On my last trip to Africa, I finished the book I had been reading before my first connecting flight, so I had to dig into my Kindle library to find a new read. That was when I stumbled upon the Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. It has probably been in my library…
The holidays set me considerably behind on posting book reviews, so I am playing catch-up. My first of three belated reviews is Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. Emperor of Thorns concludes Lawrence’s The Broken Empire trilogy, a series that has grown stronger with each installment. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth that,…
I’ve been spending time lately in Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire, and perhaps my favorite sojourn to date was The Red Queen’s War Book 2, The Liar’s Key. The “Liar” in question is the god Loki, whom we meet in an intriguing prologue set deep in the past inside a Silo-like facility where survivors of a…
I finally got around to reading King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, the second book in his Broken Empire trilogy that began with Prince of Thorns. In the first book, the protagonist Jorg Ancrath was challenging to root for. He was a genuinely evil character, redeemed only slightly by the fact that his enemies were…
Everything comes to an epic, violent conclusion in Joe Abercrombie’s Last Argument of Kings, the final book in his First Law Trilogy. This book is the most spectacular in the series, wrapping up—for the most part—the two main plotlines and a myriad of subplots. Some of these conclusions are quite satisfying; others, not so much….
I began Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie as soon as I finished the first book in his First Law Trilogy, The Blade Itself. Book 2 picks up shortly after the events of the first and offers much more insight into the fascinating history of Abercrombie’s world. Before They Are Hanged has a more…
It’s been almost twenty years since The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie was first published. I had seen it on the shelves of my local Barnes & Noble for years but only got around to reading it this past December. I found it to be an odd yet entertaining entrée into his First Law Trilogy,…
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence is an intriguing grimdark fantasy with the most extreme antihero I’ve encountered in fantasy literature.
A hectic work month has set me back in keeping up with this blog, but I have a brief reprieve this week, just long enough to write a review of a recently finished novella, The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss. This is the first book I’ve ever read that warns readers they…
I’m rounding out my reviews of recently finished novels with the epic fantasy Malice by John Gwynne. I’ve admired his brilliant book covers for years at my neighborhood Barnes & Noble and finally got around to reading his debut novel. Better late than never, as they say. My first observation is how squarely this book…
Earlier this year, I declared Crucible of Chaos by Sebastien de Castell the best book I’ve read in 2024. That remains true, but de Castell’s Play of Shadows now stands as its equal. Both are part of his new Court of Shadows series, with Crucible of Chaos serving as a prequel to the rest of…