While I enjoy time travel books as much as the next reader, I still recall my doubts when I was first pitched this book: What if I don’t know that much about World War I? How much history do I need to know in order to follow the plot? Will I still be able to enjoy this story? Looking back at those questions now, I have to laugh. Really, I needn’t have worried about a thing. Even though history is at the center of this plot and WWI is the inciting incident that sparks the fuse, Time and Time Again turned out to be about so much more. With shades of Stephen King’s 11/22/63, this novel is a suspenseful and heartfelt adventure through time and alternate realities. In truth, it focuses more on the repercussions of changing history and what it means for the main character—as well as for the whole world and the generations after him. In a not too distant future from now, Hugh Stanton is an ex-soldier and a washed up celebrity who has lost everything. The army wants nothing to do with him, and his once popular survival webcast had to be shut down after ratings…

With Angel of Storms, the Millenium’s Rule series continues to fascinate me. While I enjoyed The Black Magician Trilogy, I will confess to never loving it. This trilogy is turning out to be a much better match for me. Perhaps this is mainly because The Black Magician trilogy is young adult, where as this one,  I believe is not. Regardless of the reason, I tend to be captivated by this series and find it incredibly fun to read. This is the second in the trilogy, and while I felt like there was a good deal of progression in this book including wonderful details about the world, there is still so much left to resolve that I actually had to verify if this was a trilogy or a longer series. And it is definitely listed as a trilogy, so I suspect that final book is going to be packed with lots of excitement! For readers of the first book, I know many were hoping for a quick joining of Rielle’s and Tyen’s story lines in this book. For those that are new to the series, the first book, Thief’s Magic, is told through those two POVs with no apparent connection  between them. In the first book…

Last year I had the pleasure of reading Dust and Light by Carol Berg. It was my first experience with her work and I was introduced to the wonderfully enticing world of the Sanctuary Duet. I had a feeling things were just getting started for protagonist Lucian de Remeni, so I’ve been waiting on pins and needles for the sequel ever since. But even though Ash and Silver is the second half of this duology, the story surprised me by taking a much unexpected turn. This book differs from its predecessor in many ways, not least of all because it begins two years after the events of Dust and Light with our main character having forgotten everything about himself. The heartbreaking conclusion of the first book left Lucian with no choice but to leave his old life behind, and he ends up in an isolated stronghold of the Order of Equites Cineré. They wiped his memory so that he doesn’t even remember his name, and now he goes by “Greenshank”, just another loyal follower of the Order. But the last two years of rigorous magical training has served Greenshank well, and the story begins as he prepares to embark on…

After my exhilarating reading experience with Valente’s novella Six-Gun Snow White, I was excited to dip into something longer, and Radiance promised to be just what I was looking for. But what I got was not quite what I expected. Here are some words to describe Radiance, in case you’re looking for a “nutshell” type of review: weird, strange, wonderful, unexpected, magical, tedious, frustrating. Wait—tedious and frustrating? As much as I loved Valente’s vision, and let’s be honest—her brilliance—there were times when I almost put this book down. Radiance is not going to be for everyone, let’s get that out of the way. This is a tough book, one that requires patience, and a reader who is not afraid of the confusion that comes from an unconventional story format. Valente teases the reader with a mixed-up recounting of the events that lead to the disappearance of one Severin Unck, a documentary film maker who mysteriously disappears while investigating the destruction of a colony on the planet Venus. This is but one of the mysteries in the story, and it’s the main thread that binds everything together. Not only are the events of the story told out of order, but the…

The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman is the second in series that got off to a great start with the Invisible Library.  I think that this book could probably be read as a standalone however I would personally recommend reading the first in series because it’s just so good.  I will forewarn you that whilst I will try to avoid spoilers for The Masked City the review may contain spoilers for the first book so please bear that in mind. By way of context the Invisible Library is a library that exists in a different dimension.  From within there appear to be no boundaries and the library is a vast labyrinth that can take days if not weeks to traverse.  The role of the Librarians is to travel to alternate worlds and recover books that are about to disappear and then preserve those books for all time. Using an unusual form of magic the librarians are able to travel to alternate worlds by stepping through a portal within the library and coming out in a library ‘elsewhere’.  The number of possible alternate worlds is immense and each one is different in terms of magical ability or occupants.  In the first…

Ink and Bone is an addictive, intense read that shares a love for books with the reader.  In the world of Ink and Bone, knowledge can sometimes be viewed as a virus, if left to spread, it can cause corruption. So, what do you do with something infectious? You try to contain and control it. That is what The Great Library does. All physical books are possessed and controlled by the Great Library (does that sound “great” to you??). Owning books is illegal. Like, very illegal. There are automatons that will seek out and destroy not just people caught in possession of a book, but any poor bystanders that may inadvertently get between the automaton and their target. The Library does allow people to read and learn. It just must be from selected/approved works that are downloadable onto what they call blanks. They don’t use the word download, there’s some magic involved here, but ultimately, it is the same concept of downloading. It’s censoring to an extreme. I loved this book, I loved how the importance of books is stressed, I loved how you could see the longing for both physical books and the ability to access what ever they might…

Binti is the story of a young Himba woman whose life and clan revolve around math and engineering. Her people never leave their home, so the news of her acceptance into Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy, is bittersweet. Binti loves learning, and the opportunity to participate in a program with such a fabulous reputation is of course very exciting. However, that means leaving her home, her family, her friends, everything she has known. It also means that her people will not necessarily see her the same way, as they don’t believe their people should leave. I really liked this element of the story. Binti is trying to do something she loves, learn as much as she can, but cultural tradition and expectations force her to feel like she is not just journeying to a far away school, but abandoning protocol in a way that will alienate her from everything she has ever known forever. That is a very hard choice to make! Binti herself, as a character? What can I say? She is a woman who loves math. As a person who took 400 level math classes for fun in college, this immediately endeared…

Although it shares the same world as The Iron Wolves and The White Towers, Andy Remic’s first book in The Blood Dragon Empire is an entirely different. While those books were very much high-stakes epic fantasies, complete with massive battles and bloodshed, The Dragon Engine is more of a traditional quest tale – albeit one that subverts the usual tropes. For starters, our heroes seem to be the typical gang of adventurers – complete with barbarian, archer, cleric, assassin, and more – but they’re actually retired war veterans whose quest days are comfortably behind them. As it turns out, one of them is dying of cancer, one is drinking his sorrows away, and several are nursing broken hearts. While all but one would have turned down an adventure based solely on greed, they find a common purpose in seeking out a magical cure for their dying companion. While you don’t need any prior knowledge of the two Rage of Kings novels to enjoy this, fans will be pleased to discover that King Yoon is still in control, and as debauched as ever. He has serious competition for the most over-the-top, scene-chewing villain however, in the form of First Cardinal Skalg,…

Black Wolves may be a daunting read as it is a massive book and I know sometimes readers are deterred by that. The thing is, though, it is also a massively impressive book. Scaling it down would be a disservice to the story and quite honestly the story deserves to be read. I have not formulated my ‘best of the year’ list, but I can tell you this book will appear on it as it is easily one of the best epic fantasies I have read recently. I have not read any books by Kate Elliott before. This is evidently placed in the same world as some of her other series, but features a completely new set of characters. So for anyone wondering if you need to read her previous books prior to this, I would tell you I felt great about reading experience despite having read none of the other books set in this world. Rarely have I read a book where the timing and execution of flashback scenes has worked so well with tension/suspense. The integration of these scenes was incredibly well executed. Initially, we are introduced to Kellas, a daring young man who has just completed and…

City of Wonders is book three in James A Moore’s Seven Forges series (Seven Forges being No.1 and The Blasted Lands No.2).  Seven Forges got off to a very intriguing start, The Blasted Lands built strongly on that foundation and left us with a rather jaw dropping finish then City of Wonders came along and left  no doubt that this series is firmly planted in the land of Epic.  Truly this is turning into a series to be reckoned with. I’m not really going to go over much into the plot because it’s going to be very easy to spoil elements of the story that are best revealed as the tale progresses and, whilst talking of spoilers, although I try to avoid them it’s quite possible that this review may contain some revelations for the first two books so please be aware of that.  Also I would say that in order to enjoy the world created by Mr Moore you should start from book No.1 – at least I think so. At the start of the story war is upon the Fellein Empire and masses of people are seeking refuge in Old Canhoon (or the City of Wonders as it…