Now that Merlin Reborn is safely out in the world, I am trying to catch up on reviews of books I’ve finished over the past six months. First up is Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. As its title suggests, it’s a story about revenge. And as revenge stories go, this one is among the…
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…
Halfway through 2025, I can safely say that The Devils by Joe Abercrombie is the best book I’ve read so far this year. It’s a laugh-out-loud, character-driven fantasy with harrowing action, massive set pieces, brutal betrayals, and a bittersweet ending. In other words, it’s classic Abercrombie. I was hooked after the first chapter. Maybe even…