Age of Iron by Angus Watson
Angus Watson , Fantasy , Historical , Orbit / September 2, 2014

LEGENDS AREN’T BORN. THEY’RE FORGED. Dug Sealskinner is a down-on-his-luck mercenary travelling south to join up with King Zadar’s army. But he keeps rescuing the wrong people. First, Spring, a child he finds scavenging on the battlefield, and then Lowa, one of Zadar’s most fearsome warriors, who’s vowed revenge on the king for her sister’s execution. Now Dug’s on the wrong side of that thousands-strong army he hoped to join ­- and worse, Zadar has bloodthirsty druid magic on his side. Read more […]

The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley
Angry Robot , Fantasy , Kameron Hurley / August 26, 2014

On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past… while a world goes to war with itself. In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin. As the dark star of the cataclysm rises, an illegitimate ruler is tasked with holding together a country fractured by civil war, a precocious young fighter Read more […]

The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs
Fantasy , Gollancz , John Hornor Jacobs / August 18, 2014

In the contested and unexplored territories at the edge of the Empire, a boat is making its laborious way up stream. Riding along the banks are the mercenaries hired to protect it – from raiders, bandits and, most of all, the stretchers, elf-like natives who kill any intruders into their territory. The mercenaries know this is dangerous, deadly work. But it is what they do. In the boat the drunk governor of the territories and his sons and daughters make merry. They believe that their status makes Read more […]

Dreamwalker by J D Oswald
Fantasy , J D Oswald , Penguin / August 13, 2014

In a small village, miles from the great cities of the Twin Kingdoms, a young boy called Errol tries to find his way in the world. He’s an outsider – he looks different from other children and has never known his father. No one, not even himself, has any knowledge of his true lineage. Deep in the forest, Benfro, the young male dragon begins his training in the subtle arts. Like his mother, Morgwm the Green, he is destined to be a great Mage. No one could imagine that the future of all life Read more […]

Kill Baxter by Charlie Human
Century , Charlie Human , Fantasy / July 16, 2014

Please note Kill Baxter is a direct sequel to last years Apocalypse Now Now. It is entirely possible if you haven’t read that then this review may contain some mild spoilers. As ever, don’t say I didn’t warn you. AND HE THOUGHT THE HARD PART WAS OVER. The world has been massively unappreciative of sixteen-year-old Baxter Zevcenko. His bloodline may be a combination of ancient Boer mystic and giant shape-shifting crow, and he may have won an inter-dimensional battle and saved the world, Read more […]

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain his throne. First he must survive cruelty, chains and even drowning. And he must do it all with only one good hand. The deceived will become the deceiver. Born a weakling in the eyes of the world, Yarvi cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge. The betrayed will become the betrayer. Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast, he finds they can help him more than any noble could. Will the usurped become Read more […]

The 400lb Gorilla by D C Farmer
D C Farmer , Fantasy , Spence City / July 5, 2014

Matt Danmor thinks he’s lucky. Not many people survive a near death accident with nothing more than a bout of amnesia, a touch of clumsiness and the conviction that the technician who did the MRI had grey skin and hooves. Still, it takes time to recover from trauma like that, especially when the girl who was in the accident with you disappears into thin air. Especially when the shrinks keep telling you she’s just a figment of your imagination.  So when the girl turns up months later looking ravishing, Read more […]

The Electric by Andrew David Barker

The Electric… A crumbling shrine to the art of film, the abandoned cinema lies empty in the outskirts of town. Abandoned, but not deserted… For The Electric is a cinema like no other. The spirits of Hollywood’s greatest stars enjoy their final turn on celluloid, watched eagerly by an audience of ghosts. When Sam Crowhurst stumbles across this terrible and beautiful secret, his life will be irrevocably changed. As the friendly and the dangerous among the dead gather around him, the Read more […]

Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence
Fantasy , Harper Voyager , Mark Lawrence / June 5, 2014

The Red Queen is old but the kings of the Broken Empire fear her as they fear no other. Her grandson Jalan Kendeth is a coward, a cheat and a womaniser; and tenth in line to the throne. While his grandmother shapes the destiny of millions, Prince Jalan pursues his debauched pleasures. Until he gets entangled with Snorri ver Snagason, a huge Norse axe man, and dragged against his will to the icy north. In a journey across half the Broken Empire, Jalan flees minions of the Dead King, agrees to duel Read more […]

The White Towers by Andy Remic
Andy Remic , Angry Robot , Fantasy / June 3, 2014

Please note The White Towers is a direct sequel to The Iron Wolves so it is entirely possible that this review may contain something akin to spoilers. Read on at your own peril… Vagandrak is broken, and a new threat has arisen that threatens to defeat even the mighty Iron Wolves. The twisted, deviant Elf Rats have gathered in the toxic realm beyond the White Lion Mountains… swiftly they invade the troubled land of Vagandrak, killing for profit and pleasure. The now-disgraced Iron Wolves Read more […]

The Boy with the Porcelain Blade by Den Patrick
Den Patrick , Fantasy , Gollancz / March 20, 2014

Lucien de Fontein has grown up different. One of the mysterious and misshapen Orfano who appear around the Kingdom of Landfall, he is a talented fighter yet constantly lonely, tormented by his deformity, and well aware that he is a mere pawn in a political game. Ruled by an insane King and the venomous Majordomo, it is a world where corruption and decay are deeply rooted – but to a degree Lucien never dreams possible when he first discovers the plight of the ‘insane’ women kept in the haunting Sanatoria. Told Read more […]

A Storm of Swords Part 2: Blood and Gold by George R R Martin

There’s just no way of getting around it. This is the fourth (second half of book three?) book in an on-going series and there will likely be something akin to mild spoilers beyond this point. At least I expect there will be, what with George R.R. Martin’s penchant for killing characters off and whatnot. As ever, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Fear cuts deeper than swords.  The Starks are scattered. Robb Stark may be King in the North, but he must bend to the will of the old tyrant Walder Frey Read more […]

The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris
Fantasy , Gollancz , Joanne Harris / March 12, 2014

Loki, that’s me. Loki, the Light-bringer, the misunderstood. The elusive, the handsome and modest hero of this particular tissue of lies.  Take it with a pinch of salt, but it’s at least as true as the official version, and, dare I say it, more entertaining. So far, history, such as it is, has cast me in a rather unflattering role. Now it’s my turn to take the stage. When it comes to a good yarn there is little more entertaining when there is a platinum rogue at the heart of it all. Read more […]