C. J. Daley

I find it kind of nuts that this and Hide released within a few months of each other, but hey, good for her. 
I absolutely love the attention Disney is giving this character due to the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi this year. And I'm super surprised we got another Padawan novel after Master and Apprentice in 2019, but I'll definitely take it. Easily one of the best SW characters overall. 
This novel starts off with Obi-Wan not really knowing his place. Within the Jedi, and with his new master. Qui-Gon is all about meditation, meanwhile most padawans want action, Kenobi especially. With a very cool name drop linking to The High Republic, Obi-Wan takes off on a mission for the force, the Jedi council, but mostly for himself. 
A fun, easy read that did lose me a bit in the middle with some pacing issues, but overall enjoyable

After seeing this movie two weeks ago, I immediately ordered the short story collection for my fiancé and I. We wanted to see how similar or different it was due to the fact that it's a full length movie. So far I've only read just this story, but I'll definitely be going back for the others at some point. 

Honestly the author does a pretty good job of getting right into it. With only twenty-something pages how can you not really, but still. It starts with the abduction, and everything that follows is very fast paced. It would be surprising to lose my interest in just 20 pages, but still the author does a great job of making it feel heightened and intense. 

The biggest change in this from page to screen is that the kidnapper is a part-time clown in the story. Which of course they were afraid would read too much like an IT rip because of who the author is. Meanwhile the story itself is very John Wayne Gacy itself, so a clown was unfortunately spot on. Anyway, in the movie he's a part-time magician to compensate. The stuff they expounded upon was entirely from the short story itself. The baseball scene, other abductions, the sister's sense. The dialogue is mostly entirely from the story itself. They did a pretty fantastic job adapting honestly. 

This author had been on my radar because I thought their covers were awesome. Then they ran a kindle sale where the books were FREE, and then they offered me the audiobook too! Unbelievable! I can't wait to read more, but I think I would definitely like to stick with audio?

To be honest I started this one the same exact day I finished listening to Ryan Cahill's Of Darkness and Light and it definitely threw me off. I don't mean that there is a difference in quality or anything of that nature, but one is a fantasy tome and the other is shorter. With this one's shortness the author says, “buckled in? No? Too bad.” I was just a little confused to start off with all the names and change in story. And I did find the opening to be a little more light in description than I expected. It is a shorter fantasy though which I really love. 

This novel does a lot of exposition and dialogue throughout. The author does a good job with it though, because the characters are really important. The characters shine here. Another thing I enjoyed is the super fantasy names the author used. Ugolf being my absolutely favorite. Both as a name and character.

Just because this is a shorter fantasy at 365 pages, does not mean that the author doesn't know how to pack a punch with emotion and action. If anything, the length adds urgency and tension to the pacing. This is one of the things I think the author did really well. And I can't wait to get into it further with the sequel. 

Absolutely worth your time, effort, or money to get this story and read! 

I originally for some reason thought this released much sooner in the year, which made it even harder to wait for July. This author has been an auto-buy for me since Dark Matter so I couldn't wait for this one. 
Upgrade is a science fiction novel that reads like scifi-realism (if that's a thing?) and scifi/dystopia. For me this is my sweet spot for the genre, which is why the author has catapulted to a favorite. His novels are accessible to anyone, but with science just smart enough to make me feel stupid, which to me at least, feels more real seeing as I am not a scientist. And I link each one to dystopian because he has such a way about writing things that are evolutions of where we are now, nothing ever seems ridiculous or impossible, but they are most often bleak. 
For me this is some of Crouch's best writing, even from the first page, there's just something refreshing about how he tells stories. I've always particularly liked that his main characters are not typical, they are never young or special, they are typically around 40 and ultimately average. Yet they often face the same odds and events that you would get in a chosen-one type story. 
Overall Upgrade is the story of what it means to be human, humanity itself, and a cry for compassion in the world. The author knows we need to act in terms of conservation, and this novel takes place in the future, a future that looks like our own, but it doesn't read like that, it's not so one dimensional. 
Through and through this is a wild ride, it's compulsively readable, unputdownable, and anything else you'd like to call it. Yes, there's a lot of science and description, but this one is also filled with incredible action and pacing. An absolute must. 
Personally a 5/5*, probably my favorite read this year. 

I saw this on bookstagram and it was simply too cute to pass up. I needed it in my Tolkien collection. 

This is a short children's biography of Tolkien. It includes that he went into WWI and that his friends died, so it was surprisingly realistic and accurate. But it was also light, interesting and done age appropriate. 

The illustrations are wonderful and colorful. This would be a wonderful way to introduce your children to Tolkien as it goes pretty in depth into his writing. Then you could move on and read The Hobbit to them! 

5/5*, a nice little collectible for me. 

This is the sequel to Of Blood and Fire, and it is book two of The Bound and the Broken series. Another cool, simple cover too. 
This sequel does a fantastic job of amping up everything that started in the first. It opens directly following the events of the first and continues straight through. There is next to no dull moments, with amplified action, dialogue, adventure, emotion, suffering, and danger. The writing gets a nice boost of improvement to the first as well, which is always a nice thing to see following a debut. 
For me, the thing this sequel does the best, is further and further distance itself from others of its kind. Not only Eragon and Paolini, but dragon riders and fantasy as a whole. Cahill is not necessarily doing anything outside of the mold, but he is further making it his own, and damn is this one fun. And blood pumping. 
I love where the characters went in this sequel and I thoroughly enjoyed the new ones too. Personally a 5/5* for me. Absolutely read this series. 

I was lucky enough to get to be an eARC reader for this book, and I'm glad I was! 

This is a pirate-y based dark fantasy. The author does a good job of leading right off with a content warning, I've said before that I don't see this very often, but I like it every time I see it. This novel goes pretty deeply into things, plus there is strong sexual content. With a beautiful cover and intriguing plot, it's bound to be picked up by a wide assortment of people! 

The world made me think of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End but with a darker, more tense atmosphere. It also follows the gods of the sea and Davy Jones idea, but in its own way that the author has made her own. The magic is also incredibly underhanded in a way I liked. We're never quite sure what it is or why and it adds some overall mystery. 

The novel follows a badass female main character. The author does a great job of giving them depth: they are cunning, smart, snarky, and confident in their own. For me this was nice to see as the MC is riddled with grief, regret, and pain linked to trauma, and I feel that oftentimes writers can miss that fine line where the character can't or doesn't exist outside of the trauma making them exist. This is not that. She has trauma, she deals with trauma, and she also stands alongside it. 

Only real thing I disliked is the sexual content. Smut is just not for me. I'm not the audience, I do no like it. I'm sure it's written well, so if you are a fan, here's just one more reason to read it! 

This novel ends with an absolute banger of a cliffhanger. I was so stoked. I feel like I constantly read books that nicely button up at the end, even when another one is coming. This novel gives you a third of a final page and then says BAM, see you in book two. Personally a 4/5* for me. Absolutely worth picking up! Compulsively readable. 

This book was marketed as a fantasy mystery. This just happened to pop up in my BookBub ebook bargain email (of which I download everything free every day...). This was kind of closely following me making a comment about an idea I had to my fiancé about mixing fantasy with other genres (just an idea, I'm not a writer), so I pretty much flipped at this one being free. 
The story follows Inspector Sebastian Pinsley, a Scotland Yard man of logic and rationale. As an Agatha Christie reader, he perfectly fit the general mold of what I expect from a murder mystery detective. As for the time period think of top hat wearing Victorian London, which coincidentally made me immediately think about Carnival Row, which also mixed the fantasy and mystery genre. Kaia, the books second perspective, is where the fantasy comes in. However, for 6/10th of the book you're not exactly sure if that's true or not, and even afterwards it wasn't entirely certain. Especially with Pinsley shooting her down about it. 
A lot of this novel worked really well for me, and I was excited to see that it's actually a series. However, with the split genre I found that it's not exactly a fantasy, nor is it exactly a murder mystery. Although there are more that can change the level in the mixture, I really desire something that is entirely integrated. 
Personally a 4/5* for me, definitely interested in more. 

This is an interesting and quick biography about the father of fantasy Himself. I got this as a gift and I was so pleased to be able to read through this one on my day off. 
This author does a great job of giving all of the necessary bits to Tolkien's life without it being so detailed that it feels more like textbook reading. Not that I wouldn't read more about Tolkien, of course I would, but this was like reading nice highlights and I actually learned a couple new things. For instance, I was always under the impression (for whatever reason) that Christopher was helping with The Lord of the Rings and the maps while still pretty young (aka in my mind, I was always picturing he was a child still). However, he we actually 21 and already in a group of friends alongside his father at the time. 
The only slightly weird thing is that this publishing company is a small religious one. So, this went pretty heavily into Tolkien being a devout Catholic more than once. However, it wasn't preachy or anything like that so I'm glad to have read it. 

This is a short story written by an eleven year old!! The daughter of Michael R Goodwin, who also writes horror, so that tracks perfectly! When I saw a bookstagram friend post this I immediately grabbed a copy myself. I'm glad I did! 

The author brings the creepiness in just 9 pages. This is a horror that mixes haunted house feels, folklore, and campfire stories. It's perfect for anyone looking for a quick read, especially if you're short on time toward the Halloween season. Would definitely work well for young readers too!

Personally a 5/5* for me, love to see a young person pursuing something. Worth checking out! 

This is the sequel to The Gilded Ones which some of you may recall was one of my top reads from 2021. Might I just add, again, with this awesome cover??? 
This one was unfortunately less concise, and therefore, a disappointing sequel for me. This read like it was edited and changed many times over, but unfortunately it still showed. As some of you may have picked up on at this point, I truly despise and agonize over dream sequences in fantasy novels. This one didn't have them per se, but it had these memory sequences that were from the MC touching other people and seeing into them. It boils down to absolutely the same thing. Is what she's seeing real? Could it be? What does it mean? And therefore, utterly meaningless to the story. I can't stress that enough, a lot of my dislike came directly from this, and there were quite a few. 
Otherwise this is still a feminist and representative read that is worth it for anyone, but especially a young audience. Find new characters that you love and admire even though they look nothing like you. I still found the author's writing to be well done just like the first, they just happened to come across the one thing I really despise. I also took a brief recess to read something else and normally I read multiples at once, not just stop completely, but this time I did. I think that lost the momentum for me for sure. 
Personally a 3.5/5* for me, I'd still recommend. 

I received a copy from the author, very graciously, and I just wish I had gotten to it sooner! 

This is a daring and heartfelt debut from an author that's not afraid to share some of their past on the page. This is heartwarming, sickening, and not without hope all at once. Grow through what you go through, as a friend of mine likes to say, and this is definitely a testament to that. 

This is a multi-perspective story, with the main character being Skylar, and the antagonist being named Connor. (The author very kindly asked me if it'd be weird to read a book with my own name in it, especially as they're the antagonist, and thankfully after taking some getting used to, it was fine!). Skylar is an overwhelmed college student and part time bookseller, and Connor is a fellow student, part time stalker, and full time creep. 

The story delves very deep into overcoming trauma and processing emotions. Skylar battles with grief, regret, self blame, depression, and anxiety. The author also does a fantastic job at almost psychoanalyzing infatuation, obsession, possessiveness, and a touch of lost reality through the antagonists POV. I'm impressed with the ability to weave both together. 

Absolutely worth your time, effort, or money to read this story. 

This is the third and final installment in the Pillars of Peace trilogy. As many of you know I've been following along (quite loudly) since book one, and I still firmly believe every person on earth should give these a read!

In this third installment we get a new group of perspectives. As ten years have passed, it's not that Tom is doing away with the original main characters, he's simply telling others' stories now. For starters we get a heavy dose of Francine. 10 years older, she's now a young adult and the chosen shield to Queen Mathilde. We also get a heavy dose of a new character named Locke (who we technically briefly meet in No Place For Peace). Locke is a very troubled and tormented individual. Not necessarily a good or bad man, but perhaps cornered into bad decision making, the author does a great job of giving us an entirely different feel with him.

The author is another writer that simply gets his characters. Even the characters that aren't given the fully fledged attention of being a perspective are fleshed out and have depth to them. He's able to take the characters we know and love and age them 10 years, with experiences and hopes and desires we may never know about, and yet their character development still shows a believable change. I'm looking at you King Cyrus!

The action is big, the emotion is better. There's such a fine line while weaving the two of those things together and the author just hits it perfectly time and time again. We need the action for the harder hitting emotions, and emotions are what drives these characters to action.

Considering the three novels as a whole, the author's writing has progressed and matured in every single one. There are some sentences and pages that I don't believe could have been written without the first and second novel existing first. Both in terms of literal content of course, and the growth as a writer. I've often likened the author's ability to weave perspectives to George R.R. Martin, and I've seen his character building likened to Joe Abercrombie as well. I'd personally put these three novels by Tom up there with any of them!

I know many of you won't have read this yet, but I will be bombarding you about it regardless. This book is perfect, a flawless close to a fantastic trilogy.

“Battle was where Heroes were born.”

This is book 2 of the Threadlight series. I listened to the first entry, Voice of War, via the author's newsletter...which made it free! (Get yours here: https://download.zackargyle.com/voice-of-war-audiobook) I wanted to continue with it, so I went with audio for the second too. Adam Gold is a fantastic narrator.

No smack talking, but I did find the sequel to be leaps and bounds better than the first! There was amped up action, dialogue, and emotion. The writing was a nice step up as well. Certainly an improvement on what was already a great start. The author did a great job of continuing to pull on all the threads he started with in the first, and creating some others! 

Again, this is just truly one of the most intriguing magic systems I've read in a long time. Called Threadlight, there are even bigger and badder things to deal with and learn about in this sequel, and the magic just kept getting bigger and better. 

The author continues on with the multi-perspective narrative. He does so with the same success as the first, while even the side characters are incredibly fleshed out and real. And did I mention death? Deaths? Deathses? None of them feel good, and each of them hurt in their own way. I was impressed. 

Totally worth it, and definitely sold me even more on the first. Check it, and the author out!

This is an Eye of the Universe prequel novella, and you can get a copy by signing up for the author's newsletter like I did! (Get it here: https://marktimmony.com/signup/ )

So I had seen this author's work come up multiple times on bookstagram. As he's writing magical fantasy, with awesome covers, I was of course very interested. But with all the other books I was working through reading and reviewing I just hadn't had the time yet. Then I saw the chance for a prequel novella (which I'm sure y'all know I love by now) and I had to have it. And come on? The cover of this one is easily the best! 

So per the author's note at the back of this prequel novella, this story takes place approximately 2000 years before the events of book one. After seeing that I'm rather impressed at the author's ability to write such a poised, concise story that has action, heart, emotion, and I'm sure tons of context clues and references to the series. In such a short amount of time the author makes you care for the characters and world. 

The world building is definitely a favorite of mine in this. Although at times it can be confusing, as I haven't read any of the longer works yet, but I absolutely love that the author just goes full throttle on it. Names, places, events, and magic just happen at full speed. There is a very science-y, astral projection type magic in this (that definitely made me think Doctor Strange-esque things) and although I'm still not sure I 100% followed, I am definitely 100% all-in on it. 

I can't wait to have the chance to read more if this is what's in store. 

This may be a collaborative work, that's why there's a company and not one single author. This was sent to me by my fiancé, very nicely, and I wish she hadn't! 
So, there were just some things I did not like. And those things are absolutely everything. First, this is not canonical to the game series whatsoever. It's almost as if they had never played one, or simply meant to redo it entirely (and poorly). It is also nonsensical. On one page we are in a middle state in the US, the next we are in France with absolutely no indicators or reasoning... and no I do not mean through the animus like you'd assume in an Assassin's Creed story. This reads like the first draft of a fanfic. There are several typos, unbelievable issues with tense, mess ups in the POV, some chapters are simply info dumps and lore even though it's supposed to be first person, just zero editing at all. They completely changed what the animus does and what the Bleeding effect from the game comes out as. Oh, and the narration was seriously dreadful...
Personally a -1/5* for me. Absolutely worth avoiding.

The author and I followed each other for a while, and they very kindly offered me a copy of their book for my reading enjoyment. Enjoy I did! 

The book is fantasy, but leans very heavily into the dress, language, weaponry of pirates. Which is A-okay with me. The author does a good job with this as it is grounding, but also still unique enough to read entirely as its own thing. Readers get both the typical fantasy journey on horseback/walking with danger and urgency, as well as ships sailing with time for hammock relaxing. But that relaxation doesn't last...did I mention there are sea serpents? 

The author writes believable and enjoyable characters that had me following along and rooting for them (and their survival) the entire time. They are dynamic, with ups and downs, and every single one progresses as people throughout the story. A personal favorite for me was Armand, who I pictured Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth's actor from Game of Thrones) the entire time. The stakes are real, real “on screen” characters are lost, and the momentum builds the entire time at the appropriate pace. All in all, I am impressed, and I am a fan. 

Absolutely worth your time, effort, and money to read this one

This is apparently a ‘Marvel Pocket Books Novel' and I'm not sure if that means it's one of a series, or if that's just what marvel labeled all the actual books that came out at this time. 
This has some cool MCU level references and name drops and even a featured appearance from Wong and Doctor Strange, which is very on brand for the actual movie franchise now too. But other than that, it is entirely it's own Spider-Man story. 
Spider-Man and Black Cat work to stop ancient beings that want to eat powered people that draw their strength from an animal... IE. A spider or a cat. The ancients also hired the mercenary Rhino, so it was nice to see an OG spidey villain as well. 
The action itself is hard to get right in a novelized version of Spider-Man. This one does a pretty solid job and it's almost there, but it was missing something. The author had the personality of Peter and Spider-Man perfect though, and the narrator delivered his quips perfectly. I'm glad I went with the audio. 

I was offered a copy of this for an honest review! So thank you again. 
This is a coming of age, self discovery novel. It is its own Odyssey for a young girl, then a young woman, than an aging one. When you step out your front door as a young girl and never come home, where could your feet, or life, take you? That is what this novel experiments with. 
This was pitched to me as a fantasy, and although it is, it is more so akin to something like Winnie the Pooh than an actual fantasy. And I don't mean that as disrespect. But for a large portion of this I wondered if the journey she was on was simply imagination. The people, places, and things may be made up, but they are grounded in such real things that they could just be slight pretending. And at the start of the book she's just a young girl, so that feeling of imagination is very possible honestly. 
This novel deals with the happenings and sometimes woes of life. And although quite similar to ways of life, I did find this to get a bit repetitive. However, the way the author writes the relationships between characters, their quirks, their disagreements, their laughter and fun, were all just really nice to see. It all came across as real. 
I find that I did not personally really enjoy this, it was just a little slow for me. 

I just happened to come across this on Instagram. I was interested by the stunning cover, and when I clicked the author's link I was surprised to see it on kindle for FREE! Naturally, I immediately started reading it. 

Elendil is a scifi/fantasy coming of age story. Along with some great Tolkien-inspired names, it's unbelievably action packed and it has a lot of heart. As a first entry into a new world, it's definitely short (I would gladly have read twice as much!) with an incredibly fast pace. 

When Abriana, our first person perspective, finally meets her long-gone mother, she's thrown into an intergalactic coup that spans the width of multiple systems. Oh, and did I mention she's from earth, the same earth as us, the one that knows nothing of aliens? How would you respond to such a drastic change in your life? A 17 year old high schooler is no warrior. 

The POV worked well for this and the author did a great job creating a voice for the character. I really enjoyed the worlds the author created, and I'm really intrigued by the fact that the worlds are more advanced but still have monarchies. 

This worked really well for me, and was a lot of fun, it could definitely have used a little more editing though. 

I had been seeing this book all over the place and I just absolutely loved the cover. I was on a book buying ban though (still am) so I waited months of being “good” before finally caving for me. 
I have to be candid with this one. Reading this hit me at the perfect time in many ways. My fiancé Priscilla was traveling for work at a new job. I went to bed at midnight and she woke me up at 4:30AM to bring her to the airport. I thought I'd get to go back to sleep but then the puppy was whining so I didn't. I then preceded to do 7 hours of house and yard work, so exhaustion doesn't really begin to explain it. I did the majority of my reading after that and the following day. I think because of the prior lack of sleep I worked myself up into a migraine for the next day. Didn't stop me though, I just continued reading with it. 
The first 160ish pages nothing happens. I kept thinking like why is this so boring? Is it just written poorly? Why can't I seem to sit still and get through it? Then I realized that I had been kind of sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for something to happen since page one. So it wasn't poor writing, it was purposeful. It was building suspense. That cabin-fever feeling, that paranoia. What I noticed around this point was that I was actually feeling genuine paranoia while reading. I've only ever felt this way while reading a single time before. It was while reading Dracula, a Signet classic version with font so small I legitimately wished for a magnifying glass. Same thing though, I was sick with a migraine while reading it, and I felt heightened paranoia while reading it the entire time. Now, much older, I was feeling the same again with Dead Silence. Just a very continuous, creeping suspicion that someone was watching. I felt like I kept seeing things out of the corner of my eye or if I'd turn around too quickly I'd catch a glimpse of something. I mean, the kind of have-to-force-yourself-to-go-to-the-basement-laundry-room creepy. 
This may not work for everyone, this might not hit at all for some. For me though, this was just a perfect storm of things. Priscilla and I haven't really been apart at all in the last two+ years due to Covid. The over-tiredness, the migraine, the being alone. It all just worked really well for me. I think this'll be my new creepy suggestion from now on for people. 
With all that being said, there are still some things I didn't particularly like. The story is first person and the main character says a great amount of things over and over and over. This certainly adds to the cabin fever-y, “is anything real” side of the story, but I do firmly believe that some of it was a little too repetitive. The story also has a ‘now' and ‘then' where the character is being interviewed about what happened (kind of Annihilation style) and they just straight up talk about deaths before they happen. That's kind of overdone for me and it didn't work as well here as it was intended. I also didn't particularly like any of the characters. That doesn't make the story less spooky or horrifying, it just would have hit home more if I cared about them each personally. 
The second half of the book breaks away from the ultimate horror side and becomes more of an action-y climax. This includes an explanation of what's causing the events on the ship. For me, a nice and neat ending, with explanation included, kind of kills the overall feel of the novel. I don't mind when horror is ambiguous, I kind of prefer it. With that being said, the second half of the novel is certainly still quite enjoyable! 

The author very kindly sent me this for my reading enjoyment. I loved the cover from the second she posted it, so I'm so stoked to own one. 

This is a super fast paced novel that focuses on emotional connections between characters. In a remote, snowy mountain area a detective enlists the help of a tracker and the area's search and rescue team. With a murderer on the loose, with a suspected hostage, the detective must work fast to fix his mistakes. 

The tale that the author wove is a good one. It's concise in its style, to the point and neat. Not that more length would have hurt it, but at 170 pages, there is nothing but suspense. Dark pasts and dark futures abound in this edge-of-your-seat adventure. 

I will say though that this is definitely a modern tale. When I read detective I was definitely thinking more along the lines of an Agatha Christie, but this detective is more of your modern cop. But it's called ‘Tracker' not ‘Clue-er.' They are fast on the trail of a murderer, not connecting dots clue but clue. 

This was offered to me via an Instagram comment, which is not an unwelcome way to receive a copy of something, just surprising. 

This is a poetry and micro-story collection. Poetry is not really my cup of tea, but I figured I'd give it a shot. And at the very least, give it a post to support it. No one from any single place in the entire world should trust my opinion of poetry. I don't think I get it. With that being said, I did not dislike this! And it has a beautiful cover. 

If poetry is your bag, consider giving this one a shot and checking out the author!

Personally a 3/5* for me. 

This is book 1 of The Aspect series and book 2 is just about to release in May! I grabbed this digitally while it was on sale to buddy read it, and weirdly we did not discuss the book a single time (I'm really bad at buddy reads). I wish we had, because I really enjoyed this! 

This novel is like a more-adult version of a coming of age story, with all the typical nostalgia you'd want to feel from one. It still gives you new romance, and the prospect of love and growing up, but to me the heartbreak and death just rang as more real than some others. 

This is not your typical magic or wizards in a giant castle story. And although there is also three best friends, it's nothing like the one that you might think I'm describing. This novel's best feature is the characters. The author pens some of the most realistic, and heartwarming (and heart-wrenching), friendships I think I've ever read. I'm particularly impressed with the fact that the author didn't shy away from tender male friendships. The kind where your friends care if you succeed, care if you're sick, care if you're hurt. The kind where they show love and affection because you're their friend. I feel like this is often something authors shy away from. 

This first book kind of reads like it could be its own prequel to a revenge series, and one of the things I like the most about it is that the villains are not clear practically the entire time. There are outside factors that hinder the reader from making the call on who is and isn't bad. There's your standard school bullying as well, but that doesn't always make someone the villain. Then, the author even makes the main character multilayered, no one is innocent. This novel is first person, so of course you root for Kehlem, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have some bad in him too. 

This book is a crazy, gut-punching ride. With the sequel around the corner, everyone should do themselves a favor and pick this book up. Like now. Right now. Order the sequel too, you'll want it anyway. Absolutely worth your time, effort, or money to read. 

This is book 1 of the Threadlight Series and it's an epic debut. I received a free audio copy for signing up for the author's newsletter, you should do the same!! Although my iPhone really did not agree with audio on Book Funnel, free is free, and support is support! 

This is a multi-perspective debut in the fantasy word. It definitely teeters between epic and high fantasy. It is absolutely character driven, but the weight of nations/worlds is most definitely in the balance (or about to be). The author definitely created a huge world that still feels small enough to be grounded in realness. From violence and kidnapping, to childbirth, you will see and care about it all. 

The magic in this series, called Threadlight, has to be one of the most intriguing that I've read in a good amount of time. Those with the ability to use it can either push or pull threads, which connect everything. It doesn't sound all that complex or crazy, but to those who can't use it, the options are endless, and dangerous. 

The writing is good, and frankly much of this is a blast. For a second there I thought this was going to turn into a sort of fantasy detective novel (and there's still time...). The author uses distinct voices for each character, not just driving the chapters through description alone. 

Personally a 4.5/5*. Worth your money, time, and effort to read. Don't forget you can sign up for the newsletter. The narrator is insane! Most gravelly voice of all time.