After the gods warred and drove themselves to extinction, the cataclysm of their fall shattered the land of Vigrið. Now a new world is rising, where power-hungry jarls feud and monsters stalk the woods and mountains. A world where the bones of the dead gods still hold great power for those brave – or desperate – enough to seek them out. Now, as whispers of war echo across the mountains and fjords, fate follows in the footsteps of three people: a huntress on a dangerous quest, a noblewoman who has rejected privilege in pursuit of battle fame, and a thrall who seeks vengeance among the famed mercenaries known as the Bloodsworn. All three will shape the fate of the world as it once more falls under the shadow of the gods . . . This week’s review is The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne. I know you are not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but this book has a cocking great big dragon on it. In my experience that is always a good sign. Onwards then to a tale of villainous treachery, revenge, and, in one unexpected moment, an extremely inventive use for a wheel…

Please note, Eye of the Sh*t Storm is the third book in The Frost Files series. If you haven’t read books one and two what follows may contain some minor spoilers. Consider yourselves duly warned. Don’t come running to me later saying I didn’t mention it!  Teagan Frost might be getting better at moving sh*t with her mind – but her job working as a telekinetic government operative only ever seems to get harder. That’s not even talking about her car-crash of a love life . . . And things are about to get even tougher. No sooner has Teagan chased off one psychotic kid hell-bent on trashing the whole West Coast, but now she has to contend with another supernatural being who can harness devastating electrical power. And if Teagan can’t stop him, the whole of Los Angeles will be facing the sh*tstorm of the century… When we first meet Teagan Frost, way back in The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, I recall she made quite the entrance. Jumping/falling from the top of a skyscraper without the aid of a parachute, never mind a safety net. Her latest adventure, Eye of the Sh*t Storm, begins with…

The Fall of Koli is the final book of The Rampart Trilogy. If you have not read books one and two then what follows will contain some minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! The world that is lost will come back to haunt us . . . Koli has come a long way since being exiled from his small village of Mythen Rood. In his search for the fabled tech of the old times, he knew he’d be battling strange, terrible beasts and trees that move as fast as whips. But he has already encountered so much more than he bargained for. Now that Koli and his companions have found the source of the signal they’ve been following – the mysterious “Sword of Albion” – there is hope that their perilous journey will finally be worth something. Until they unearth terrifying truths about an ancient war . . . and realise that it may have never ended. This week’s review is the final book in The Rampart Trilogy. The Fall of Koli picks up right where The Trails of Koli left off. Our erstwhile hero continues his journey across the broken landscape of future England seeking answers to…

EVERY EMPIRE DEMANDS REVOLUTION. Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought. Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet’s edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne. Through assassinations and massacres, in bedrooms and war rooms, Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren’t for sale. In order to expand their power base, the forces of the Balladairan empire are not averse to subjugating an entire culture. In the country of Qazāl, they have occupied the capital city of El-Wast. Using military oppression, the threat of violent retribution and political manoeuvring, the Balladairans control every aspect of life. The natives of El-Wast are viewed with distrust or outright hostility. Touraine was stolen away from Qazāl as a small child. She has been raised to fight and, if necessary,…

Out Past the Stars is book three in The Farian War trilogy. Please note, what follows may contain minor spoilers if you’ve not read books one and two… Who am I kidding, of course it will contain spoilers. How could it not? The book blurb is a spoiler for goodness sake. When Hail finally confronts the Farian gods, the last thing she expects to discover is that they’re part of the Hiervet, an alien race who once spread war throughout the galaxy long before humanity’s ancestors crawled out of the sludge of Earth’s oceans. The discovery carries with it dire news: the Hiervet are coming, eager to take revenge on those who escaped and they don’t care who gets caught in the crossfire. The fate of the galaxy is on the line and Hail will have to make one final gamble to leverage chaos into peace. Here we are at the grand finale of Hail Bristol’s story. After many twists and turns the final book in The Farian War trilogy, Out Past the Stars, has arrived. The good news is that Hail’s swansong is exactly what I had hoped it would be. She leaves us on a high, doing what…

Please note, Down Among the Dead is book two in The Farian War. If you haven’t read book one, There Before the Chaos (and the trilogy that preceded that) then what follows will contain minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! Gunrunner empress Hail Bristol must navigate alien politics and deadly plots to prevent an interspecies war, in this second novel in the Farian War space opera trilogy. In a surprise attack that killed many of her dearest subjects, Hail Bristol, empress of Indrana, has been captured by the Shen – the most ruthless and fearsome aliens humanity has ever encountered. As she plots her escape, the centuries-long war between her captors and the Farians, their mortal enemies and Indrana’s oldest allies, finally comes to a head. When her captors reveal a shocking vision of the future, Hail must make the unexpectedly difficult decision she’s been avoiding: whether to back the Shen or the Farians. Staying neutral is no longer an option. Will Hail fight? Or will she fall? Putting it in the simplest terms Down Among the Dead, the latest chapter of The Farian War, by K B Wagers is an emotional rollercoaster. The book begins with a…

Please note, Call of the Bones Ships is a direct sequel to The Bone Ships and if you have not read the first book in the Tide Child trilogy then it is likely what follows may contain some minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya! Dragons have returned to the Hundred Isles. But their return heralds only war and destruction. When a horde of dying slaves are discovered in the bowels of a ship, Shipwife Meas and the crew of the Tide Child find themselves drawn into a vicious plot that will leave them questioning their loyalties and fighting for their lives. Ahoy me hearties, tis time for us to set sail once again on the good ship Tide Child. R J Barker is back with Call of The Bone Ships so prepare yourself for more fantastical adventures on the high seas. Ok, I’ll admit it. I have been looking forward to this book for ages. C’mon, we’re talking sea dragons, skeletal pirate ships and more swash than you can shake a buckle at for goodness sake. How could you not be excited about that? Joron Twiner has come a long way since the end of book one. Before…

Caiden’s planet is destroyed. His family gone. And, his only hope for survival is a crew of misfit aliens and a mysterious ship that seems to have a soul and a universe of its own. Together they will show him that the universe is much bigger, much more advanced, and much more mysterious than Caiden had ever imagined. But the universe hides dangers as well, and soon Caiden has his own plans.  He vows to do anything it takes to get revenge on the slavers who murdered his people and took away his home. To destroy their regime, he must infiltrate and dismantle them from the inside, or die trying. Enter a universe of daring space battles and impossible technology, a world where planets can be destroyed in the blink of an eye, and where the galaxy’s most valuable substance – nophek gloss – is in the hands of one young man who will tear it all down. I don’t read a huge amount of science fiction as a rule, so when I choose to it needs to be a cut above. This year I’ve only read Goldilocks by Laura Lam, The Saints of Salvation by Peter F Hamilton and…

Please note, The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn is a direct sequel to The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn. If you haven’t read the first book in the Kingdom of Grit series what follows may contain some minor spoilers. Dont say I didn’t warn you. Ardor Benn saved civilisation from imminent destruction, but his efforts brought war to the kingdom. It is believed that the rightful rulers have all been assassinated. However, a young heir might have survived. An ancient organisation known as The Realm is behind the chaos, working from the shadows. Under the anonymity of masks, information is distributed sparingly. Ard’s been hired to infiltrate them, but he’s got competition from an old friend. One who’s set to prove she’s better than the self-proclaimed ‘Ruse Artist Extraordinaire.’ If Ard can’t find the heir, then his world may again approach ruin. Stopping the complete and utter collapse of civilisation is quickly becoming Ard’s speciality. The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn was one of my favourite debut novels over the last few years. It features a rascally conman with a flair for the dramatic, a dash of political and religious intrigue and an angry dragon to boot. It’s all good…

Please note, Dead Man in a Ditch is a direct sequel to the first Fetch Phillips novel, The Last Smile in Sunder City. If you want my advice, if you haven’t already, I would start there. If you don’t what follows may contain some minor spoilers. Consider yourselves suitably warned. The name’s Fetch Phillips — what do you need? Cover a Gnome with a crossbow while he does a dodgy deal? Sure. Find out who killed Lance Niles, the big-shot businessman who just arrived in town? I’ll give it shot. Help an old-lady Elf track down her husband’s murderer? That’s right up my alley. What I don’t do, because it’s impossible, is search for a way to bring the goddamn magic back. Rumors got out about what happened with the Professor, so now people keep asking me to fix the world. But there’s no magic in this story. Just dead friends, twisted miracles, and a secret machine made to deliver a single shot of murder. Earlier this year I read Luke Arnold’s debut novel, The Last Smile in Sunder City. The novel introduced us to Fetch Phillips, a human detective trying to get by in a city full of all…

Please note The Trials of Koli is a direct sequel to The Book of Koli. If you haven’t read book one of The Rampart trilogy the review that follows will likely contain minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Beyond the walls of Koli’s small village lies a fearsome landscape filled with choker trees, vicious beasts and shunned men. As an exile, Koli’s been forced to journey out into this mysterious, hostile world. But he heard a story, once. A story about lost London, and the mysterious tech of the Old Times that may still be there. If Koli can find it, there may still be a way for him to redeem himself – by saving what’s left of humankind. I’m on holiday this week, and the plan was to take a break from the reading and reviewing. It’s not often I get the opportunity to recharge the old mental batteries. All was going to plan until I spotted The Trials of Koli by M R Carey on my leaning tower of books. I couldn’t help but start reading, and once I had done that, I just couldn’t wait to share my thoughts. I read the first book in…

The emperor’s reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire’s many islands. Lin is the emperor’s daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic. Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright – and save her people. In an empire made up of floating islands, adrift on a vast endless sea, an old emperor spends his time honing his magical skill. He picks apart the building blocks of creation while ignoring the suffering of the people he once pledged to protect. The system the Emperor created is failing, and the need for change grows stronger every day. Lin, the Emperor’s daughter, knows that something is fundamentally wrong. She just can’t quite put her finger on exactly what the…

Please note, this is a direct sequel to The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind. It is entirely possible that if you have not read book one in The Frost Files series then this review will contain something akin to minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya! Teagan Frost’s life is finally back on track. Her role working for the government as a psychokinetic operative is going well and she might even be on course for convincing her crush to go out with her. But, little does she know, that sh*t is about to hit the fan . . . A young boy with the ability to cause earthquakes has come to Los Angeles – home to the San Andreas, one of the most lethal fault lines in the world. If Teagan can’t stop him, the entire city – and the rest of California – could be wiped off the map. For reference, before we begin, I’m going to refer to this book henceforth as Random Sh*t. I can’t be bothered typing Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air all the time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant title for a brilliant book, but it’s wearing me…