Canadian poet and author Amal El-Mohtar is probably best known for writing two novellas: This is How You Lose the Time War and The River Has Roots and I had very opposite experiences reading them. The River Has Roots was probably my favourite thing I read last year, but I didn’t enjoy This is How…
Category: Reviews
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang – Book Review
I have not had the best track record when it comes to Asian-inspired modern fantasy stories. I was underwhelmed by Fonda Lee’s Jade City and Jade War, and reading R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War was so disappointing that I took a one-year break from the sub-genre. To motivate myself to try again, I decided to…
Knife of Dreams (The Wheel of Time, Book 11) by Robert Jordan – Book Review
It’s kind of tricky to review the 11th book in an epic fantasy series. I can’t discuss much of the story, since it would spoil what comes before for anyone who has not caught up, but anyone who has not started the series probably won’t care about any references I make to characters, storylines, etc….
The Blacktongue Thief (Blacktongue, Book 1) by Christopher Buehlman – Book Review
The Blacktongue Thief is a classic fantasy adventure that is equal parts fun, fresh, and familiar. Christopher Buehlman’s writing is what makes this story special. He has an impressive imagination and his world-building is masterful. He doesn’t waste efforts on making everything incomprehensibly otherworldly. Nor does he create entirely new universes with crazy rules of…
Ararat by Christopher Golden – Book Review
Christopher Golden first came to my attention in association with one of my favourite author-artists, Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy. They collaborated on a Hellboy universe title, Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, which I enjoyed. I expected that Ararat, written by Golden alone, would also carry some of that creepy supernatural…
The Knight and the Moth (The Stonewater Kingdom, Book 1) by Rachel Gillig – Book Review
While fantasy is probably my favourite genre of fiction, fantasy-romance (aka “romantasy”) has not been a subgenre that has appealed to me very much. Nevertheless, in the interest of expanding my horizons, I gave The Knight and the Moth (a very popular recent romantasy novel) a try. Unfortunately, despite attempting to go in with an…
Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky – Book Review
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s novella, Elder Race, plays around with a concept that sci-fi fans are likely familiar with from author Arthur C. Clarke’s highly resonant quote that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. It starts out as an epic fantasy story where a young princess, Lynesse Fourth Daughter, climbs a forbidden peak to seek…
The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft – Book Review
The Hexologists is my second venture (after Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Tainted Cup) into an emerging subgenre where we follow detectives investigating crimes/murders in a Victorian/Edwardian-inspired fantasy world. What sets these types of stories obviously apart from classic Sherlock Holmes tales is the addition of magical elements which may be part of the crime, instrumental…
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – Book Review
Unfortunately, this book taught me a lesson about falling for the premise of a book without knowing how it would be handled. The idea of a woman who was magically cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets was a very enticing one, mainly because I related very strongly to it personally. I’ve felt similarly…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 