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Part Pierre Boulle, part revolutionary dystopian tale, Adrian Tchaikovsky's new entry in his Terrible World's trio of short fiction tells the tale of Torquell.


Torquell is a rogueish teen who lives in a pastoral village which is governed by the tyrannical Sir Peter Grimes and his equally cruel son, Gerald.

It soon becomes apparent that things are not as they seem. We learn that the world that is ruled by the 1% (not much difference there I hear you say) except that in this world the ruling class are bone crunching, carnivorous Ogres and the underclass are vegetarian serfs whose only function is to be the play things of their masters.

Torquell's destiny is irrevocably altered when he strikes the Lord's son after he is teased and taunted by the vicious Gerald. The repercussions from his actions lead to a tragic conclusion which results in Torquell becoming a hunted fugitive, and a social oddity.

He is subsequently procured by the socially precocious Lady Isadora, who indoctrinates him into her staff retinue. Whilst there, he is guided by Lady Isadora to begin his education of the world around him and the reasons behind the social structure that has emerged, and question its legitimacy as she similarly questions as she fights the male dominated world of the Ogres.

Now whilst the reader may be expecting a cosy fantasy, especially as it has well known Tolkienesque creatures in the title, Ogres is in fact a biting social commentary. It raises questions about class and social behaviour, the use of automated weaponry in war, and also what makes a figurehead.

The narrative itself is written in the second person which brings a kind of mythic detachment to the story, whilst also engaging the reader to experience the events that Torquell has throughout the story. Some readers may find this style of writing off putting, but due to Adrian Tchaikovsky's storytelling skill, it does actually become quite beguiling. In some ways it can be quite clinical as you never actually empathise with the characters. However, determining the labyrinthine puzzles at the heart of the plot strangely moved the story along as both the reader and the main character fathom the events that have lead to the current structures of the world Torquell inhabits.

Ogres is a twisty conundrum of a book that is at once strangely immersive, yet leaves you feeling clinically detached and is Tchaikovsky at his experimental best!

The familiar setting of the school for witchcraft and wizardry gets an upgrade to intergalactic academy for Superheroes in Rob Edwards' exciting and action packed adventure for Middle Graders.

The story centres around an unnamed artful Dodger type, who lives hand to mouth doing various con jobs on numerous galactic space stations, until one day he is offered a job that seems too good to be true. All he has to do is to pretend to be some rich kid for a little while so that said rich kid can escape from his magnificently rich family and disappear into the cosmos to make his fortune.

Seem simple? Yeah you would think so, but he should have heeded the advice that if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is, as the seemingly simple job as masquerading as some rich kid gets him taken to the aforementioned super hero academy and ends up with him continuing to live the life of the rich kid, Mirabor Garvane and actually finding something that he didn???t know that he needed - friends and family.

Rob Edwards???s book is a delightful romp from start to finish. The superhero academy works well and whilst it may remind you of certain other educational institutions, it does instil a little bit of realism into the curriculum, as there is the constant question of who does the superhero academy actually belong to, and are all these superheroes doing it for the love of saving people or is there a question that they may be in league with the larger corporations.

The ensemble cast led by the enigmatic Grey, as he becomes known as, is strong and well realised, with certain members of the team standing out more than others in this first adventure. Sevenfourthirty is implacable in his friendship and honest nature. He readily accepts Grey as his best friend and kind of provides his moral compass. Whereas, it is Gadget Dude who shines the brightest and while he doesn???t necessarily converse much throughout the story, he communicates so much with simple verbal expression and gesture.

The narrative itself is fast paced and easy to follow. It's full of well placed humour and lovingly crafted quips at the superhero genre as a whole. The story itself is full of adventure and familiar themes, such as the found family aspect, which when done well is always a delight. There is a little bit of spy thriller thrown in there to up the ante somewhat. On top of that, there is a legitimate feeling of threat in the book, as whilst there are no graphic details of injury, not everyone fares as well as you would expect in the story.

The Ascension Machine is an entertainingly fun packed story, full of action and intrigue and will appeal to both budding sci-fi and superhero fans.

Catriona Ward cements her position as The Queen of Unease with her new offering, Sundial. A tale of toxic motherhood and long held secrets.

Rob is a wife and mother who escaping her difficult childhood has set up home in suburbia with her husband Irving. But not all is as it seems! Behind the veneer of domesticity, Rob is a serial philanderer, and her eldest daughter is showing worrying tendencies that point to something being wrong! Very wrong!

After an inexplicable incident involving pills, and her two daughters, Rob decides it is time to return to her home of Sundial to set things right and attempt to revisit the events that have led to her current situation.

Full of intrigue and suspense, Sundial is a masterpiece of disquiet and unease, and from the very first page, the feeling of wrongness permeates from the page to give you a sense that nothing is what it seems.

The book itself took me two days to devour and I could not put it down, could not stop thinking about it until the story had revealed its secrets and showed me how the tale would evolve into its true nightmarish form. Catriona Ward???s previous book had me similarly gripped and I spent hours trying to puzzle the labyrinthine plot, and Sundial is much the same. However, I have quickly learnt to just follow the story without obsessing about what secrets lie below and let the tale unfold at its own pace to reveal the core of the story as its layers are peeled off, one by one.

There are so many things happening in the story. You have the story of Rob and her husband whose marriage is built on petty cruelties, each adding to something that is painful to watch, as he carefully manipulates everyone around him to join in his cruel games of misdirection and hate, and Rob responding to him. Irving is truly one of the most loathsome characters that I have met in fiction. He is never outright nasty, but you can feel it pulsing in every venomous act that he does.

Rob on the other hand can be equally as poisonous at times, and there is an underlying feeling of cruelty about her, and whilst she loves her daughters, she has a creeping sense of mistrust to her older daughter who speaks is emojis at the end of every sentence and collects the bones of dead animals.

The story is told from the point of view of Rob who imparts all her insecurities and scorn to the reader, but carefully hides them from her family, afraid they may be mistook for signs of weakness, particularly when Rob is playing his cruel mind games with her and currying favour with his eldest daughter to continue the miasma of vitriol that he surrounds himself in. However, there are times where we get the view of Callie, Rob???s eldest daughter, who may seem to be sweetness and light, yet holds darkly disturbing thoughts, especially to her younger sister, Annie.

With Sundial, Catriona Ward has carved out of the desert rock her place as a master of the disturbed as not a word is wasted. She will wrongfoot you at every juncture and just when you think you have the pieces in the right place, she will change the dimensions of the puzzle so that it doesn???t fit. Her prose is amazing, and it is not since I started reading Shirley Jackson novels many years ago that I have read anyone that has the same level of making all her characters seem to be so utterly awful yet utterly beguiling.

The narrative itself is cloying and claustrophobic yet gives the characters time to develop and explore their unusual circumstances whilst never once missing a beat and letting up its grip. Sundial is one of this years must read books that will have you gripped to the end of the story until its secrets are revealed

Now, let's get this party off the ground!

I liked this book and it was unlike anything that I have read before!

I think before we start the review, we need to talk about the fact that this book has a good dose of rumpy pumpy in it. And I have to admit, in general, I am not one for books with a bit of a saucy romantic edge to them. Yep, I can cope with a bit of the Luvvy Dubby stuff, but on the whole, my ethos tends to revolve around the ‘quick, shut your eyes! They're doing it!' kind of philosophy. Yeah, I know, sex is a pretty necessary part of life, and it should be easy to read about, coz we are all grown ups here!
However, I have to say that I didn't mind the fact that there was sex in the book and it added to the story and felt like a natural part of the two main characters relationship.

The story centres around the two main characters of the book, Patia and Gilea.

Patia, if you recall had her laboratory destroyed in The Living Waters when the roughabout with Leo et al went to visit her, and The Living Waters did a daylight smash and grab number on her quiksilver and ran off with it.

This left her in a bit of a pickle. However, one day, she hears that one of her former colleagues/professors have found a way to make something called a Universal tincture which lets you enter this thing called The Caravan and talk brain to brain with other people in The Caravan.

The caravan is a pretty cool thingymajig, and we tend to see this through the other main character of the story, Gilea (if you have read earlier reviews, or you have read the earlier book,you will recognise the name from The Living Waters).

In response to the fact that Patia's business has now pretty much sunk due to the fact that she has lost all her collateral that lets her make her meditation tinctures, she decides to set off for pastures new and investigate this Universal Tincture malarky, and get in on the act.

In the process of searching for the truth of the Universal Tincture, she sets up shop with another alchemist, Gero, which evolves into a relationship.

Meanwhile, Gilea is getting deep into this Caravan thingymajig, setting up a deal with the Maer for their stock of Sunstone (which happens to be an energy source for the Caravan) and discovers that there is a nefarious plot abroad, whilst trying to manage her relationship with Temi.

I enjoyed The Isle of a Thousand Worlds a lot. It was a bit of a breath of fresh air in all honesty, and a welcome reprieve from the frenetic pace of my normal reads. And I think this is one of the strong points of the book, in that the pacing is quite sedate and moves along at a pretty evenly, which makes everything in it to be very organic in its development.

For instance, the relationship between Patia and Gero doesn't get straight into it, it evolves naturally into where it is going. Similarly with Gilea's storyline, and it evolves layer on layer.

Another reason that I enjoyed this book immensely was the fact that the main protagonists are not young whippersnappers chasing about the land carrying out quests, coming of age and all the rest of the stuff that happens in fantasy. Now I don't have a problem with this normally, but I have to say it wasn't until I was presented with a book that had older protagonists in it that I realised how much I enjoyed this differing view. Yes there are plenty of books with older protagonists, but quite rare that they are in their sixties and nearly seventies. And I cannot say how much I enjoyed this aspect of the story.

Dan Fitzgerald writes wonderful characters and I was enthralled with them all. Patia, as an older woman is aware of her needs and wants, and her life experience makes her such a wonderfully rounded character. Whilst Gero is an older gentleman, there is a childlike quality to him that is quite sweet. We get to see more of Gilea and Temi's relationship, which at times can be bittersweet as they have to navigate their involvement as two very different people with different goals and aspirations.

I have to admit there were a couple of times that I did wonder how the two story lines would impact an each other and how they would intersect, as they seem to be two completely separate stories. However, I needn't have worried because Dan Fitzgerald nicely ties the two stories together.

Now, I know that The Isle of a Thousand Worlds will not be for everyone, but me personally, I really enjoyed it. Yes it is different! Yes it has some steaminess to it and romance, but I enjoyed all these aspects, and found the book to be a breath of fresh air.

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The Skin is the debut book by J.E. Hannaford and is the first book in the Black Hind???s Wake Trilogy.

It is the tale of Selkie. A mythological being that is trapped on land. She is trapped after her and her sister have been swimming in their natural form of a seal. As they lounge on an island they are unwittingly trapped, and as a way of saving her sister, who is pregnant, she swaps her skin (which is the natural seal skin, which is taken off to give them human form) with her sister in order to save her from the wretched humans that inhabit the world.

She is then sold into servitude by her capturer who now holds her skin hostage to make sure that Selkie complies.

Whilst in the service of a thoroughly reprehensible collector, she is unexpectedly saved from her cruel life by Sal, a mysterious individual that owns a pleasure barge, and at first seems as nefarious as her owner.

From there story revolves around Selkie???s story to free herself from captivity, find her missing skin as well as finding her place in the world.

I found The Skin to be utterly mesmerising from beginning to end. I was thoroughly enthralled with how J.E. Hannaford manages to interweave folklore with dystopian fiction and fantasy.

The characters in the book are complex, as is their nature. Whilst Selkie is finding her purpose following her being cruelly ripped away from the life she had before, we follow her as she has to live with the fact that she may never get back the life she once had and also having to live with the human inhabitants of the world that they destroyed. I would be hard pressed to determine which is my favourite character in the book as they are so well realised and burn into your consciousness with their clarity.

One of the things that stood out for me was J.E. Hannaford???s world building. For me I found it distinctly indistinct it its clarity, and whilst you are given hints that this is a world that has been wracked by an unknown catastrophe, you are not entirely sure until the very end the full details. Which I have to say I loved as it adds to the puzzle of the story.

I also enjoyed the fact that J.E. Hannaford not only shows the effects of the damage that humankind has done ecologically, but that it has had an effect sociologically as well, as the human race has reverted to a kind of medieval feudalism, despite having quite modern technology.

She also raises some interesting questions on the role of zoos in biodiversity conservation, especially in the light of the fact that the human race is a destructive force towards nature and a harbinger of disaster in its treatment of nature and the ecology of the planet.

J.E. Hannaford skillfully interweaves folklore into the tale, and I must admit that it is the first time that I have seen a Selkie used as a main character, which brings some originality to the story. However, not only are there Selkies, she incorporates a whole host of creatures from both folklore and mythology, highlighting the connection between these creatures and the natural world.

I listened to this on audio and loved Emily Mounts narration of the story as she really brought the story to life.

The Skin is an excellent read and I could see anyone that likes folklore, nautical fantasy and dystopian fiction enjoying this one.

Phenomenal, intricate, mind blowing and just bloody brilliant!

All these superlatives can apply to describe Trudie Skies???s book The Thirteenth Hour.

I have been dying to read this since I was first involved with the map reveal, which I think was in August last year. And from the initial view of Soraya Cocoran???s design for the book, it hinted that there was something definitely special about this book. I mean look at it!

The story revolves around our two main characters; Kayl and Quen

The two characters couldn???t be more opposite. Kayl is a Vesper, a race of people from Eventide, who can control shadow and darkness. Well, that is what she thinks she is as she is an orphan that was brought up on the streets of the Undercity of Chime. However she is a bit of a mystery. No one knows anything about her past, like who her parents are etc etc.

Now she is a Godless, a member of a disparate group of anarchists, made up of different races of people from the different realms that make up the domain of Chime. As a person, she is chaos!

Quen on the other hand is highly organised. He is a member of the Wardens, a Diviner. A race of people that can control time. He is fastidious about his appearance, order and following the rules.

We start the story with Kayl missing a tram! From this seemingly innocuous event things go rapidly down hill from there. You see, as I said earlier, Kayl is a member of the anarchist group, The Godless, who are there to fight against the God???s cruel and capricious rule over their mortals. As she and the other Godless are attempting to transport a group of refugees from the land of Eventide, events occur that will change both Kayl and Quen???s life.

After a disastrous incident in which she is noticed to not be affected by the Diviners control of time, she is confronted by none other than the leader of The Wardens. Her boss at the tea shop that she works at intervenes which results in Kayl inadvertently killing the owner.

At the same time a series of Diviner deaths are rocking the Warden ranks. Diviners are turning up with their eyes torn out and their souls ripped from their bodies.

The star Warden, Quen is brought in to investigate the connection and discovers Kayl???s involvement. However, things go from bad to worse. Not only is Kayl accused of murder, she also discovers that everything that she knew about herself is not what she thought. And as she and Quen discover the truth about the deaths of the Diviners, her world will be changed forever.

The Thirteenth Hour is a rip roaring adventure that I totally enjoyed. In truth I was not sure what to expect from the book, I expected it to be good but this totally blew my socks off. I totally fell head over heels with this book. Trudie Skies has really created something special with this book. The world is intricately built and is extremely original. The characters of the book are so vivid and real and I was so engrossed with the story of Quen & Kayl that I was thinking about what would happen next in the story, even when I wasn't reading it.

In addition to a fantastic plot and brilliant characters, we have to talk about the real star of the show, Chime itself. It is such a wonderfully developed piece of world building. Not only is there the description of the environment in the book, but there are also little nuggets of information at the head of each chapter that give details about the lore of different lands and general observations about race, culture and a whole load of other things. But let us get back to Chime itself! In some aspects it is reminiscent of portal fantasy, where the characters have to cross a gate to another world, and in others it is like a Neo ??? Dickensian playground of sin and filth, but with the pristine newness of Industrial age mechanika.

And another thing that jumped out at me was the care that is taken in the book. Let me explain! The story cycles points of view every chapter. One chapter Quen, one chapter Kayl (although this is not a finite rule!), but you can always tell whose chapter it is going to be with the chapter numbers. Quen???s chapters are headed by Roman Numerals, whilst Kayl???s are presented in the standard Arabic numeral forms for easier identification of whose chapter it is, which I have to say that I loved as it gives a clear boundary and you know what to expect. It is these little things that make the book that much more enjoyable.

The Thirteenth Hour is a brilliant start to one of the most original fantasy stories that I have read in a long time, totally captivating me with its engrossing narrative, intricate world building and incredibly dry wit (with some of the standout little tidbits getting ???exceedingly good cakes by Mr Kipler, or the Ferrero Roscher reference, which made me chuckle no end). Oh, and lets us not forget the biscuits. I was just dying for a pink wafer to show up, or maybe a Garibaldi!

This was my first introduction to Anthony Steven???s writing and I was very impressed.

The story itself is a familiar tale of good vs evil, The Powers of Light vs The Powers of Darkness etc, etc.

However, I felt that this was the framework that Anthony Stevens hung the story on to bring something much more prescient to the tale of good vs evil.

We initially get the prologue which recounts an ancient text of Uriel, the Archangel coming before God to allow several of his brethren to enter the world of man. However, whilst several of them remained true to the Lord, most of them turned away and instead worshipped the Prince of Hell, Beelzebub, and thus becoming fallen ones.

The story then moves time and setting to the bedroom of a disabled girl who is being kept in abhorrent conditions by her fundamentalist Christian parents in the early part of the 20th Century. Obviously, the girl does not see the way of the Lord as being one that is particularly a nice one to follow and upon being visited by one of the fallen instead turns to the dark side. She is ???saved??? from her meagre and cruel existence by one of the Fallen and subsequently a child is born, Gabriel Hernshaw.

Gabriel is then brought up by his aunt and his uncle, a reverend in the church, after his mother dies in childbirth. Similarly, Gabriel???s upbringing is not one that you would call a happy childhood, and we follow his descent into evil.

Meanwhile, interlaced with the tale of Gabriel, is the tale of David Ryan, a ten year old boy that is brought up in the early 1970???s with his abusive father, and a catholic mother who misguidedly believes that she must remain in this abusive relationship due to the ???social and traditional??? rules.

In the first part of the book, the story flits between points of view and different times, highlighting the stories of the three main protagonists; Gabriel, David and a priest named Jean who???s story is an off shoot of his contact with the evil Gabriel in World War Two.

The story isn???t an easy read as it contains themes of abuse, sexual assault, racism, sexism and does use some derogatory language associated with certain time periods. However, I felt that these were not done in an exploitative manner and encapsulated the themes that the author was highlighting.

As I have said, the story moves between these timelines and doesn???t really settle on a linear progression of the story until the final act. Initially, this can seem a little disorientating as there does not seem give the reader that comfort of a lateral progression. However, what it does do is give a good background to the convergence of the storylines in the final act and the reason why things happen they way they do.

Now, I want to go back to my earlier point of the fact that it is a familiar story, but that I felt that this was a formula to hang something much more prescient to the tale. For me, I felt that there was a much deeper aspect of social commentary running underneath this story of good and evil. Horror is a particularly good genre for this, and whilst it can seem that in the surface of the story there is the tale of the fantastical, underneath horror can be used to scrutinise society as a whole, and with Birth Rite, I felt that this was very much at play here.

How many times have you heard the saying that things were better in my day etc, etc. What Birth Rite does is that whilst at times it does give a nostalgic look to the seventies in general, and growing up in a northern town in that period, it also focuses its lens on the not so good aspects of the time period as well.

It highlights the casual racism and violence of the period, the toxic attitudes towards women, and that there was a lack of support for victims of domestic abuse. In this it highlights the fact that really ???it wasn???t much better in my day??? and these things existed despite what every one says.

In addition to this, it can shine a light up to where are we now in all these things, and I will leave you to draw your own conclusions from that one!

In terms of the book itself, when it comes to the final act of the book, it becomes a typical good vs evil scenario, which I must say that I enjoyed, it was fun.

Now, as I have said, the first part of the story is a little disorientating, and I did tend to wonder where the story is going, but found that it did start to bring the story together in the second part and reached a satisfying conclusion in the final part of the book.

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We Break Immortals is one of those books that I have had on my radar many months prior to it being released, and when a tour was being organised to showcase this book, I was compelled to join to discuss this book???s awesomeness.
Let???s get this out of the way in the first instance. This book is a chonker! Not only in page size, but the amount of material that is in there. Thomas H. Riley simply does not hold anything back and at first the book is an assault on your senses as you are plunged into the narrative.
In all honesty, I don???t think I was quite prepared for how much stuff is there! How intricately detailed every part of the book is!
The only way to approach this book, is to regard it as a plunge pool because as an author, Thomas Riley does not take the gentle and soft approach of leading you up to the water, dipping your toe in to test the temperature, have a little paddle and then immerse yourself in the relaxing waters of the story. No, he prefers the much more direct approach of sneaking up behind you whilst you are carefully contemplating if this is going to sting, placing a foot on your arse and shoving you in!
The story is set around three primary protagonists Aren, Keluwen and Corrin as they try to stop a deranged wizard in his quest to become a god. However, the main characters are quite a flawed bunch that have their own problems. Aren, a magical sniffer dog called a Glasseye, is addicted to a substance called Malagayne (which I likened to some kind of opioid). Keluwen, a magick user who is only concerned with her own vengeance and has very few personal limitations (such as instigating a ruse in which she appeals to the less than savoury predilections of the person they are trying to catch at one point) in how she gets that vengeance. And finally, Corrin, whose way of coping with the world is to soak it thoroughly in a steady stream of alcohol (I mean his theme song would be Streams of Whiskey by the Pogues).
Riley does a masterful job of letting each of his characters shine in their own ways. In all honesty, I found that I did not ally myself with a particular character, which normally tends to happen in multi POV stories, but was equally fascinated to see each of the protagonists and how they interplayed with the story.
The book itself is layered with intricate and complex detail, which I have to be quite honest, can be a little overwhelming at times. Especially at the beginning. I did spend a bit of time contemplating what the heck was going on and how this impacted the story. And in addition to that, it took me a little while to attach myself to the characters. There is an almost anthropological amount of detail in the first portion of the book in which Thomas Riley gives to the world building, and I think that those used to such tomes as Malazan would find this on a level. However, for me what Thomas Riley excels at is his ability to write tension fuelled plot, which becomes more apparent when you have trod on the sands of initial world building and character introduction.
Like I said earlier, it did take a while to get orientated to the story and this challenged my investment initially. Not that I wanted to pack it in or anything like that, it???s just when you are a little bit challenged, it seems a little like hard work at first (and me and hard work like to nod at each other in recognition but stay the hell away from each other if I can help it!). However, on this occasion I decided to at least shake hands and was thoroughly rewarded, especially later in the book where I surprisingly found myself galloping through the book with the wind ruffling my prized hair follicle.
One of the things that I forgot to mention is that there is a sense of wry wit throughout the story, and it is peppered with sly bits of humour that had me smirking throughout.
I think one of the things that shines through the story is how much Thomas Riley loves the fantasy genre as a whole, you can see the influence that various authors have had on him and how he has translated this love of the genre to his own interpretation to create something quite unique.
Now before you go! And I am sure that you have far more urgent things to do than listen to me rabbiting on about stuff, there is one final point I want to make ??? That Cover!
Do I need to say anymore?
Good! I think we are on the same page then

Shit!

What the hell happened here?

I'm not sure, but I like it!

Alicia Wanstall-Burke certainly ups the ante in Legacy of Ghosts, the breathtaking sequel to Blood of Heirs.

Let me tell you, this review is going to be hard! There are no two ways about it, coz I need to tell you about this book, whilst not spoiling the last book. If I can, I will try to give as much info without spilling too many beans on what came before.

Legacy of Ghosts continues the story of Lidon and Ranoth.

At the end of the last book, Ran found a place where he could exist without persecution, and Lidon had her future irrevocably changed.

Now four years have passed and Lidon is a ranger and Ran is hiding from the world, whilst learning how to use his magic.

I can???t help it, but there is one thing that I am going to spoil for the last one, coz whichever way I look at it I need to mention this point as it has an impact on the story.

As you know, the story follows the points of view of the two main characters, and you would expect that the two storylines would converge. However, Alicia Wanstall-Burke decided to throw that rule book out of the window and maintain the dual storylines well into the second book.

The Legacy of Ghosts follows a pretty similar formula to book 1. We cycle through the points of view every three or four chapters, and when there are major events that have an impact on the plot, they are echoed in the other storyline too.

I really enjoy how this works, and it is always something that I didn't see coming. I tell you, I spend most of the time with my jaw well and truly on the floor. There is always this parallel of events that sets the story in motion, and I am like - Whaaaat? WTF!

Now as I said earlier, Alicia Wanstall Burke ups the ante two fold in this book and whilst the first book had a lot of character building, Legacy of Ghosts felt much more plot focussed due to those initial building blocks.

Now, I know I am being a bit sketchy on plot points coz quite truthfully I want to pique your interest, without spoiling either the first or the second book in the hope that you will pick this one up.

As you can guess, a load of stuff happens in this story. Things get answered, things get revealed. The story moves on etc etc

However, it is the pace at which they keep coming at you, it's like boom - action piece, boom - plot reveal, boom - action piece, boom - here's a dragon, bet you didn't see that coming did ya sucka? (haha)

Throughout the story, there were some plot points that I guessed weren't particularly far off the mark (And let me tell you, I can never usually see things coming, and I know it was only one thing in a book full of things like this, so I am keeping it as a major achievement! So there!). However, this had absolutely no impact on the story because Alicia Wanstall-Burke executed the reveal in such a brilliant way that it left me a bit gobsmacked. Because I read this and listened to this on audio there was always someone thinking that I may be losing the plot coz I was like whoa! Oof! No way! Even the dog was getting a bit worried at points wondering who the heck I was making random exclamations at whilst out on his daily walks! (I lay this wholly at your doorstep AWB)

The magic system comes to the fore a bit more in this book too, as Ranoth's story shows you that he has gained much more control over his powers and is able to use them effectively.

For me, Legacy of Ghosts was an absolutely brilliant second book, and masterfully moves the story along in ways I didn't expect.

So with me telling you all about this book, whilst not telling you anything at all, I bid you adieu!

Let???s kick this one off by saying that I enjoyed Lucky Jack from the get go. It???s one of those books that you cannot help but like due to its inherent charm.

Now I know that from the name, the main genre that I tend to go for is Fantasy (nooooo, what gave it away?). However, I do have other interests and one of these is history. Lucky Jack definitely falls into that, even though it is a memoir of one Henry ???Jack??? Rodgers.

I think that whenever you read a review of this book, the word ???charming??? is going to come up several times, due to the fact that Jack Rodgers has an ineffable charm and wit that immediately makes you warm to him.

The book deals with a massive period of time due to the fact that these are the personal observations of a man who lived through three centuries, being born in the mid-1890s and gracing us with his presence until 2000, leaving us at the impressively statuesque age of 106. And in that time, he had seen all manner of things, as well as being involved in the First World War, when he fought in his regiment The Sherwood Foresters.

Lucky Jack is full of anecdotes from his life, encompassing times from when he was a boy in Hammersmith, to moving to Brighton and finally spending his twilight years in Lincolnshire.

It???s a fascinating tale and sheds a light on life in England throughout copious different ages, and when you read this book, all these different time periods of British history are brought colourfully to life with the beautifully conversational style that he delivers his memoirs.

The memoirs are made up of observations and articles that have been lovingly brought together by the author and Jack???s grand daughter, Sue Bavey.

There is a lovely laconic style to the book due to the nature of the stories that are between the pages. However, what struck me is that sometimes these stories belie the momentous events that Jack has been witness to, and it took me a moment to realise exactly what these events were, such as when he describes watching the Hunger Marches in 1930???s. I had to do a double take on that one when I realised what he was talking about.

Not only are there moments of great history in the book , but there is also the microcosm of family life throughout the ages. From stories of when he was a young boy and getting himself stuck in iron railings to moving up to Lincolnshire to stay in a retirement home.

When it really hits home is when he describes conditions and life in the trenches in the First World War. Even though Jack has a wonderfully optimistic nature, the true horrors of his experiences do permeate through the narrative, and in one or two sentences the stark reality of the situation hits you right between the eyes.

Lucky Jack was a wonderful little read that you cannot help but love. When you read it, you can feel Jack and his wonderfully optimistic view on life shine through the pages, even through the darkest of times. I think the other thing that made this such a good read was the fact that when you read it , you feel that Jack is telling these stories to you personally and you are the one laughing and smiling along with him at some of the things that happened throughout his life.

My advice! Read it!

Sword In The Street is the debut by C.M.Caplan and tells the story of John Chronicle, a young man that fights for the aristocracy as a duellist, and his student lover Edwin.

Now, I am going to be quite honest (and am probably going to stand out a bit with this next statement) but I nearly didn???t finish the book as initially it didn???t quite click. I am not sure of the reason why, and to be honest, sometimes I don???t analyse the reason why and just go with it.

However, I decided to give it my full attention and stick with it, and I am glad that I did because I ended up enjoying it thoroughly.

The story, as I have said, revolves around the Duellist (and I use this term because it put me in mind of Ridley Scott???s film of the same name) John Chronicle who makes his living by duelling for the aristocracy when they bring a writ..against anything really, whether it be a legal argument, a point of honour, whatever they deem needs this. His life revolves around his occupation and his partner, Edwin, who is on the Autism Spectrum, and manages this by smoking a substance called Ash, which reduces his inner anxieties and gives him a calm to function without his anxieties overwhelming him.

There is a lot going on in this book, and it wasn???t till I thought about it that some of these themes came to the fore in my head. The book primarily focusses on the relationship between the John & Edwin. In Sword In The Street, C.M. Caplan focusses the microscopic lens onto the interactions between John & Edwin and we almost get a fly on the wall perspective of their everyday life.

I think, one of the reasons that I almost DNF???d this book was primarily this particular reason, and in all honesty it took me out of my comfort zone to have such a close relationships with the two protagonists. However, when I decided to dedicate my attention to the everyday interactions of the two protagonists, I started to warm to them and ended up admiring how honest CM Caplan is with his characters. He does not portray them as in any way heroic, but decides to give them a warts and all perspective, which put me in mind of an almost reality TV perspective.

Initially, I had a problem with the word building as it is quite sparse and you only get a vague, fuzzy outline of the world that the characters inhabit. However, this gives you an opportunity to paint whichever background that you want to put on. I have seen the terms gaslamp to describe the book, and also that it is in a Venetian style. However for me, I kind of put a 1800???s Parisian French slant on it, about the time of the Communards, especially with the descriptions of decrepit buildings and the disparity between the poor and the rich. Then I realised that this was a brilliant piece of writing as it gives the reader the ability to put their own interpretation onto what is being read. I don???t know if this was a conscious decision on the part of the writer, but if it is, it certainly works well.

Similarly with the magic system, it is not clearly defined and in all honesty, I am not sure if it is actually truly there, but it is intriguing and I would like to see how (or if) it develops.

As I said, the story follows the two main characters and the points of view alternate between the two perspectives, and throughout the reviews that you will have read, Edwin stands out as the most distinctive character. However, I want to talk about John first! John???s arc is quite a sublime one. He is obsessive about his art and goes through quite a rich character development. From a person who is vaguely aware of the underlying social injustices that the system that he is so ingrained in has, through a stage where he has it taken away from him, to a point where he is almost revered, and he takes advantage of this and finally to a semblance of redemption. He has quite a lot of issues, including being scarred from a traumatic childhood, which included physical abuse. However, not only that, he is trapped in the cycle of poverty, where the only thoughts that he indulges in is how is he going to manage today, and has as many problems with central coherence that Edwin does in his world view., and I have to admit that I got quite cross with John on a number of occasions, which when you think about it highlights that I got invested in the story.

Whilst I have mentioned that the main crux of the story revolves around John & Edwin, the other main character is Aubrey. Now I loved it when Aubrey came on the page. For me she was the one that is able to manage Edwin and give him critical learning points throughout the story, makes Edwin figure things out. However, she does not do this by rote, she carefully nudges him to make realisations and the big decisions.

The prose is quite clipped and CM Caplan does not use over descriptive narrative which works well. In addition to this, there are some intricately woven action scenes in there, particularly when he is describing the fencing scenes with John and whichever adversary that he is pitted against.

All in all, I enjoyed The Sword In The Street, especially when I got used to the writing style. It pushed me to read out of my comfort zone with its focusing on relationships, but this story of redemption and revolution did get under my skin, and it wasn???t until after I finished it that I realised how good it was.

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The Blood of Heirs is the first in the The Coraidic Sagas and tells the story of two teens from very different backgrounds. Lidan Tolak is the strong willed first daughter of Daari Erlon Tolak, whose clan lives in the village of Hummel. The other is Ranoth Olseta, son of the Duke of Orthia.

With these characters comes two very different worlds. Lidan comes from a horse riding stone age culture, which appears to be similar in some respects to a kind of Celtic/Aboriginal background, whilst Ranoth comes from a medieval background full of castles and keeps, and more culturally advanced, particularly with the weaponry that is used.

This separation of the characters, both environmentally and culturally also remains a factor with the structure of the storytelling in that it is told from two different viewpoints, with the narrative alternating at regular points to focus on each of the characters for a period of time.

Lidan???s story begins quite innocently. She is an adventurous girl who wants nothing more than to be a ranger, which goes against everything that her mother, Selen, the First wife of the clan has planned for her daughter, the heir of the Tolak Clan. She steadfastly refuses to let her daughter participate in any of the activities that she needs to do to train as a ranger, and continuously badgers and berates her throughout the whole of the book.

Ran???s story is quite different! He is the heir to the Orthian throne, which is engaged in an endless war with the Woadans in a place called the Dispute Territories. During his first battle, he is put in charge of a regiment of soldiers. However, instead of taking the usual turn and showing how brilliant Ran is at military strategy and being the leader that he is meat to be, Alicia Wanstall ??? Burke completely takes an about turn and the battle is a mitigated disaster, subsequently leaving the Orthian Army no other choice than a quick retreat, and the loss of a key position o n the battlefield. Ran is subsequently told to return to the city of Orthia, in the company of Britt Doone. Whilst travelling, they come upon a mysterious cottage which is inhabited with a strange ghost. This encounter with the ghost is crushing and changes Ran???s Life forever.

Similarly, with Lidan, there is a parallel event in which a climactic encounter with a strange beast called a Ngaru leads to a change in her life and recognising her ambitions.

Both these events in the character???s lives set the narrative up to tell the story of our two main protagonists, and whilst they are both different there are parallel themes running through each of their fates.

The Blood of Heirs is a character driven tale that moves along at a really good pace. One of the things that I found when I was reading this book was that I could not help but compare the two points of views and which one that I enjoyed the most. I have to say that whilst I enjoyed both of the storylines immensely, Lidan???s was the one that stood out as being my favourite and I could not wait to return to her each time. She is just so well defined that she seems to walk off the page. It is not that I did not like Ranoth???s story, quite the opposite in fact. His storyline was equally as immersive and there were a number of things that I wanted to find out, like why was the ghost from the cottage haunting him, and would he survive the events that were happening to him. It???s just that I wanted to discover the next part of Lidan???s narrative that little bit more.

There are many things to like in this book, which totally took me by surprise. Alicia Wanstall ??? Burke writes fantastic prose that immediately hooked me into the story. Her descriptions of the worlds that she has set the story in instantly transported me to the world that the characters inhabit, and at once I felt at home in the environments that Lidan and Ran live. In addition to this, Alicia Wanstall ??? Burke seamlessly moves between the two different settings, and never once did this cause any conflict with the narrative. As well as these aspects of the prose, Alicia Wanstall Burke writes some terrific action scenes, with the standout being the battle between the Woadan and the Orthians when they attack the city. I literally could not stop turning the pages until it was done.

Furthermore, she writes such brilliant characters. Not only are both Lidan and Ran full of life, but I was instantly invested in their respective stories and the development of each of the protagonists.

However, not only are there good, solid protagonists, but the supporting characters are really well developed too. And I think that this is one of the reasons that I enjoyed Lidan???s story a little more than Ranoths. Lidan???s story, for me had more of a supporting cast that fleshed out her story. Particularly Selen, who is one of the best villains that I have read in a story. She is vicious, vindictive and ambitious. She will happily do whatever it takes to achieve her goals, effectively transferring her ambitions to her daughter. There is such a toxic relationship between mother and daughter that whenever Lidan and Selen meet, sparks fly off the page. I have got to say, each time Selen entered into the story (stage right) I wanted to boo and hiss at her, as she is just so bloody evil!

On the other hand, Ran has a ghost that haunts him, which he met in the cottage. And whilst she doesn???t have the same solidness as Selen, this does provide us with a certain amount of conflict and mystery as to why she is haunting him.

Throughout the book there are monsters, ghosts, witches and curses which have an impact on the story, particularly the Ngaru, which connect both plots as they feature heavily in both Lidan???s story and in Ranoth???s

Whilst the story is mainly character driven, the plot did not lag in any way. It was pretty even throughout, with good development for each of the characters and significant events having an impact on each protagonist respectively. Now again, you have to admire the structure of the book in that there are two parallel plots, that whilst distinctive, have an impact in each aspect of the two stories.

There is magic in this world, an it is interesting how it inter-plays with the world. In Lidan???s story, magic does play a back seat to the story and only interjects itself very briefly on the world, whereas in Ranoth???s story, magic is an integral part of the story and has a significant impact. Throughout the land of Orthis, magic is feared and reviled. It is the primary antagonist in Ranoth???s story and when he meets a Woadan mage, things take a dramatic scene.

However, one thing that I have to mention that, for me, there were times where I did not know where the story was going and how the two stories would come together, or if they even would!

As a final note, I have had this on my Kindle for ages and it has been languishing on my TBR for I don???t know how long. However, this book seemed to be raising its head above the parapet with a life of its own and telling me to read it. My interest was piqued when I saw a recent review by another book blogger/book tuber that I follow giving it a favourable review, and I thought ???Hang on a minute, I have got that on my Kindle!???. And then purely by coincidence, I was contacted by the author on Instagram asking if I would be interested in reading it, so I felt that it was about time that I did. I ended up also getting it on audio as well, so that I could continue with the story whilst I was out and about ??? that???s how much it got me!

Blood of the Heirs is a brilliant fantasy debut, and one that will have you hooked from the beginning. It is full of brilliantly realised characters and an interesting parallel dynamic of two differently similar stories (yes, I know that this is a complete oxymoron!) and I cannot wait to see how the story develops.

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So, I finally started reading Cradle by Will Wight, beginning with the first book in the series, Unsouled. Now, there are 12 planned books in the Cradle series, and I have made it one of my reading goals this year to get through this series and see what all the fuss is about, as each time I look for recommendations for a series this comes up.

Unsouled introduces us to the World of Cradle, and its main protagonist Wei Shi Lindon, as well as other people in the series.

So, with Cradle, I am finding myself introduced to new words and concepts, which is always a pleasure as it sends my brain a whirring. According to other reviewers, the Cradle series resembles Shonen Anime/manga in its inspiration.

Got to say, I haven???t a clue, and I will take their word for it!

In addition to the anime/manga thingy, I am an absolute noob when it comes to progression fantasy.

(I did have to look up the meaning for this as you can see from my earlier musings on the why I chose this book)

Now, whilst I have a little bit of trepidation on that lot of information, the main concerns for me is whether I would enjoy it. It???s always a bit nerve wracking when you start a series, and it was particularly nerve wracking when you have decided to devote this as a 10 ??? 12-month endeavour.

However, not to worry, coz I positively devoured this book over two days and could not put it down. It was such an enjoyable and easy read.

The story is set in an Asian inspired world with a people that devotes itself to the practice of magic and their progression through the mystical arts. Each member of the society that Lindon grows up in is tested for whichever brand of magic that they possess and when Lindon is tested, the special substance that is used to identify the individual???s magic, shows that Lindon does not possess any magical abilities. He is subsequently labelled as unsouled (which I thought was a bit harsh to be honest!). This has an impact throughout his life, and he is seen as a freak and an encumbrance (yay highly enlightened people for accepting difference). This means that Lindon cannot progress in the magic/martial arts system that he resides in, which is a kind of isolated world in the mountains and hidden from the world outside, reminding me of the legends of Shangri ??? La.

However, through various misadventures he sees a way to progress and forge his own path. At one point he is entered into a duel against a much more powerful opponent, and he orchestrates the opponent so that he cannot win, and Lindon comes out of a potentially devastating situation unscathed. Throughout the book, Lindon has to employ his wits to overcome insurmountable odds, and whilst at times, Lindon can come across as a little unscrupulous in his methods and without any thought as to their actual consequences, you can see that he is highly disadvantaged in the society that he lives in. I have seen that some reviewers thought that there was a level of dishonesty in the methods that Lindon employed. However, for me, I thought that he was battling against overwhelming odds in one of the harshest and elitist societies in SFF that I have seen, and that whilst he uses some dodgy methods, he uses his quick wittedness to do what it is natural to do in this highly competitive environment. And as a world view, he is a little selfish in his goals, but the whole society is built on the principle that you can elevate yourself is to be solely enamoured of your own abilities.

This is very much an introduction to the story of Cradle, and at times there is some info dumping on the reader, which at some points slowed the pace a little, yet on the whole, it did not affect my enjoyment of it.

Initially, I did find the characters a little two dimensional, but this changes about halfway through when there is an incident that changes that whole direction of the book. I have to say that I had no idea that this inexplicable event would happen, but when it does it certainly pulls the rug out from you. And another point to add, is that by the very nature of the society that Will Wight introduces us to, is pretty two dimensional in all honesty, when its only goal is to progress further in their search for more power.

Now, you cannot write a review of the Cradle series without mentioning the magic system. It is such an integral part of the book, and is so intricately woven, with it having some influence from Chinese spirituality and mixing it with the use of artifacts and elixirs.

I don???t want to go too much into the minutia of the book, as I think the best way to go into this is without any indication (except from the obvious!) of the plot.

I have got to say that I really did not have a clue what this book was about in all honesty, but I can definitely say, that I was not expecting that.

And for those of us that are old enough to have a ???what the hell is going on??? look on our faces when anime or manga is thrown at us, it really doesn???t confuse you at all, and me, with very little anime experience was able to appreciate the story.

Unsouled is a fantastically paced romp that had me hooked. It???s one part coming of age, with one part underdog story, mixed with a whole lot of adventure.

Give it a go!

I've only just finished it, so review to come!

I am actually a bit late on this review, as I read it last year but have only just managed to get my thoughts down on this one.

I have come into contact Douglas Lumsden on Twitter and he is always a delight to converse with, which brought me into contact with his books.

Now, I will have to put my hands up here and come clean. Unfortunately, I started this series by reading the second book. It was an honest mistake guv???nor, and by the time that I had realised that this was the second book, I didn???t want to relinquish my investment in the story as it had gripped me completely.

The other thing about this is that I consumed this via the audio book (and let me tell you ???consumed??? is the absolute correct word because I did the listening equivalent of not being able to put this down, and finding myself sneaking any opportunity to slip my headphones on and carry on with this wonderful story).

The book revolves around Alex Sutherland P.I. who runs his investigative business in Yerba City, and kicks off in typical gumshoe detective fashion when a femme fatale walks into his office. However, from there we can leave the familiarity of the gum shoe detective behind when we are told that the ???femme fatale??? is a witch of the highest standing, and indeed she is the most fatal of femme fatale???s who has the capability to destroy the world. Not only that, she is confessing to a murder that hasn???t been committed yet, and that she is under the compulsion of an unknown someone who is using her as a weapon to place curses on individuals in Yerba city.

Alex is then tasked with trying to solve the mystery of who is controlling the head honcho of the most powerful witch cults, Citlali Cuapa, also dubbed the ???Barbary Coast Brujera???

Following this, Alex immediately tries to save the life of the cursed man in a race against time.

Do you think he is successful? Well suffice it to say that this is one of the hooks that is immediately at play in this action packed fantasy/thriller, and I am not going to tell you anymore. What I do need to tell you though, is that this is the first forty or so pages, and the book carries on in much the same vein, as Alex attempts to discover the power behind the Barbary Coast Brujera???s compulsions and who is causing eh mysterious deaths in Yerba City.

As with any new series that you start, you don???t know exactly what you are going to get, but I tell you, this is a gloriously fun, witty, and sharp piece of urban fantasy. And the marriage of urban fantasy and forties style detective novel is something that works tremendously well.

There is so much to enjoy in this book! Douglas Lumsden creates a fantastical and intricate modern world, but mixes with it with the authenticity of Forties noir to bring something to the page that is exhilarating and fun. He manages to take the tropes of both forms of fiction and magically transforms them into something new.

Now, I cannot say that I am not particularly au f??it with the written form of noir fiction, and whilst I have read a few, I have not been particularly steeped in this form of literary fiction. However, I have seen enough films and other things to make this familiar. Similarly, with urban fantasy! Again I am not all that well versed in urban fantasy, but again, know enough to get by. However, this does not matter, as Douglas Lumsden???s story is like an old comfy seat, and it is not long before you are feeling like these settings are wrapping you in your favourite blanket.

Not only that, Douglas Lumsden???s world building is something to behold. At times, he will bring in the familiar beasts and races of fantasy fiction, but will transpose them on to a modern background, which works extremely well, for instance, there are gnomes, trolls, witches and a variety of other creatures. My personal standout was Mr Whiskers, the Manticore, who has a psychic connection with his ???handler???, Cody.

In addition to this, Douglas Lumsden sets the story in a Mesoamerican setting, which is full of mythology based on the pre ??? Columbian culture of Mexico and Central America and incorporates it really well into the story. As it is identified in the nicely supplied glossary at the end of the book, the stories of Alex Sutherland are based in Tolanica, which derives its name from Tollan, or Tolan and is incuded in Mayan folklore.

I loved every character in this book, even the bad guys. Again, he cleverly uses stereotypical representations of characters out of these types of fiction, and then rips the stereotypicality away to make something inexorably pleasing.

Now whilst the book might seem all lightness and fun, it does at times, with some of its subplots go to some pretty dark places, such as human trafficking, and whilst there are never any details as such, there are these undertones. However, whilst they are present, they are carefully interwoven into the main body of the story and plot.

Now, I think I have chewed your ear off enough about this, I can only say that if you are looking for a brilliantly written fusion of detective/urban fantasy let me point you in the direction of this series.

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This is my initial foray into the writing of Bradley P. Beaulieu, who has a fairly large fantasy back catalogue. However, with Absynthe, he is writing as Brendan P Bellacourt for his Sci ??? Fi debut. Originally touted as mixture of Inception, Deco ??? punk by the way of the Great Gatsby, this grabbed my interest by the throat and when I was offered a copy to review by the publishers, Head of Zeus, I literally bit their publishing hands off.

The story is set in an alternate version of the 1920 ???s, which whilst it has familiar feel to it, such as prohibition etc, it is vastly different. This version of history is populated by advanced technology, mechanoids, hoppers and speeding trains. Not only that, there is a version of The First World War, but in this reality, America has fought a war against The St Lawrence Pact, a treatise of the other countries in the world, such as Great Britain, Germany and Canada, to name a few.

Absynthe tells the story of Liam Mulcahey, a veteran of the Great war, who is now working as a mechanic for the Aysana family. However, the Aysana family are more than just his employers, their son, Morgan is Liam???s best friend and has been a rock to Liam after he has returned from the war with amnesia and very few recollections of his time in the army.

We start the story by learning that there is civil unrest in this version of America and that the Uprising, who believe that President Leland De Pere is far from the perfect president that he portrays himself to be, is attempting to subjugate the People of that great nation. In their attempt to overthrow his rule they have attacked on a number of occasions and in a variety of methods. The worst being an attempt to poison the people. As a result, a serum has been developed and it is rolled out at a civic celebration of the scientific might of America with the unveiling of a new type of train.

Whilst at the gathering, the vaccination is rolled out to the people to protect them, and several of the celebrants are given the serum, including Liam???s friend Morgan. However, the celebration is cut short by an unforeseen attack by the uprising, where Liam witnesses something quite strange goings on.

He puts this down to the effects of his mental health difficulties as a result of the war, and dismisses it out of hand.

Later, in the week he joins Morgan and his friend at a local speakeasy for a night of carousing and cavorting. There he meets the beautiful socialite, Grace. Whilst engaging in this impromptu party, Liam is persuaded to partake in the drinking of Absynthe. The substances hallucinogenic properties affect each of the group of friends in a different way. However, whilst at the speakeasy, the club is again attacked by Uprising forces, resulting in the deaths of a number of the people that frequent the club, Liam and Morgan escape with the aid of the family Mechanoid, Alistair, who save the heir to the Aysana fortune and carries him away.

Following this, inexplicable incidents begin to occur. Morgan becomes increasingly ill, and after visiting the family doctor, they are pulled over by what they think is the police but are subsequently attacked again by forces unknown. They become wanted felons and find themselves plunged into a web of intrigue, resulting in the kidnapping of Morgan.

Liam learns that things are not as they seem, and after a mind-altering attack by unknown forces, including the right-hand man of the President himself. Liam begins to suspect that the Uprising may have a point. He is subsequently saved by Grace and is recruited by the Uprising, who agree to help him find Morgan.

In Absynthe, Brendan P. Bellacourt presents a beautifully crafted and intricate world, that it is at once familiar as it weaves in aspects of 1920???s America with what we would expect from a novel set in that period, such as women in fancy flapper dresses, speakeasys, seductive smoky jazz joints etc, with more science fiction aspects juxtaposed into the environment. Rather than being a marriage of convenience, the two are interwoven and connected gorgeously, each coinciding to give a sumptuous stylistic evocativeness to the story.

The use of the ritualistic aspects of drinking Absynthe as an almost mystical transition of two different worlds works marvelously. And yes, it does have that Matrix aspect to it, but this is an effective device which gives the story its depth.

Furthermore, there is a synthesis of different types of story here. Throughout the book there is an engaging action/adventure story, coupled with the mystery surrounding the disappearance of key members of the plot and how this impacts on the story.

There are a number of plots and subplots running throughout the book, and whilst the main story revolves around Liam???s search for Morgan, the romantic aspects of Grace and Liam, and evil conspiracies, there is also the treatment of veterans after war, which is encapsulated in Alistair???s story.

The main protagonist. Liam is not what I expected. He is not the ???all flashy??? action hero that blazes his way through the story. He is damaged, his memories shot to pieces. He cares deeply for those around him, and is able to accept that the situation that he finds himself in is not purely black and white, good versus evil.

The device of using Liam???s gradual reawakening of his memories provides both an effective backstory to the events that are affecting the world today, but they also move the plot on effectively and shed light on the mystery that is unfolding at the heart of the story.

Absynthe captivated me with its gripping action, a beautifully intricate backdrop, mind bending mystery and fantastic characters.

The Twelve had once been the saviours of the land. Their combined might had saved the world from darkness. They had sent the evil underground, to live in the darkness below. However, the darkness was not destroyed and the war scarred the land, leaving six pits that need to be watched over. Thus was born The old Guard. A group of soldiers sworn to protect the lands from the dark and stand guard the pit.

Merad Reed???s life is filled with monotony and routine. He secretly wishes that something will happen so that he can be released from his life of boredom. However, he soon wishes that he had kept those thoughts to himself. When one night seems much the same as the other. An evil belived disappeared emerges from the pit and a screaming horde of Greylings kills all that he holds dear.

As he fights to save himself and those around him from the monstrous beasts that live in the caverns below the lands, aid will come from an unlikely source. From a knight of The Twelve.

With the aid of Aldarin, they defeat the foul host.

But this is just the beginning. More of the creatures have amassed and are making their way to Arelium.

Meanwhile in Arelium, the Baron & his family are unaware of the threat that looms at the edge of their lands. Can they fight off the Greylings. Can they defeat the monsters that drive the Greylings. Can they defeat legends made flesh and save the people of Arelium.

I have to say right from the start that this book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were some elements that I really liked, and there were others that I just did not get along with.

Now the book has some really good ideas in it. In places, it is quite dark. There is plenty of political intrigue, and there were parts of the plot that kept me intrigued enough to continue reading it. On the whole, I quite liked the main characters. The friendship between Reed and the knight of the Twelve, Aldarin hit that chord that kept me wanting to find out more and see how the relationship developed (although, at times Alderin really annoyed the snot out of me!). There were other parts too. I always like a good training montage and the one with with Reed and Ferris attempting to teach a group of raw recruits how to maintain a spear wall with the use of a traditional (in the book traditional) folk song so that it gives the recruits some semblance of professional soldiership.

In addition to this, Alex Robins writes some really good action scenes. They flow really well and he gives you just enough description without the reader becoming confused at the action on the page.

I also wanted to know more about the Knights of the Twelve. They were a really good aspect of the story.

Like I said there are some really good ideas in here, but unfortunately, for me they were marred by the things that I didn???t like.

At times, I had a bit of a hard time with the dialogue. There were many times that I felt that it just did not flow, and on top of that there were instances where it was just too flowery for me, resulting in it getting in the way of the actual story. On top of this, characters went into what I felt was quite unnecessarily eloquent and verbose speeches, which for me, resulted in it detracting from the narrative itself.

Another aspect that I felt didn't work was when characters engaged in large sections of dialogue exposition, which again, took me away from the story itself. One instance of this that really jumped out at me was when a badly injured character gave a long and wordy explanation of events.

In terms of characterisation, I had a little bit of a hard time connecting with quite a lot of the characters. Reed, without a doubt is the one that stood out, the others, I just didn???t get that attachment to them. Which was a shame, because I wanted to get that emotional attachment to the characters, but it just wasn???t happening.

I mean, I don???t mind not liking characters, but I need them to have substance, and I feel that this was what I had problems with. I just could not find the depth in them which resulted in me feeling like an observer rather than becoming immersed with the story.

And whilst I have pointed out some of the things that I did not gel with, there was lots in the book to like. The Greylings themselves were quite good antagonists, especially when they are being pushed by the Threshers, who are giant beasts that carry large whips to push their troops into battle.

The intrigue aspect of the story was enough to keep me guessing and provided a conduit for that investment of concentration and time.

And then there is the end!

Now I know that some reviewers felt that it was a bit too leftfield for them and that it seems to come out of nowhere, with little transmission of plot points that leads to quite a surprising ending.

However, I have to say that I quite liked the ending. It gave the book some necessary focus and also provided a good opportunity to expand the world and political standpoints that govern it. I felt it gives the second of the books a different direction to go in and adds some depth to the story as a whole.

On the whole, The Broken Heart of Arelium was a good book. However, for me there were a number of things that put up barriers to getting wholly immersed in it and elevate it to reach the potential that is obviously there.

Coney Island, a confluence of weirdness and demonic powers. Guarded by the diminutive, unseen hero, Clock!

Clock is a Chaote, a chaos mage. A lonely figure that watches over the Island of Narrioch, and is the guardian that watches at the edge of our reality, making sure that the things that come through are sent back on their merry bloody way.

This is an interesting set of stories by Michael Ray about Clock and his adventures in Coney Island. I was first introduced to Michael Reyes??? s writing earlier this year with the frenetically paced The Cursed Diary of a Brooklyn Dog Walker, and said to myself that I need to go back and read some more. And here I am, at the start of his Clock???s Watch Series.

Clock???s Watch comprises of six individual, self contained stories that have an overarching episodic nature and build up to form a complete narrative.

Quite a novel approach (sorry, couldn???t resist).

The first story introduces us to the Coonskin hat wearing, crossbow wielding diminutive chaos mage that stands as a guardian between the worlds. Clock may be short of stature, but he is big on personality, that is when you can see him that is, due to the fact that he is slightly invisible, and most people can???t see him. This has its advantages of course. However there are some that can see him.

When we are first introduced to Clock, he is investigating the emergence of some monster who has taken over the body of a young mother.

As I said earlier, there six stories in total and Michael Reyes fills them with all sorts of weird and wonderful monsters and demons.

There are demons who use a black balloon to possess the living, little red mite demons that live in the guts of racoons and gate crash a party resulting in a Raimiesque tale of blood and slaughter.

An indigo mushroom that plans to reveal Clock???s secrets.

There is much to admire in Michael Reyes??? writing. He has the ability to make you howl with laughter whilst delivering some gruesome goriness. His descriptive prose is very streamlined and he doesn???t waste a word which adds to the overall urgency of the situations that Clock finds himself in.

And can you get away from a review without mentioning Clock himself, the inimitable hero of the story. He is gruff and totally rough around the edges and to his middle, but he is a kind soul that takes his duties as the Guardian of Coney Island extremely seriously and he never lets anything through on his watch.

The book itself is a short read but extremely worth it. The self containedness of the stories make it easy to read and yet the overarching nature of the stories give you that sense of having read a novel.

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark is one of those books that I have been meaning to get to for a long time.

In all honesty, I have not seen a bad review of the book and it has had whole heaps of praise heaped on it.I can see why! It is thoroughly brilliant from the opening to the final lines.

Now, I am quite familiar with P. Djeli Clark's writing having read Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 and was totally enthralled by his story telling abilities. However, Ring Shout is a completely different animal.

The story starts with our hero Maryse Bodreaux and her team watching from on high a Ku Klux Klan march in 1920's America. Immediately from the proclamation of “I hunt monsters” I was utterly transfixed by this book.

The story itself centres around inter dimensional creatures that feed on hate and hide themselves in human form amongst the Klan where they can satiate their hunger on the finest caviar of hate. However, Maryse and her accomplices can spot the shifting faced demons and are able to fight them.

We learn through the eyes of Maryse of these creatures called Ku kluxes, who also gives us the history of the current situation. Telling us that the Klan were actually involved in sorcery and made a pact with these demons in order to further the monstrous cause of the Klan, and not only have they made a deal with these demons, but with the advent of technology, they have managed to embed a virus in a film called The Birth of a Nation, a piece of Klan propaganda made by D.W. Griffiths, that lets the demons have entry and take over a human host and become white, pointy headed monsters.

However, not only do they have Ku Kluxes to deal with, but there is a storm coming and worse is about to break through from the other side that make the Ku Kluxes look like whimpering dogs.

Ring Shout is simply an amazing book in so many ways. P.Djeli Clark is a master of the novella. He is able to pack so much in this form of fiction it's unbelievable.

He writes some of the strongest characters that I have read in fiction. Maryse is so multi faceted and she is supported by a cast of characters that are of just as much import as her. In addition to this, he does not hide from the anger that Maryse feels in relation to the Klan.

For me, Sadie is a stand out character that had me howling with laughter. She is brash and will discuss sensitive subjects with impunity that had me chuckling away.

Now, as you will have probably read in other reviews there is a prominent Lovecraftian edge to Ring Shout. However, I felt that there was so much more and I was thoroughly impressed by the horror chops that P. Deli Clark had on show here. There seemed to be elements of Cronenberg' s Videodrome, especially with the element of film influencing others. Not only that, there seemed to be nods to Brian Yuzna and Clive Barker in there too.

However, whilst there is a veritable feast for the horror fan, the historical elements to the story are solid and there were factual elements that I wasn't aware of. So not only did Ring Shout entertain me, it also educated me too.

Now, I know I have gone kinda gushy on this book, but I can't help it, it's brilliant and I think one of the best books I have read this year, and if you want a more levelled review of the book, I am sure there are some, but you are not going to find it here.

If you read one book in what remains of this year or even in the next, make sure it's Ring Shout, it is utterly stunning

The Gifts of Pandora successfully manages to interweave Greek mythology with a compelling, gritty retelling of the story of Pandora.

This is my first introduction to Matt Larkin???s books, and I have to say that I enjoyed this inaugural foray into his writing.

The story itself is a retelling of the myth of Pandora???s box. However, this retelling successfully merges other characters from mythology and even other timelines to make it an intricately woven tale of love and tyranny.

When we meet Pandora, she is employed as a sex worker whose only goal is to service the needs of the men around her. She is bitter and resentful, especially due to the circumstances that has resulted in her current circumstances. As a child, her mother Europa was sexually assaulted and killed by the tyrant Zeus, and she was subsequently forced into servitude.

However, when she meets Prometheus, all this changes. When disaster (and when I mean disaster, I mean the eradication of the line of Pleiades by the God Zeus), Prometheus saves Pandora and takes her to his Aviary on his secluded island. From there, Pandora discovers that he is not like the other Titans and that he has no desires for her and actually wants nothing from her. Pandora is not used to this kind of treatment and subsequently a friendship grows between the pair.

The story is densely populated with figures from Greek Mythology. However, they are presented in a different light to what you would expect. Most of the gods that are in the book tend to be characterised as insufferably spoilt monsters that kill on a whim and have no regard for anything around them.

Zeus for instance, is a hateful, spiteful tyrant who is paranoid about his position as the God of Olympus. He kills with impunity and forces everyone to accept him as the Godlike figure that he sees himself as. He meters out punishment for no apparent reason and his view on the female of the species is that they are to be used and abused as he sees fit.

In fact, most of the male gods are like this.

In turn, most of the female Olympians are malicious and vile, and it is difficult to see them in the light of they had previously been cast in mythology.

The book is done from multiple points of view that span across characters and timelines. At first, this can be a little daunting as there is a fantastically large cast of characters, with the main one???s centring around Pandora in the Silver Age of man, and then alternating to Pyrrha in the Golden age. However other figures in mythology get to tell their points of view, such as Artemis, Athene and Kirke. And again, flitting along different timelines. At times this complexity can confuse the reader, but once you get used to the format of the story, it does become a little easier.

The Gifts of Pandora is not an easy book to read, primarily due to the massive cast and the alternating timelines. However, it is rewarding when you get used to it. Matt Larkin???s writing is immersive, and you become attached to the characters that it is telling the story of, particularly Pandora and Pyrrha and how they intersect through the various timelines.

Furthermore, Kirke???s story is equally intriguing. In the book, she is the manufacturer of Nectar, which in mythology is the divine drink related to Ambrosia, the food of the Gods. However, in The Gifts of Pandora, Nectar is a powerful narcotic that is outlawed by Zeus as it can bestow the power of the Gods on humans, and that is something that he definitely does not want. Kirke manufactures this on Prometheus???s island with Kalliope. However, she eventually has to move her base of operations when she is found out by Pandora, which leads to some disastrous results

Prometheus is a deeply introspective, benevolent individual who throughout the book is accepting of his fate (which we all know). But even that, in the hands of Matt Larkin is altered and twisted to fit his interpretation of the Greek Legends.

The story itself takes many different directions that I did not see coming, and in all honesty left me aghast. Particularly the ending, which I did not foretell at all.

The book is quite a dark book, and there are several references to sexual assault, although there are no graphic scenes. However, it does highlight the brutal and degrading view that the gods have of women. However, at the centre of the story there is a heartfelt tale of love and family in there that keeps you reading the story.

The story itself is complex and it is extremely well crafted. Especially how the timelines, whilst initially seeming quite disparate, eventually manage to converge and give an end to the story that took me wholly by surprise.

6 out of 5

Ben Galley continues the story of Mithrid, Durnus & Farden in this continent crossing follow up to The Forever King.

Heavy Lies The Crown,the story continues straight after the climactic ending of the first book and Fardan and the gang find themselves 2000 miles from Emmaneska. Not only that, he finds himself, along with Mithrid, Durnus, Warbringer and Aspala separated from the rest of the Scalussen survivors who are loaded onto the remaining ships of the Armada.

Now, you think that with all that going on the lot of ‘em don't need any more problems, but the itinerant god Loki has other ideas and decides that he is going to make life as hard as he can for all the members of Scalussen, whichever side of the world they are on. Oh, and he also decides to create an abomination against the gods in the process to chase Fardan & Mithrid.

Heavy Lies The Crown is such a bloody brilliant follow up to The Forever King that expands the story so much more. Ben Galley populates his books with fantastic characters and fantastic beasts, and Ben Galley astounds me again with this new book.

I have seen it mentioned by other reviewers that when they have read Ben Galley's books they remind them of the reason why they fell in love with the genre in the first place, and I must say I have to echo those sentiments. Ben Galley's writing has that heady mixture of adventure, full on fantasy and a dash of comedy. He uses all the tropes of fantasy that I love, found family, quests, magic and mythical beasts, all incorporated into a fresh new way. The relationships between the characters are brilliant. For instance, the love/hate relationship between Fardan and Mithrid (which I have to say involves a good deal of sweary snarkiness that I absolutely adore coz it makes me chuckle every time.

On top of that, Loki is such a good villain in this book. He has decided to throw all caution to the wind and is just plain nasty. In Heavy Lies The Crown, he is most definitely the main antagonist of the story and we see that more of his plans are revealed. Turns out, he has some pretty hefty plans afoot that not only involve Fardan and the gang, but also the whole of God Dom, and Ben Galley expertly knits this aspect of the story into background of the story that it is not readily noticeable until suddenly it jumps up and smacks you in the face.

The book has an interestingly dual dynamic with the two storylines of the split parties. On the one hand you get the story of the survivors as they are engaged in a taut cat and mouse game with Loki and his Leviathans, and on the other you get Mithrid and the gang off searching for a fabled artifact that has the potential to change the course of the war.

You'd think that that would be enough to keep a book filled but Mithrid and Fardan have other problems. Fardan has lost his magic and time is catching up with him, and the seeds of doubt are rife on the relationships of the party itself, causing friction and changing the dynamic of the party.

Heavy Lies The Crown is a totally amazing follow up to the first book, expanding the world massively. Ben Galley's writing is totally on point, maintaining the pace and the plot all the way through the book. Simply put, if you love classic fantasy that is filled with brilliantly realised characters, plenty of adventure and filled with fantasy monsters, Ben Galley's books are definitely up your street.

Well, that's another review to write

The End of all things is the final clang of the doom bell in Christopher Brenning???s The Hellborn King, a dark tale of intrigue, vengeance, and war.

The story begins with the bloody annihilation of force of soldiers sent to investigate a local disturbance. In amongst the soldiers is the son of a commander of the King of Betathia???s Army, Alfrid Valens. With a foreboding of the events to come, Alfrid is brutally murdered by the behemoth warrior, Damian Dreadfire, the leader of the collected Northern tribes, whose obsession is to bring down what he sees as the despotic rule over the North by Betanthia, and gain vengeance for the haunting atrocity of war in a place called Borjifa.

The story is set two main settings, the rulers of Betanthia, a family that is coming apart at the seams through the alcoholism of the King, and the in fighting between the siblings. Then moving the focus of the story to the barbarian hordes and their conquest of the Betanthian held North in retaliation for the events at Borjifa.

The book is set out in a multi-point of view, with different characters having individual storylines, which successfully converges at the end, with each character having different experiences and adding to the story in different ways. This multi-faceted approach to the story works well as it gives epic proportions to the story and also shows us different parts off the world in which the story is set.

There are numerous characters in the book, each with their own character arc. The standout ones are Gareth, Einor & Madeline. However, interestingly, we never get the point of view of the main antagonist of the story Damian Dreadfire, and he is usually portrayed through the eyes of other characters and how they perceive him.

Now on the whole (and I don???t say this in a bad way), I have to say that I wasn???t actually that fond of many of the characters in the book, and I think that this is a testament to Christopher Brenning???s writing in that he does not give excuses for the decisions that the characters make. The Royal Family on the whole infuriated me, particularly with their ineffectual handling of any situation (although, I did empathise with Charlotte and the impossible situation that she is in). The father is a horrid drunkard who has succumbed to his weakness (although, we can see the reasons for his deterioration and the fact that he is using alcohol as a crutch), and with his vitriolic view of his family has virtually led to its implosion. The children equally are spoilt and spiteful, continuously bickering with each other, adding to the tension

Similarly, within the barbarian camp, I wasn???t all that fond of many characters in there. Yes, it is not all black and white and there are a multitude of greys. In this camp, Einar is the one that stands out as the moral compass of the Northern Tribes, and he is the one that I could emapthise with the most as he tries to guide Damian and uphold the duty that he has sworn to.

The other storyline, Madeline, I didn???t initially warm to until the second half of the book really. However, when certain events play out midway through, her character does become more grounded, and I did end up liking her.

For me, this shows that there is a strength in Christopher Brenning???s writing skills in that he can keep me engaged with the story, regardless of me not liking the characters.

The story itself is quite bleak in its execution, and I must highlight that there are some scenes that people may not be comfortable with. However, this is dealt with quite sensitively and for the most part happens off the page and there are no graphic scenes in that respect.

At times, I felt that on occasion plot overshadowed the pacing and there were some parts of the book where I felt that it lost its momentum. However, this was not a detriment to the book as a whole as I continued to be engaged with the story.

In terms of world building, the multi point of view gives plenty of opportunity to show expansive elements of the world in which the story is set and is a good device to show the sweeping vistas of the world that is encapsulated in the book.

On the whole I enjoyed this darkly powerful epic fantasy revolving around a family imploding, vengeance and obsession.

If you enjoyed this review there are more at www.fantasybooknerd.com

Cry Fear is the second in the Jack Frey adventures written by Mike Morris. Obviously if you have read my review of the first book, you are probably aware that I really enjoy these books. And I advise anyone who likes the writing of Mike Morris???s good friend Mike Shackle to try these books out, you won???t regret it.

For me, these books deserve a hell of a lot of exposure because they are brilliant.

As I have already said, Cry Fear is the second book of the series and expands the story somewhat. In this one, the setting stays much closer to home in the city of Arbour, and in particular, Jack???s neighbourhood of Brixteth.

The story takes place about a year after the events of Grosner. Jack is a fully fledged Black Dog and is assigned to Niall???s company. Whereas Lin has remained at Whitehaven, where under the tutelage of Master Snow, shehas become a weapon in her own right and is showing exceptional proficiency as a fighter.

When we meet Jack, he is meting out Justice to two spies of the Nostros, when they are attacked by a mysterious brigade of red cloaked, masked soldiers. From there, Jack goes to see his brother Brendon in Brixteth.

Whilst he is there a young girl is murdered, alerting the black dogs to the fact that there is a Nostros loose in the city.

Lin on the other hand is honing her fighting skills when she is summoned to the palace at Arbour to meet the mysterious Lord Willingham, who she finds out is second to the Queen in a place of power. Obviously, Lin Is her own woman and does not take kindly to the summons of Lord Willingham. However, she is persuaded to go by Master Snow and subsequently escorted there by the messenger, Simon. Another of the Black Dogs.

Meanwhile back in Arbour, the death of the murdered girl is investigated by the Black Dogs and the presence of a Nostros on the island is substantiated. It???s not long before all hell breaks loose in the city of Arbour, and it doesn???t take long for the forces of evil to emerge and cause havoc and panic. However, it soon becomes clear that the Nostros has inserted itself into the city and has been hard at work changing the citizens of Arbour into slaves.

On her way to attend to Lord Wilingham???s summons, Lin is attacked, and it becomes clear that darker forces are at work.

The second book in the story of Jack and Lin is a spectacular story of invading forces and shows the might of the Nostros. Besides this, there is a tale of intrigue and treachery.

There is a lot more happening in this book and Cry Fear ups the pace even more (if that is possible). From the moment the book starts there is action and intrigue. However, it becomes more intense when the story moves to the city of Abios, when it is discovered that a Nostros has been prowling the streets.

You really get a picture of just how dangerous the Nostros are in this book and you can see the effect that they have, even if there is only one.

I do like what Mike Morris has done with this tale. I have been watching and reading vampire fiction since I was young, and have seen a dearth of depictions of this type of creature, yet Mike Morris makes them feel fresh whilst using aspects of vampire mythos effectively. They are not in the truest sense vampires, especially from their physical description, but this is one of the reasons why it gives a new slant on these creatures. Not only that, he incorporates different influences into the story. At one point it is almost reminiscent of some of my favourite films about the bloodsuckers, particularly 30 Days of Night. I am not saying that these had an impact on the writing, but I certainly got those types of vibes when I was reading this.

As usual, the characters are all brilliantly rounded, particularly Lin, who is undergoing a kind of existential crisis now that she has her freedom and she does not know her place in the world. At times, she can be annoying, especially when there is a clash of personalities with the Black Dog who has to escort her to visit Lord Willingham. They regularly clash throughout the book, and when she discovers that she has become a bit of a superstar due to her being the girl who survived the Nostros, she doesn???t understand it.

Throughout these books, the pace of the stories are blisteringly fast, and this one is the same. Once I pick up these books they aren???t put down again until they are read.

These are full on action books, that have plots and subplots galore. One of the subplots that is introduced in this book is the use of magic. In general, the books have a low magic to them and it is not generally evident. That is due to the fact that magic is outlawed in this world and one of the jobs of the Black Dogs is to police and limit the use of magic. However, in Cry Fear, there is an inkling of magic and it will be interesting to see how this has an impact on future books.

At the moment, the series is unfinished. However, Mike Morris has returned to this world and there will hopefully be a new installment of the series coming soon. On his website, it states that there will be a new one, Cry War coming in spring and also a new Novella, Cry Magic coming at some point later.

In the meantime, I cannot recommend these books enough, especially if you like your fantasy dark, with a streak of horror running through them.

With Anachrony, Susana Imagin??rio proves my suspicion that there is some kind of magic afoot with each new installment of the Timelessness series.

As the series has progressed, and with each new installment, Susana Imagin??rio has managed to knock me sideways with the brilliance of each new book, and I usually spend at least five minutes stunned over what I have read.

And this short little story did that again!

If you read the epilogue of Nephilim???s Hex and wondered ???What???s that all about then????, Anachrony fills in those gaps and answers those questions. It tells the story of what Arianh did next, a kind of Ariamh through the looking glass.

I have to say that Anachrony was not what I expected at all (which I should have expected, but there you go). The story takes place in Niflheim, but a different Niflheim than we are used to as things are not quite the same. In Anachrony, the story centres solely on Arianh and the subsequent events of what happens when she steps through the Chronodendron. This gives the novella a different feel to the rest of the series. With the focus being on one character the story is more linear in its execution, which works superbly in this instance and gives us a vivid picture of what Arianh is experiencing as she travels the world in which she finds herself.

In Anachrony, Susana Imagin??rio changes the perspective of the narrative, and my goodness is this effective for this story. It feels like we are experiencing the things that Arianh is experiencing, not only in terms of events, but also in relation to the emotions that she is experiencing, which makes the end of the story that little bit more emotive. It brings us closer to the feelings of disorientation that Arianh experiences as she journeys through Niflheim with only the Chronodendron for company.

I must apologise if I am being a little vague, but I want to stay away from the plot altogether as I think that the way to gain complete enjoyment from this book is to enter it blindly and let the story take you to where it is going without any pre-emptive knowledge of what lies inside the pages. However, what I can say is that Susana Imagin??rio handles the world building with her usual aplomb and style, and her characters remain vivid and evocative.

I have loved this series and I marvel at how Susana Imagin??rio continually wrong foots me with the shifting sands of her plot at each given moment. Just when I think I have an angle on the series and think that I have things pegged out in my head, she manages to pull the rug out from under my feet and introduce a new twist that sends all my counters flying in the air. Furthermore, I adore the ambiguity of it all, I mean, even the title of the book is ambiguous, and I am not sure whether the events in the book take place in the future or the past, similarly with the actual title of the series itself, which is kind of brought into sharp focus with the events in this story. I may be looking too deep into it, but this story has grabbed me, and I want to know more, whether it be about the mythology that she introduces and how that interweaves with the story or certain words that have been used and how they affect the story.

At the end of most of my reviews, I tend to say that if you haven???t read the Timelessness series you should go and check it out, and I am not going to fail you on this occasion either. Unfortunately, I will have to wait till next year until the story concludes, but I am so looking forward to seeing how Susana Imagin??rio will surprise me with that!

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And if you liked this review, check out www.fantasybooknerd.com where I review this and many other books including the first three books of the Timelessness series