The moment I saw the cover for this book, I knew I had to read it. This is going to be one of my favorite covers of the year, no doubt. And even better, the story inside is just as magical and exciting. Lee Kelly brings something new to the table in the urban fantasy genre, making her an author to keep an eye on. I loved the blend of magic, action and romance, and I was swept away with Kelly’s irresistible world-building. Set in an alternate history 1920s, A Criminal Magic takes place in a United States where the use of magic has become illegal. Just like speakeasies in the Prohibition era, sorcerers who still wish to perform magic must do so undercover, in underground establishments called “shine rooms.” There, they take to the stage and perform for small audiences, with the highlight of the performance being the creation of “shine,” a magical drink created from water that provides a drug-like euphoria and high. But there’s a catch to shine—in fact, there’s a big catch to all types of magic—true magic only lasts one day, after which it disappears or turns back into water, in the case of shine….

While I enjoyed Scourge of the Betrayer, the first book of Bloodsounder’s Arc, it was Veil of the Deserters that really opened my eyes to what Jeff Salyards was capable of. Not only did it overcome the dreaded middle-book curse, it actually proved to be one of those rare sequels that completely surpass the first. I came away from it thoroughly satisfied, but also hungry for more. That brings us to Chains of the Heretic, the third and final book of Bloodsounder’s Arc. Where that second volume expanded upon the world and the story of the first, this one rips that world wide open and shoves us headlong into a whole new heap of betrayals. More importantly, where that second book was a textbook example of how you build to a climax, Chains of the Heretic schools the genre on how you successfully deliver it. Seriously, it is that good. As much as I’d love to gush about what Salyards did with the larger storyline and the overall mythology, just about anything I could say here would constitute a spoiler. What I will say is that a lot happens in this book, and it all has significant consequences for our band of…

As much as I came to see City of Stairs, the first book of The Divine Cities, as a remarkable multi-genre crossover success, it took me a while to warm up to it. In fact, at one point I put the book down with no intention of finishing it. What a mistake that would have been. I’m glad I decided to give it one more chance, because something just ‘clicked’ for me, bringing the whole jumbled mythological tapestry together. In the end, it turned out to be one of my favorite books of the year. Fortunately, there was no such hesitation or doubt involved with City of Blades. This is a book that hooked me from the first chapter and kept me reading at a frantic pace. I devoured the first 180 pages on a Friday night, and then binged my way through the rest over the weekend. While I’m sure familiarity with the world and the mythology helped (there was a steep learning curve with the first book), it was the shift in point-of-view that really made this second book so immediately accessible. Shara Thivani is kept largely off the page here, appearing only in a few scattered scenes, leaving General Turyin Mulaghesh to carry the tale. Mulaghesh…

R. Scott Bakker. Steven Erikson. Peter Watts. When you think of dark, epic, mind-bending genre fiction from north of the 49th parallel, these gentlemen are the undisputed masters. It may be uncharacteristically bold and presumptuous to demand that a new name be added to that list so soon in his career, but I’ll be damned if Michael R. Fletcher hasn’t earned it. Seriously, Beyond Redemption really is that good. If our world is defined by delusion, there can be no truth. If there is no truth, how can there be lies?   When I first snagged an ARC of this about six months ago, I was definitely intrigued . . . but hesitant. Building an epic fantasy around madness, faith, and delusion sounded very cool. I was optimistic, but I also had my doubts. We’re talking high-concept here, and I was worried that the narrative would suffer from the strain of trying to sustain the threads of madness. In fact, I’d almost talked myself out of taking that chance when, on a whim, I decided to give the first few chapters a cursory read. A few vulgar, violent, vehement exclamations of approval later, I was well-and-truly hooked. Beyond Redemption absolutely blew…

At one time, the second (or middle) book of a trilogy was a thing to be dreaded – a book to be endured as a necessary sort of narrative bridge, with the built-in expectation that any lack of enjoyment is to be tempered by anticipation for the concluding book to follow. While there have been a few ‘new’ authors (such as Jeff Salyards and Sebastien de Castell) who have bucked that trend, I really didn’t expect the same from an established author like Robin Hobb. After all, her style and her writing are already polished, and she had her growth/development moments almost 20 years and 20 books ago. Whether or not Fool’s Assassin was a stumble depends on who you ask, but I had serious issues with the pacing, the characters, and a few of the core plot elements. It was one of my most disappointing reads of last year, and almost soured me on the whole Realms of the Elderlings saga. Hobb had a serious uphill battle for my appreciation going into the second/middle book of this series, and I tempered my expectations accordingly. So, you can imagine my surprise when Fool’s Quest not only proved to be a…

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…

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,…

The Shards of Heaven is a captivating story, that presents some alternative theories for how and why some events in history may have unfolded as they did. Following Julius Caesar’s death, there is a struggle for power between Cleopatra, Marc Antony and his young son and his adoptive sons. Cleopatra is seen as outsider by many and so there is civil war. This story and time period has so much going for it in terms of story! Who doesn’t love delving into the political machinations of war and succession challenges? I loved how the speculative aspect was woven into the story in such a way, that it just felt natural. It takes real events and adds just a dash of something fantastical that helps explain well known stories revolving around gods and religion. Things like how Moses parts the red sea. I feel like I have to fess up, history was never my subject. I am really, embarrassingly, under informed on so many things. But, that also means that when I read a book like this, I have no idea what will happen, which can be fun. Honestly, I think even if I did, I would not have cared. The…

The Last Witness by K. J. Parker is dark and deceitful, yet addictive novella. These two aspects are spun together for a truly fascinating story and one hell of a protagonist that you might not like, but you can’t help but want to know more about. It’s a book that doesn’t shy away from the darker side of humanity, it actually relishes in it. I’ve only read one other book by Parker, but I feel this story was every bit as intriguing as The Folding Knife and has reinforced my need to read more by the author. The narrator has the unique ability to enter someone’s mind and remove their memories.  This can be to relieve a person of unbearable memories, or perhaps to clear a witness of potentially damaging knowledge. The catch here though, is that these memories then become his own. Since it is usually not happy, loving memories that people have removed, he is left with countless disturbing, graphic memories that can be haunting. And while the narrator never forgets a detail, he can sometimes lose track of which memories are his own versus which are memories he has taken from others. This provides an interesting perspective for the…

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…