Difference between revisions of "Newest Fantasy Reviews"
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| + | |author=Taran Matharu | ||
| + | |title=The Novice | ||
| + | |rating=5 | ||
| + | |genre=Teens | ||
| + | |summary=''The Novice'', Taran Matharu’s Wattpad sensation has already received a staggering five million reads. This book doesn’t just survive the hype; it deserves it. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444923978</amazonuk> | ||
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{{newreview | {{newreview | ||
|author=Luke Scull | |author=Luke Scull | ||
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|summary=Anea is now the ruler of Demesne but, rather than retain the current aristocratic system of ruling houses, she works towards a republic, empowering the plentiful but poor peasants. As no turkey votes for Christmas, not all ruling houses align with her ideas, making life treacherous – fatally so for some. Dino, her half-brother is doing all he can to protect her but, Anea's desire to spend most of her time with her scientific machines isn't doing her any favours in the popularity stakes. For Dino hiding away is not an option; he's got questions and he wants to live long enough to answer them. | |summary=Anea is now the ruler of Demesne but, rather than retain the current aristocratic system of ruling houses, she works towards a republic, empowering the plentiful but poor peasants. As no turkey votes for Christmas, not all ruling houses align with her ideas, making life treacherous – fatally so for some. Dino, her half-brother is doing all he can to protect her but, Anea's desire to spend most of her time with her scientific machines isn't doing her any favours in the popularity stakes. For Dino hiding away is not an option; he's got questions and he wants to live long enough to answer them. | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473211522</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473211522</amazonuk> | ||
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Revision as of 09:43, 4 May 2015
The Novice by Taran Matharu
The Novice, Taran Matharu’s Wattpad sensation has already received a staggering five million reads. This book doesn’t just survive the hype; it deserves it. Full review...
Sword Of The North (The Grim Company) by Luke Scull
The heroes are scattered and seemingly powerless; the Age of Ruin is indeed upon the land as the new ruler may not be an improvement on the old. Back at the heroes, Emerul the half-mage is reduced to sending a messenger rather than acting upon it himself and Shanna is reduced to being that messenger. Davarus Cole is dying but it won't be the last time and what of the Sword of the North? He, Brodar Kayne, continues to seek someone he thought he'd never see again even though there's no guarantee of finding her. Meanwhile he has more pressing problems in the form of a Brick and a Grunt. Full review...
The Boy Who Killed Demons by Dave Zeltserman
Henry Dudlow is 15½ and has had a hidden gift since he was 13. It was then he discovered that some people are in fact demons and – what's worse- he can see their real demonic form. How, after two years of knowing what Mr Hanley a couple of doors down is really like and hearing that children are going missing under under the most bizarre circumstances, it's time to do something about it. Full review...
Starborn by Lucy Hounsom
On the day Kyndra comes of age, she accidentally destroys the relic of an ancient ceremony, ending centuries of tradition. So when terrible phenomena target her community, Kyndra is blamed. Fearing for her life, she is saved and rescued by two mysterious strangers – one who wields the power of the Sun, the other – the Moon. Together, they flee to the hidden citadel of Naris. And here, Kyndra experiences disturbing visions of the past, and is brutally tested in a bid to unlock her own magic. If she survives the ordeal, she'll discover a force greater than she could ever have imagined. But could it create as well as destroy? And can she control it, to right an ancient wrong? Full review...
Clash of Iron (The Iron Age Trilogy) by Angus Watson
Lowa is now queen at Maidun Castle as she, Dug the reluctant (but highly effective) warrior and his young ward Spring attempt to defend it from the local tribes chancing their arm. Spring seems to have lost her magic but hopefully this is only temporary. There are bigger worries however; Lowa knows that the Romans will come and so sends Ragnall and Dunstan, former prince and his druid tutor Durstan to Rome on a mission to gather intelligence about the enemy. Unfortunately things don't go to plan on either front! Full review...
Voyage of the Basilisk: A Memoir by Lady Trent (A Natural History of Dragons 3) by Marie Brennan
It's time. Lady Trent – Isabella Camherst – can finally leave her educational soirees in her own salon and go and discover more about her beloved dragons. This time it's going to be epic – not only has she for the first time taken her young son with her, she is on a sailing ship with a whole two years plying the seven seas to be looked forward to. The world is on the tip of a seesaw as regards dragons – just as one side weighs down with new knowledge, so the other side comes down with industrialised exploitation of the creatures – and Lady Trent must make sure that she has a (decorous, Victorian-styled covered) firm bottom to keep things on the side she wants. But she has no idea how buttock-clenching the whole voyage will turn out to be… Full review...
Glass Thorns - Window Wall (Book Four) by Melanie Rawn
The Touchstone Players begin another season but, once again it differs from previous years. Now each of the quartet have become or are about to become fathers; all apart from Cade that is. He still has to find that special person but isn't particularly looking as he has problems of his own. His kid brother Derien is starting to come into his own magical gifting which could potentially attract the wrong attention. Cade's elsewhens (his visionary glimpses of possible futures) have also stopped; or rather he has chosen to thwart them. Meanwhile there has been an accident badly maiming Jez, one of Mieke's brothers. At least everyone believes it's an accident until Mieke finds something suspicious in the debris. Full review...
A Few Words For The Dead by Guy Adams
Warning: spoilers for both The Clown Service and The Rain-Soaked Bride so best read them first. Remember the near-demonic Fratfield? Well, the honeymooning Toby and Tamara find themselves – and Fratfield – in the South American jungle. However, things aren’t running smoothly. Not only does Fratfield still control the forces of nature, now he has some help. Meanwhile back home a hit man prepares to continue his profession. The target? August Shining, Toby's boss, friend and wanted as an interview subject by MI6, should he live that long. Full review...
In Dark Service (Far Called Trilogy 1) by Stephen Hunt
Jacob Carnehan has settled down. He's minding his own business while raising his son Carter, and his days of adventure are - thankfully - long behind him. Carter Carnehan is going out of his mind with boredom. His humdrum life is dull, and he longs to escape. To test himself against the world. Full review...
The Mechanical (Alchemy War) by Ian Tregillis
There is a truce between New France and the Dutch; a truce during which the Vicomtesse Berenice wants to learn the secrets of the Clakkers. These are robotic slaves that power everything Dutch just beyond the New French border: culture, industry, domestic duties, transport and they're also the most dangerous, relentless kind of soldier the world has ever known. Common knowledge confirms they're incapable of free will, thought, communication or freedom. Common knowledge is wrong: Clakkers' free will is suppressed by pain, their thoughts and communication are only shared between themselves and their freedom? Jax may be a Clakker, but he's working on freedom. Full review...
Windhaven by George R R Martin and Lisa Tuttle
As a huge fan of A Song of Ice and Fire, I love George RR Martin’s writing style and the vivid world and characters he created, and was interested to see what his other work might be like. Conversely, not being at all familiar with Lisa Tuttle, I was even more intrigued to read this book. Full review...
Dead Heat: An Alpha and Omega novel by Patricia Briggs
Just because you're werewolves, you still can find love, like Charles and Anna. Even with your new nature (although in his case, new is a couple of hundred years) you can still have joint hobbies. A little lycanthropy doesn't stop you wanting a fabulous horse to go riding through the mountains on. So Charles and Anna are holidaying on an Arabian stud farm to check out the stock and meet up with his old friends, when something nasty happens. One of the young women in the host Pack of werewolves suddenly turns nasty, and has to put herself through a serious ordeal just to stop herself from stabbing her young children. Such is the torment that Charles has to take the life-changing – but life-saving – decision to turn her. The problem is, the very magical strength to push the situation to such an end is definitely a mighty one – and things and people turning into nasty entities are going to be a recurring theme in the days ahead… Full review...
Ghosts of War by George Mann
In 1920's Manhattan, a lone hero patrols the streets and the skies, using his immense wealth and futuristic technology to keep evil at bay. However, at the start of Ghosts of War, the Ghost is in mourning, following the tragic events that concluded Ghosts of Manhattan, the first book in the series. Thankfully for the Ghost (and for the reader) - Manhattan is under seige, and he has little time to lick his wounds. Mechanical winged beasts roam the skies, an alcoholic ex-lover is back on the scene, and a British spy may have to be dealt with in order to prevent a cold war turning hot... Full review...
The Raven's Head by Karen Maitland
In 13th century England, Gisa, niece and ward of an apothecary attracts the attention of one of his more sinister clients. Elsewhere Wilky, a small child, is taken from his parents in lieu of a debt and then taken to a monastery which is a cover for something less than Christian. Meanwhile in France, Vincent, a scribe's apprentice, is framed for a theft and has to run for his life. The three will meet but under circumstances that turn out to be the stuff of dark, bloody nightmares. Full review...
Sucker by Mark Lingane
Private Investigator Van H Avram is living in odd times. At least that's what he decides on the day he has to step over a dead body to get from his office to the street and not just any body: it's that of a skinny blond thing – the first of many. However life goes on and bills have to be paid so when a woman called Mina walks into Van's office and asks him to find Hugo Jorgen he doesn't refuse. Perhaps if at that point he'd realised where the search would lead, the brutally bloodied body count he would uncover and the link to a recurring childhood nightmare that materialises, then he may have refused. Too late now though… Full review...
The Gauntlet by Ronald Welch
The Gauntlet was one of the iconic books of my childhood. Why iconic? It's an over-used word. Why not say 'most memorable', 'outstanding', 'most magical and exciting', -- or simply 'best'? Any of those would do but I think I'll allow myself iconic. The gauntlet of the title justifies that word. Full review...
Gifted by Donald Hounam
Fifteen-year-old Frank is a forensic sorcerer, employed to solve murders and other grisly crimes in a world where adults get the blur and lose their eyesight by their mid-twenties, and only the young have enough sorcerous power to summon demons and angels. Full review...
Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre
Venetia Stanley lives in Seventeeth century London. A celebrated beauty, she has had poems written in honour of her, and portraits painted by one of the leading artists of the time. Married to a handsome, kind and adventurous man, Venetia is kept in a life of luxury, and, at first glance - has everything she could ever have dreamed of. Except Venetia is not happy. A woman who has made her name and fortune because of her beauty, she is convinced that her allure is quickly slipping through her fingers. Signing a pact with an apothecary for his famed restorative 'Viper Wine', Venetia is set on a dangerous path. Full review...
The Death House by Sarah Pinborough
Toby would appear to be lucky, having the run of an isolated country mansion on a small island off the coast of Britain. But no. His domain only exists at night, and only then because he sleeps in the day and refuses to take the 'vitamin' pills given him by the staff of an evening. He is a captive of a mansion that works as a place of exile for teenagers with the Defective gene. Whatever it would normally lead to, even having it risks becoming suddenly really quite ill, and being the cause of the night-time lift ride on the one way route to the top floor Sanatorium. But Toby has it good as these things go, the teenaged head boy almost out of the small collection of children in his Dorm, the only one not to have suffered a loss of life. But things are about to change – new inmates arrive to bulk up the numbers, and one of them, Clara, is the agent of that change. For when she stumbles on Toby's nocturnal habits she doesn't want to sleep either… Full review...
Cursed By Fire by Jacquelyn Frank
The blurb of Cursed By Fire had me interested. I loved the opening, in which we meet Dethan, a former warrior cursed by the gods to suffer an unending punishment for daring to steal immortality from them, and follow his attempts to lead the armies of Hexis to victory to appease one of the vengeful gods. Full review...
Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Emily Marshwic has led a priveleged life - wealthy and from a good family, she has known little discomfort. Until the war comes - a vicious, far reaching struggle that destroys whole nations and tears families apart. First the men are conscripted, and then, after many defeats - the women. Having seen her country ravaged, and hearing news of her brother's death, Emily signs up for the army - and is plunged into situations more deadly than she can ever have imagined. As the tide of war turns - could Emily be the one to put an end to the bloodshed? Full review...
Finn Fancy Necromancy by Randy Henderson
Douglas Coupland suggested that all families are psychotic and he may just be right if that family consists of necromancers. The usual family dynamic is already a little messed up when you are one of four kids, but when you throw in the power to remove souls and reanimate the dead, things can get even more complicated. After 25 years, Finn returns home to find that some things have changed, but his family will always be a nightmare. Full review...
The Iron Ghost by Jen Williams
Wydrin of Crosshaven, Sir Sebastian and Lord Aaron Frith, the team of sell-swords now known as the Black Feather Three are employed by the people of Skaldshollow to steal back the heartstone from the Narhl. To the Shalds it's the means of making stone live; to the Narhls it's the very spirit of the mountain so where does that leave our adventurers? Not long to think about that as there seems to be an increase in mystic occurrences across the world and also a young assassin is polishing off entire families. Why? One thing that's clear is that Seb, Wydrin and Frith will get involved eventually… involved right up to their necks. The other thing they will see with clarity is that an old adversary is back and this time he's brought a friend! Full review...
The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury
In a land of fantasy, Twylla lives in the court, engaged to the prince. But this is no fairytale – he is one of the only people she can touch, made immune to the poison carried in her veins. The embodiment of a goddess, Twylla is the executioner, forced to kill those who commit treason. Nearly everyone around is terrified of her. Until new guard Lief arrives, who could see her as a friend, or even romantically. The question of whether the two could have a future together is an intriguing one, but before long, it’s the least of Twylla’s worries as she’s thrown into danger by the queen’s obsession with destroying her enemies. Can she survive? Full review...
Deadly Spells by Jaye Wells
Time has moved on since Cursed Moon. Kate's ex-lover, the devastatingly hunky but dangerous John Volos has been inaugurated as Babylon's mayor and Kate's neighbourly old witch Baba has moved in with the Prosperos. Meanwhile Kate has delivered on her promise, persuading the MEA wizard Mez to teach her brother Danny how to cook clean potions. Away from everyday life, trouble is brewing. Two opposing gang members have been creatively killed which could mean a tit-for-tat rumble or it could be out-and-out gang war. Compared to the peril this could bring, the journalist poking around in Kate's forbidden past is almost a side-show. Full review...
The Chimes by Anna Smaill
Writing is outlawed and no one remembers how to read. In fact memory itself is at a premium; people carry their memories around with them in their hands or any way they're able as each day their minds empty of so much. The world now answers to the music of The Chimes summoning all to daily observance. The music is all. It lays aural paths for navigation, identifies people like a musical signature – the music is everywhere. The music is what brings young Simon to London after the death of his parents. How did they die? Why is Simon here? Why is Lucien, one of his fellow River Thames mud larks so significant? Would Simon really want to know? Full review...
Son of the Morning by Mark Alder
The fourteenth century - Edward III sits upon the throne, trying to rebuild a country bought to its knees, and conquer France - a land thought to be rightfully his. However Edward has a major problem - it is said that the Angels will only fight for France. Edward has little choice - fail and fall in battle, convince the Angels to switch sides, or open the gates to hell and begin a holy war... Full review...
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
The people of Fairfold know not to meddle with the faerie folk, they wear their socks inside out, fill their pockets with oatmeal and they stay out of the forest on the full moon. Tourists don’t know these things. People travel far and wide to see the faerie town and the sleeping boy in the glass coffin but one or two always go missing, never to be seen again. Tourists, the locals say, the folk don’t interfere with locals, if they do, you must be acting like a tourist. Full review...
Of Bone and Thunder by Chris Evans
The conscripted men and women of the Kingdom's military forces are battling the Slyts in Luitox. The Kingdom's might may include the latest weaponry and the ability to thaum but the Slyts are elusive and have their own ways. The jungle is as hot as hell which is apt as they will all face their own hells and some may even survive. The odds aren’t good though; if the enemy doesn't get them, their own flying craft may. Nobody wants to be on the back of an overheated rag! Full review...
The Boy Who Wept Blood (Erebus Sequence 2) by Den Patrick
Anea is now the ruler of Demesne but, rather than retain the current aristocratic system of ruling houses, she works towards a republic, empowering the plentiful but poor peasants. As no turkey votes for Christmas, not all ruling houses align with her ideas, making life treacherous – fatally so for some. Dino, her half-brother is doing all he can to protect her but, Anea's desire to spend most of her time with her scientific machines isn't doing her any favours in the popularity stakes. For Dino hiding away is not an option; he's got questions and he wants to live long enough to answer them. Full review...
