rich and sometimes quirky supporting cast, you'll love A. K. R. Scott's adventurous fantasy.

Buy Inharmonic today to visit the land where MUSIC IS MAGIC.]]> 332 A.K.R. Scott 0998508306 Phil 0 to-read 3.87 2017
author: A.K.R. Scott
name: Phil
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 39292925 The Facility holds many dangerous secrets.
All of them are worth killing for.

The Facility's most classified asset has just turned up on Kira's doorstep.
Azrael.
Undeniably beautiful to look at, like a sculpture brought to life, and definitely not the least bit human.
But what is he exactly? Kira doesn't have the clearance for that kind of information.
All she knows is that he dribbles when he drinks, can't string a sentence together, and his creator is asking her to smuggle him out of the Facility.
This is not even remotely the weekend Kira planned. It doesn't involve nearly enough vodka.
But she's not about to say no to her own sister, especially when they've barely spoken in years.
Kira's sister Blake is one of the brain's behind the Facility's astonishing tech.
Azrael is her creation.
And something has her running scared.

No matter what you hear, Kira, or what you are told, unless the words come direct from me, do not come back.

Kira knows exactly who Blake works alongside in the covert depths of the Facility. And they aren't the type you mess with, if you like breathing.
So what has Blake so desperate? And why the hell didn't she choose someone else to play baby-sitter?

Azrael better be worth it.
Like, saving the world, kind of worth it. ​​​​​​��

Because this game of hide and seek isn't one Kira can afford to lose.

Metal Angels is fast-paced science fantasy with lots of sex, swearing and violence. Buckle Up.

**Language Warning** - if you don't like copious amounts of swearing, then perhaps this one isn't for you. Kira knows all the words and likes to use them. She enjoys it almost as much as sex. So be warned, sexual content contained in this book! (Not graphic or erotica)

Part One of a Four-part SERIAL. **Please note, these are not stand-alone books.**

What are other readers saying about Metal Angels?

'Brilliant start,Kick-Ass heroine more plot twists and turns than you can take in, an absolute pleasure to read, a real page turner more please.' ŷ������ Review

'Read Part 1 in a day as I couldn't put it down ... can't wait for Part 2!!' Kindle Review

'Metal Angels offers a unique blend of ancient myths and futuristic technology that's utterly fascinating.' Kindle Review

'Sexy characters, fun characters, intimidating characters - all interesting and each with their own rich personality. The metal angels four-part series will keep you hooked.' Kindle Review]]> 232 D.K. Girl 099814276X Phil 0 to-read 3.62 2018
author: D.K. Girl
name: Phil
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 37846317 ��
Rob wants a good job, friends to head to the pub with and a solid cage to lock himself in three nights a month. Julian dropped off the face of the Earth four years ago. He's back and trying to stay under the radar. But London after dark is full of dangers they cannot survive alone.
��
Fiona has a monster in her shadow but she doesn't know how it got there. A creature in the shape of a man is on her trail and he knows things about Fiona she doesn't know herself. Along with her inventor ten-year-old sister Jessica, Fiona will attempt to unravel the web of lies that surrounds them both.
��
And beneath their feet the plague dead of centuries stir in their graves, waiting for the spell that holds them to break...
��
Ghost Electricity is the first book in the epic urban fantasy series Hawthorn House.

Join the residents of Hawthorn House to discover this exciting new series today!]]> 355 Sean Cunningham 1999951506 Phil 0 to-read 4.28 2018
author: Sean Cunningham
name: Phil
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216737047
The vengeful Facet is racing across the wrecked island of Pakree to reach the site of the crystal disaster all those years ago and harness the power of the final Veptilo. If they succeed, they may very well unleash destruction the likes of which the world has never seen before.

Unfortunately, Balt and his friends are the only people who can stop them.

Everything Balt and the others have trained for has come to this, but the magical crystals covering the island enhance the Facet's Artificial Jekuas, rendering their own almost useless. Going head-to-head with the Facet's unbelievably powerful monsters is certainly a death wish.

But what choice do they have?]]> 638 Travis M. Riddle Phil 5 4.50
author: Travis M. Riddle
name: Phil
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves:
review:
This is the valiant finale to the six-part Pokemon-style series, and it delivers on all you could want: fulfilling character arcs, epic jekua battles, rich backstories for side-characters, high stakes villainy and the occasional brutal violence. It’s a remarkable achievement to have seen this whole series play out over just three years, and for Riddle to have done it with such skill and creativity. The world and style has been consistently unique and engaging, and you could easily go through another six books just soaking up the atmosphere. It’s been a long and heartfelt journey and this is a superb, fitting conclusion.
]]> 35006266
Clara believes she has escaped from a predictable future of obligation and privilege, but her new life in the Appalachian Hills of Tennessee is decaying around her. In the mansion of Comrie, long hidden secrets are being slowly exhumed by a war that creeps ever closer.

The first novel from multi-award winning short-story writer Richard Buxton, Whirligig is at once an outsider’s odyssey through the battle for Tennessee, a touching story of impossible love, and a portrait of America at war with itself. Self-interest and conflict, betrayal and passion, all fuse into a fateful climax.]]> 498 Richard Buxton 0995769311 Phil 5 4.11
author: Richard Buxton
name: Phil
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/07/23
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review:

]]> 200576931 Five centuries, three peoples, one warAn endless feud between nations. Sorcerers who steal souls to feed their eternal life. A world so broken by magic that those who wield it are shunned and despised.Skilled young hunter Ina hides a deadly secret—she has the dark god’s powerful magic, blamed for the genocide of her people five centuries ago. If anyone finds out, they’ll execute her. When she learns that her lover’s daughter has the same magic, she must decide whether to reveal her secret to save the child.But her decision will determine not only the child’s fate but that of the whole world. Because the cycle of violence has begun again, and prophecy decrees she must be the one to end it. The alternative is the unraveling of all creation.Pre-order your copy of this unmissable epic fantasy adventure now!]]> 644 El McInerney 1738430502 Phil 5 4.35
author: El McInerney
name: Phil
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/07/18
shelves:
review:
This was a thoroughly enjoyable, classic-style epic fantasy, following three converging tales through multiple POVs, across tribal islands, an isolated magic city and the bustling metropolis. It unfolds rather slowly but with deliberation and clear confidence that the author knows what they’re doing, gradually drawing in monstrous creatures and cleverly trickled in magic and religion alongside an engaging cast of characters. And it has a good measure of seamless diversity to boot. A seriously solid start to a fantasy series that I think you’ll want to watch.
]]> 202512015 447 Richard Buxton 0995769370 Phil 5 4.88
author: Richard Buxton
name: Phil
average rating: 4.88
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/04/15
shelves:
review:

]]> 205485831
That's his plan, anyway. His grandparents might not be dead on Pakree after all, and he needs a Jenu's Warp magic to reach the island.

Complicating matters is the Facet, the shadowy organization stealing the Church's Veptilos. With them continuing to make moves, setting up a new base and preparing their Summoners for one final assault, Balt has to move fast.

Ascending the mountains and imprinting the Jenu at its peak will be the hardest thing Balt and his friends have ever done. When they reach the top, it's possible they might not even succeed.

And in all likelihood, they won't.]]> 630 Travis M. Riddle Phil 5
There’s more wild and nasty jekua here, for a good dose of drama (and it gets pretty brutal in places!), but the main draw remains how engaging it is to simply spend time in this world with these well-realised characters. Riddle has a real gift for drawing you in so it feels like comfort reading, even when things get ugly. There's a great sense of progression over the books, as we've really come to know and feel for these characters, and I marvel at how it's all been developed over such an extensive journey.

I could lap up a dozen of these, and it's kind of sad there's only one more to come, but I'm really looking forward to the finale.]]> 4.25
author: Travis M. Riddle
name: Phil
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/03/01
shelves:
review:
Get ready for another triumphant return to the Jekua series; at Book 5 we’re stretching towards the finish line of a consistently creative, charming and just all-around delightful story. I'll keep this short to give you more time to get out there and read it for yourselves, you won't regret it.

There’s more wild and nasty jekua here, for a good dose of drama (and it gets pretty brutal in places!), but the main draw remains how engaging it is to simply spend time in this world with these well-realised characters. Riddle has a real gift for drawing you in so it feels like comfort reading, even when things get ugly. There's a great sense of progression over the books, as we've really come to know and feel for these characters, and I marvel at how it's all been developed over such an extensive journey.

I could lap up a dozen of these, and it's kind of sad there's only one more to come, but I'm really looking forward to the finale.
]]> 208921275
But keeping the peace between humans and Auld Bloods isn’t easy. Taking Hallow comes at a price. Providence Company Assessor Cam must deal with backstreet bootleggers, burnt-out addicts and floating nuns that won’t stay on the ground.

When a string of Auld Blood deaths appear to have been caused by a corrupted batch of Hallow, Cam begins to suspect all may not be as it seems. Bodies are piling up. Someone is hiding something, and the consequences are becoming monstrous.]]> 285 H.L.Tinsley Phil 5
Tinsley is efficient with language, which I always respect, and she’s pulled off a solidly original and engaging story. The powers work here in inventive ways and there’s some great imagery involved. I'm always keen to see fresh ideas in my fantasy books, particularly where they take familiar genres and merge them or provide a distinct feel and voice, and Tinsley does that very well, offering up something that's a little bit urban fantasy, a little bit noir and a touch horror, but without feeling locked into their respective styles.]]> 4.29 2024
author: H.L.Tinsley
name: Phil
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/03/01
shelves:
review:
I was lucky to get an ARC of this new departure from Tinsley, and with apologies I've wanted to expand on a mini-review I did, but haven't had a chance yet. Check out the other lengthier reviews already on here, they do a better job discussing it than I could anyway, so I'll just keep this to the point: in a city run by superpowered nuns, freak mutation/murder is afoot and it’s up to the dudes with flowers for names to stop it. That sounds too blithe, sorry, it’s actually a taut and tightly woven thriller.

Tinsley is efficient with language, which I always respect, and she’s pulled off a solidly original and engaging story. The powers work here in inventive ways and there’s some great imagery involved. I'm always keen to see fresh ideas in my fantasy books, particularly where they take familiar genres and merge them or provide a distinct feel and voice, and Tinsley does that very well, offering up something that's a little bit urban fantasy, a little bit noir and a touch horror, but without feeling locked into their respective styles.
]]> 604025
Robin Hood meets the Rat Pack when the best and the brightest of M.I.T.’s math students and engineers take up blackjack under the guidance of an eccentric mastermind. Their small blackjack club develops from an experiment in counting cards on M.I.T.’s campus into a ring of card savants with a system for playing large and winning big. In less than two years they take some of the world’s most sophisticated casinos for more than three million dollars. But their success also brings with it the formidable ire of casino owners and launches them into the seedy underworld of corporate Vegas with its private investigators and other violent heavies.]]> 257 Ben Mezrich 0743249992 Phil 3 3.88 2002
author: Ben Mezrich
name: Phil
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 195882608
After barely surviving the attack on the Makanuele Rumble, Balt and Alani set out with their friends on a dangerous journey across the island to find a laboratory that might hold the key to learning what truly happened to Balt's grandparents eight years ago.

The Summoners will have to battle mutant Jekuas warped and strengthened by their toxic environment, search for a way to repair the mana leak that threatens to plunge Alani into perpetual soulsickness, and avoid the attention of their enemies.

But surviving the island won't be enough, because the supposedly abandoned lab is still in use �� and a threat deadlier than any they've faced before is waiting.]]> 584 Travis M. Riddle Phil 5
The emotional stakes keep rising as things continue to bite closer for home for everyone in Balt’s crew, in a variety of ways �� but where this book takes us an extra step from the previous entries is with a more sustained real-world threat. The dangers come faster and more ferociously on the disease-ridden Yululu Island, with the team facing feral creatures and human enemies, and it’s all the more exciting now they’ve moved well beyond Jekua contests. The conspiracy/mystery also builds in a more complex way, leaving you hunting for answers to how the pieces fit together.

As always, Travis Riddle writes with a particular flare for presenting realistic characters with complex emotions, which paired with the colourful and exciting landscape of creatures and threats makes for another engaging adventure that moves at a steady clip. A joy to read, and I’m already looking forward to the next chapter in this tale.
]]> 4.15
author: Travis M. Riddle
name: Phil
average rating: 4.15
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/09/01
shelves:
review:
At four books in, the Jekua series keeps building on its earlier successes. You know what you’re getting yourself into by this point: increasingly unusual and highly original creatures, extra intrigue and more perilous wanderings through magical lands �� with some of the most dramatic Jekua battles yet.

The emotional stakes keep rising as things continue to bite closer for home for everyone in Balt’s crew, in a variety of ways �� but where this book takes us an extra step from the previous entries is with a more sustained real-world threat. The dangers come faster and more ferociously on the disease-ridden Yululu Island, with the team facing feral creatures and human enemies, and it’s all the more exciting now they’ve moved well beyond Jekua contests. The conspiracy/mystery also builds in a more complex way, leaving you hunting for answers to how the pieces fit together.

As always, Travis Riddle writes with a particular flare for presenting realistic characters with complex emotions, which paired with the colourful and exciting landscape of creatures and threats makes for another engaging adventure that moves at a steady clip. A joy to read, and I’m already looking forward to the next chapter in this tale.

]]> 123260488
For two years, the Mars Expeditionary Force has held the line against the last remnants of the Third Reich. McCabe, Jenkins, and the Second Battalion long for home. Reinforcements have arrived, but the veterans of the MEF have one final mission. Defend Forward Base Zulu at all costs.

While Generalfeldmarschall Brandt plans a decisive showdown at Forward Base Zulu, Reichsführer Wagner celebrates the activation of the first generation of the Hollow Programme. Surrounded and cut off, McCabe and Jenkins once again find themselves in league with the MAJESTIC-12 operatives known as the Black Visors. Now the future hinges on the sacrifices of a few determined soldiers.]]> 270 Damien Larkin 1939844959 Phil 5
But above all, this is an action story and the battles flow with a vicious, claustrophobic fury. With the fighting mostly contained to one large compound, it's tight, in-your-face and nasty �� and skillfully woven to include more than a few moments of sober reflection and Larkin's usual punctuations of humour.

The stakes keep stacking up as the many paths of this wildly original tale come together, and the quality has only improved as the series has marched on.]]> 4.90
author: Damien Larkin
name: Phil
average rating: 4.90
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/08/05
shelves:
review:
The third book in Larkin's Big Red series is a triumphant return to form that delivers on everything you've come to expect from the first two books. The many complex threads of this extravagantly layered war are brought together through a colourful cast of characters, jumping between POVs in a way that not only neatly connects all the action but also keeps you on edge wondering where their allegiances will ultimately fall and who will make it through.

But above all, this is an action story and the battles flow with a vicious, claustrophobic fury. With the fighting mostly contained to one large compound, it's tight, in-your-face and nasty �� and skillfully woven to include more than a few moments of sober reflection and Larkin's usual punctuations of humour.

The stakes keep stacking up as the many paths of this wildly original tale come together, and the quality has only improved as the series has marched on.
]]> 569978 Librarian note: Alternative covers for this edition can be found here and here.

GOD IS DEAD
MEET THE KIDS

Fat Charlie Nancy is not having a good week. His estranged father recently dropped dead on a karaoke stage and has left Fat Charlie with much more than embarrassment. Because, you see, Charlie has discovered that his dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi the trickster spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and even baffle the devil. No wonder Fat Charlie’s life is about to be turned upside down.

Written by one of fiction’s most audaciously original talents Anansi Boys is a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth that is at once startling, terrifying and fiercely funny.

Includes extra material: An interview with Neil Gaiman and reading-group discussion questions.]]> 457 Neil Gaiman 0755305094 Phil 4
Like with his other work, the beauty of Gaimain's storytelling is that you're not entirely sure what is based on real-world myth and tradition and what is the product of his own creative mind. In this case, by using the traditions of a culture I'm sure a large part of his readership aren't overly familiar with, that blur between genuine mythology and Gaiman's creation is as hazy as ever. It achieves the unlikely by giving a surreal and dreamlike story a truly authentic edge.

Another reviewer noted that the way the author deals with race is also particularly interesting. He describes all his white characters as such when introducing them, which struck me as quite strange until it becomes apparent that a number of the main characters aren't defined as white (judging by their background and culture you can soon then deduce their descent). It puts obscure mythologies (for some, at least) onto a level field with the ones you are familiar with, making you wonder how these grand folklore stories might have alluded you. Well, that's coming from my ignorant background - I'm sure the story is even more rewarding for those who are familiar with the lore, as Gaiman certainly seems to have done his research.

On the story itself: it's delightfully paced with some vibrant characters and a tale that's both tense and funny. Gaiman is good at making his characters instantly distinguishable and likeable, whilst preserving a sense of depth - the way Spider changes, in particular, is an excellent study of subtle character development.]]> 4.05 2005
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Phil
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2012/12/24
date added: 2023/06/26
shelves:
review:
Neil Gaiman has a real knack for taking classic fairytale elements and spinning them into unique modern adventures. Before reading this, I was only familiar with Sandman and his TV and movie work, so I wasn't too sure what to expect from his novels. But it did not disappoint. Having elected not to read the blurb, until about a third of the way through I wasn't entirely sure what it was all about, but it was so much fun that I didn't care - I knew something crazy was going on and I loved it.

Like with his other work, the beauty of Gaimain's storytelling is that you're not entirely sure what is based on real-world myth and tradition and what is the product of his own creative mind. In this case, by using the traditions of a culture I'm sure a large part of his readership aren't overly familiar with, that blur between genuine mythology and Gaiman's creation is as hazy as ever. It achieves the unlikely by giving a surreal and dreamlike story a truly authentic edge.

Another reviewer noted that the way the author deals with race is also particularly interesting. He describes all his white characters as such when introducing them, which struck me as quite strange until it becomes apparent that a number of the main characters aren't defined as white (judging by their background and culture you can soon then deduce their descent). It puts obscure mythologies (for some, at least) onto a level field with the ones you are familiar with, making you wonder how these grand folklore stories might have alluded you. Well, that's coming from my ignorant background - I'm sure the story is even more rewarding for those who are familiar with the lore, as Gaiman certainly seems to have done his research.

On the story itself: it's delightfully paced with some vibrant characters and a tale that's both tense and funny. Gaiman is good at making his characters instantly distinguishable and likeable, whilst preserving a sense of depth - the way Spider changes, in particular, is an excellent study of subtle character development.
]]> 58724626
What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.]]> 165 T. Kingfisher 1250830753 Phil 4 3.86 2022
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Phil
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/05/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 88498164
Alani's sacred pilgrimage brings her group to bustling Makanuele at this crucial time. Her next stop is at the heart of the city, deep within an ancient crater. The Church led her along this path, but as the journey grows more difficult, she questions whether it is a path she wants to walk at all.

Meanwhile, Balt and Niona have been training for weeks just to earn a spot on the tournament bracket, but the competition is fierce. Facing savage Jekuas and harrowing environments, every battle may bring them closer to the champion's title �� or else bring their journey to a premature end.

Yet as the group struggles with their inner demons and the mounting pressures of the tournament, greater dangers are prowling in Makanuele's streets.]]> 712 Travis M. Riddle Phil 5
As with all Riddle's books, Makaneuele Rumble is highly readable and simply charming, with a pleasant, amiable atmosphere that is just enjoyable to spend time with. It's like experiencing an urban festival in book form, which is a feeling I'm not sure I've ever come across spread across a book before, but which I'll surely try and copy at some point.

And while it's rewarding to soak up the world and the characters' relationships, this one is also packed full of action, as a colourful array of Jekuas take to the stage to do battle. The pacing and originality on show here is exceptional: in the early stages, after a couple of gripping fights, I was wondering how it could sustain this in an interesting way for a long tournament, but I can tell you, every battle is so cleverly unique, there's so much originality and fun to be found here.

Underlying all the thrilling action and wondrous worldbuilding, though, it's the characters and their foibles that really make this. At times following their adventures is just like hanging out with friends, in a really positive way, and at others you'll be dying to know how they're going to resolve the various messes they get into, or sometimes create themselves. Considering how Fracture in the Qwisdeep ended, in a very difficult place emotionally, this book does a great job of maturely exploring the aftermath of such feelings, alongside interesting new problems. It's also good to see Niona take up more of a role in this book, giving a rather different perspective to the others, exposing what's going on under her seemingly carefree surface.

A wonderful book all around; if you were a fan of the first two, you definitely won't be disappointed, but if they still had you on the fence, this one will surely push you over.]]> 4.10
author: Travis M. Riddle
name: Phil
average rating: 4.10
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/03/07
shelves:
review:
Get ready for an explosive return to the world of Jekua for a book that entirely delivers on its premise. We've been building up to our first big Jekua tournament for two books and here it is: a tournament so epic it spans a whole very chunky book. And it does so spectacularly.

As with all Riddle's books, Makaneuele Rumble is highly readable and simply charming, with a pleasant, amiable atmosphere that is just enjoyable to spend time with. It's like experiencing an urban festival in book form, which is a feeling I'm not sure I've ever come across spread across a book before, but which I'll surely try and copy at some point.

And while it's rewarding to soak up the world and the characters' relationships, this one is also packed full of action, as a colourful array of Jekuas take to the stage to do battle. The pacing and originality on show here is exceptional: in the early stages, after a couple of gripping fights, I was wondering how it could sustain this in an interesting way for a long tournament, but I can tell you, every battle is so cleverly unique, there's so much originality and fun to be found here.

Underlying all the thrilling action and wondrous worldbuilding, though, it's the characters and their foibles that really make this. At times following their adventures is just like hanging out with friends, in a really positive way, and at others you'll be dying to know how they're going to resolve the various messes they get into, or sometimes create themselves. Considering how Fracture in the Qwisdeep ended, in a very difficult place emotionally, this book does a great job of maturely exploring the aftermath of such feelings, alongside interesting new problems. It's also good to see Niona take up more of a role in this book, giving a rather different perspective to the others, exposing what's going on under her seemingly carefree surface.

A wonderful book all around; if you were a fan of the first two, you definitely won't be disappointed, but if they still had you on the fence, this one will surely push you over.
]]> 38769599 Alternate cover edition of ASIN 1985746158 / ISBN13 9781985746152


“Closer, mortal. You are here, finally, to feed the Aching God…��

The days of adventure are passed for Auric Manteo. Retired to the countryside and isolated with his scars and riches, he no longer delves into forbidden ruins seeking dark wisdom and treasure. But just as old nightmares begin plaguing his sleep, he receives an urgent summons back to that old life.

To save his only daughter, he must return to the place of his greatest trauma: the haunted Barrowlands. Along with a group of inexperienced companions and an old soldier, he must confront the dangers of the ancient and wicked Djao civilization. He has survived fell beasts, insidious traps, and deadly hazards before. But how can he contend with the malice of a bloodthirsty living god?

First volume in the planned epic fantasy trilogy Iconoclasts , Aching God is the debut novel by RPG adventure designer Mike Shel.

This volume also includes an advanced preview of Iconoclasts - Book II: Sin Eater.]]> 414 Mike Shel Phil 5 4.11 2018
author: Mike Shel
name: Phil
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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]]> 37806236
When Marie's case draws her into Nessa's path, sparks fly. What comes next is more than a furtive whirlwind affair; it's the first pebbles of an avalanche. Nessa and Marie are the victims of a curse that has pursued them across countless lifetimes; a doom designed to trap them in a twisted living fairy tale, with their romance fated to end in misery and death.

They aren't going out without a fight. As they race to uncover the truth, forces are in motion across the country. In Las Vegas, a professional thief is sent on a deadly heist. In a Detroit back alley, witches gather under the guidance of a mysterious woman in red. Just outside New York, an abandoned zoo becomes the hunting-ground for servants of a savage and alien king. The occult underground is taking sides and forming lines of battle. Time is running out, and Nessa and Marie have one chance to save themselves, break the curse, and demand justice.

This time, they're writing their own ending.]]> 431 Craig Schaefer 1944806083 Phil 5 4.25 2018
author: Craig Schaefer
name: Phil
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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]]> 25326486
Making a Killing in Professional Heroics

The adventuring industry drives the economy of Arth, a world much like our own but with more magic and fewer vowels. Monsters�� hoards are claimed, bought by corporate interests, and sold off to plunder funds long before the beasts are slain. Once the contracts and paperwork are settled, the Heroes�� Guild issues a quest to kill the monster and bring back its treasure for disbursement to shareholders.


Life in The Shadows

Of course, while professional heroics has been a great boon for Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and all the other peoples of light, it's a terrible arrangement for the Shadowkin. Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, and their ilk must apply for to become Noncombatant Paper Carriers (or NPCs) to avoid being killed and looted by guild heroes. Even after getting their papers, NPCs are treated as second class citizens, driven into the margins of society.


An Insane Quest

Gorm Ingerson, a Dwarven ex-hero with a checkered past, has no idea what he's getting himself into when he stands up for an undocumented Goblin. His act of kindness starts a series of events that ends with Gorm recruited by a prophet of the mad goddess Al'Matra to fulfill a prophecy so crazy that even the Al'Matran temple doesn't believe it.


Money, Magic, and Mayhem

But there’s more to Gorm’s new job than an insane prophecy: powerful corporations and governments, usually indifferent to the affairs of the derelict Al’Matran temple, have shown an unusual interest in the quest. If his party of eccentric misfits can stop fighting each other long enough to recover the Elven Marbles, Gorm might be able to turn a bad deal into a golden opportunity and win back the fame and fortune he lost so long ago.]]> 340 J. Zachary Pike Phil 5 4.26 2014
author: J. Zachary Pike
name: Phil
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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]]> 40189843 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B07CZ51BXD


Gabe thought he had covered all the angles, but it’s tough to plan a contingency for accidentally trapping an evil god in your brain.

Gabriel Delling might call himself a professional con artist, but when walking superstitions start trying to bite his face off, his charm is shockingly unhelpful. It turns out living nightmares almost never appreciate a good joke.

Together with a succubus who insists on constantly saving his life, Gabe desperately tries to survive a new reality that suddenly features demons, legends, and a giant locust named Dale—all of whom pretty much hate his guts. And when an ancient horror comes hunting for the spirit locked in his head, Gabe finds himself faced with the excruciating choice between death... or becoming some kind of freaking hero.

Hero Forged is the first book in the new series, Ethereal Earth, a modern fantasy adventure that challenges the natures of myth, humanity, and what it means to be the good guy.]]> 346 Josh Erikson Phil 5 4.02 2018
author: Josh Erikson
name: Phil
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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]]> 36602704
Neenahwi is the daughter to Jyuth, the ancient wizard who founded the Kingdom of Edland and she is not happy. It’s not just that her father was the one who killed the King, or that he didn’t tell her about his plans. She’s not happy because her father is leaving, slinking off into retirement and now she has to clean up his mess.

Alana is a servant at the palace and the unfortunate soul to draw the short straw to attend to Jyuth. Alana knows that intelligence and curiosity aren’t valued in someone of her station, but sometimes she can’t help herself and so finds herself drawn into the Wizard’s schemes, and worst of all, coming up with her own plans.

Chance brings this unlikely band together to battle through civil unrest, assassinations, political machinations, pirates and monsters, all for a common cause that they know, deep down, has no chance of succeeding �� bringing hope to the people of Kingshold.]]> D.P. Woolliscroft Phil 5 3.90 2018
author: D.P. Woolliscroft
name: Phil
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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]]> 13505670
�����dz� Krampus

The author and artist of The Child Thief returns with a modern fabulist tale of Krampus, the Lord of Yule and the dark enemy of Santa Claus

One Christmas Eve in a small hollow in Boone County, West Virginia, struggling songwriter Jesse Walker witnesses a strange spectacle: seven devilish figures chasing a man in a red suit toward a sleigh and eight reindeer. When the reindeer leap skyward, taking the sleigh, devil men, and Santa into the clouds, screams follow. Moments later, a large sack plummets back to earth, a magical sack that thrusts the down-on-his-luck singer into the clutches of the terrifying Yule Lord, Krampus. But the lines between good and evil become blurred as Jesse's new master reveals many dark secrets about the cherry-cheeked Santa Claus, including how half a millennium ago the jolly old saint imprisoned Krampus and usurped his magic.

Now Santa's time is running short, for the Yule Lord is determined to have his retribution and reclaim Yuletide. If Jesse can survive this ancient feud, he might have the chance to redeem himself in his family's eyes, to save his own broken dreams, . . . and to help bring the magic of Yule to the impoverished folk of Boone County.]]> 357 Brom 006209565X Phil 5 4.10 2012
author: Brom
name: Phil
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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]]> 58724595 A Mirror Mended is the next installment in USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow's Fractured Fables series.

Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty, is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get a grip and try solving their own narrative issues.

Just when Zinnia’s beginning to think she can't handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help. Because there’s more than one person trapped in a story they didn’t choose. Snow White's Evil Queen has found out how her story ends, and she's desperate for a better ending. She wants Zinnia to help her before it’s too late for everyone. Will Zinnia accept the Queen's poisonous request and save them both from the hot-iron shoes that wait for them, or will she try another path?]]> 128 Alix E. Harrow 1250766648 Phil 4 3.72 2022
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Phil
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2022
rating: 4
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]]> 56179356
Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia's last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.]]> 119 Alix E. Harrow 1250765358 Phil 4 3.58 2021
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Phil
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2021
rating: 4
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]]> 49504061
But when the Eastwood sisters--James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna--join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There's no such thing as witches. But there will be.]]> 517 Alix E. Harrow 0316422045 Phil 5 4.01 2020
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Phil
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> 43521657
Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.]]> 374 Alix E. Harrow 0316421995 Phil 5 3.99 2019
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Phil
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2019
rating: 5
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]]> 58724745
Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairy tales and cautionary stories.

But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.]]> 298 Sunyi Dean 1250810183 Phil 4 3.60 2022
author: Sunyi Dean
name: Phil
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2022
rating: 4
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]]> 33375622 Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.

A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella Especially Heinous, Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgangers, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes.

Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.

The husband stitch --
Inventory --
Mothers --
Especially heinous --
Real women have bodies --
Eight bites --
The resident --
Difficult at parties]]> 248 Carmen Maria Machado 155597788X Phil 5 3.85 2017
author: Carmen Maria Machado
name: Phil
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2017
rating: 5
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]]> 60487268
A tight, tense novella, The Possession of Natalie Glasgow twists the exorcism tale at every turn down to its final grave confrontation.]]> 2 Hailey Piper Phil 4 3.50 2018
author: Hailey Piper
name: Phil
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2018
rating: 4
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]]> 49558357
But a vicious storm crashes into Blackwood and interrupts the festivities. Soon the girls find themselves trapped and hunted in a strange neighborhood where no one will help them. There’s nothing made-up about Benny Rose this Halloween night. The truth is coming, and it's hungry.

Book 3 in the Rewind-or-Die series: imagine your local movie rental store back in the ��70s, ��80s, and ��90s, remember all those fantastic covers. Remember taking those movies home and watching in awe as the stories unfolded in nasty rainbows of gore, remember the atmosphere and textures. Remember the blood.]]> 164 Hailey Piper Phil 4 3.77 2020
author: Hailey Piper
name: Phil
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 4
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]]> 60237082
Anxiety-ridden Alto might be the least-qualified person to face a creature that can hack minds like computers. Only a perilous journey to the ship’s bridge can reunite comms specialist with crew and give them a chance to call for help.

But the intruder only scratches the surface of this crisis, and discovering the truth will bring Alto face to face against a nightmare beyond flesh and thought.]]> 152 Hailey Piper Phil 3 3.33 2022
author: Hailey Piper
name: Phil
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2022
rating: 3
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]]> 55120033
Only after the disappearances of several other impoverished women does Monique hear the rumors. A taloned monster stalks the city’s underground and snatches victims into the dark.

Donna isn’t missing. She was taken.

To save the woman she loves, Monique must descend deeper than the known underground, into a subterranean world of enigmatic cultists and shadowy creatures. But what she finds looms beyond her wildest fears—a darkness that stretches from the dawn of time and across the stars.]]> 116 Hailey Piper 057877979X Phil 5 3.71 2020
author: Hailey Piper
name: Phil
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> 35519109
Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah—its former owner (protector? friend?)—submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit.

But who’s going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue?

And what will become of it when it’s caught?]]> 163 Martha Wells Phil 5 4.38 2018
author: Martha Wells
name: Phil
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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]]> 52381770
It worries about the fragile human crew who've grown to trust it, but only where no one can see.

It tells itself that they're only a professional obligation, but when they're captured and an old friend from the past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action.

Drastic action it is, then.

]]> 350 Martha Wells 1250229863 Phil 5 4.44 2020
author: Martha Wells
name: Phil
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> 35519101
And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good.

]]> 158 Martha Wells 1250191785 Phil 5 4.21 2018
author: Martha Wells
name: Phil
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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]]> 36223860 alternate cover for ISBN 9781250186928

It has a dark past �� one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A�� stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.]]> 158 Martha Wells Phil 5 4.23 2018
author: Martha Wells
name: Phil
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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]]> 32758901 "As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid--a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.�� Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.]]> 144 Martha Wells Phil 5 4.10 2017
author: Martha Wells
name: Phil
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 5
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]]> 53205854 No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall.

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?)

Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!

Again!]]> 168 Martha Wells 1250765374 Phil 5 4.25 2021
author: Martha Wells
name: Phil
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 5
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]]> 33080122
Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.

Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.]]> 431 Mary Robinette Kowal Phil 5 3.91 2018
author: Mary Robinette Kowal
name: Phil
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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]]> 58870629 'You cannot fix this world alone, selkie.'

'I know. But, when we die, all that is left are shadows of our lives preserved in the memories of those who remain. I plan on leaving an exceptionally long shadow, filled with ripples of moonlight for those I helped, and darker than the worst of nightmares for those who wronged us.'


How far would you go to save your skin?

I'm a selkie, trapped above the waves until I can recover my skin. Humans used to call us seal-wives many years ago - before they broke the planet. I thought that less humans, after the warming, would mean less danger. My kind believed our world was finally recovering.

We were wrong.

Up here, the magic is fading and Old Ones like me are being traded as trophies for rich and powerful humans to display in collections.

Without the Old Ones, the magic fades, without magic, the planet dies.

Humankind has gone too far and someone has to put a stop to it, I just wasn't expecting it to be me.

As the selkie begins her hunt, far to the south on his enormous pleasure ship, Barge, Lord Sal hunts for missing Old Ones with a grand plan to leave his own mark on the world. Icidro and Prince Ulises are searching for them too, and this is a world where money talks louder than morals.]]> 418 J.E. Hannaford 1739921313 Phil 5 4.16 2021
author: J.E. Hannaford
name: Phil
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2021
rating: 5
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]]> 1047347
But when she found what traps and dangers she faced in this gleaming tomorrow, even Alyx began to fear...]]> 152 Joanna Russ 0425040402 Phil 5 3.46 1968
author: Joanna Russ
name: Phil
average rating: 3.46
book published: 1968
rating: 5
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]]> 23074894 614 Stark Holborn 1444789236 Phil 5 4.11 2014
author: Stark Holborn
name: Phil
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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]]> 41838393 The Lord of Stariel is dead. Long live the Lord of Stariel. Whoever that is.Everyone knows who the magical estate will choose for its next ruler. Or do they?Will it be the lord’s eldest son, who he despised?His favourite nephew, with the strongest magical land-sense?His scandalous daughter, who ran away from home years ago to study illusion?Hetta knows it won’t be her, and she’s glad of it. Returning home for her father’s funeral, all Hetta has to do is survive the family drama and avoid entanglements with irritatingly attractive local men until the Choosing. Then she can leave.But whoever Stariel chooses will have bigger problems than eccentric relatives to deal with. Winged, beautifully deadly problems. For the first time in centuries, the fae are returning to the Mortal Realm, and only the Lord of Stariel can keep the estate safe.The Lord of Stariel is the first book in the Stariel quartet, a romantic cozy fantasy series about fae, magical estates, and complicated families.]]> 322 A.J. Lancaster 0473451255 Phil 4 3.94 2018
author: A.J. Lancaster
name: Phil
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
rating: 4
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]]> 48727813 Two-time British Fantasy Award Winner
Astounding Award Winner
Lambda Literary Award Finalist
Hugo Award Finalist
Locus Award Finalist
Otherwise Award Finalist

"Magnificent in every way."—Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree

"A dazzling new world of fate, war, love and betrayal."—Zen Cho, author of Black Water Sister

She Who Became the Sun reimagines the rise to power of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor.

To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything

“I refuse to be nothing…��

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness��

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future her brother's abandoned greatness.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 416 Shelley Parker-Chan 1250621798 Phil 4 3.87 2021
author: Shelley Parker-Chan
name: Phil
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 4
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]]> 8913370
One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives—Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of—passed off as mad, and made��to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum.

With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways...But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.]]> 592 Sarah Waters 1101057025 Phil 5 4.05 2002
author: Sarah Waters
name: Phil
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2002
rating: 5
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]]> 20893407 The secret is, vampires are real and I am one.

The secret is, I’m stealing from you what is most truly yours and I’m not sorry��

New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live. And die. Joey Peacock knows this as well as anybody—he has spent the last forty years as an adolescent vampire, perfecting the routine he now enjoys: womanizing in punk clubs and discotheques, feeding by night, and sleeping by day with others of his kind in the macabre labyrinth under the city’s sidewalks.

The subways are his playground and his highway, shuttling him throughout Manhattan to bleed the unsuspecting in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park or in the backseats of Checker cabs, or even those in their own apartments who are too hypnotized by sitcoms to notice him opening their windows. It’s almost too easy.

Until one night he sees them hunting on his beloved subway. The children with the merry eyes. Vampires, like him…or not like him. Whatever they are, whatever their appearance means, the undead in the tunnels of Manhattan are not as safe as they once were.

And neither are the rest of us.]]> 368 Christopher Buehlman 0425272613 Phil 5 4.02 2014
author: Christopher Buehlman
name: Phil
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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]]> 10772903 Failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate-the Savoyard Plantation- and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted. But there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.

It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of Savoyard still stand. Where a longstanding debt of blood has never been forgotten.

A debt that has been waiting patiently for Frank Nichols's homecoming...

]]> 357 Christopher Buehlman 0441020674 Phil 5 3.66 2011
author: Christopher Buehlman
name: Phil
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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]]> 13543121
Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission to confront the evil that has devastated the earth, and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned.

As hell unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed, Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons, saints, and the risen dead, and in the midst of a desperate struggle for nothing less than the soul of man.]]> 432 Christopher Buehlman 1937007863 Phil 5 4.20 2012
author: Christopher Buehlman
name: Phil
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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]]> 55077697
But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.

Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants.

Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford.]]> 416 Christopher Buehlman 1250621194 Phil 5 4.17 2021
author: Christopher Buehlman
name: Phil
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2021
rating: 5
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]]> 60743355 If Mennik Thorn had known the morning would end with him being framed for murder, he would have stayed trapped in the cupboard.

It was only supposed to be one little job �� a simple curse-breaking for Mennik to pay back a favor to his oldest friend. But then it all blew up in his face. Now he is wanted for murder by the mage-killing Ash Guard, his best friend is about to be executed, and something monstrous is killing all the witnesses.

So how is a down-on-his-luck mage, broke, traumatized, and with a habit of annoying the wrong people, supposed to prove his innocence when everyone believes he’s guilty?

If he wants to get out of this, he is going to have to throw himself back into the corrupt world of the city’s high mages, a world he fled years ago.

Even that may not be enough, because a new, dark power is rising in Agatos, and all that stands in its way is one second-rate mage��

Third place in the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off 2020 (SPFBO6)

Finalist in the Book Bloggers' Book of the Year Award (BBNYA) 2021

Shortlisted for the Booknest Fantasy Award Best Self-published Novel 2020]]> Patrick Samphire Phil 4 4.07 2020
author: Patrick Samphire
name: Phil
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2020
rating: 4
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]]> 302666
But the more she tells them about the monster, the more her story unravels, until it isn't clear if the monster is even real, or if anything else is.

Richard Brautigan's classic surrealist novel has inspired for decades with its wild, witty, and bizarre encounters with western-themed psychedelia.]]> 216 Richard Brautigan 0671221566 Phil 5 3.86 1974
author: Richard Brautigan
name: Phil
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1974
rating: 5
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]]> 63913
This new edition includes an introduction by the poet Billy Collins, who first encountered Brautigan's work as a student in California.]]> 112 Richard Brautigan Phil 4 3.83 1967
author: Richard Brautigan
name: Phil
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1967
rating: 4
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]]> 46182 144 Richard Brautigan 0099437597 Phil 4 3.80 1968
author: Richard Brautigan
name: Phil
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1968
rating: 4
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]]> 131179 The Bird's Nest, Jackson's third novel, develops hallmarks of the horror master's most unsettling work: tormented heroines, riveting familial mysteries, and a disquieting vision inside the human mind.]]> 276 Shirley Jackson 1567230644 Phil 5 3.72 1954
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Phil
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1954
rating: 5
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]]> 131189 160 Shirley Jackson 0394891767 Phil 3 3.80 1956
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Phil
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1956
rating: 3
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]]> 131181 (Chicago Tribune): When an aging heiress learns of an impending apocalypse while on a garden walk, her family becomes fixated on preparing for the imminent doom. “One of the premiere gothic horror writers of the 20th century’s funniest and strangest endeavors�� Think P. G. Wodehouse meets The Twilight Zone�� (AudioFile).

Before there was Hill House, there was the Halloran mansion of Jackson’s stunningly creepy fourth novel, The Sundial. Aunt Fanny has always been somewhat peculiar. When the Halloran clan gathers at the family home for a funeral, no one is surprised when she wanders off into the secret garden. But then Aunt Fanny returns to report an astonishing vision of an apocalypse from which only the Hallorans and their hangers-on will be spared, and the family finds itself engulfed in growing madness, fear, and violence as they prepare for a terrible new world. For Aunt Fanny's long-dead father has given her the precise date of the final cataclysm!]]> 245 Shirley Jackson 0140083170 Phil 5 3.83 1958
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Phil
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1958
rating: 5
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]]> 30303793 For the first time in one volume, a collection of Shirley Jackson's scariest stories, with a foreword by PEN/Hemingway Award winner Ottessa Moshfegh

After the publication of her short story "The Lottery" in the New Yorker in 1948 received an unprecedented amount of attention, Shirley Jackson was quickly established as a master horror storyteller. This collection of classic and newly reprinted stories provides readers with more of her unsettling, dark tales, including the "The Possibility of Evil" and "The Summer People." In these deliciously dark stories, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts and the concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. In the haunting world of Shirley Jackson, nothing is as it seems and nowhere is safe, from the city streets to the crumbling country pile, and from the small-town apartment to the dark, dark woods. There's something sinister in suburbia.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]> 195 Shirley Jackson 0241295424 Phil 5 4.00 2016
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Phil
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2016
rating: 5
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]]> 131191 "The Lottery", was known for her terse, haunting prose. But the writer possessed another side, one which is delightfully exposed in this hilariously charming memoir of her family's life in rural Vermont. Fans of Please Don't Eat the Daisies, Cheaper by the Dozen, and anything Erma Bombeck ever wrote will find much to recognize in Shirley Jackson's home and neighborhood: children who won't behave, cars that won't start, furnaces that break down, a pugnacious corner bully, household help that never stays, and a patient, capable husband who remains lovingly oblivious to the many thousands of things mothers and wives accomplish every single day.

"Our house," writes Jackson, "is old, noisy, and full. When we moved into it we had two children and about five thousand books; I expect that when we finally overflow and move out again we will have perhaps twenty children and easily half a million books." Jackson's literary talents are in evidence everywhere, as is her trenchant, unsentimental wit. Yet there is no mistaking the happiness and love in these pages, which are crowded with the raucous voices of an extraordinary family living a wonderfully ordinary life.]]> 256 Shirley Jackson 0140267670 Phil 4 3.97 1953
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Phil
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1953
rating: 4
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]]> 89727 The Haunting of Hill House—classics ranking with the work of Edgar Allan Poe—Shirley Jackson blazed a path for contemporary writers with her explorations of evil, madness, and cruelty.

Soon after her untimely death in 1965, Jackson’s children discovered a treasure trove of previously unpublished and uncollected stories, many of which are brought together in this remarkable collection. Here are tales of torment, psychological aberration, and the macabre, as well as those that display her lighter touch with humorous scenes of domestic life.

Reflecting the range and complexity of Jackson’s talent, Just an Ordinary Day reaffirms her enduring influence and celebrates her singular voice, rich with magic and resonance.
��]]> 417 Shirley Jackson 0553378333 Phil 5 4.20 1996
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Phil
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1996
rating: 5
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]]> 89723 The Lottery, one of the most terrifying stories written in this century, created a sensation when it was first published in The New Yorker. "Power and haunting," and "nights of unrest" were typical reader responses. This collection, the only one to appear during Shirley Jackson's lifetime, unites "The Lottery:" with twenty-four equally unusual stories. Together they demonstrate Jackson's remarkable range--from the hilarious to the truly horrible--and power as a storyteller.]]> 302 Shirley Jackson 0374529531 Phil 4 4.05 1949
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Phil
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1949
rating: 4
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]]> 89717 182 Shirley Jackson 0143039989 Phil 5 3.85 1959
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Phil
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1959
rating: 5
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]]> 89724 Shirley Jackson's beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family's dark secret.

Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. This edition features an afterword by Jonathan Lethem.]]> 152 Shirley Jackson 0143039970 Phil 5 3.93 1962
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Phil
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1962
rating: 5
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]]> 25935854
Lord Crevan demands that Rhea visit his remote manor before their wedding. Upon arrival, she discovers that not only was her betrothed married six times before, but his previous wives are all imprisoned in his enchanted castle. Determined not to share their same fate, Rhea asserts her desire for freedom. In answer, Lord Crevan gives Rhea a series of magical tasks to complete, with the threat “Come back before dawn, or else I’ll marry you.��

With time running out and each task more dangerous and bizarre than the last, Rhea must use her resourcefulness, compassion, and bravery to rally the other wives and defeat the sorcerer before he binds her to him forever.

Revised edition: This edition of The Seventh Bride includes editorial revisions.]]> 237 T. Kingfisher 150394767X Phil 4 3.94 2014
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Phil
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2014
rating: 4
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]]> 42747739 426 T. Kingfisher 1614504636 Phil 5 4.06 2018
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Phil
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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]]> 36618062
If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way! At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.]]> 230 T. Kingfisher Phil 4 4.15 2017
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Phil
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2017
rating: 4
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]]> 50702014 Stephen's god died on the longest day of the year��

Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind��

From the Hugo and Nebula Award winning author of Swordheart and The Twisted Ones comes a saga of murder, magic, and love on the far side of despair.]]> 366 T. Kingfisher Phil 5 4.08 2020
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Phil
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> 54369251
But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…]]> 306 T. Kingfisher 1614505241 Phil 5 4.02 2020
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Phil
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> 42527596 When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods.

When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?

Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.

Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

From Hugo Award–winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher.]]> 385 T. Kingfisher 1534429573 Phil 5 3.60 2019
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Phil
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2019
rating: 5
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]]> 50892288 A young woman discovers a strange portal in her uncle’s house, leading to madness and terror in this gripping new novel.

Pray they are hungry.

Kara finds these words in the mysterious bunker that she’s discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle’s house. Freshly divorced and living back at home, Kara now becomes obsessed with these cryptic words and starts exploring the peculiar bunker—only to discover that it holds portals to countless alternate realities. But these places are haunted by creatures that seem to hear thoughts…and the more you fear them, the stronger they become.]]> 341 T. Kingfisher 1534451129 Phil 5 3.76 2020
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Phil
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> 56179377
Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.

On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra's family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.]]> 243 T. Kingfisher 1250244048 Phil 4 4.07 2022
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Phil
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 4
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]]> 60731802 My kingdom for a magician!

The year is 1812, and Mr Albert Lowe is the only soldier in his regiment with a decent pair of boots. As the English withdraw to Portugal for the winter, a dark pall lies upon the troops, who cannot seem to decide which will kill them first—the lack of supplies, the bitter winter weather, or Napoleon’s dread Lord Sorcier. The lack of ammunition does seem pressing—but what are muskets to the French when they have on their side a magician capable of summoning up a hurricane?

As a surgeon, Albert can fix gunshot wounds more readily than hurricanes. But when he discovers by chance a peculiar, low-born magician among the English ranks, Albert begins to hope that they may all yet survive to return home.]]> 44 Olivia Atwater Phil 4 3.55 2020
author: Olivia Atwater
name: Phil
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2020
rating: 4
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]]> 60420293 Regency housemaid Euphemia Reeves has acquired a faerie godfather. Unfortunately, he has no idea what he's doing.

Effie has most inconveniently fallen in love with the dashing Mr Benedict Ashbrooke. There's only one problem; Effie is a housemaid, and a housemaid cannot marry a gentleman. It seems that Effie is out of luck until she stumbles into the faerie realm of Lord Blackthorn, who is only too eager to help Effie win Mr Ashbrooke's heart. All he asks in return is that Effie sew ten thousand stitches onto his favourite jacket.

Effie has heard rumours about what happens to those who accept help from faeries, but life as a maid at Hartfield is so awful that she is willing to risk even her immortal soul for a chance at something better. Now, she has one hundred days - and ten thousand stitches - to make Mr Ashbrooke fall in love and propose. . . if Lord Blackthorn doesn't wreck things by accident, that is. For Effie's greatest obstacle might well prove to be Lord Blackthorn's overwhelmingly good intentions.

From the author of HALF A SOUL comes a whimsical fantasy romance with a Cinderella twist. Pick up TEN THOUSAND STITCHES, and dive into another enchanting faerie tale set in Olivia Atwater's charming, magical version of Regency England!]]> 288 Olivia Atwater 031646290X Phil 5 3.91 2020
author: Olivia Atwater
name: Phil
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> 60420294 Proper Regency ladies are not supposed to become magicians �� but Miss Abigail Wilder is far from proper.

The marriageable young ladies of London are dying mysteriously, and Abigail Wilder intends to discover why. Abigail's father, the Lord Sorcier of England, believes that a dark lord of faerie is involved �� but while Abigail is willing to match her magic against Lord Longshadow, neither her father nor high society believe that she is capable of doing so.

Thankfully, Abigail is not the only one investigating the terrible events in London. Mercy, a street rat and self-taught magician, insists on joining Abigail to unravel the mystery. But while Mercy's own magic is strange and foreboding, she may well post an even greater danger to Abigail's heart.

From the author of HALF A SOUL comes a queer faerie tale romance full of love and defiant hope. Pick up LONG SHADOW, and return once more to Olivia Atwater's charming, magical version of Regency England.]]> 263 Olivia Atwater 0316463124 Phil 5 3.82 2021
author: Olivia Atwater
name: Phil
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2021
rating: 5
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]]> 60717747 It's difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you're a young lady with only half a soul.

Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment - a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season - but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.

If Dora's reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world. . . but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.

Bridgerton meets Howl's Moving Castle in this enchanting historical fantasy, where the only thing more meddlesome than faeries is a marriage-minded mother.

Pick up HALF A SOUL, and be stolen away into Olivia Atwater's charming, magical version of Regency England!]]> 304 Olivia Atwater Phil 5 4.04 2020
author: Olivia Atwater
name: Phil
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> 60695525 A little bit of sin is good for the soul.

Gadriel, the fallen angel of petty temptations, has a bit of a gambling debt. Fortunately, her angelic bookie is happy to let her pay off her debts by doing what she does best: All Gadriel has to do is tempt miserably sinless mortal Holly Harker to do a few nice things for herself.

What should be a cakewalk of a job soon runs into several roadblocks, however, as Miss Harker politely refuses every attempt at temptation from Gadriel the woman, Gadriel the man, and Gadriel the adorable fluffy kitten. When even chocolate fails to move Gadriel’s target, the ex-guardian angel begins to suspect she’s been conned. But Gadriel still remembers her previous job�� and where petty temptations fail, small miracles might yet prevail.

Olivia Atwater explores love, grief, and the very last bit of chocolate in this sweet modern fantasy, full of wit and heart. Pick up Small Miracles, and enjoy a heavenly faerie tale from the author of Half a Soul.]]> 250 Olivia Atwater Phil 4 4.23 2022
author: Olivia Atwater
name: Phil
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 4
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]]> 20426102
Now, sealed in human form and banished to the DFZ--a vertical metropolis built on the ruins of Old Detroit--Julius has one month to prove that he can be a ruthless dragon or kiss his true shape goodbye forever. But in a city of modern mages and vengeful spirits where dragons are considered monsters to be exterminated, he’s going to need some serious help to survive this test.

He only hopes humans are more trustworthy than dragons...]]> 287 Rachel Aaron 1952367379 Phil 5 4.11 2014
author: Rachel Aaron
name: Phil
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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]]> 62672715
Varcade fled to the deserts of Harrah to escape his past as an Educator, a member of an order of zealot warrior-monks that aims to shape the world according to their sacred Teachings by force. Varcade makes his living as a reckless sword-for-hire, caring only about himself, until his self-centered lifestyle is turned on its head when he is contracted to recruit a misfit team of unruly assassins and take out the mighty Bone Lord of Akrab.

But the Bone Lord is aware of the plot and sends her band of Dusters to stop them; individuals who have gained bizarre and lethal magical powers by snorting the pulverised bones of dead gods. Hunted by Educators and Dusters in a city-state where an escalating conflict between the human and demon population threatens to boil over in a civil war, will Varcade and his ragtag crew save Akrab from the cruel Bone Lord, or will they make things even worse?]]> 388 Sadir S. Samir Phil 5
This one did.

The Crew is the absolute funniest novel I've read in a very long time. It's a very inventive, fantastical adventure with wild characters and the most unapologetically absurd sense of humour, which I was totally on board with.

I can imagine it'll polarise people somewhat, as comedy does, but if you like it you'll love it. I can't bring myself to dwell on any of its very minor flaws because who cares about that - a book this fun is a rare, memorable and very special thing. A massively enjoyable experience.]]> 4.00
author: Sadir S. Samir
name: Phil
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2022/11/17
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I find many books are pleasantly amusing, can make me smile or occasionally chuckle. Not many books can consistently make me laugh out loud.

This one did.

The Crew is the absolute funniest novel I've read in a very long time. It's a very inventive, fantastical adventure with wild characters and the most unapologetically absurd sense of humour, which I was totally on board with.

I can imagine it'll polarise people somewhat, as comedy does, but if you like it you'll love it. I can't bring myself to dwell on any of its very minor flaws because who cares about that - a book this fun is a rare, memorable and very special thing. A massively enjoyable experience.
]]> 62590956
But Alani is growing increasingly frustrated having to remind her friend that this is not a vacation, it’s her pilgrimage, and that they are here for the Church. The whole reason he’s even on this journey is to aid and protect her, but he has always had a one-track mind, and nothing matters more to him than imprinting Jekuas.

While the jungle may be home to countless beautiful creatures, there are also untamed dangers lurking in its shadows, and Balt’s reckless nature may very well get them stranded in the Qwisdeep.]]> 438 Travis M. Riddle Phil 5
This entry dips deeper into more unusual and exciting Jekua, as Alani and Balt venture through the formidable Qwisdeep, accompanied by a crew of eccentric tourists. There's a lot of fun to be had merely watching them navigate the weird terrain, dangerous creatures and each other. Riddle has this engaging, laid back style that makes it a pleasure to read even between dramas, but there's also his trademark ability to suddenly ramp things right up.

It's impossible to say exactly what impressed me most about this book without spoilers, but I found the book's final acts to be superbly pulled together, producing a finale with a surprisingly strong emotional impact. Highly recommended!]]> 4.02 2022
author: Travis M. Riddle
name: Phil
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2022
rating: 5
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date added: 2022/09/17
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First off, I absolutely love the title of this book. That alone had me sold. But also I've read enough of Riddle's books now, including the first Jekua entry, to know to expect a quality, charming read. And charming is the word - as with Lavender Tides, it's pure enjoyment to join these characters with their foibles as they meander through a world of highly original exotic creatures and life dramas.

This entry dips deeper into more unusual and exciting Jekua, as Alani and Balt venture through the formidable Qwisdeep, accompanied by a crew of eccentric tourists. There's a lot of fun to be had merely watching them navigate the weird terrain, dangerous creatures and each other. Riddle has this engaging, laid back style that makes it a pleasure to read even between dramas, but there's also his trademark ability to suddenly ramp things right up.

It's impossible to say exactly what impressed me most about this book without spoilers, but I found the book's final acts to be superbly pulled together, producing a finale with a surprisingly strong emotional impact. Highly recommended!
]]> 61624249
Order is the focal point around which existence revolves. Without order there is only chaos. And in the halls of Damnation (pronounced Dam-NAWT-ion, thank you kindly) the first sign of impending chaos is a cup of tea made without the water having first been well and properly boiled in a kettle.

Why is this relevant, O nameless narrator, you ask? Who cares about the preparatory order of tea in the fires of Hell?

Lucifer, dear reader. After all, how does one expect to properly greet the newcomers to Hell without having first had a hot cup of tea to bulwark the cold?

Behold The Morning Star, frantic on the annual Morning of Souls, the arrival of Damnation’s newest recruits.

Someone has misplaced the kettle.]]> Luke Tarzian Phil 5
This book is little bit of brilliance. It's absurd and surreal and in parts crude and humorous, but also deep and moving and rather dark. Tarzian has done an excellent job of using storytelling to explore raw emotion in a poetic manner �� it's fiction as an art form, with its own rules, and makes sense all in its own right. To discuss exactly how well it works gets into the realm of spoilers that would undercut its central themes. I'll just say that with the way book trundles along in divergent directions, I wondered how it would come together in such a tight space. Effectively, is my answer. Very effectively.

Bravo to Tarzian on a brave, unique and powerful story wrapped in a surrealist sheep's clothing.

Also I just love that cover.]]> 4.65
author: Luke Tarzian
name: Phil
average rating: 4.65
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2022/08/22
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I'm going to keep this brief because frankly you can probably read the book quicker than you can read the reviews and you should, what are you even waiting for.

This book is little bit of brilliance. It's absurd and surreal and in parts crude and humorous, but also deep and moving and rather dark. Tarzian has done an excellent job of using storytelling to explore raw emotion in a poetic manner �� it's fiction as an art form, with its own rules, and makes sense all in its own right. To discuss exactly how well it works gets into the realm of spoilers that would undercut its central themes. I'll just say that with the way book trundles along in divergent directions, I wondered how it would come together in such a tight space. Effectively, is my answer. Very effectively.

Bravo to Tarzian on a brave, unique and powerful story wrapped in a surrealist sheep's clothing.

Also I just love that cover.
]]> 61424615
Kit “Fadulous�� Hamley, magazine editor, activist and former punk rocker, is a well-known loudmouth in St Alphege’s. She works tirelessly to hold local authorities to account. Some say she’s making up for her criminal youth. Others spread rumours of witchcraft. Only a handful of people know how dark her secrets really are.

When an old friend warns Kit that a former rival has resurfaced, those secrets start to resurface. People have gone missing, with body parts and strange symbols left behind, and someone is stalking Kit. The gang she abandoned are scared stiff and her magic-wielding bandmates are long gone. Kit herself is a target, and if she can’t unravel exactly how this new feud connects with her past mistakes, it could kill her.

Decades older, a little wiser, and contrary as ever, Kit’s going to remind them all what a punk witch can do.

Get ready for a riotous ride into the seedy underbelly of St Alphege’s, where gang warfare and occult conspiracies tear ordinary lives apart. Dyer Street Punk Witches is a standalone urban fantasy thriller, packed with tough, subversive characters and tense twists �� you won’t be able to put down.]]> 255 Phil Williams 1913468151 Phil 0 4.46
author: Phil Williams
name: Phil
average rating: 4.46
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 60548122
When his best friend Alani, an initiate at the local Church, is sent on a pilgrimage to find her path in life and the god she will follow, Balt sees the perfect opportunity to launch his career by escorting her across the archipelago and its purple seas. The islands are filled with monsters to imprint and Summoners to battle, with every victory bringing him one step closer to his dream.

It will take more than just his family name to reach the same heights as his grandmother, but Balt won't stop until he does.]]> 398 Travis M. Riddle Phil 5
Balt wants to become a master Jekua summoner, but right now he's not up to much. Cue travelling to distant lands, bonding with his more serious friend while butting heads with his childhood nemesis �� and discovering plenty of lessons and various perils along the way.

Riddle absolutely nails the atmosphere, pace and magic of a youthful progression fantasy, with his own unique touch of humour and brilliantly unusual creativity. He has a great flair for casually offering up an environment you're just happy to spend time in, then spicing it with drama that keeps you flipping the pages. And as an opening chapter in what promises to be a much more expansive tale, this gives you enough to get you totally hooked and itching for more.]]> 3.76 2022
author: Travis M. Riddle
name: Phil
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/03/16
shelves:
review:
Travis Riddle is totally in his element with this Pokemon-style adventure, where weird and wonderful creatures give colour to the first stage of a charming coming-of-age journey.

Balt wants to become a master Jekua summoner, but right now he's not up to much. Cue travelling to distant lands, bonding with his more serious friend while butting heads with his childhood nemesis �� and discovering plenty of lessons and various perils along the way.

Riddle absolutely nails the atmosphere, pace and magic of a youthful progression fantasy, with his own unique touch of humour and brilliantly unusual creativity. He has a great flair for casually offering up an environment you're just happy to spend time in, then spicing it with drama that keeps you flipping the pages. And as an opening chapter in what promises to be a much more expansive tale, this gives you enough to get you totally hooked and itching for more.
]]> 143487 Tamburlaine, the relatively new form of English blank verse, establishing the form for later Elizabethan dramatic writing. This heroic epic, his most ambitious work, was also the first genuine English tragedy.
Produced around 1587, the two-part romantic drama derives from the historical figure of Tamerlane (1336��1405), a Mongol warrior whose conquests and tyrannical rule extended from the Black Sea to the Upper Ganges. In Part I, Tamburlaine represents the best and most admirable qualities of the Renaissance man �� his relentless rise to greatness, his ability to defy the odds and his determined pursuit of all life's possibilities. The first part concludes with the hero at the zenith of his powers, with vivid descriptions of his military victories and the passionate courting of a rival's captive daughter; in Part II, however, Tamburlaine's ambition overrides his better nature, and his greed and vanity ultimately lead to his ruin.
Ideal for classroom use, this volume will also be a welcomed addition to the libraries of anyone fond of English literary classics.]]> 128 Christopher Marlowe 0486421252 Phil 4 3.63 1587
author: Christopher Marlowe
name: Phil
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1587
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/03/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 55894430 When you are all out of heroes, all that's left are the villains.

Black Herran was a dread demonologist, and the most ruthless general in all Essoran. She assembled the six most fearsome warriors to captain her armies: a necromancer, a vampire lord, a demigod, an orcish warleader, a pirate queen, and a twisted alchemist. Together they brought the whole continent to its knees... Until the day she abandoned her army, on the eve of total victory.

40 years later, she must bring her former captains back together for one final stand, in the small town of Tarnbrooke - the last bastion against a fanatical new enemy tearing through the land, intent on finishing the job Black Herran started years before.

Seven bloodthirsty monsters. One town. Their last hope.]]> 416 Cameron Johnston 0857669087 Phil 4 3.91 2021
author: Cameron Johnston
name: Phil
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 60226370
But everything they were told was a lie.

With Coal's newfound knowledge, they must now risk everything to reach the Dirt King's impenetrable Palace and attempt to undo centuries of turmoil that he has wrought upon the kingdom. If they fail, Ruska is doomed to wither away until only the Houndstooth itself is left.

But the immortal king possesses all of their magical abilities and more, making him the most powerful person in the entire kingdom. Do Coal and the others have what it takes to stop him, or is this cycle destined to continue until Ruska crumbles?]]> 634 Travis M. Riddle Phil 5
Everything comes together dramatically in the end; you just know the team's in for a wild time when they finally encounter the Dirt King himself, but it's probably even wilder than you're thinking.

For all the madcap journeying and incredible world-building, there's also a heartfelt undercurrent here, to do with love and grief, that satisfyingly ties together themes introduced and built on in books 1 and 2.

A strong, suitably epic conclusion to a truly original saga.]]> 4.24 2022
author: Travis M. Riddle
name: Phil
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/02/01
shelves:
review:
If you've made it this far you should really know what to expect by now, but suffice to say Dirt King delivers for the Houndstooth adventure's conclusion. It's a hefty bit longer than the predecessors, which is a joy because we get to spend more time with this oddball cast of characters trudging their way through an oddball world, and I'm definitely down for that. Relationships get more taut, characters are lost, unusual creatures and technology revealed, and all between a great sense of just taking in and experiencing this magical world.

Everything comes together dramatically in the end; you just know the team's in for a wild time when they finally encounter the Dirt King himself, but it's probably even wilder than you're thinking.

For all the madcap journeying and incredible world-building, there's also a heartfelt undercurrent here, to do with love and grief, that satisfyingly ties together themes introduced and built on in books 1 and 2.

A strong, suitably epic conclusion to a truly original saga.
]]> 58796055 When the saints fail, the sinners step up.

Cruel gods rule the steam-powered city of Chime, demanding worship and tribute from their mortal subjects. Kayl lost her faith in them long ago, and now seeks to protect vulnerable and downtrodden mortals from their gods�� whims. But when Kayl discovers powers that she didn’t know she had—and destroys a mortal’s soul by accident—she becomes Chime’s most wanted.

Quen’s job was to pursue sinners, until the visions started. Haunted by foreboding images of his beloved city’s destruction, Quen hunts soul-sucking creatures made of aether who prey on its citizens—and Kayl is his number one target.

To ensure Chime’s future, Kayl and Quen must discover the truth of Kayl’s divine abilities before the gods take matters into their own hands.

For a city that bows to cruel gods, it’ll take godless heathens to save it.

The Thirteenth Hour is the first book in The Cruel Gods series—a gaslamp fantasy featuring magical portals, gothic cosmic deities, quaint Britishisms, and steampunk vibes. This is an adult book containing strong language and mature themes that some readers may find disturbing. For a full list of content warnings, visit Trudie Skies's website.]]> 535 Trudie Skies 1399900676 Phil 5
The world Skies has created is utterly unusual, with 12 distinct species coinhabiting a special city, each with their own unique powers, and it makes for an especially complex mystery. At times there's a lot of information to juggle, some of which raised a few niggles I'm not sure were resolved �� but overall it's presented clearly and smoothly, and for the level of detail on offer the book does a great job of drawing everything together. Indeed, the adventure feels decidedly easygoing considering the complexity of ideas it navigates, with a compelling protagonist who jumps off the page, and it made me laugh many times, which is always a great sign.

An excellent and satisfying foray into a fascinating world, and I look forward to more!]]> 4.14 2021
author: Trudie Skies
name: Phil
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/01/17
shelves:
review:
After seeing this book's absolutely wonderful cover and enticing blurb, and some excellent reviews, I admit I was concerned The Thirteenth Hour had a lot to live up to �� but it absolutely delivered. From the outset, this is a story brimming with original ideas and engaging energy, as a host of diverse characters draw you into its steampunk mystery. I've since seen a few reviews suggesting it starts slow, but I didn't find that at all; I was hooked from early on and kept wanting to read just a little bit more. Which was just as well, because it's a long book, yet it never dragged.

The world Skies has created is utterly unusual, with 12 distinct species coinhabiting a special city, each with their own unique powers, and it makes for an especially complex mystery. At times there's a lot of information to juggle, some of which raised a few niggles I'm not sure were resolved �� but overall it's presented clearly and smoothly, and for the level of detail on offer the book does a great job of drawing everything together. Indeed, the adventure feels decidedly easygoing considering the complexity of ideas it navigates, with a compelling protagonist who jumps off the page, and it made me laugh many times, which is always a great sign.

An excellent and satisfying foray into a fascinating world, and I look forward to more!
]]> 55115499
Reece’s gang of criminal jazz musicians have taken shelter in the wrong house. There’s a girl with red eyes bound to a chair. The locals call her a devil �� but Reece sees a kid that needs protecting. He’s more right than he knows.

Chased by a shadowy swordsman and an unnatural beast, the gang flee across the Deep South with the kid in tow. She won’t say where she’s from or who exactly her scary father is, but she’s got powers they can’t understand. How much will Reece risk to save her?

On the other side of the world, Agent Sean Tasker’s asking similar questions. With an entire village massacred and no trace of the killers, he’s convinced Duvcorp’s esoteric experiments are responsible. His only ally is an unstable female assassin, and their only lead is Ikiri �� a black-site in the Congo, which no one leaves alive. How far is Tasker prepared to go for answers?

Kept From Cages is the first part in an action-packed supernatural thriller duology, filled with eccentric characters and intricately woven mysteries. Start your journey to Ikiri today.]]> 269 Phil Williams 1913468100 Phil 0 4.26
author: Phil Williams
name: Phil
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 55945491 252 Damien Larkin 1939844797 Phil 4
Fans of Big Red will find a lot to love in returning to the crazy world of futurist Nazi Mars from the past, taking a different perspective on the messed up situation but with a lot of favourite characters returning. There's action right from the get-go, and where Big Red had some build up and a complex spiralling set up to get your head around, this one's more or less a nonstop fight for survival. Nothing but fun - though in truth I did miss a bit of the surrounding detail that padded out the first book to give context to the characters. Not that it was entirely lacking here, one of the things Larkin does best is slipping in small quirks and banter that subtly keep the characters really afable and human in the midst of some pretty harrowing action.

If you enjoyed Book 1, be sure to continue the journey - and if you haven't read Big Red, well, you could start here. But you might as well read both. You'll get more out of the stories reading them close together, to keep track of the connections!]]> 4.70
author: Damien Larkin
name: Phil
average rating: 4.70
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/08/24
shelves:
review:
This was an absolutely breathless romp of a military sci-fi. It took me too long to get around to reading it but once I did I blasted through it in a couple of days; the action never lets up and you just flow with it.

Fans of Big Red will find a lot to love in returning to the crazy world of futurist Nazi Mars from the past, taking a different perspective on the messed up situation but with a lot of favourite characters returning. There's action right from the get-go, and where Big Red had some build up and a complex spiralling set up to get your head around, this one's more or less a nonstop fight for survival. Nothing but fun - though in truth I did miss a bit of the surrounding detail that padded out the first book to give context to the characters. Not that it was entirely lacking here, one of the things Larkin does best is slipping in small quirks and banter that subtly keep the characters really afable and human in the midst of some pretty harrowing action.

If you enjoyed Book 1, be sure to continue the journey - and if you haven't read Big Red, well, you could start here. But you might as well read both. You'll get more out of the stories reading them close together, to keep track of the connections!
]]> 58185120
Six individuals are infected with this foul magic, imbued with unnatural abilities called Blights. Coal is their final recruit, tasked by the immortal Dirt King to track down ancient artifacts that can seal the Houndstooth and restore balance to Ruska. As the Blighted venture through the kingdom, they realize its condition is worse than they feared. They must tangle with cults, navigate through melting forests, and fight hordes of grotesque beasts warped by the Houndstooth’s magic.

Ruska’s fate rests on their shoulders, but are they already too late to save it?]]> 502 Travis M. Riddle Phil 5
By now you should know what you're getting, and if not, go back and read Flesh Eater for goodness sake; these are genre-mashing fantasy adventures that have a little bit of romance, a healthy dose of horror, a great mix of anthropomorphic animals and original creatures and a ton of surprises. Oh, and perhaps most importantly, here's lot more tantalising food descriptions that'll get your mouth watering craving things that you really probably shouldn't.

I love Riddle's books because they tread such an unlikely line between really charming, poignant moments and completely unexpected, rather nasty, weirdness. He opened this story well with Flesh Eater, and broadens the scope with Mother Pig, with an extra, quirky main POV, a host of new and distinctive characters and a much wider view of this unique world. And without going into specifics, there's a good nice balance of tropes being honoured and subverted; you won't know which way it's going to go until it goes there.

Looking forward to Book 3!]]> 4.25 2021
author: Travis M. Riddle
name: Phil
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/05/30
shelves:
review:
This is a triumphant return to the land of Ruska for another wildly creative romp from Travis Riddle.

By now you should know what you're getting, and if not, go back and read Flesh Eater for goodness sake; these are genre-mashing fantasy adventures that have a little bit of romance, a healthy dose of horror, a great mix of anthropomorphic animals and original creatures and a ton of surprises. Oh, and perhaps most importantly, here's lot more tantalising food descriptions that'll get your mouth watering craving things that you really probably shouldn't.

I love Riddle's books because they tread such an unlikely line between really charming, poignant moments and completely unexpected, rather nasty, weirdness. He opened this story well with Flesh Eater, and broadens the scope with Mother Pig, with an extra, quirky main POV, a host of new and distinctive characters and a much wider view of this unique world. And without going into specifics, there's a good nice balance of tropes being honoured and subverted; you won't know which way it's going to go until it goes there.

Looking forward to Book 3!
]]> 57290256 Welcome to Ordshaw. Don’t look down.

Pax is one rent cheque away from the unforgiving streets of Ordshaw. After her stash is stolen, her hunt for the thief unearths a book of nightmares and a string of killers, and she stands to lose much more than her home.

There’s something lurking under her city.

Knowing it’s there could get you killed.]]> 303 Phil Williams 1913468178 Phil 0 3.85 2018
author: Phil Williams
name: Phil
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 56876358
She’s going to wish she wasn’t.

Alone in Tokyo for experimental ear surgery, Tova Nokes is finally shaking up her life. But when she starts to hear things she shouldn’t, all she wants is to make it home alive.

There’s a voice saying it’s where she comes from that makes her special.

If she can only survive violent stalkers, and the terrible screams, she might figure out why…]]> Phil Williams Phil 5 5.00
author: Phil Williams
name: Phil
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 56147518
Two forbidden powers.

One chance to change everything.��

When Mishi is taken from her orphanage home, she fears she’ll never see her best friend Taka again. And when Taka is taken to the infamous Josankō that same day, it seems as if more than distance will keep them apart.

Suddenly alone in their fight to survive, each girl must come to terms with her true nature—Mishi as warrior, Taka as healer. Years after their separation, the girls�� journeys lead them each to uncover the horrifying secret that the Rōjū council has spent centuries killing to keep.

Now the Rōjū council wants Taka and Mishi dead and they’ll have only one chance to save their people.
How much will Mishi and Taka sacrifice in order to protect all they hold dear?


Nominated for the 2019 SPFBO]]> Virginia McClain 1999298055 Phil 4
The Japanese-themed world is a bit different and gives a good sense of atmosphere, while the themes of female emancipation are relevant and engaging. There are two strong leads and a fair bit of action and excitement in there, too. That said, the story overall rests in fairly comfortable ground, with orphans, magic/fighting schools, rebel plots and mentors that don't stray far from what you'd expect. It's a great example of this type of story, with a bit of an edge from its setting and themes, but exactly how much you'll like it might depend on how the tried tropes resonate with you. Personally, I was in the mood for it and enjoyed it!

I listened to the audiobook version of this, which was very well performed and produced, particularly impressive considering it was narrated by the author herself!]]> 3.50 2015
author: Virginia McClain
name: Phil
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/12/09
shelves:
review:
This is a solid coming-of-age fantasy that follows the paths of two good friends separated in their youth, each getting separately embroiled in a plot of conspiracy, suppression and magic. McClain has an efficient writing style, and I've seen others' concerns about areas lacking backstory or explanation but I personally felt this moved at a good pace with enough information to never be confusing; even when words weren't directly explained, the context made them clear. But then, maybe it helps that I grew up on Japanese animations...

The Japanese-themed world is a bit different and gives a good sense of atmosphere, while the themes of female emancipation are relevant and engaging. There are two strong leads and a fair bit of action and excitement in there, too. That said, the story overall rests in fairly comfortable ground, with orphans, magic/fighting schools, rebel plots and mentors that don't stray far from what you'd expect. It's a great example of this type of story, with a bit of an edge from its setting and themes, but exactly how much you'll like it might depend on how the tried tropes resonate with you. Personally, I was in the mood for it and enjoyed it!

I listened to the audiobook version of this, which was very well performed and produced, particularly impressive considering it was narrated by the author herself!
]]> 55760138
After a year of avoiding capture and struggling to scrape by working odd jobs for a local crime lord, Coal is growing desperate. He learns of someone in the city's underbelly who can erase his record, but her services don't come cheap.

Seeing no other option, he enters a spiderback race with a grand prize valuable enough to pay for his fresh start. But he's not the only one after the prize, and Coal is about to find out exactly how far he's willing to go to win.]]> 418 Travis M. Riddle Phil 5
Okay, I’ll go into a little more detail. Flesh Eater is the first in a trilogy of books set in a new world for Riddle, which has immediate overtones of Redwall (books I’d forgotten I’d read until I started this and got strange childhood flashbacks, like, did I really once read about sword-fighting badgers?). But besides the animal characters, this diverges a lot from the Redwall series in time and tone: here, we’ve got gun-toting foxes and heavy-drinking beavers, bunnies who cuss and salacious raccoons. Also don’t forget the monsters.

Riddle has a knack for raising the weirdness scale, and alongside a very original fantasy world, he’s created flashes of monsterific (coining that) action that border on horror. This takes a talent to pull off �� because between the heady action sequences and sudden shocks of nastiness, there’s a wealth of wholesome, natural-feeling interaction between charming characters (which is plain lovely to watch develop). This exact juxtaposition of pleasant and nasty is something you’re unlikely to find elsewhere, and it might be combo of styles that won’t work for everyone but it hit all the right notes for me.

But wait there’s more. The food. There’s a lot of strange food, excellently described. I’m pretty well convinced Riddle could write a whole book about random invented foodstuffs and it would be captivating.

So what’s the tl;dr? Exciting, animal-based fantasy capers with wildly original creatures and settings, underpinned by a character-driven story that’ll draw you in then RAH! throw a monster in your face. If that sounds good, you should read it now. If it doesn’t, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t have stopped reading after the racing spiders…]]> 4.12 2020
author: Travis M. Riddle
name: Phil
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/10/23
shelves:
review:
Here’s what you need to know about Flesh Eater: it involves people racing giant spiders and a lot of peril involving weird monsters. And they’re not actually people, they’re more like animals but they’ve got more human depth and emotion than you get in a lot of books. If that’s not enough for you then I don’t know what.

Okay, I’ll go into a little more detail. Flesh Eater is the first in a trilogy of books set in a new world for Riddle, which has immediate overtones of Redwall (books I’d forgotten I’d read until I started this and got strange childhood flashbacks, like, did I really once read about sword-fighting badgers?). But besides the animal characters, this diverges a lot from the Redwall series in time and tone: here, we’ve got gun-toting foxes and heavy-drinking beavers, bunnies who cuss and salacious raccoons. Also don’t forget the monsters.

Riddle has a knack for raising the weirdness scale, and alongside a very original fantasy world, he’s created flashes of monsterific (coining that) action that border on horror. This takes a talent to pull off �� because between the heady action sequences and sudden shocks of nastiness, there’s a wealth of wholesome, natural-feeling interaction between charming characters (which is plain lovely to watch develop). This exact juxtaposition of pleasant and nasty is something you’re unlikely to find elsewhere, and it might be combo of styles that won’t work for everyone but it hit all the right notes for me.

But wait there’s more. The food. There’s a lot of strange food, excellently described. I’m pretty well convinced Riddle could write a whole book about random invented foodstuffs and it would be captivating.

So what’s the tl;dr? Exciting, animal-based fantasy capers with wildly original creatures and settings, underpinned by a character-driven story that’ll draw you in then RAH! throw a monster in your face. If that sounds good, you should read it now. If it doesn’t, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t have stopped reading after the racing spiders��
]]> 131177 Hangsaman is Miss Jackson's second novel. The story is a simple one but the overtones are immediately present. "Natalie Waite who was seventeen years old but who felt that she had been truly conscious only since she was about fifteen lived in an odd corner of a world of sound and sight, past the daily voices of her father and mother and their incomprehensible actions." In a few graphic pages, the family is before us—Arnold Waite, a writer, egotistical and embittered; his wife, the complaining martyr; Bud, the younger brother who has not yet felt the need to establish his independence; and Natalie, in the nightmare of being seventeen.

The Sunday afternoon cocktail party, to which Arnold Waite has invited his literary friends and neighbors, serves to etch in the details of this family's life, and to draw Natalie into the vortex. The story concentrates on the next few critical months in Natalie's life, away at college, where each experience reproduces on a larger scale the crucial failure of her emotional life at home. With a mounting tension rising from character and situation as well as the particular magic of which Miss Jackson is master, the novel proceeds inexorably to the stinging melodrama of its conclusion. The bitter cruelty of the passage from adolescence to womanhood, of a sensitive and lonely girl caught in a world not of her own devising, is a theme well suited to Miss Jackson's brilliant talent.]]> 191 Shirley Jackson 0445031174 Phil 5 3.78 1951
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Phil
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1951
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/10/09
shelves:
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]]> 23019294
To her parents' despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie's descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts' plight. With John, Marjorie's father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.

Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie's younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface--and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.]]> 287 Paul Tremblay 0062363239 Phil 4 3.78 2015
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Phil
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/10/09
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]]> 52180399 The creeping horror of Paul Tremblay meets Tommy Orange’s There There in a dark novel of revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, Stephen Graham Jones.

Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.]]> 305 Stephen Graham Jones 1982136456 Phil 5 3.68 2020
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Phil
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/10/09
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review:

]]> 32905343 1990. The teen detectives once known as the Blyton Summer Detective Club (of Blyton Hills, a small mining town in the Zoinx River Valley in Oregon) are all grown up and haven't seen each other since their fateful, final case in 1977. Andy, the tomboy, is twenty-five and on the run, wanted in at least two states. Kerri, one-time kid genius and budding biologist, is bartending in New York, working on a serious drinking problem. At least she's got Tim, an excitable Weimaraner descended from the original canine member of the team. Nate, the horror nerd, has spent the last thirteen years in and out of mental health institutions, and currently resides in an asylum in Arkham, Massachusetts. The only friend he still sees is Peter, the handsome jock turned movie star. The problem is, Peter's been dead for years.

The time has come to uncover the source of their nightmares and return to where it all began in 1977. This time, it better not be a man in a mask. The real monsters are waiting.]]> 322 Edgar Cantero 0385541996 Phil 2 3.51 2017
author: Edgar Cantero
name: Phil
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2020/10/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 153025
But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, it's the real thing. And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere - behind the bedroom door... seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang... staring out from his widescreen TV - dangling a gleaming razor blade on a chain from one hand...]]> 376 Joe Hill 0061147931 Phil 2 3.85 2007
author: Joe Hill
name: Phil
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2020/10/09
shelves:
review:

]]>