Review: ‘Children of Time’ by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Let me start off by simply saying this is an excellent novel. It has wide breadth and scope, reminding me of Olaf Stapledon’s ‘Last and First Men’ in that respect, or Herbert’s ‘Dune’ series, and contains some moments of beautifully written prose. The characterisation and worldbuilding are three-dimensional, deep, nicely nuanced, and fully-formed, which is […]

Review: ‘Dragons of the Hourglass Mage’ by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

I’ve played Dungeons & Dragons for years, so I’m very familiar with the realms, races and spells which form the backbone of the roleplaying game, and which inspired Weis and Hickman’s Dragonlance series of books (and board games and D&D modules). The novels are held in great esteem by their readership, spoken about in hushed […]

Blog Tour: ‘Pacific State: The Sundown Series Book 2’ by Grant Price

I was offered a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review; unfortunately, I’ve been a bit busy and am only halfway through, but here are my thoughts so far. It’s a great book. It’s tightly written, full of believable and three-dimensional characters, and the worldbuilding is excellent. I was gripped from the […]

Review: ‘Hidden Empire’ by Kevin J. Anderson

I’ve always enjoyed Anderson’s work, ever since he and Brian Herbert began filling out the ‘Duniverse’ back in 1999 (it was a great idea to bring together two great writers who were themselves sons of two great writers). He is an author who never disappoints – and if you like hard SF or space opera, […]

Review: ‘Orcs Bad Blood 1: Weapons of Magical Destruction’ by Stan Nicholls

Having seen this and remembering I enjoyed Nicholls’ original trilogy back around the turn of the century (more on that in another post), I had to give these more recent sequels a go. I’m really pleased I did. These aren’t ‘high fantasy’, or even necessarily medium fantasy, and they won’t make you think hard on […]

Inktober 2023: Day 2

The Lay of Inxover The mighty river Inx did flow from demesne of Dreams & Dread;Sliced through Inxover far below – city of greed and the poorly fed.There, of King Ober’s dark desires, was born upon a thrallOur hero Rin Kto Bear,Who grew strong and proud and tall… Inxover plagued with spiders was, giant and […]

Review: ‘The City Stained Red’ by Sam Sykes

This is the first book in Sykes’ second trilogy focusing on Lenk and his ragtag bunch of misfit adventurers, who some readers will be familiar with from the Aeon’s Gates trilogy. It doesn’t hang about, and we are given a quick run-down of the members of the party – swordfighter, rogue, cleric, wizard, Shict (a […]

Review: ‘Nine Princes in Amber’ by Roger Zelazny

I was certain that I had read Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Zelazny’s ‘The Chronicles of Amber’ series when I was young and just didn’t remember them; having re-read the first two recently, I can be sure that I would have recalled them, if I had! They are excellent. The first, ‘Nine Princes in Amber’, begins […]

Review: ‘Finding Fire’ by Rachel Churcher

Churcher gives us more of what we like, in this collection of short stories from her ‘Battleground’ series (previously reviewed before on my blog, starting with the first one, here). It’s a great addition to the series, filling in some of the gaps in our knowledge of the events and people involved, and adding in […]

Blog Tour: ‘Balancing Act: Battle Ground #6’ by Rachel Churcher

This tie-in novel to Churcher’s ‘BattleGround’ series (reviewed here, here, here, here and here, respectively!), does exactly what it says on the tin. As usual, I’ll be brief to avoid spoilers, and won’t go into too much detail. It shows the events in the last three of the original quintet from the viewpoint of another […]