Long ago, Earth’s terraforming program sent ships out to build new homes for humanity among the stars and made an unexpected discovery: a planet with life. But the scientists were unaware that the alien ecosystem was more developed than the primitive life forms originally discovered. Now, thousands of years later, the Portiids and their humans
What if you aren’t the hero of the story? This is hands-down the best fantasy debut I’ve read in a long time. Having worked within a publishing publicity team, I usually don’t agree whole-heartedly with the comps or sales pitch, but in this case, it really does sum it up: ‘Uniting the worldbuilding of a
Some writers tell tales of what people do. Tim Winton’s stories mine a deeper seam and play around with the notion of why people do the things they do. From poor Lester Lamb in Winton’s best-known work, Cloudstreet, forever seeking to atone for the accident that damaged his son, Fish; to the enigmatic, haunted Luther
A Memory Called Empire is Arkady Martine’s debut novel and the first installment in the Teixcalaan series. Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in Teixcalaan and finds that the previous ambassador has died under suspicious circumstances. Now it’s up to Mahit to uncover who was behind the murder. I will preface this review with a note that I can
Defy the darkness. Defend the light. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of book two in Gwynne’s Of Blood and Bone series after having just finished the first. As a result, I was able to jump right back into the world with no break. As the title suggests, this is a time of blood,
After a brief hiatus from reading fantasy, A Time of Dread was an exceptional foray back into the genre. It has everything I love about epic heroic fantasy; ambiguous factions, world intrigue and a mix of magic and mythos, not to mention varying perspectives from exquisitely realised characters. If you’re looking for something to fill the
I am not a huge fan of fantasy books and so this was a bit different for me and to be honest I was a little reluctant! Vic James is a well-known author, having written a number of best sellers and has a well-established fan base. This is the third book in a Trilogy about
Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver is a young adult fantasy with all the silvery enchantment of a Lithuanian fairy tale spun in to a fiction fit for our times. This is a novel bluish with snow and rime where a brittle chill rips through a fey King’s ice kingdom, and winter governs. Peasants starve out in
Do you control your house: or does IT control you? This is Katie Murray-Browne’s debut novel, it is a peculiar subject matter but it is intriguing and was an enjoyable read. A typical family, Eleanor, Richard and their 2 young children buy a grand old Victorian house to renovate and make their own, BUT Eleanor
It’s London and the early 1970s. The city still bares the marks of the Blitz, peppered with rubble strewn bomb sites, and the flowery hope of the swinging sixties seems to have withered, poisoned by Britain’s industrial, economic and political decline. This is the backdrop to The Rats, James Herbert’s 1974 horror classic. In many
