The Fall of Koli by M R Carey
M R Carey , Orbit , Sci-Fi / April 2, 2021

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 Read more […]

The Unbroken by C L Clark
C L Clark , Fantasy , Orbit / March 18, 2021

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 Read more […]

Down Among the Dead by K B Wagers
K B Wagers , Orbit , Sci-Fi / January 14, 2021

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, Read more […]

Call of the Bone Ships by R J Barker
Fantasy , Orbit , R J Barker / November 26, 2020

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 Read more […]

Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen
Essa Hansen , Orbit , Sci-Fi / November 20, 2020

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 Read more […]

The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn by Tyler Whitesides
Crime , Fantasy , Orbit , Tyler Whitesides / November 6, 2020

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 Read more […]

Dead Man in a Ditch by Luke Arnold
Crime , Fantasy , Luke Arnold , Orbit / October 1, 2020

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 Read more […]

The Trials of Koli by M R Carey
M R Carey , Orbit , Sci-Fi / September 25, 2020

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 Read more […]

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Andrea Stewart , Fantasy , Orbit / September 10, 2020

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 Read more […]

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H G Parry
Fantasy , H G Parry , Historical , Orbit / June 25, 2020

It is the Age of Enlightenment — of new and magical political movements, from the necromancer Robespierre calling for revolution in France to the weather mage Toussaint L’Ouverture leading the slaves of Haiti in their fight for freedom, to the bold new Prime Minister William Pitt weighing the legalization of magic amongst commoners in Britain and abolition throughout its colonies overseas. But amidst all of the upheaval of the early modern world, there is an unknown force inciting all of human Read more […]

The Book of Koli by M R Carey
M R Carey , Orbit , Sci-Fi / April 16, 2020

Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable world. A world where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly vines and seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don’t get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will. Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He knows the first rule of survival is that you don’t venture beyond the walls. What he doesn’t know is – what happens when you aren’t given a choice? I’ll begin with a short Read more […]

The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold
Fantasy , Luke Arnold , Orbit / February 6, 2020

I’m Fetch Phillips, just like it says on the window. There are three things you should know before you hire me: Sobriety costs extra. My services are confidential. I don’t work for humans. It’s nothing personal – I’m human myself. But after what happened, it’s not the humans who need my help. I just want one real case. One chance to do something good. Because it’s my fault the magic is never coming back. The inhabitants of Sunder City have fallen on hard times. An event known Read more […]

The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H G Parry
Fantasy , H G Parry , Orbit / January 30, 2020

For his entire life, Charley Sutherland has concealed a magical ability he can’t quite control: he can bring characters from books into the real world. His older brother, Rob — a young lawyer with a normal house, a normal fiancee, and an utterly normal life — hopes that this strange family secret will disappear with disuse, and he will be discharged from his life’s duty of protecting Charley and the real world from each other. But then, literary characters start causing trouble in their city, making Read more […]