As usual, this review will be spoiler free for Reign of Iron, however, (also as usual), there may be spoilers for the previous books in the series. In this case I wanted to give an extra reminder/warning, because I discuss how a *huge spoiler* for the series from book two impacted this book.   IF YOU HAVE NOT READ CLASH OF IRON — DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW       Angus Watson has shown he has some serious guts when it comes to his writing. We were left with a complete game changer at the end of the previous book and I am impressed with how Watson handled everything after. Honestly, it was something that could have gone horribly wrong in terms of story telling. But this final book proved that Watson knew what he was doing. The death of a major character, actually, I would argue THE major character from books 1 and 2 was a huge risk. I mean, for all the talk of authors like Martin showing their characters no mercy and killing them at will, I have to say there has never been a death in ASoIaF as shocking as what we read at the end of Clash…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR     FANTASY                     FANTASY          SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR     SCIENCE FICTION                      FANTASY          SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR     HORROR           FANTASY          SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR    

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY               SCIENCE FICTION     FANTASY                                 SCIENCE FICTION FANTASY         SCIENCE FICTION      

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY         SCIENCE FICTION     FANTASY                 SCIENCE FICTION                   FANTASY                 SCIENCE FICTION  

Wake of Vultures is a western fantasy doused with folklore, and complete with vampires, werewolves and shape-shifters. Just don’t go into this expecting the sparkling variety of vampires or the happy, hunky type of werewolves. This is a darker book that left me mesmerized by the world and characters. Nettie has an incredibly hard life. She is the only non-white person around and was raised by a couple who told her that when no one else would have her, they showed her mercy by taking her in as a baby. But they show her no love, give her no support, and they certainly never took any steps to try and educate her. She may call them Pap and Mam as if they were her parents, but they treat her as a servant, without the pay. It really is a loveless and thankless life she has been living. But, she has found a passion, a love in her life. And that’s the animals. Nettie loves the horses that she is told to break. She uses patience and understanding to get the animal to submit to her will rather than force. This is the one part of her life that really makes…

Amazing, if you think about it, how quickly the new and strange can be adjusted to. Ancillary Justice came out and took the genre by storm; I personally called it a glorious mindfuck for the way it played around with language and perception. This was a book that was lauded for many things: a great story, a unique take on immortality, and the ancillaries of a single mind in constant communication. Yet the conversation quickly narrowed in on one aspect of Leckie’s writing; the universal use of feminine pronouns. It was something of a shame too. Because while the game of trying to guess which characters were male and which were female before realizing how little it actually matters was a great experience it wasn’t the entirety of the book. But detractors quickly classified the book as a gimmick, fans often found themselves on their heels defending this specific aspect of the book, and amusingly certain groups with political agendas decided the book was everything wrong with speculative fiction when they fixated on ‘the gender thing.’ Ultimately the series got what it deserved; winning awards all over the place. And now here we sit with the trilogies conclusion. All of…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY              SCIENCE FICTION     FANTASY                                       SCIENCE FICTION                 FANTASY             SCIENCE FICTION  

Julia Knight is also Francis Knight, an author whose name has been on my radar since her Rojan Dizon trilogy, though this is the first time I’ve read her work. As soon as I found out about Swords and Scoundrels I knew it was going to be just right for me. As it happens, I’m a super mega fan of anything to do with swashbuckling duelists, and I could always use more scoundrels in my life. That and the cover is stunning too, not to mention the tagline made me chuckle. Plus, a brother-sister team? Count me in. Older sister Kacha has devoted a lifetime to the training and mastery of sword fighting while growing up in the Duelist’s Guild, but she’s not content with being just good – she wants to be the best. Problem is, so does Vocho, whose whole life spent in his big sister’s shadow grates on him something fierce. Neither skill nor reputation would come to much use though, when both of them get thrown out of the guild for an infraction, and the siblings are forced to turn to banditry in order to make a living. One day, a routine stick-up of a carriage…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION     FANTASY                                            URBAN FANTASY               SCIENCE FICTION                         FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION