Floresiensis profile
Place of birth: Timperley, Cheshire
Now living: Bury, Lancashire
3 favourite authors
- David Gemmell
- William Horwood
- Robin Hobb
3 favourite books
- IT/The Stand by Stephen King
- Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
- Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
3 favourite films
- Withnail & I
- The Fisher King
- Leon
Floresiensis's 521 reviews
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Book Thief by Australian author Markus Zusak is an international bestselling historical fantasy novel written in 2005, the recipient of the Indies Choice Book Award for Children's Literature, the Kathleen Mitchell Award and the National Jewish Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature.It is 1939. In Nazi Germany, th...
9.3/10
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Up until a couple of years ago, I was not aware of Shirley Jackson. However, The Haunting of Hill House, both the excellent Netflix series and Dark’s review of the book, changed that. So when I saw We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Penguin M...
9.0/10
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
Humankind was a disease. The earth was the body. Climate change was the fever.I finished Wanderers a couple of weeks ago but paused a while before writing this review, allowing myself to take more time to fully evaluate the reading experience. Oftentimes, I find, you can gain a more accurate...
9.6/10
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is a children’s fantasy novel, written in 1986. In 2006 the novel won the Phoenix Award, an award which recognizes an English-language children's book published 20 years earlier that did not then win a major literary award.Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of ...
9.0/10
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Matt Haig, the English author of Shadow Forest, Echo Boy, The Radleys and The Humans, is well known for writing award...
7.0/10
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (The Locked Tomb Trilogy)
The Emperor needs necromancers.The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully anima...
10.0/10
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Buried Giant is Kazuo Ishiguro’s seventh novel; his previous six winning him wide renown and many honours around the world. His best known works, arguably, are The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, both of which have sold in excess of one million copies and both adapted into highly acclaimed films.When you open The Buried ...
8.0/10
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce
Twenty years ago , sixteen year old Tara Martin took a walk into the mysterious Outwoods in the Charnwood Forest and never came back. Extensive searches and police investigations find no trace and her family is forced to accept the unthinkable. Then on Christmas day Tara arrives at her parents' door, dishevelled, unapologetic and not looking...
10.0/10
Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
It’s 1964 in idyllic Zephyr, Alabama. People either work for the paper mill up the Tecumseh River, or for the local dairy. It’s a simple life, but it stirs the impressionable imagination of twelve-year-old aspiring writer Cory Mackenson. He’s certain he’s sensed spirits whispering in the churchyard. He’s heard of th...
10.0/10
Echoes of the Great Song by David Gemmell
Echoes of the Great Song is a 1992 novel by David Gemmell, the bestselling author of the Rigante and Drenai series of heroic fantasy novels.The prophecy had come true. The world spun. Tidal waves lashed the planet, and a new ice age dawned. The few survivors of a once great empire struggled to rebuild, to hold their ground against the ris...
7.0/10
Cold Steel by Kate Elliott (Spiritwalker)
Trouble, treachery and magic seem to follow Cat Barahal wherever she goes. The Master of the Wild Hunt has stolen away her husband. The ruler of the Taino kingdom blames her for his mother's murder. An enraged fire mage wants to kill her. And Cat, her cousin Bee and her half-brother Rory aren't even back in Europa yet, where revolution i...
9.0/10
The Kingdom Of Gods by NK Jemisin (The Inheritance Trilogy)
For two thousand years the Arameri family has ruled the world by enslaving the very gods that created mortalkind. Now the gods are free, and the Arameri's ruthless grip is slipping. Yet they are all that stands between peace and world-spanning, unending war. Shahar, last scion of the family, must choose her loyalties. She yearns to trus...
10.0/10
Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake (The Gormenghast Trilogy)
In this final part of the trilogy, we follow Titus, now almost twenty, as he escapes from the Castle, flees its oppressive Ritual, and becomes lost in a sandstorm. Helped by the owner of a travelling zoo, Muzzlehatch, and his ex-lover Juno, Titus ends up stranded in a big, bustling city. No one there having heard of Gormenghast, the general cons...
9.0/10
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (The Gormenghast Trilogy)
Enter the world of Gormenghast...the vast crumbling castle to which the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, is Lord and heir. Gothic labyrinth of roofs and turrets, cloisters and corridors, stairwells and dungeons, it is also the cobwebbed kingdom of Byzantine government and age-old rituals, a world primed to implode beneath the weight of centuri...
9.0/10
The Stone Sky by NK Jemisin (The Broken Earth)
The stunning finale to the record breaking triple Hugo Award winning trilogy.The Moon will soon return. Whether this heralds the destruction of humankind or something worse will depend on two women. Essun has inherited the phenomenal power of Alabaster Tenring. With it, she hopes to find her daughter Nassun and forge a world in which ever...
10.0/10
Firestarter by Stephen King
First published in 1980 and nominated for the British Fantasy Award, Locus Poll Award, and Balrog Award.I’ve read around 30 Stephen King books and have been looking into the ones I have missed. I thought, “what better place to start other than the beginning?”. So, with a printed out bibliography in hand ...
7.5/10
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, was first published in 2005 (Faber and Faber, 288 pages). Written using a first-person narrative, viewed through the eyes and thoughts of Kathy, it is Ishiguro’s sixth novel, and was shortlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize (won by The Sea by John Banville).It is the story of Kathy and her friend...
9.1/10
Salem's Lot by Stephen King
Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King, was first published in 1975 (Doubleday, 439 pages). Written using the third-person narrative it was King’s second published novel (after his debut novel Carrie (1974) and prior to The Shining (1977).Salem’s Lot is the story of a small American town being overtaken by vampires, and a brave ba...
9.5/10
Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud (The Bartimaeus Trilogy)
Ptolemy’s Gate is the witty, clever and moving conclusion to Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus Trilogy. It is a book that does full justice to a wonderful series of fantasy books by bringing it to poignant closure. First published in 2005, this book is preceded by The Amulet of Samarkand and The Golem’s Eye.As we open P...
9.7/10
The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud (The Bartimaeus Trilogy)
The Golem’s Eye is as exhilarating and enjoyable as its predecessor and The Bartimaeus Trilogy is a must-read for fantasy fans aged twelve and up. First published in 2004, it is the second book in Jonathan Stroud’s darkly humourous trilogy, preceded by The Amulet of Samarkand and followed by Ptolemy’s Gate.Two year...
9.3/10
Final Winter by Iain Rob Wright
It's snowing over every inch of the Earth; something that should not be possible.Grieving alcoholic Harry Jobson expected to end his night facedown in vomit like most nights down the pub, but the impossible blizzards have made old routines impossible, and he instead finds himself trapped with an odd group of strangers. Everyone is wor...
7.5/10
Our Child of the Stars by Stephen Cox
I struggled a little with this book, despite really wanting to like it. I found it reminiscent of Robert McCammon's A Boy's Life and also the work of Stephen King. The book is imbued with the feel of 1950's America and also the wonder of childhood. These were both, for me, a very good thing as this type of books is defini...
6.0/10
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman (The Magicians series)
"The final part of the outstanding Magicians trilogy ... Lev Grossman manipulates fantasy genres with skill ... The Magician's Land glitters with wit, but the warp and weft of the story is shot through with emotional rawness and a sense of peril." (Daily Mail)"Richly imagined and continually surprising … The stro...
9.0/10
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas, by English author David Mitchell, was first published in 2004. A speculative fiction novel, featuring both fantasy and science fiction elements, it met with an almost overwhelmingly positive reaction. I am whole-heartedly on the positive side of the fence. In fact, I loved this novel, finding it utterly charming and beautifully writ...
9.4/10
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
The Bone Clocks follows the twists and turns of Holly's life from a scarred adolescence in Gravesend to old age on Ireland's Atlantic coast as Europe's oil supply dries up - a life not so far out of the ordinary, yet punctuated by flashes of precognition, visits from people who emerge from thin air and brief lapses in the laws of rea...
9.0/10
The Last Dark by Stephen Donaldson (The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant)
Hellfire! This much used exclamation of Thomas Covenant seems an apt way to open this review. And I warn you, not much here will be positive so if you are enjoying the final chronicles please close this page now and don’t let me spoil things for you.My journey with the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant began over twenty years ago. A lad...
5.0/10
The Road is a River by Nick Cole (The Wasteland Saga)
What began in The Old Man and the Wasteland, then continued in The Savage Boy, now reaches its end in The Road is a River, the third and final nov...
8.5/10
The Savage Boy by Nick Cole (The Wasteland Saga)
The Savage Boy is the second novel in Nick Cole’s Wasteland Saga and follows on from the events that unfolded in the first novel, The Old Man and the Wasteland.The Old Man and the Wasteland was a good no...
8.5/10
The Old Man and the Waste Land by Nick Cole (The Wasteland Saga)
I saw The Old Man and the Wasteland described as a meeting of Ernest Hemingway and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. That was all it took, I purchased it seconds later and began reading first thing next morning. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is a novel I hold up there as one that had the most impact on me as a reade...
8.5/10
Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb (Fitz and the Fool)
Well, and so it all comes to an end. As I began writing this review I thought back to first beginning my journey into the Realm of the Elderlings. The year was 2006 and I was in Manchester Piccadilly train station, looking for a new book to read on my daily commute. The on-site WH Smiths was my first port of call and I don’t know whether i...
9.0/10
The Crimson Queen by Alec Hutson (The Raveling)
The Crimson Queen by Alec Hudson is a work of epic fantasy published in 2016, reminiscent of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, David Eddings and Patrick Rothfuss. It is an entry into the 2018 Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off and the champion of Fantasy Book Critic.I’ll come straight to the point: This book did not work for me. At first ...
5.0/10
The Silver Mask by Christian Ellingsen (The Vasini Chronicles)
The Silver Mask is a well-written flintlock and alchemy fantasy novel infused with a healthy dose of social pomp and political intrigue. It is also an entry into the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off and I found it to be - along with ...
8.0/10
Fluke by James Herbert
Recently I read The Last Dog on Earth, Adrian J. Walker’s excellent dystopian novel featuring dual narratives, that of Reg the human and - most memorably - that of Lineker the dog. I loved the book and enjoyed reading Lineker’s thoughts, and also found myself making a mental note, which was simply re-read James Herbert’s Fl...
8.5/10
A Threat of Shadows by JA Andrews (The Keeper Chronicles)
A Threat of Shadows by J. A. Andrews, first published in 2016, is a work of epic fantasy and the first book in The Keeper Chronicles. I read this book as part of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off, a competition which pits self-published fantasy books against each other to be crowned champion. I found much to like wit...
7.8/10
The Last Dog on Earth by Adrian J Walker
The Last Dog on Earth is the latest novel from Adrian J. Walker, author of the bestselling The End of the World Running Club. In this latest offering Walker remains within the same genre to present a dystopian bombed-out London where, as the novel opens, he introduces us to the agoraphobic, former electrician Reginald...
9.0/10
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
I have come to understand that I have rather a penchant for reading post apocalyptic fiction. I try to not waste too much time worrying about whether this is a sign of a healthy mental state or not and simply accept that I read both what I enjoy and what stimulates my emotions. I find that the dark themes explored in the genre frighten me a grea...
9.1/10
Anamnesis by Whitney H Murphy (Ages of Claya)
Anamnesis was a book whose opening chapters I loved and while I felt the story fell away rather as it progressed I thought the author has obvious talent and would like to read more of her work.As survivors in a ruined city, there are some realities we can’t escape. Or forget. Like the truth that our bodies don’t work anymore. ...
6.0/10
The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu
The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is a novel written by French author and singer Mathias Malzieu (whose band also recorded a concept album based upon the story). My English edition of the novel was translated skillfully by Sarah Ardizzone.The story opens in the Scottish city of Edinburgh in the year of 1874. It is the coldest night the ...
8.8/10
All That Remains by Al Barrera
All That Remains is a post-apocalyptic/zombie novel written by Al Barrera and first published on September 15, 2015.I do like to read post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels and while I wouldn’t say zombie apocalypse is a personal favourite of mine the book cover and synopsis of All That Remains really appealed to me. I find that it d...
8.0/10
Harvest by William Horwood (Hyddenworld)
Winter has been unleashed upon the Hyddenworld by an angry Earth. And Judith, now the Earth’s unwilling ally and shield maiden, is powerless to intervene. Then while both human and Hydden lands wither, humans find their way into this secret realm – to destroy all that winter’s storms haven’t undone.The Hydden city ...
9.0/10
Robot Uprisings by John Joseph Adams
Robot Uprisings is an anthology that looks at what might happen to us if the continuing robotic revolution takes on a sinister edge. The seventeen stories contained within are edited by Daniel H. Wilson and John Joseph Adams (of whose work I am great admirer) and all explore a robot uprising from a different angle.I did not initially warm...
7.5/10
The Creeping Shadow by Jonathan Stroud (Lockwood & Co)
The Creeping Shadow is the fourth book in the wonderful Lockwood & Co series. Sadly, this is (if reports are true) the penultimate instalment and the release of The Empty Grave in September 2017 will see the series end. Hopefully Stroud will either return to the series at a later date, or more likely, bring into being another fantastic serie...
9.5/10
The Feast of All Souls by Simon Bestwick
The Feast for All Souls is a cleverly written and perfectly paced haunted house tale by British author Simon Bestwick, author of previous works Tide of Souls and Hell’s Ditch.The haunted house in question is 378 Collarmill Road, located on a hill outside Manchester. It is the house which grieving mother Alice Collier flees to after ...
8.5/10
Metronome by Oliver Langmead
Metronome is Oliver Langmead’s second novel, following his debut Dark Star, a Guardian Best Book of 2015. It is quest novel with a distinct steampunk theme, the titular Metronome being an airship so called due to the regular ticking sound it makes. The story moves fluidly in and out of the real and dream worlds and I loved that, in the dre...
7.8/10
Of Bone and Thunder by Chris Evans
Chris Evans’ Of Bone Thunder is a fantasy tale heavily influenced by the Vietnam War. Set in a jungle world inhabited by, amongst others, humans, dwarves, dragons and slyts (I do wish the author had chosen a different name for this race and hope it is not what I fear it is) it does not portray war as heroic but as ultimately pointless....
7.0/10
Time: The Immortal Divide by KS Turner (The Chronicles of Fate and Choice)
Time: The Immortal Divide is the third and final instalment in K. S. Turner’s speculative fiction series, The Chronicles of Fate and Choice. As is often the case with trilogies, having read the previous two novels is not essential but it is strongly recommended - you’ll simply miss out on too much context by jumping in at book three....
8.9/10
The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker
Helene Wecker’s The Golem and the Djinni was a book I enjoyed a great deal. Her characters were fascinating, felt real and I enjoyed exploring their histories as the book progressed. I also found that the main setting and narrative evoked wonderful images of nineteenth century New York. But what I enjoyed most was the chance to experience ...
9.2/10
Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw (The Wakening)
Dawn of Wonder is, at 710 pages, a big book and one that is undeniably a labour of love for its author Jonathan Renshaw. It's epic fantasy, but epic fantasy with a difference as this is more fantasy in the Robin Hobb and Patrick Rothfuss mould, where the 'hero' is not all-perfect and highly skilled at everything they set th...
8.8/10
Knights of the Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden
Fantasy Book Review Book of the Month, April 2016Knights of the Borrowed Dark is the first book in a brand new trilogy from debutant Irish author Dave Rudden. Published by Penguin, it holds special resonance for us here at Fantasy Book Review as Dave won our ...
8.8/10
When We Were Animals by Joshua Gaylord
I liked reading When We Were Animals a great deal but knew that I would find it very difficult to review. This was a book I enjoyed as much for how it was written as for what it was written about. It has a hypnotic narrative, features complex and engaging characters and at its centre is a young female lead for whom I felt much empathy. And I lov...
9.0/10
It by Stephen King
It, by Stephen King, was a book that impacted heavily upon my teenage years. It was at that time both the biggest - and the scariest - book I’d ever read and it is a book I remember most fondly. It is always a risk to revisit beloved books decades later - you’ve (hopefully) matured, which has both negatives and positives when it come...
9.0/10
The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud (Lockwood & Co)
Fantasy Book Review Book of the Month, February 2016The Hollow Boy is the third – and I sincerely hope not the last – novel in Jonathan Stroud’s superior urban fantasy series for young adults. The first two novels in Lockwood & Co - The Screaming Staircase and The Whispering Skull - were very good bu...
10.0/10
Bloodrush by Ben Galley
Bloodrush is a weird west fantasy is set in the frontier town of Fell Falls, America. It’s on the edges of a dusty, desolate desert. There are guns, wild locals, and monsters called railwraiths that eat up the railway workers attempting to lay tracks to expand the empire. There’s also blood magic and faeries. Yep, faeries!T...
8.8/10
City of Burning Shadows by Barbara Webb (Apocrypha: The Dying World #1)
City of Burning Shadows by Barbara Webb is the first book in her Apocrypha: The Dying World series of science fantasy / dystopia novels. I read City of Burning Shadows during the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off, a competition ...
8.1/10
The Weight of a Crown by Tavish Kaeden (Azhaion Saga)
The Weight of a Crown is the first novel in Tavish Kaeden’s Azhaion Saga and a tale of four parts played out on an epic stage. I read this novel as part of the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off #spfbo as it was t...
8.1/10
The Thief Who Pulled On Troubles Braids by Michael McClung (Amra Thetys Series)
The intriguingly named The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble’s Braids is an entry into the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (or the #spfbo as it is bette...
8.3/10
The Silent End by Samuel Sattin
The Silent End was a book I instantly warmed to. The story is told using the first person narrative style (which I have always loved when done well) and the way the story unfolded, complemented as it was by real and likeable characters, left me one very contented reader.Young adult fiction is not my read of choice because it often leaves ...
8.0/10
The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud (Lockwood & Co)
Fantasy Book Review Book of the Month, October 2015The Whispering Skull is the second book in Jonathan Stroud's masterful Lockwood & Co series for young adult readers and ages up. This atmospheric and amusing second installment charts the continuing trials and misadventures of London's smallest psychic detecti...
9.1/10
The Rule by Jack Colman
The Rule, set within the mythical Viking kingdom of Helvik, is the debut novel of Yorkshire author Jack Colman. It is a well-crafted and engaging work of historical fiction that has this law – or rule – at its centre: No person of Helvik may kill another person of Helvik. ‘Any person who breaks this rule is no longer a person o...
8.3/10
After the Fall: An anthology by Alex Davis
I love post-apocalyptic fiction. I love anthologies. So when I discovered After the Fall, a new release that caters perfectly to my previously mentioned tastes, reading and reviewing it was a no-brainer.Anthologies are a fantastic way of unearthing new authors and while a couple of contributors were already known to me the rest would be m...
8.0/10
World of Trouble by Ben H Winters (The Last Policeman Trilogy)
World of Trouble is the third and final book in Ben H. Winters Edgar Award winning Last Policeman series.Read our reviews of The Last Policeman (book one) and Countdown City...
8.8/10
The Vagrant by Peter Newman
The Vagrant is the debut novel of Peter Newman, a post demon apocalypse novel set in a dying fantasy world. It was a hard book to get into, presenting a steep learning curve and mashing up a bunch of different styles in an eclectic fashion, but once I got into the book the journey became absorbing and I found the payoff to be immensely satisfyin...
9.0/10
Wastelands 2 by John Joseph Adams
Last summer, while on holiday, I was fortunate to take with me Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse, an anthology of stories edited by John Joseph Adams, all set within a post-apocalyptic landscape and written by a number of the world&rs...
8.0/10
Like Clockwork by Damien Love
There is much to commend Like Clockwork. First and foremost it is an exciting adventure tale for older children, secondly it is adorned with lovely steampunk-themed black-and-white illustrations that perfectly compliment the narrative. It also uses the old-fashioned method of producing the work in episodic instalments - or serialisation if you w...
8.5/10
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell was first published in 1945 and will be celebrating its seventieth birthday next year. It is still a keen area of debate whether it remains relevant for readers of this generation - I certainly believe it is, and the fact that it is still studied as part of the United Kingdom’s English Literature curriculum wou...
9.5/10
The Wurms of Blearmouth by Steven Erikson (Collected Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach)
The Wurms of Blearmouth is a novella, first published in June of 2012, written by Canadian author Steven Erikson and set within the lands of his Malazan Book of Fallen series. It follows on from the tale told in another novella featuring Bauchelain, Broach and Reese, The Lees of Laughter’s End.I am a self-confessed Steven Erikson ju...
8.0/10
Malice by John Gwynne (The Faithful and The Fallen)
"That is my prayer, what use is prayer to a God that has abandoned all things..." - HalvorGwynne's debut is the foundation of what will arguably be a perplexing but ultimately breathtaking fantasy saga. One that is flowing with age-old and perhaps cliched elements preparing for the ultimate battle. Good vs. Evil. It...
7.6/10
The Third Section by Jasper Kent (The Danilov Quintet)
The following is a review of Jasper Kent's The Third Section, the third book of the Danilov Quintet.Russia 1855. After forty years of peace in Europe, war rages. In the Crimea, the city of Sevastopol is besieged. In the north, Saint Petersburg is blockaded. But in Moscow there is one who needs only to sit and wait - wait for the death...
8.0/10
Snow, White by Keith Austin
Keith Austin’s Snow, White is a contemporary young adult fantasy that draws inspiration from classic fairy tales that are still so well loved. But it is definitely more Grimm than Disney.John Creed's nights are haunted by dreams of a white wolf, his days by the hideous class bully. He's a loner with a stutter and his home-li...
7.8/10
Look Who's Back by Temur Vimes
Temur Vimes’ Look Who’s Back approaches the most taboo of subjects, Adolf Hitler, through the medium of satirical fiction. It dares to portray Hitler as a human being, as charming as he is repellent, as naive as he is fiercely intelligent. In parts it works really well, offering an insightful look at the man within the monster, but i...
7.0/10
Echo Boy by Matt Haig
Echo Boy by Nestlé Smarties Book Prize winner Matt Haig is a stand-alone science/speculative-fiction novel set exactly 100 years in the future. It offers a vision of what day-to-day life may be like in the next century, exploring the likely advancements in technology and artificial intelligence while telling a tale of love, loss, betrayal...
9.0/10
Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb (Fitz and the Fool)
Anyone who has read reviews here at Fantasy Book Review for any length of time will probably remember the love Lee (our editor in chief) and I have for anything written by Robin Hobb. For many years we struggled over just how important we considered her 9-volume work – ‘The Realm of the Elderlings’, now including the 4 ‘R...
9.9/10
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 8 by Jonathan Strahan
The eighth volume of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year anthology, compiled by multi-award winning editor Jonathan Strahan, is a collection of twenty-eight short stories. The average standard is high, and the stories, which are written by both established and emerging authors, move fluidly in and out of the rich array of sub-genres...
8.5/10
The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan
If there is one thing I most definitely am not, that is a werewolf fiction aficionado. I can't in all honesty think of another pure werewolf book I've read, although I have of course read books where werewolves feature at some point - and watched several famous films - I believe Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf must be the first book ...
8.8/10
Relic by Heather Terrell (The Books of Eva)
Relic is the first book in Heather Terrell’s series, The Books of Eva. It is a work of dystopia aimed at the young-adult market.I was already aware of this book before I read it. The book’s premise had interested me and so I had a quick look to see what others had already thought before committing myself to reading it. On Good...
6.0/10
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
Weaveworld is an epic adventure of the imagination. It begins with a carpet in which a world of rapture and enchantment is hiding; a world which comes to life, alerting the dark forces and beginning a desperate battle to preserve the last vestiges of magic which Humankind still has access to.It is a book of visions and horrors, a story of...
8.8/10
Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay (The Sarantine Mosaic)
Forming the first part of Guy Gavriel Kay’s duology The Sarantine Mosaic and inspired by ancient Byzantium, Sailing to Sarantium tells a magnificent, sweeping story of empire, conspiracies and journeys, both physical and spiritual. First published in 1998 it was followed by Lord of Emperors in 2000.Rumoured to be responsible for the...
8.8/10
The Wounded Falcon by JP Barnett
Back in January 2011 I reviewed JP Barnett’s Invitation for a Feast, his first ever gamebook, published in late 2007 and part of the Woodland Forest Chronicles. Barnett has since published a new series, Choices, and here we review the first book, The Wounded Falcon.While out on a hunting expedition with your trained falcon, an unexp...
5.0/10
Alt Hist: Issue 2 by Mark Lord
Over the last six years, since setting up Fantasy Book Review, I have on occasion come across people and organisations that I like for what they are doing, and how they approach their work, every bit as much as the work that they produce. Alt Hist, a magazine for lovers of historical fiction and alternate history, is a prime example of this....
8.0/10
Winter by William Horwood (Hyddenworld)
Winter is the fourth and final novel in William Horwood's Hyddenworld Quartet.A savage winter has been unleashed upon the Hyddenworld by an angry Earth. Humans find their way into this secret realm – to destroy all that the storms haven’t undone. The Hydden city of Brum now faces its darkest days; joining its greatest enem...
9.2/10
Alt Hist: Issue 3 by Mark Lord
Alt Hist - a magazine featuring a collection of historical fiction, historical fantasy and alternate history short stories (all under 10,000 words) - has released its third issue. I am a big fan of this magazine, liking both their objective and the stories that they publish. A review of the magazine's second issue went live in August 2011 an...
8.0/10
Invitation to a Feast by JP Barnett
There was once a time when all books were far too linear. Who decided what happened? Why the author of course.The great and the good decided that this just should not be and took steps to make the reader the hero, the one who made the decisions, the one who lived or died (the latter more often than not).So the gamebook came into be...
8.0/10
Breaking Point by John Macken
‘Breaking point’ is Macken’s third book in the futuristic gene crime series. Scientist Reuben Maitland has found a way of identifying a rouge gene in a person’s DNA that could enable them to be a psychopath later on in their life. Reuben is now working undercover, outside of the law, in a private laboratory in order to ea...
8.5/10
The Man from Hell by Barrie Roberts (The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
The world’s greatest detective returns in a story that forms part of a new series entitled The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.In The Man from Hell Barrie Roberts creates a perfect emulation of Conan Doyle’s works. The year is 1886 and the wealthy philanthropist Lord Backwater has been found beaten to death on the ground...
8.0/10
The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
Philip Rhayader lives alone in an abandoned lighthouse on the desolate Great Marsh of Essex. One afternoon, a hauntingly beautiful child, Fritha, visits Rhayader, bringing with her an injured snow goose. At first Fritha is scared of Rhayader, with his sinister hump and crooked hand, but he is gentle and kind and Fritha begins to visit regularly....
9.5/10
Defenders of the Scroll by Shiraz
Far away in the realm of Mythos, an evil entity has broken free of its prison to darken the land. However, entrusted with her father’s magic scroll – the only hope for the realm – young Princess Dara summons six heroes from different times and places to defend her: a hardened Roman legionnaire, a swift Japanese samurai, a might...
8.0/10
Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus
A.A. Milne’s stories about Pooh and his forest friends have been loved by generations of children and their parents ever since the publication of Winnie-the-Pooh in 1926. Now, eighty years on, David Benedictus takes up where Milne left off and Return to the Hundred Acre Wood is the much-anticipated official sequel to Winnie-the-Pooh and Th...
9.0/10
Slither's Tale by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
Slither's Tale is the eleventh novel of Joseph Delaney's Wardstone Chronicles, first published in April 2013.Slither is a haizda mage who preys upon humans, drinking their blood to feed his dark urges. So when a local farmer dies, it's only natural that Slither should want to feast on his lovely daughters.But then the f...
6.0/10
Miscreation by Stefan Jakubowski
There’s life. There shouldn’t be. Creator Brown has been at it again. But then what can you expect from someone who occasionally ignores the odd zero; especially as he happens to work in billions and trillions. But Brown is the least of the problems for the Chief Creator who has just been handed other disturbing news. The Anarchist i...
7.0/10
The Waking World by Tom Huddleston (The Future King)
The Waking World is the debut novel of author, musician and journalist Tom Huddleston. I found it to be a charming book (set in North Yorkshire where the author grew up) which read fluidly and was populated with nicely balanced and rounded characters. The plot was always interesting and consistently developing while offering all the ingredients ...
8.7/10
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Lovely Bones was a very well-known book even before Peter Jackson adapted it for the silver screen in 2010. But its origins were modest, the book's publisher, Little, Brown and Company, would have been happy had it sold 20,000 copies. But thanks to a clever marketing campaign and the power of word-of-mouth recommendations it made the New...
8.8/10
Fox’s Bride by AE Marling
Genre fiction can often be full of much that is derivative, novels that are cynically created to mimic a currently popular theme. So when an author attempts to do something different, when they attempt to approach fantasy from a new angle, it gladdens my heart. Fox's Bride, and its predecessor Brood of Bones, are by no means flawless b...
8.6/10
The Beating of His Wings by Paul Hoffman (The Left Hand of God Trilogy)
The Beating of His Wings is the third and final instalment in Paul Hoffman's Left Hand of God trilogy, which is preceded by The Last Four Things, a book I reviewed only last week, and The Left Hand of God. Looking back at my review of The Last Four Things I have realised that I have been extremely tough on it, arguably giving it a far more n...
7.5/10
A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson
On August 29, 2013 Tor Books republished Richard Matheson's A Stir of Echoes, a novel first published in 1958 and adapted into a critically acclaimed film starring Kevin Bacon in 1999.The story centres on Tom Wallace, a seemingly normal suburban man, living an ordinary and happy life. But one evening his brother-in-law challenges him ...
8.5/10
Alt Hist: Issue 5 by Mark Lord
Alt Hist, now in its fifth issue, is a wonderful little publication of original works of short fiction on the historical fiction, alternate history or historical fantasy theme.In the latest issue, Priya Sharma - a contributor to the first two Alt Hist issues - kicks things of with After Mary, a story inspired by Mary Shelley's Franken...
8.0/10
Exit Kingdom by Alden Bell
The Reapers are the Angels was one of my favourite books of 2011, and is indeed one of my favourite books within the entire dystopian/post apocalyptic genre. I have two things to thank its author Alden Bell for: Firstly for writing a book I enjoyed so much and secondly for introducing me to the work of Cormac McCarthy, whose influence on Bell an...
8.8/10
The Last Four Things by Paul Hoffman (The Left Hand of God Trilogy)
Seldom has a trilogy left me so confuddled and befused… This reading of The Last Four Things was my second and I still don't quite know quite what to make of it, so I will simply try to pass on the feelings experienced whilst reading it. First off, I enjoyed it far less than The Left Hand of God - of that there is no doubt. Yes, the s...
6.5/10
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse by John Joseph Adams
Famine, death, war, pestilence. These are said to be the harbingers of the biblical apocalypse-Armageddon. The End of the World. Whether by nuclear warfare, a biological disaster or an ecological/geological disaster it is in the wake of this great cataclysm that the survivors have to adapt and survive.The above paragraph is the synopsis f...
9.5/10
Spiderface by William Mobberley
When young Jimbo Mambo books a room with Captain and Mrs Fanshaw in their Northernville lodging house, he is gradually introduced to their bizarre social circle.However, nothing can prepare him for Northernville’s weirdest citizens of all, Miss Susie Grubbings’ tragically, deformed brothers, Spiderface and Otis.I have t...
8.5/10
The Death of Grass by John Christopher
This Death of Grass is hailed as a science fiction classic and judging by online reviews, beloved by many. But I have not disliked a book so vehemently for a very long time, and although I know this places me in the minority it is just an honest reaction to my recent reading of the book. I must stress that the reason I read it in the first place...
3.0/10
The Days of the Deer by Liliana Bodoc (Saga of the Borderlands)
The Days of the Deer is the first book in Liliana Bodoc's Saga of the Borderlands series, a work of epic fantasy translated from the original Spanish narrative into English by Nick Caistor and Lucia Caistor Arendar.Liliana Bodoc is a bestselling author in Latin America where she is know for her fantasy trilogy Los saga de los Confines...
7.0/10
The Farm by Emily McKay
I was rather underwhelmed with this one I am afraid. It is not dreadful by any means but just very ordinary – mediocre may sound a little harsh but it sums up my feelings towards the book as succinctly as any other individual word. Plot, characterisation, world, dialogue – they are all passably fair but nothing more. It was a book th...
4.0/10
The Spook's Blood by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
The Spook’s Blood is the tenth book in Joseph Delaney’s long-running Wardstone Chronicles (I think the series will run to thirteen, which seems an appropriate number) and it continues the return to form first seen in book nine, I Am Grimalkin. I am a Spooks fan and if ever I am asked to recommend great fantasy books for older childre...
9.0/10
White Gold Wielder by Stephen Donaldson (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever)
The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which concludes with the book I am currently reviewing, White Gold Wielder, are extremely difficult to review as the books cause such constant conflict within me. On one hand I was pleased to reach the end as the going had seemed unnecessarily tough at times, the mental self-harm committed by all the mai...
8.5/10
Joyland by Stephen King (Hard Case Crime Series)
My lady and I decided to take a break from our Sanderson odyssey and so for our next cooperative adventure in reading she suggested Joyland, a surprisingly gentle story; especially as compared to much of King’s other work.Joyland is the tale of 21 year old Devin Jones. After his girlfriend Wendy breaks his heart with a casual &ldquo...
9.0/10
Magic Casement by Dave Duncan (A Man of His Word)
On first impression Magic Casement - and Dave Duncan's A Man of His Word series in general - might appear to be just your good old-fashioned fantasy fare. And in many ways it is but there are elements within that lift it above the norm and in the end I felt like I had read a book that gave me the comfort I felt from the classic fantasy of yo...
8.7/10
Countdown City by Ben H Winters (The Last Policeman Trilogy)
Countdown City is the second book in Ben H Winter's Last Policeman trilogy, and it follows on from the events that unfolded in the 2013 Edgar Award winning The Last Policeman.Meeting up once again with Hank Palace felt just like welcoming back an old friend. His first person narrative is nicely understated and he makes for an engaging...
8.9/10
The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud (Lockwood & Co)
I hold The Bartimaeus Trilogy and stand-alone novel Heroes of the Valley to be amongst the finest fantasy books I have read. So when a new book from their author Jonathan Stroud arrives my expectations are very high. And I was not disappointed as Lockwood & Co - which is aimed at a slightly older audience than previous novels - proved to be ...
9.1/10
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum
Dorothy Gale and her little dog Toto are in for the ride of their lives when a tornado drops them off in the Land of Oz. Can Dorothy and her new friends survive the perils of Oz to reach the Wizard and find a way home?Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man. Few are unable to immediately identify these names, so ingraine...
9.4/10
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Ghosts and Goodwill in the ultimate Christmas story. It is Christmas Eve in Victorian London, and all around the snow-covered city people are rushing home to be with their families. All except one man, that is: Ebenezer Scrooge. A wealthy old miser whose only joy in life is money, Scrooge decides to spend the evening counting his cash, rejecting...
9.6/10
Quintessence by David Walton
Review by AE Marling, author of Brood of Bones (Book of the Month, August 2012)If you feel that your fantasy novels have been cruelly deficient in science, then Quintessence is the book for you.Turn back the clock to the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Lady Jane Grey has been deposed, and the Catholic Church has regained control o...
8.5/10
Blackhand by Matt Hiebert
I first read Matt Hiebert's work when he submitted an excellent short story to a competition we were running last year. So I did not hesitate at all when asked to read and review his latest novel, Blackhand, which tells the story of a banished prince who finds himself caught in a struggle between two warring gods; whose destiny leads to his ...
7.0/10
The One Tree by Stephen Donaldson (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever)
As readers put down The Wounded Land they were left with the mental imagery of Thomas Covenant boarding a giant-built dromond (a large castle-like ship built of stone) and sailing off to find the One Tree in order to recreate the Staff of Law and bring order back to the Land.And so it with a fresh breath of salt air that the fifth instalm...
8.6/10
Last Days by Adam Nevill
I cannot believe it has taken me so long to read and review Last Days. Its author, Adam Nevill, has written two of the best horror books that I have read in recent times (Apartment 16 and The Ritual) but Last Days has sat on my desk for many, many months, simply imploring to be read but other review commitments took precedence. I also think I wa...
9.0/10
The Four Realms by Adrian Faulkner
Half-vampire Darwin stumbles across a corpse on the streets of London, and in a pocket discovers a notebook in a mysterious language. Divided between human ethics and vampire bloodlust, Darwin finds himself both condemner and saviour of a race who’ve never considered him one of their own. Now, he must try and lead the survivors to sanctuar...
8.8/10
The Last Policeman by Ben H Winters (The Last Policeman Trilogy)
Fantasy Book Review Book of the Month, March 2013What's the point in solving murders if we're all going to die soon, anyway?Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There's no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact.The econo...
9.0/10
The Toymaker by Jeremy de Quidt
What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could put a heart in one? A real heart. One that beat and beat and didn't stop. What couldn't you do if you could make a toy like that? From the moment Mathias becomes the owner of a mysterious piece of paper, he is in terrible danger. Entangled in devious plots and pursued by the sinis...
9.0/10
The Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King (The Dark Tower series)
Visit Mid-World's last gunslinger, Roland Deschain, and his ka-tet as a ferocious storm halts their progress along the Path of the Beam. Roland tells a tale from his early days as a gunslinger, in the guilt ridden year following his mother's death. Sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape shifter, a 'skin man&#...
9.5/10
The Good, The Mad and The Undead by Rob Knipe
This is the second book I have read by Rob Knipe, and events in The Good, The Mad and the Undead follow on directly from those that occurred in A Heist Too Far, a book I reviewed last year.This was, to steal and slightly re-phrase a oft-repeated footballing analogy, a "book of two halves". I will be honest straight up and ...
7.0/10
Fun & Games at the Zoo by Kevin Price
Maisie and Bertie join the animals at the zoo for their Fun Day in this fun, rhyming and educational story, the follow up to 2010's successful 'The Beauty Contest at the Zoo'. Children can join in with the animal's games. Will they race with the cheetah or roar with the lion? And can they find and count the chipmunks that are hid...
9.0/10
One Little Christmas Tree by The Curto Family and Rusty Fischer
There is nothing more pleasant that settling down with your child at bedtime, when it is cold outside but toasty inside, to read a lovely little Christmas story before lights out. And so last night my three-year-old son (although the book is ideally for ages 4+), Elliot, and I read One Little Christmas Tree: A Children’s Christmas Picture ...
8.0/10
The Veil by Jerry Ibbotson
A couple of years ago I read and reviewed Chosen by Jerry Ibbotson. It was a promising début that hinted at greater works yet to come and having just read The Veil I can happily say that Ibbotson has kept all the elements that were good in his début and improved upon the weaker areas.Ibbotson sets his latest work, a paranorm...
8.0/10
One Hundred Years of Vicissitude by Andrez Bergen
Vicissitude: A change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant.Charles Dickens collides with Haruki Murakami in a pulsating tale of history, redemption and revenge.I have always - ever since my teenage days - had a fascination with Japan. The rich history, the customs, the...
9.0/10
Endless by Matt Bone (Crescent)
As you will no doubt have already ascertained from the above sentence in bold, I enjoyed Matt Bone's Endless a great deal. I found it to be a skilful and ambitious merging of the epic fantasy and dystopian fiction genres by an author whose writing talents matched their impressive imagination.Matt Bone, who has degrees in both Astrophy...
9.0/10
Prophecies Awakening by Peter Koevari (Legends of Marithia)
Prophecies Awakening is a bold blend of heroic fantasy and vampire fiction, written by a new author with an obvious love of the fantasy genre.When Kassina’s sorceress mother and vampire king father are brutally murdered, she forges a pact with Shindar, the Demon of Darkness. In exchange for her soul she obtains power and becomes the...
8.0/10
Joshua of Gaia: The Lost Elderzamia by MG Russell
Could you leave your world behind to save another? A fading world, an ancient evil and an impossible task for one boy. When Joshua is faced with the choice to fight or hide, what will he choose?Joshua of Gaia begins really, really well. The story hits the ground running, is engagingly written and complemented well by Danika Lindsell's...
8.0/10
The Children of Men by PD James
P. D. James is best known as the English crime writer behind the Adam Dalgliesh detective novels. In 1992 she turned her talents to dystopian fiction and the result was The Children of Men, a thought-provoking tale of the human race on the brink of extinction.Set in 2021, no child has been born for 25 years. Under the despotic rule of Xan...
9.5/10
Crazy Creepy Crawlies by Kevin Price
This book contains... Some insects that sting and some others that bite; A spider, who gives flies a terrible fright; Some creatures with wings, that like flying around and others that scurry about on the ground; A beetle who loves eating elephant poo!Crazy Creepy Crawlies is another brilliant collection of humorous poems by the talented ...
8.8/10
The Stand by Stephen King
I don’t know why it's taken me so long to reread the Stand. Certainly (unlike say The Tommyknockers or Misery) it isn’t because I didn’t enjoy it first time around, nor is it, despite its definitely extended length, because I found its beginning long winded or hard to get into. For whatever reason it’s been quite lite...
9.6/10
Temeraire by Naomi Novik (Temeraire series)
Captain Will Laurence has been at sea since he was just twelve years old; finding a warmer berth in Nelson's navy than any he enjoyed as the youngest, least important son of Lord Allendale. Rising on merit to captain his own vessel, Laurence has earned himself a beautiful fiancée, society's esteem and a golden future. But the war ...
8.5/10
The Last Man Standing by Davide Longo
Davide Longo's The Last Man Standing has been brilliantly translated from its native Italian by Silvester Mazzarella and the English speaking world can now read and cherish a fine example of dystopian fiction, so elegantly written and so powerfully evocative that it deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with Cormac McCarthy's The Road i...
9.6/10
Bloodhoney by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (Wyrmeweald)
Fullwinter in the weald - a season of almost unsurvivable cold for anyone foolish enough to venture outside. Even wyrmes die, frozen in the icy wasteland, or falling lifeless from the skies as the host heads west to escape the advance of the two-hides: man... Huddled in a winter den, Micah is thankful to cragclimber Eli Halfwinter for providing ...
9.0/10
Dark Confluence by Rosemary Fryth
The small Queensland country town of Emerald Hills is under siege by paranormal forces! Jen McDonald, a small, neat, almost-overlooked spinster in her fifties faces a quandary. Traumatised by a car accident after seeing a mysterious, dark-shrouded figure of a woman on the road, Jen believes she may be losing her mind. Maybe there is instead a fa...
7.8/10
The Cavalier by Jason L McWhirter
Review by M. G. Russell: author of Joshua of Gaia: The Lost ElderzamiaThis intensely written novel of fantasy and magic, good and evil, draws you in to a rich tapestry; the world that author Jason L. McWhirther has created. The Cavalier (Book One of the Cavalier Trilogy) is a descriptively strong story, staying true to the style of simila...
8.0/10
Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians by Mark Caney
Dolphin culture evolved over millions of years so they could remain perfectly attuned with their world, Ocean. Unlike man, they have created an almost utopian society without feeling the need to manipulate their environment, collect possessions or wage war. But the growing pressure of man's activities become intolerable and in frustration on...
7.5/10
The Written by Ben Galley (Emaneska Series)
His name is Farden. They whisper that he’s dangerous. Dangerous is only the half of it.Something has gone missing from the libraries of Arfell. Something very old, and something very powerful. Five scholars are now dead, a country is once again on the brink of war, and the magick council is running out of time and options. Entangled...
8.8/10
Queen Morgana and the Renfaries by Teel James Glenn
It has been a few years since I last reviewed Teel James Glenn but I still remember both author and work fondly. And so I was pleased when he made contact regarding a new book that had recently been published, Queen Morgana and the Renfaires. Glenn's latest work is a collection of interweaving stories with the titular Queen Morgana being the...
8.2/10
Brood of Bones by AE Marling
I've been reviewing books here on Fantasy Book Review for nigh on eight years now and although there have been scores of excellent books that have passed through my hands the titles that mean the most are those that I refer to as "hidden gems". By this I mean a great fantasy book that has made its way into existence without the ass...
8.9/10
The Hunter's Rede by FT McKinstry (The Chronicles Of Ealiron)
Review by Jason McWhirterThe Hunter’s Rede by F.T. McKinstry follows Lorth, an Assassin with magical abilities, as he follows a trail to find the Mistress of Eusiron and along the way he stumbles across the death of his onetime friend and teacher, Icaros. The catalyst to this adventure starts with the strange magical appearance of a...
7.0/10
Dance of the Goblins by Jaq D Hawkins
Review by D.W. HawkinsDance of the Goblins is a tale of two races that find themselves at odds with each other as events spin toward confrontation. Ms Hawkins spins a wonderful tale set in a future that has reverted to a rural society bereft of most modern technology. The remnants of the height of human ingenuity can be seen throughout th...
7.0/10
Turn The Tides Gently by Matt Wingett
Reviewed by Mark CaneyThis is an intriguing story set in present day Portsmouth centred around the main character, Dave. He is one of society's misfits who is resident in a special hostel under some form of care in the community arrangement. He is under the supervision of a well meaning doctor who believes him to be psychologically di...
8.0/10
Drachar’s Demons by David Burrows
Many moons ago I read and reviewed the Prophecy of the Kings trilogy by David Burrows. I thought it commendable fantasy that was made up of much that I – and many other fantasy fans – like to find in a book within the genre: strong plot and storyline that stirs and involves the reader. So I was pleased to discover that this promising...
7.8/10
The Pack by Jason Starr
The Pack is a confidently written urban fantasy which offers a neat twist on the werewolf legend.Simon Burns is fired from his job without warning. Reluctantly, he takes on the role of stay-at-home dad for his three-year-old son but this pushes his already strained marriage to the limit. Things take a seeming turn for the better when he m...
7.2/10
City of Dragons by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wild Chronicles)
City of Dragons is as enthralling an instalment as any Robin Hobb has written. The gradual unfolding of the tale and the progressive uncovering of the legend of the Elderlings is to be read and savoured.Kelsingra awaits for those brave enough to enter… The dragons and their keepers have discovered Kelsingra but so far only Heeb...
9.7/10
Patrick Patterson and the World of Others by James Edward Fryar
Review by Matt PosnerThe late great Joseph Campbell talked about patterns that are familiar and to a great extent universal in world culture. They seem to reflect concerns of humanity as a whole. Young adult literature is driven by some extent by the zeitgeist, or spirit of th...
7.8/10
Grey Falcon's Fall by Ed Collingwood
Review by Mike CannonGrey Falcon’s Fall is a sweeping, epic hero fantasy; a high concept romp through a quasi-roman setting filled with vividly imagined sex and violence reaching the levels typical of graphic novels.Right from the beginning readers are given the details of the direction the story will take. The novel opens wi...
7.0/10
Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wild Chronicles)
A masterful, character-driven sequel that builds upon the story laid down in its predecessor.The dragon keepers and the fledgling dragons continue to forge a passage up the treacherous Rain Wild River in search of the mythical Elderling city of Kelsingra. Accompanying them are the liveship Tarman, its captain Leftrin, and a group of hunte...
9.0/10
Brutal Light by Gary W Olson
Review by Clive S. JohnsonOlson’s Brutal Light describes a short but complex period in Detroit’s occult underworld when a number of sects begin to see an opportunity of exploiting Kagami Takeda’s unique ability to handle the Radiance - an almost godlike sea of light and unfathomable source of power. ...
6.2/10
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman (The Left Hand of God Trilogy)
The Sanctuary of the Redeemers: vast, desolate, hopeless. Where children endure brutal cruelty and violence in the name of the One True Faith. Lost in the Sanctuary's huge maze of corridors is a boy: his age uncertain, his real name unknown. They call him Cale. He is strange and secretive, witty and charming - and violent. But when he opens ...
7.3/10
Divided Kingdom by Rupert Thompson
Thompson's fascinating vision of a utopian/dystopian UK is delivered in a decidedly twee manner.An eight-year-old boy is removed from his home and family in the middle of the night and he soon learns that he is the victim of an extraordinary experiment. In an attempt to reform society, the government has divided the population into fo...
7.0/10
11.22.63 by Stephen King
11.22.63 finds Stephen King on top form. A compelling tale of alternate history and time travel showcasing King’s skill as a storyteller as he effortlessly weaves together fact and fiction, highlighting the benefits of meticulous research.Jake Epping, a high school English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, finds himself able to jour...
9.0/10
The Seventh Bridge by Terence Soule
Review by David BelltowerI received a copy of the Seventh Bridge by Terence Soule to review in PDF format. After doing a little searching on Amazon, I believe that this is Mr Soule’s first effort as a novelist and as a first-time author there are both areas in his writing that I appreciated and others I found wanting.First, l...
4.0/10
Basajaun by Rosemary Van Deuren
Blood versus fear. Folklore versus mysticism. Animal versus man.In the world of the rabbits, she is hailed as a saviour. In the world of men, a holy man wants her dead. She is twelve years old.In an isolated European farm town in 1906, a Pastor known as ‘the rabbit killer’ is preaching that the overrun of rabbits is a p...
7.0/10
Demon Gate by Mike Cannon (Grey King Saga)
Review by Gary W OlsonMike Cannon's debut novel, Demon Gate - Book 1 of the Grey King Saga, boasts a setting that many readers of supernatural fantasy fiction may find unusual: tenth century Japan, against the backdrop of the battles waged between two powerful samurai clans. As the author explains in the afterword, it was a time when ...
8.5/10
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (The Maddaddam Trilogy)
Oryx and Crake is an exceptionally weird novel that left me baffled, stunned and even disgusted; however, as time went on, it developed into one of the cleverest pieces of fiction I have ever read.Behind the child pornography, ritualistic killings and animal abuse two young teens relished watching in their spare time on the internet, resi...
9.5/10
Crow's Revenge by Marcus Alexander (Keeper of the Realms: Book 1)
Writing this gives me great, great pleasure. Marcus Alexander, whom I interviewed many years ago - when he was still a self-published author - has been picked up by Puffin Books, who are republishing his magnificent Who is Charlie Keeper? as Keeper of the Realms this month. I can't think of another author who deserved it more, the writing an...
9.2/10
Leiyatel's Embrace by Clive S Johnson
Review by Ed CollingwoodAn intriguing tale, Leiyatel's Embrace will appeal to those who like their fantasies lavishly imagined and richly textured.The author takes us to Castle Dica, a millennia-old castle so vast that it has swallowed the entirety of the coastal mountain on which it sits. Literally miles wide and requiring day...
7.0/10
The Silly Solar System by Kevin Price
Back in November of last year I had the pleasure of reviewing The Beauty Contest at the Zoo by Kevin Price, which I absolutely adored. At the time I said that his work was right up there with Julia Donaldson's and now another book, The Silly Solar System, has cemented this opinion.Our Solar System's a wonderful place, A...
9.6/10
The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan
There are few sureties of quality in the literary world but when a review copy comes through bearing the names David Fickling Books and Margo Lanagan then I will happily admit that this is as close as it comes.David Fickling Books have a mission, and that is to choose the very best stories they can find for people to read. And this is exa...
9.4/10
Frayed: A Madison Lark Novella by Blakely Chorpenning
Fray loves being a semi-pro fighter and free spirit. However, when a deadly faction begins abducting supernatural teens in the Blue Hills of North Carolina for excruciating experiments, she quickly learns there is more to life than glitzy opponents and late night trysts. Fray and a crew of unlikely allies must rescue the children before they are...
3.0/10
The Toy Sorcerer by Laura Hart
The Toy Sorcerer is the first book of a trilogy aimed at young adult fantasy readers. The main protagonist is Alice, a 14-year-old girl who has suffered a family tragedy and settles in a new house in the country with her father, where she meets Leona, an elderly woman who impresses Alice with her insight and a little magic, for she is a Wi...
8.7/10
I Am Grimalkin by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
'I am Grimalkin, and I have already chosen those I will kill…'Grimalkin has made it her lifetime ambition to destroy the Fiend, avenging the brutal murder of her son.Having grudgingly joined forces with the Spook and his apprentice, Tom, and assisted them in the binding of the Fiend, she is now on the run. And her mi...
9.0/10
Dragons Away! by KD Berry
Review by Laura HartDrewdop, long-suffering Royal Astrologer and Court Illusionist to King Credos of the Central Realms, teams up with lonely, universally shunned, half-ogre, Urquhart, to defeat the wicked enemies of Credos’ Kingdom.Tricked by megalomaniacal King Davkosh of the Southern Realms, hapless King Credos accepts a c...
4.0/10
Bitten by Dan OBrien (Lauren Westlake Mysteries)
Review by Blakely ChorpenningSynopsis for BITTEN by Dan O'Brien:Lauren Westlake, an F.B.I. agent, arrives in a small Minnesota town after opening a cold case file. A killer is on the loose. But Lauren and the local police department must figure out if their killer is human, animal, or…other?First, the downfalls:...
7.5/10
The Solstice Treaty by David Belltower
Welcome to the Shade.In the small town of Beaver Hollow, West Virginia, forester Mark Steele has experienced the same reoccurring vision since he was a boy - one that foreshadows a towering tree, menacing premonitions and his own suffocating demise. Tess McCoy is a former captain in the United States Army, harbours a debilitating secret a...
8.7/10
The Spook's Destiny by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
The Spook, Tom and Alice travel to Ireland, fleeing from the war in the County. There, Tom must tackle a group of evil mages who are desperate to rid their land of the Spook and his apprentice, and to increase their own dark powers. His dangerous mission against the mages leads Tom to the Destiny Blade - a sword with a dark side, and a thirst fo...
8.0/10
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the government responds with a nuclear attack. America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen - from the President of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City - will fight for survival.In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures an...
9.8/10
The Secret Life of the Panda by Nick Jackson
The Secret Life of the Panda (Chomu Press, December 12, 2011) is a collection of fourteen diverse short stories written by former librarian and current teacher, Nick Jackson (Visits to the Flea Circus).The stories in The Secret Life of the Panda encompass diverse settings and situations: revolutionaries in South America, a heretical natur...
7.5/10
The Magician King by Lev Grossman (The Magicians series)
Nothing is ever as it seemsQuentin Coldwater is king of the bizarre and wonderful land of Fillory, but the days and nights of royal luxury are losing their appeal and Quentin is getting restless. Even in heaven a man needs a little adventure. So when a steward is murdered on a morning's hunt that is exactly what Quentin gets. But this...
8.7/10
The Beauty Contest at the Zoo by Kevin Price
What can the animals play before the zoo opens? Maisie knows - they'll have a beauty contest. But how will each animal persuade her that they should win? And which one will she choose?Since my daughter was born five years ago I have become something of a connoisseur of children's rhyming story books (or so I have led myself to bel...
9.6/10
Star Trek Book of Opposites by David Borgenicht
Reviewing fantasy ensures that weird and wonderful things are constantly being delivered through the letterbox. But the Star Trek Book of Opposites takes the prize for being the weirdest and most wonderful of them all! Just thinking about it makes me smile.For those of you not yet acquainted with these board books, here is a little explan...
9.0/10
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a 2007 Pulitzer winning novel. I finished this book a couple of days ago (ironically in one sitting on a long road trip), and I've had a chance to let it digest. I don't know if I enjoyed it - this is not a story designed to entertain - but I was certainly fascinated and moved to thought by it.So fir...
10.0/10
The Caspian Gates by Harry Sidebottom (Warrior of Rome)
The Caspian Gates is the fourth book in the Warrior of Rome series by Dr Harry Sidebottom, a Fellow of St Benet's Hall and lecturer at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he specializes in ancient warfare and classical art.AD262 - the Imperium is in turmoil after the struggle for the throne. Furthermore, Ephesus, Asia's metropolis, lie...
8.0/10
The Crippled God by Steven Erikson (A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen)
Much of what I want to say on having finally completed ‘The Crippled God’, the final book in Steven Erikson’s ‘The Malazan Book of the Fallen’, has to do with my feelings on the series as a whole. Ten books is a long time to be reading, a lot of investment, and I want to take my time to say what I have in my head. S...
10.0/10
Shadowing: A Henchman's Tale by Kat Zantow (Moonblind)
Now this is more like it. At last, an author who understands that most of us want to be entertained by a story, an author who doesn't take it all too seriously and yet is still able to make you care about the characters. I am pleased to announce that the art of good story-telling is still alive and well, as evinced by Kat Zantow's Shadow...
8.4/10
Eggs, Butter, Sugar and Disaster by Alicia L Wright
Eggs, Butter, Sugar and Disaster by Alicia L Wright is a humorous take on mythology and the afterlife featuring strong female characters.Recipe for Ragnarok. First take a generous helping of Seralina, whisk up into the Norse pantheon, add dwarves to taste and sprinkle with a dash of immortality. Leave to mature for just the right amount o...
5.0/10
The Walkers of Legend by Miles Allen
I received an email recently from a reader that had been so impressed with a book that he just wanted to share his experience with others.The email was from Tim Lucas and the book itself was The Walkers of Legend by Miles Allen.Here is the book's synopsis:Two young men are thrown to opposite sides of a war where both wil...
9.0/10
Blue Fire Burning by Hobb Whittons
Young Adult Book of the Month, September 2011Blue Fire Burning, written by Hobb Whittons and published by AuthorHouse in 2011, is a work of high fantasy, ambitious in its intent and an example of self-publishing done very well.In the dead of night, a covered wagon driven by a hooded, faceless being is careering...
8.4/10
Lion of the Sun by Harry Sidebottom (Warrior of Rome)
Lion of the Sun: Book three in Harry Sidebottom's Warrior of Rome series, first published by Penguin in 2010.Mesopotamia, AD 260: Betrayed by his most trusted adviser, the Roman Emperor Valerian has been captured by the Sassanid barbarians. The shame of the vanquished beats down mercilessly like the white sun, as the frail old emperor...
7.5/10
Awakening by William Horwood (Hyddenworld)
Awakening is the second book in William Horwood's Hyddenworld Quartet, first published August 5, 2011 by Macmillan.A series of extraordinary events mark the beginning of summer: earth tremors ravage the Hyddenworld; Jack and Katherine have a child, Judith; and a mysterious gem is found near Brum. That same night, after decades of slee...
9.2/10
King of Kings by Harry Sidebottom (Warrior of Rome)
King of Kings: Book two in Harry Sidebottom's Warrior of Rome series, first published by Michael Joseph in 2009 (Penguin in 2010).AD256: The Roman Empire is threatened from within. With the cult of Christianity spreading like wildfire, dangerous and powerful men vie for influence. Ballista, battle-bloodied general and survivor of the ...
8.4/10
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach is a much-loved children’s book written by the world-renowned Welsh author Roald Dahl. First published in the US in 1961 and the UK in 1967, the book’s rich imagery and amusing characters have made it a firm favourite of both children and parents for over 50 years.When poor James Henry Trotter loses h...
9.0/10
Wickedness by Deborah White
One day - whilst reading that Samuel Pepys had once been to see an Egyptian mummy on show at the Head and Combe Inn on the Strand - Deborah White found herself with the seed of an idea for a story. The seed slowly germinated into her soon to be published debut novel, Wickedness, the story of two red-haired fourteen-year-old girls, separated by a...
8.5/10
The Deserter by Peader O Guilin (The Bone World Trilogy)
The first book in The Bone Trilogy, The Inferior, was a very good book. It is true that it took me a bit of time to get into it and I was initially confused over whether the book was for children or for adults but by the time I turned the last page I had been drawn fully into the clever worlds that Peadar Ó Guilín had created....
8.8/10
A Heist Too Far by Rob Knipe
I liked this book. If a four-word review is what you’re looking for then you won’t find much better than that. But for those who prefer a little more word-meat on their review-bones here are the many things I liked and a couple of things I didn’t.A Heist Too Far is a work of comic fantasy and author Rob Knipe’s deb...
7.8/10
Afterblight Chronicles: America by Simon Spurrier (Afterblight Chronicles)
I have always loved reading post-apocalyptic fiction, so when the opportunity arose to review Afterblight Chronicles: America I jumped at the chance.Over the years novels such as Stephen King’s The Stand, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Robert McCammon’s Swan Song and, most recently, Alden Bell’s The Reapers are the An...
8.2/10
The Inferior by Peader O Guilin (The Bone World Trilogy)
First published in 2007, The Inferior is Peadar Ó Guilín's debut novel; an original and intriguing science-fiction adventure that pushes the boundaries of young-adult fiction.Stopmouth and his family know of no other life than the daily battle to survive. To live they must hunt rival species, or negotiate flesh-trade wit...
8.5/10
Ladyhawke by Joan D Vinge
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7.0/10
Lex Trent Fighting With Fire by Alex Bell (Lex Trent series)
2010 saw the release of Alex Bell's Lex Trent Versus The Gods, the first book in a planned trilogy and it was an enormous amount of fun to read. Full of griffins, fairy godmothers, witches, wizards and enchanted ships and with an enigmatic and mischievous lead in Lex, it was a refreshing take on a winning formula. 2011 sees the release of th...
8.5/10
The Ritual by Adam Nevill
Reviewing hundreds of books can leave one a little jaded with the excitement that precedes the starting of a new novel less often experienced. So when a book arrives that rekindles those feelings it is something to cherish. The Ritual had this effect on me for one reason - Apartment 16. Adam Nevill's horror debut was one of my...
9.0/10
Logic of Demons by HA Goodman (Login of Demons)
I like it when authors make a real attempt to write something challenging. It is refreshing to read a book that is not just a simple re-working of those that have gone before. Logic of Demons: The Quest for Nadine's Soul is such a book, ambitious in its scope; it is as much a study in human behaviour as it is a fantasy story. As with many bo...
7.8/10
The Amulet of Samarkand: A Bartimaeus graphic novel by Jonathan Stroud
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9.0/10
Heidegger's Glasses by Thaisa Frank
Heidegger's Glasses, by two-time PEN award-winner Thaisa Frank, offers an ambitious and fascinating look at the life of a group a translators, living in a bizarre underground compound, during the collapse of the German Reich at the end of World War II.The Third Reich's strong reliance on the occult and its obsession with the astra...
8.4/10
Tumultus by KS Turner (The Chronicles of Fate and Choice)
Tumultus is the second book in the Chronicles of Fate and Choice series, written by Norwich-born author KS Turner. It is preceded by Before the Gods.The world is at peace. The Earth flourishes. The Old One dreams. Kutu and humans exist in harmony. It is a beautiful time.But on the far side of infinity, where the shadow was darkest ...
8.7/10
The Shadow Conspiracy by Brenda Clough
1816, the year without a summer. A group of geniuses descended on Geneva and, in an attempt to save the body and mind of Lord Byron, perform dreadful and forbidden experiments that change history forever.Definition of Steampunk: A subgenre of speculative science fiction set in an anachronistic 19th century society, dealing with advanced t...
8.8/10
The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud (The Bartimaeus Trilogy)
In October of 2010 Jonathan Stroud released the much-awaited prequel to his best-selling Bartimaeus trilogy. Having just read and thoroughly enjoyed it (the e-book in case you were interested) I can confidently say that The Ring of Solomon is brilliant in two important ways - both as an introduction to the trilogy for those lucky enough to not h...
9.5/10
Second Sight by Greg Hamerton (The Lifesong Cycle)
Last year I reviewed The Riddler’s Gift (the first book in Greg Hamerton’s Lifesong Cycle) and found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. When I began reading Second Sight, the next instalment in the series, it was with the thought “more of the same please” firmly in mind. I am pleased to say that this was ...
8.6/10
White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick
Winterfold, a place of crumbling cliff paths, deserted churches and ruined graveyards, forms the backdrop for Marcus Sedgwick's latest work, White Crow, a contemporary gothic thriller for young-adults. Rebecca is an unwilling visitor to Winterfold during a long, hot, claustrophobic summer and, against her better judgement, befriends local re...
9.1/10
Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
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9.0/10
My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick
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9.0/10
Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick
Floodland is a challenging novel for older readers who will be captivated by a vision of the future that is not so unbelievable. Imagine that a few years from now England is covered by water, and Norwich is an island. Zoe, left behind in the confusion when her parents escaped, survives there as best she can. Alone and desperate among marauding g...
9.0/10
The Burning by Will Peterson (The Triskellion series)
After their harrowing escape from the sinister village of Triskellion, twins Rachel and Adam had hoped their troubles were over. Instead, betrayed by the one person they believed they could trust, they fall into the hands of the mysterious Project Hope – an organization claiming to conduct archaeological research. When Rachel makes ...
7.8/10
Triskellion by Will Peterson (The Triskellion series)
Rachel and Adam are sent to stay with their grandmother, following their parents' divorce. But the quiet English village is a sinister, unsettling place. Is there a dark heart beating beneath the thatched roofs of Triskellion? It is a place protected by an ancient, three-bladed artefact; a village where crops never fail and where the war mem...
7.6/10
The Silver Fox by Sean Beech (The Lords of the Moon)
The Dark Knights have arrived in the Moon Lands and almost three hundred years of peace are about to be shattered. With no King to unite the feuding Lords, Morkin, the heir apparent, must journey north to recreate his lost Ice Crown and thereby bring together the armies of man.In 2008, Elgin-born author and QA nurse Sean Beech embarked on...
8.0/10
Just When Stories by Edited by Tamara Gray
In 1902 Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories for Little Children – a collection of tales themed upon mankind’s detrimental effect on the animal kingdom – was published. 108 years later, with wildlife now in more danger than ever before, nineteen of the world’s finest authors have came together to write the Just When St...
9.0/10
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Murder and monstrosity on the streets of Victorian London.Nineteenth century London can be a very dangerous place. Beneath the prim and proper morals of Victorian society lurks a violent madman who emerges at night to commit the most cold-hearted of crimes. Nothing is known of him except his name: Mr Hyde.Just who is this evil man?...
9.4/10
The Fall by Guillermo del Toro (The Strain Trilogy)
The Fall, first published in the UK by HarperCollins on September 16, 2010, is the sequel to authors Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan's The Strain (2009). The second instalment in The Strain Trilogy, which will be completed in 2011 following the publication of Eternal Night.Humans have been displaced at the top of the food chain, an...
8.4/10
The Last of the Sky Pirates by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (The Rook Sequence)
Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell’s The Last of the Sky Pirates was first published in Great Britain by Doubleday - an imprint of Random House Children’s Books - in 2002. The first book in The Rook Sequence, the trilogy is completed by Vox and Freeglader.Rook Barkwater lives in the network of sewer-chambers beneath Undertown, the...
9.0/10
The Strain by Guillermo del Toro (The Strain Trilogy)
Best known as an innovative film director, Mexican Guillermo Del Toro makes his first foray into literature alongside thriller writer Chuck Hogan with this entertaining mix of action blockbuster and vampire myth. With an obvious nod to bram stoker's Dracula, The Strain follows the story of a plane that lands in New York with nearly all passa...
8.0/10
The Golden Acorn by Catherine Cooper (The Adventures of Jack Brenin)
The Golden Acorn by Catherine Cooper was recipient of the Brit Writers' Award Unpublished 2010, an award that attracted 21,000 entries across its 8 categories and offered the largest prize ever for unpublished writers, £10,000. After reading it, we here at Fantasy Book Review found it to be a charming and magical book that fully deserv...
8.7/10
The First Collected Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach by Steven Erikson (Collected Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach)
August 2010 sees the release of three Steven Erikson novellas, bound together in one edition and titled The First Collected Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. All three are set in the world of the Malazan Empire and follow the exploits of the mysterious necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach.Blood Follows: In the p...
8.5/10
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Yann Martel’s award winning novel Life of Pi, published in 2010 as a young adult edition by Walker/Canongate, is a unique and often surreal tale of the animal kingdom, shipwreck and faith. First published in September 2001, the UK edition won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2002.One boy, one boat, one tiger... After the tragic s...
8.6/10
Succubus Nights by Richelle Mead (Georgina Kincaid series)
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8.0/10
Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead (Georgina Kincaid series)
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7.5/10
The Spook's Nightmare by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
Joseph Delaney's The Wardstone Chronicles are a series of books that have maintained the very highest standard for nearly a decade. 2010 sees the publication of The Spook's Nightmare, the seventh instalment, and it is a worthy addition to what is arguably the best ongoing fantasy series accessible to older children.The Spook, Tom ...
8.7/10
Voices in the Dark by Catherine Banner (Last Descendants)
Asking for the truth can be as painful as telling it... Anselm Andros has clearly defined roles in his family and they are roles he plays very well—he is confidante to his mother, Maria. He is the confessor to his stepfather, Leo, a man haunted by the secrets of his past. And Anselm is also the patient, caring brother to his precocious...
8.6/10
The Hidden City by David Eddings (The Tamuli)
Review by AngelaThis is the final part of 'The Tamuli' series. It is the last time David Eddings wrote about Sparhawk and friends. He has been quoted as saying “Aphrael would turn me into a toad if I tried another one. She doesn't want to be grown up.” The prologue is slightly different this time, and is s...
8.7/10
The Shining Ones by David Eddings (The Tamuli)
Review by AngelaThis is the 2nd book in 'The Tamuli' trilogy. It is quite necessary to read the first one, because the story carries on immediately from where 'Domes of Fire' finished. There is a prologue that explains what happened in the first novel. It is in the form of a scholarly report that does not think mu...
8.7/10
Connor's Folly by Robert C Auty (Trance Warriors)
Connor’s Folly by Robert Auty, published March 31 2010 by Book Guild Publishing (ISBN-10: 1846243963), is a work of heroic fantasy accessible to adults, both young and old. The book is the second instalment in the Trance Warriors saga and is preceded by The ...
5.0/10
The Children of the Lost by David Whitley (The Agora Trilogy)
In 2009 David Whitley's debut The Midnight Charter was published and I reviewed it here. It was a beautiful and compelling read that marked one of the most promising debuts in recent years. And so expectations are high, both from the industry and myself,...
8.4/10
Fatal Revenant by Stephen Donaldson (The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant)
Fatal Revenant is the second book in Stephen Donaldson's Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series, a series of four books that follow on the First and Second Chronicles and bring to an end the tale of Thomas Convenant, which began over three decades ago with the publication of Lord Foul's Bane.Stephen Donaldson is a divisive auth...
5.0/10
The Runes of the Earth by Stephen Donaldson (The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant)
It's ten years later and Linden Avery thought she would never see the Land, or Covenant, her beloved, again. But Lord Foul has stolen her adopted son, and is unmaking the very laws of nature. And though she believes Covenant dead, he keeps sending Linden messages: 'Find me', 'You're the only one who can do this' and '...
8.7/10
The Eyes of a King by Catherine Banner (Last Descendants)
Five-year-old Cassius escaped the brutal assassination of his parents, the king and queen of Malonia, and was exiled to modern-day England. Now fifteen, Cassius continues to be hidden in England under the protection of his tutor, the great Alderbaran, who's ancient prophecy says that Cassius will, one day, return and claim his rightful place...
8.0/10
Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl Series)
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9.0/10
Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl Series)
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9.0/10
Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk (Shadow series)
When I got stuck halfway through another book that simply kept losing me in its intricacy, I jumped to ‘Shadow’s Son’ by Jon Sprunk. That may in and of itself be a very compelling review of this book. There is very little intricacy in Shadow’s Son, but it’s a hell of a damn good read.Sometimes you need a book...
7.5/10
Revise the World by Brenda Clough
Revise the World by Brenda Clough is a work of science fiction with elements of historical fiction. The first section of this book appeared as the novella May Be Some Time, a finalist for both the Nebula and the Hugo awards.In Revise the World Clough aims to show the reader how a gentleman from the early Twentieth century would cope in th...
8.0/10
Fire in the East by Harry Sidebottom (Warrior of Rome)
Author, and occasional reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, Harry Sidebottom has, since 2006, been working on the Warrior of Rome series of novels featuring the Anglo-Saxon nobleman turned Roman army officer Ballista. Set in the Roman Empire during the so-called “Great Crisis of the Third Century AD” it is a tale of courage, t...
8.0/10
The Sorceress by Michael Scott (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
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8.8/10
The Magician by Michael Scott (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
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8.7/10
The Radleys by Matt Haig
Independent publishers Walker Books and Canongate have launched a co-publishing venture aimed at producing bestselling, award-winning books for the next generation of adult readers. Matt Haig, winner of the Nestle Children’s Book Prize Gold Award for his children’s novel Shadow Forest, has written his latest book The Rad...
9.0/10
The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
The Reapers are the Angels is the highly impressive debut novel of high-school English teacher Alden Bell. It is a haunting and beautifully written vision of fractured humanity that may soon be regarded as a classic within its genre.Older than her years and completely alone, Temple is trying to live one day at a time in a post-apocalyptic...
9.3/10
Myla By Moonlight by Inez Kelley
Created at Prince Taric's birth, Myla is a spell, an enchantment designed to appear and protect him when he needs it most. She has always been content to do her duty…until one night of forbidden passion leaves her longing to experience life—and love—as a mortal woman. Yet the risk is too great. Even if her blood runs as re...
7.0/10
The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones (The Chrestomanci Series)
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9.0/10
Mixed Magics by Diana Wynne Jones (The Chrestomanci Series)
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9.0/10
Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones (The Chrestomanci Series)
Witch Week is a book I remember with both much fondness and much pleasure. I found I connected with this book immediately and Wynne Jones writing held me spellbound throughout. The locations and the characters felt real and my imagination was fired by everything I read.For those who have read and loved the Harry Potter novels it should be...
9.0/10
The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones (The Chrestomanci Series)
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9.0/10
The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones (The Chrestomanci Series)
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9.0/10
Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones (The Chrestomanci Series)
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9.0/10
The Wrath of Mulgarath by Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles)
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9.0/10
The Ironwood Tree by Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles)
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9.0/10
Lucinda's Secret by Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles)
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9.0/10
The Seeing Stone by Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles)
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9.0/10
The Field Guide by Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles)
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9.0/10
Sojourn by RA Salvatore (The Dark Elf Trilogy)
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9.5/10
Exile by RA Salvatore (The Dark Elf Trilogy)
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9.0/10
Homeland by RA Salvatore (The Dark Elf Trilogy)
Strange and exotic Menzoberranzan is the vast city of the Drow. This is a world of dark elves, where families battle families and fantastic monsters rise up from the lightless depths.Drow ranger Drizzt Do’Urden, first introduced in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, quickly became one of the fantasy genre’s standout characters. But Hom...
9.5/10
Blood Canticle by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles)
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5.0/10
Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles)
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8.0/10
Blood and Gold by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles)
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8.0/10
Merrick by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles)
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7.0/10
The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles)
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7.0/10
Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles)
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7.0/10
The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles)
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9.0/10
The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles)
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9.0/10
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles)
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9.0/10
Dead In The Family by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Series)
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8.0/10
A Touch Of Dead by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Series)
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8.0/10
Dead And Gone by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Series)
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9.0/10
From Dead To Worse by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Series)
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8.0/10
All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Series)
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9.0/10
Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Series)
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9.0/10
Dead As A Doornail by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Series)
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9.0/10
Dead To The World by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Series)
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9.0/10
Club Dead by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Series)
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9.0/10
Living Dead In Dallas by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Series)
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9.0/10
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Series)
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9.0/10
The Dark Tower by Stephen King (The Dark Tower series)
When it gets to the last book in a series there is very little left unsaid. I hold the Dark Tower series in the very highest regard. Yes, I have slight reservations but when taken as a whole it is the magnum opus that its author, Stephen King, hoped it would be. Over thirty years in the writing, it is a vast, sprawling tale of one man&...
8.8/10
Song of Susannah by Stephen King (The Dark Tower series)
Book six of the seven book Dark Tower series. Song of Susannah. For me, the problem child.Before I continue with the review of this book I have to make an important admission. The first time I read Song of Susannah I put it back on the shelf part-read and left the Dark Tower series unfinished. After having read and enjoyed the previous fi...
7.8/10
Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King (The Dark Tower series)
And so we come to book number five in what I now class as one of the greatest - certainly one of my favourite - fantasy series of all time. In Wolves of the Calla King pays unashamed homage to The Seventh Samurai and The Magnificent Seven as ka finds the ka-tet honour-bound to prevent the mysterious "wolves" from descending upon Calla ...
9.3/10
Wizard and Glass by Stephen King (The Dark Tower series)
If books are judged solely by their re-readability value then the Dark Tower books must be up there at the very top. This is my fourth pass and it is a series that just keeps giving and giving.The first three books, The Gunslinger, The Drawin...
9.5/10
The Waste Lands by Stephen King (The Dark Tower series)
As a series progresses I find it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid repetition when attempting to put across exactly what it is I enjoy about the books. My reviews for The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three have explained why I am such...
9.7/10
The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King (The Dark Tower series)
King takes the great promise built in The Gunslinger and provides a second book that is even better, further fleshing out the characters and the places while providing an even more tantalising insight into their lives and the worlds they inhabit. If the first book peaked your interest then the seco...
9.9/10
The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling
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9.4/10
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Beautiful, flaxen-haired Buttercup has fallen for Westley, the farm boy, and when he departs to make his fortune, she vows never to love another. So when she hears that his ship has been captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts - who never leaves survivors - her heart is broken. But her charms draw the attention of the relentless Prince Humperdinck ...
9.5/10
Kraken by China Mieville
China Miéville, three-time Arthur C Clarke Award winner and two-time British Fantasy Award winner, belongs to a group of authors who write “weird fiction”. Last year’s existential thriller, The City & The City, was a critical and commercial success and brought Miéville comparisons with the literary giants Orwe...
8.5/10
Renegade's Magic by Robin Hobb (The Soldier Son Trilogy)
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7.0/10
Forest Mage by Robin Hobb (The Soldier Son Trilogy)
The King's Cavalla Academy has been ravaged by the Speck plague.The disease has decimated the ranks of both cadets and instructors, and even the survivors remain sickly. Many have been forced to relinquish their military ambitions and return to their families to face lives of dependency and disappointment....
9.0/10
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, generally known as Frankenstein, is a novel written by the British author Mary Shelley.The title of the novel refers to a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who learns how to create life and creates a being in the likeness of man, but larger than average and more powerful. In popular culture, people h...
9.1/10
Thirteen Years Later by Jasper Kent (The Danilov Quintet)
In Thirteen Years Later Jasper Kent provides us with the second of the five courses that make up the historical/supernatural/fantasy banquet that is The Danilov Quintet.1825. Russia has been at peace for a decade. Bonaparte is long dead and the threat of invasion is no more. For Colonel Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov, life is calm. The French ...
7.5/10
Dracula by Bram Stoker
When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries about his client and his castle. Soon afterwards, a number of disturbing incidents unfold in England: an unmanned ship is wrecked at Whitby; strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck; and the inmate ...
9.5/10
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles)
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9.0/10
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine LEngle
My lady was stunned when I told her I’d never read A Wrinkle in Time. I don’t know if this was due to the dearth of audiobooks I experienced as a child, or because A Wrinkle in Time is just not as well known in Britain as it is in America; after all, there are authors I grew up with like Dick King Smith, Alan Garner and Susan Cooper,...
8.3/10
The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint Exupery
The Little Prince is a classic tale of equal appeal to children and adults. On one level it is the story of an airman's discovery, in the desert, of a small boy from another planet - the Little Prince of the title - and his stories of intergalactic travel, while on the other hand it is a thought-provoking allegory of the human condition....
9.0/10
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
An exceptionally poignant story of one horse's experience in the First World War.In 1914, Joey, a young farm horse, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of the war on the Western Front. With his officer, he charges towards the enemy, witnessing the horror of the frontline. But even in the desolation of the trenches, Joey'...
9.2/10
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett (The Discworld Series)
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8.0/10
A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire)
There is passion here, and misery and charm, grandeur and squalor, tragedy, nobility and courage. Bloodthirsty, treacherous and cunning, the Lannisters are in power on the Iron Throne in the name of the boy-king Tommen. But fear and deceit are in the air: their enemies are poised to strike. The Martells of Dorne seek vengeance for their dead, an...
7.0/10
A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire)
The third volume of his six-volume fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire, A Storm of Swords continues Martin's vigorous account of the civil wars which follow the death of King Robert - the usurper who deposed a dynasty gone mad and dangerous - and the judicial murder by his widow and heir of Ned Stark, the man who made him king.The sur...
9.9/10
Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
Before you begin reading this review of Guy Gavriel Kay’s Under Heaven I would like to make some things clear. I am a fan of Guy Gavriel Kay’s work but not to the point of sycophancy. Tigana was a wonderful book, amongst the best I read as a young adult and the two books that made up The Sarantine Mosaic I ...
9.7/10
Ilfayne's Bane by Julia Knight
Julia Knight’s Ilfayne’s Bane, winner of the 2010 EPIC* eBook award for fantasy romance, is the dark and brooding love story of a half-breed woman and a haunted, outcast mage.Condemned to four thousand years of loneliness and regret, Ilfayne finds a rare thing in Hilde: a friend. For that, he will do anything to keep her safe....
8.0/10
Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Shadows of the Apt)
Seventeen years ago Stenwold witnessed the Wasp Empire storming the city of Myna in a brutal war of conquest.Since then he has preached vainly against this threat in his home city of Collegium, but now the Empire is on the march, with its spies and its armies everywhere, and the Lowlands lie directly in its path.All the while, Sten...
8.6/10
Returner's Wealth by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (Wyrmeweald)
May 2010 will see Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, creators of the multi-million-selling Edge Chronicles, return with a brand-new frontier-fantasy trilogy. The Wyrmeweald series will have Stewart and Riddell’s existing fan-base hoping for much that is new and fresh while also crossing their fingers and praying that it contains the same elem...
9.0/10
The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson
One tiny snail longs to see the world and hitches a lift on the tail of a whale. Together they go on an amazing journey, past icebergs and volcanoes, sharks and penguins, and the little snail feels so small in the vastness of the world. But when disaster strikes and the whale is beached in a bay, it's the tiny snail who saves the day....
9.2/10
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
What’s the price of eternal youth?Handsome Dorian Gray has found the secret of eternal youth. As those around him age, Gray remains young and beautiful. Knowing his actions have no consequences he lives a wild life of pleasure, breaking heart after heart – including that of a young actress called Sybil Vane. Gray trea...
9.5/10
Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill
You just can’t beat a damn good horror book, particularly one that manages to scare and disturb you late at night, even though you are safe and sound in your own home.Adam Nevill’s Apartment 16 is one such book.The titular apartment is located within Barrington House, an upmarket block in London. It has been empty for f...
9.2/10
The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N McIntyre
A winner of the 1997 Nebula award for best novel, Vonda N McIntyre’s The Moon and the Sun is a sumptuous work of alternate history. Set in 17th century France, at the court of the Sun King, the book’s attention to detail and flowing narrative help create an absorbing tale of fantasy, romance, science and history.Louis...
9.3/10
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The story of Max’s adventures when he sails away to the land where the Wild Things areMaurice Sendak’s children’s picture book has become an acknowledged classic. A winner of the Caldecott Medal for the Most Distinguished Picture Book of the Year in 1964, Where the Wild Things Are is a timeless masterpiece that can be en...
10.0/10
The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
A magical puppet longs to be human.In an Italian village, Geppetto, an old woodcarver, receives a piece of wood which looks perfect for his next project, a puppet. But when he sets to work something magical happens – the piece of wood begins to talk. When Geppetto is finished, the puppet turns out to be cheeky, naughty, and can walk...
8.5/10
Lex Trent Versus the Gods by Alex Bell (Lex Trent series)
Cheats never prosper. At least that's what everyone else would have you believe. But Lex Trent knows better. Lex knows that, with a bit of luck, the quickest route to success is to lie, swindle and cheat all the way to the top. Unfortunately Lex has taken his scams a step too far… Rather than see his neck in a noose, he's forced t...
8.5/10
Hell by Robert Olen Butler
Hatcher McCord is an evening newscaster who has found himself in Hell and is struggling to explain his bad fortune. He's far from the only one to suffer this fate - in fact, he's surrounded by an outrageous cast of characters, including William Shakespeare, Humphrey Bogart, Richard M. Nixon, Jezebel, Judas Iscariot, Pope Boniface VIII, J...
7.0/10
The Exodus Gate by Stephen Zimmer (The Rising Dawn Saga)
Benedict Darwin, host of a popular late night radio show that deals with the paranormal, comes into possession of a virtual reality simulator that turns out to be something far greater and more powerful then he ever expected.Supernatural powers from the Abyss and their human allies are working tirelessly to bring about a One World Governm...
7.9/10
The Templar Magician by Paul Doherty
1152 and the Templar Order face a new threat. The Templar Order fiercely guards the Holy Land, though the idealism that brought the Order to victory over five decades earlier is fading, as King Stephen fights a vicious civil war against Henry Fitzempress in England. When Raymond, Count of Tripoli, is brutally murdered a ferocious massacre en...
7.5/10
Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wild Chronicles)
I have found it very sensible to always listen when my editors speak. In a past review I happened to mention my souring love for Robin Hobb, which subsequently cued the recommendation-instincts of my editor here at FBR, Lee, who mentioned in an email that I should give Robin Hobb another shot; like a lover once spurned given a second chance at r...
8.5/10
Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
Dangerous games in a topsy-turvy world.A winter’s day, and Alice is feeling thoughtful. Gazing into a huge mirror above the drawing room mantelpiece, she wonders what the world would look like if everything in it was turned around, like a reflection. Suddenly the glass turns to mist – and Alice passes through it to the other s...
8.8/10
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
What’s down the rabbit hole?A hot summer’s day on the riverbank, and young Alice is bored. Bored, that is, until a white rabbit in a checked jacket scurries past in a great hurry, examining a pocket watch. Burning with curiosity, Alice can’t help but follow the rabbit down the hole which leads to a long passageway &ndash...
9.2/10
Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding
She’s young, deadly and hunted – with only three days to solve her own murder… When Evangaline Stone wakes up naked and bruised on a cold slab in the morgue – in a stranger’s body, with no memory of who she is and how she got there – their troubles are only just beginning. Before that night and the two other ...
8.0/10
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Lives changed by the healing power of beauty. Little Mary Lennox is brought up in India, a spoilt, sullen brat, whom her wealthy parents are more than happy to leave entirely in the care of their nanny. But when a cholera epidemic claims the lives of her mother and father, Mary is sent to live in her uncle’s mysterious old house on the ram...
9.0/10
Before the Gods by KS Turner (The Chronicles of Fate and Choice)
This is where it all began.Everything.Love, hate, good, evil, us and them.This is before they were gods.A mute prophet, a damaged sensitive, and a wayward leader, hold the fate of the world in their hands.But the ultimate choice? That belongs to the innocent.It’s what started the battle for...
8.5/10
Dracula: The Un-dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt
The official sequel to Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula, written by his direct descendent and endorsed by the Stoker family. The story begins in 1912, twenty-five years after the events described in the original novel. Dr. Jack Seward, now a disgraced morphine addict, hunts vampires across Europe with the help of a mysterious benefactor. ...
5.0/10
Tabby McTat by Julia Donaldson
Julia Donaldson’s newest title for 2009 is an instant hit with kids as it features the likeable character of a cat – a firm favourite with children. The book tells the story of a buskers cat giving an insight into the world from a cats perspective - any child who has a cat as a pet will find this highly amusing.‘Tabby Mc...
9.5/10
The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia McKillip
Long ago, the wizards had vanished from the world, and all knowledge was left hidden in riddles. Morgon, prince of the simple farmers of Hed, proved himself a master of such riddles when he staked his life to win a crown from the dead Lord of Aum. But now ancient, evil forces were threatening him. Shape changers began replacing friends until...
6.0/10
Under the Dome by Stephen King
Like many people (including my Lady), I first ran into Stephen King as a teenager, and was captivated by books like It, Salem's Lot, Insomnia and The Stand. With the exception of The Dark Tower however, my king reading largely fell off as I got older. I can't really give an adequate reason for this, and judging by the quality of Under th...
8.8/10
The Scroll Thief by RF Long
Disclaimer: This book is from Samhain Publishing – who publish my books. In fact it was the excerpt printed at the end of my own book that made me want to read it :D However, I have striven to be impartial and have used the same criteria for marking as usual.Note: This book is not for the squeamish.Malachy and his sister rely...
7.0/10
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Ella is given a blessing at birth by a very stupid fairy: She gets the gift of obedience! but the blessing turns into a horror for Ella who literally has to do what anyone and everyone tells her, from sweeping the floor to giving up a precious necklace! She has to battle with ogres and wicked stepsisters, make friends and loose them, and eve...
8.8/10
Enchanters by David Bryan Russell
Glys Erlendson is a committed environmentalist convinced that the planet is in grave danger. But she discovers another frightening truth: she is not human. Worse, there are Shadowling beings that wish her destruction. Unable to control her powers, Glys must follow Tarune, a Sylviir Enchanter, to Myradelle. But death awaits at every step and ...
7.5/10
love songs for the shy and cynical by Robert Shearman
The first love song in the world, as composed by a pig in the Garden of Eden...The Devil, alarmed when his hobby of writing romantic fiction begins to upstage his day job...A man finding love with someone who has an allergy to his very own happiness; another losing love altogether when his wife gives him back ...
9.1/10
Spring by William Horwood (Hyddenworld)
The adventure of a lifetime is just beginning…It has lain lost and forgotten for fifteen hundred years in the ancient heartland of England – a scrap of glass and metal melded by fierce fire. It is the lost core of a flawless Sphere made by the greatest of the Anglo-Saxon CraeftLords in memory of the one he loved. Her name was...
9.0/10
Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Blending fairytale, fantasy, horror, myth and mischief in a delicious cocktail, Kelly Link creates a world like no other, where ghosts of girlfriends past rub up against Scrabble-loving grandmothers with terrifying magic handbags, wizards sit alongside morbid babysitters, and we encounter a people-eating monster who claims to have a sense of...
8.7/10
The Lost Barkscrolls by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (The Edge Chronicles)
SynopsisCloud Wolf - the story of young sky pirate Quint's first extraordinary battle in the sky, high above the perilous Deepwoods. The Stone Pilot - the truth behind the mysterious hooded figure that tends the mighty flight-rock at the centre of a magnificent sky ship. The Slaughterer's Quest - the tale of Keris, daughte...
8.5/10
The Siege of Scarn by Robert C Auty (Trance Warriors)
This first book in the 'Trance Warriors' saga follows the struggles of the outlaw, Connor, as he is drawn into a battle between good and evil, part of a destiny from which he has no escape. Connor finds himself vying with both personal and real demons, struggling with a new role as leader and protector, and learning how to develop an...
7.0/10
Interregnum by SJA Turney
For twenty years civil war has torn the Empire apart; the Imperial line extinguished as the mad Emperor Quintus burned in his palace, betrayed by his greatest general. Against a background of war, decay, poverty and violence, men who once served in the proud Imperial army now fight as mercenaries, hiring themselves to the greediest lords....
8.6/10
Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth by Chris Priestley (Tales of Terror)
Robert Harper is going back to school, and it is the first railway journey he has ever made alone. And it is not a very usual sort of railway journey. The train stops at the mouth of a tunnel and in order to help while away the time a strange woman dressed in white tells Robert stories. But these are not the kind of stories normally told to ...
9.1/10
Dreadnought (H.I.V.E.) by Mark Walden
The world's most powerful villains have a problem. One of their own has gone rogue and is threatening global Armageddon, with himself at the head of a sinister new world order. Meanwhile, Otto, Wing and other students from H.I.V.E. are en route to a training exercise in the Arctic as the ninety-three-percenter, owing to ...
6.5/10
Tales from Acorn Wood by Julia Donaldson
The Tales of Acorn Wood Series is not one of Julia Donaldson’s most famous creations but they are titles designed for the early years and a great introduction to reading books, and to Donaldson’s rhyming style.The books work to capture toddlers attention with ‘lift the flaps’ which engage kids really easily, and af...
8.0/10
Morris the Mankiest Monster by Giles Andreae
It’s years since he last changed his t-shirtIt’s crusty and crawling with antsHis shoes are all slurpy and squelchy insideAnd potatoes grow out of his pantsThe verse above is probably the tamest and least revolting in the entire book. Morris the Mankiest Monster was turned down by 15 editors, refused by 10 pu...
9.0/10
The Spook's Stories: Witches by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
SynopsisFor years, the local Spook has been keeping the County safe from ghosts and boggarts, but more especially from witches. The Spook’s Stories: Witches features stories from the Spook’s own collection; the stories include child-eating witches, witch assassins, Celtic witches, dead witches and witches so beautiful ...
9.0/10
The Charm of Urizen by Melaine Bryant (Prophecy Keepers)
His Charm had been destroyed, and the Third Age had begun... He had been created for good. He had been created to stop the Darkness, the destruction, to bring order from chaos. But at the violent end of the Second Age, as dark flames scorched the landscape and the seas swelled, whipped up by icy winds, it became clear that he had failed. He ...
8.0/10
X-isle by Steve Augarde
Ever since the floods came and washed the world away, survivors have been desperate to win a place on X-isle, the island where life is rumoured to be easier than on what's left of the mainland. Only young boys are in with a chance, the smaller and lighter the better. Baz and Ray are two of the lucky few to be chosen, but they soon discov...
9.0/10
The House of the Stag by Kage Baker
This review of Kage Baker’s The House of the Stag has been reproduced due to the kind permission of its author Harrison Holtz. Harrison is the man behind the wonderfully named blog The Ostentatious Ogre and Fantasy Book Review highly recommends it for those looking for further reviews on all things science fiction and fantasy.The Ho...
8.5/10
The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43 by Harriet Goodwin
For a millionth of a second the car grazed the drenched moorland. If it had come down on any other patch of ground Finn would simply have been another statistic. Death by dangerous driving. But the car hit the surface of the Earth at Exit 43. It slid through the membrane like a hot knife through butter, plunging into the darkness and catapulting...
7.5/10
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
Come, take these two wicked girls, they are tender morsels for you, fat as young quails; for mercy’s sake eat them!Snow-white and Rose-red by Jacob and Wilhelm GrimmLiga raises her two daughters in the safe haven of an alternative reality, a personal heaven granted by magic as a refuge from her earthly suffering. ...
9.4/10
The Silver Eagle by Ben Kane (The Forgotten Legion Chronicles)
The Forgotten Legion, the first book in The Forgotten Legion Chronicles was the eighth bestselling debut novel in 2008 and won Ben Kane comparisons to Bernard Cromwell and Conn Iggulden. It was also Fantasy Book Review’s Book of the Month for May 2009. The Silver Eagle continues the story.Synopsis...
8.5/10
Tomas by James Palumbo
Bloated bankers, Russian roubles, salacious socialites and filthy footballers: this is the meaning of life in the new millennium. Controlling it is SHIT TV, the ultimate reality channel, which dares to put homicidal dwarves or rollerblades and obese mamas in tutus. Reluctant celebrity Tomas has had enough. Armed with a Tommy gun and a revolv...
7.0/10
The Death Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean
When Pepper Roux was born his aunt foretold that he would not live past 14 years of age. Throughout his childhood his parents haven't bothered with him much, knowing that his life would be short-lived. So when Pepper wakes up on his 14th birthday he knows this will be the day that he'll die. But as the day wears on, and Pepper finds ...
9.5/10
Midnight over Sanctaphrax by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (The Edge Chronicles)
SynopsisA ferocious storm threatens the magnificent city of Sanctaphrax. Only Twig knows of the approaching danger. But his perilous voyage destroys his sky ship, hurling his crew beyond the Deepwoods, and robbing Twig of all memory... ReviewMidnight over Sanctaphrax is the third and final instalmen...
9.0/10
Stormchaser by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (The Edge Chronicles)
SynopsisOn board the Stormchaser, Twig, a young crewmember drawn by destiny to join the sky pirates, is filled with excitement at the adventure ahead. Their quest is to collect stormphrax – a valuable substance created inside the heart of the storm.ReviewStormchaser is the second book in Th...
9.5/10
The Once And Future King by TH White
Lev Grossman, author of the wonderful The Magicians, believes that TH White's The Once and Future King is the best fantasy book every written.SynopsisT.H. White...
9.5/10
Blood Water by Dean Vincent Carter
They're all dead now. I am the last one. Dr Morrow can't identify the 'thing' he found living in the lake but he knows it's dangerous ...then it goes missing ...Caught in the flood that is devastating the town, brothers Sean and James stumble across Morrow and the carnage left at his lab. The missing specimen is some kind of ...
8.0/10
Magyk by Angie Sage (Septimus Heap)
A baby girl is rescued from a snowy path in the woods. A baby boy is stillborn. A young Queen is taken ill. An ExtraOrdinary Wizard mysteriously resigns from his post. And all on the same night. A string of events, seemingly unconnected, begins to converge ten years later, when the Heap family receive a knock at the door. The evil Necromancer Do...
8.5/10
Beyond the Deepwoods by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (The Edge Chronicles)
Abandoned at birth in the Deepwoods, Twig is brought up by a family of woodtrolls. One cold night, Twig does what no woodtroll has ever done before – he strays from the path. So begins an adventure that will take Twig through a nightmare world of goblins and trogs, bloodthirsty beasts and flesh-eating trees.Beyond the Deepwoods...
8.5/10
Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by Andy KubertDigital painting by Richard IsanoveReview by Bindi LavelleMarvel 1602 is a great read for Marvel and Gaiman fans alike (it's a real treat, if like myself you are a huge fan of both) which presents a rich concept to explore: What would Marvel superheroes have been like in the 17t...
7.0/10
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time)
“The Wheel of time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend.”The Eye Of The World: Page 1The Eye of the World is the first book of the fourteen book Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. This thrilling series begins in Emond’s Field, where we meet Rand al’Thor, Mat Cauthon, and Perr...
8.7/10
Lion of Macedon by David Gemmell
Over and again, the aged seeress Tamis scried all the possible tomorrows. In every one, dark forces threatened Greece; terrible evil was poised to reenter the world. The future held only one hope: a half-caste Spartan boy, Parmenion. So Tamis made it her mission to see that Parmenion would before the deadliest warrior in the world — no mat...
8.8/10
The Curse of the Gloamglozer by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (The Edge Chronicles)
Quint, son of sky pirate captain, and new apprentice to Linius Pallitax, the Most High Academe, has been set some highly important tasks. Just how important, Quint is about to find out as he and Linius’s only daughter, Maris, are plunged into a terrifying adventure that takes them deep within the rock upon which Sanctaphrax is built. Here,...
9.0/10
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files)
Review by Bindi LavelleNothing can ever be easy for Jim Butcher's lovable knock about wizard, Harry Dresden.Fool Moon, picks up a few months after the first book of the Dresden files, Stormfront, but it isn't necessary to have read the first installment to enjoy Fool Moon.The Dresden files follow moder...
8.0/10
Mirrorstorm by Mike Wilks (The Mirrorscape Trilogy)
SynopsisMel, Ludo and Wren have to go back into the Mirrorscape � a world that mirrors the canvas of paintings, where everything comes alive. A world with a cloud city, tunnel-licking monsters and a battalion of moth bodyguards. The three friends must stop the demon-filled storms that threatens Vlam. But all the while the terrif...
6.5/10
The Way of the Sword by Chris Bradford (Young Samurai)
SynopsisJapan 1612. One year of training in samurai school and Jack is in real trouble… He’s busy preparing for the Circle of Three, an ancient ritual that tests courage, skill and spirit to the limit. And at the same time Jack is caught in a running battle with fellow student Kazuki and his gang. But these are the le...
9.0/10
The Dragons of Ordinary Farm by Tad Williams
Tyler and Lucinda have to spend summer with their Uncle Gideon, a farmer. They soon discover that Ordinary Farm is well, no ordinary farm.The bellowing in the barn comes not from a cow but from a dragon. The thundering herd in the valley? Unicorns. Uncle Gideon's farmhouse never looks the same time. Plus, there's a fl...
7.1/10
The Spook's Sacrifice by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
As the Spook’s apprentice, Tom’s first duty is to protect the County from the dark. But now Mam needs his help in her homeland of Greece. One of the most dangerous of the Old Gods, the Ordeen, is about to return there, bringing slaughter and devastation. Man has summoned a powerful group to her side, but among them a...
8.5/10
Turn Coat by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files)
Harry Dresden -- urban wizard, private detective, and Chicago police consultant -- preserves the equilibrium between the human world and The Nevernever (supernatural world). When fellow wizard and nemesis, Donald Morgan, turns up at Harry's door seriously injured he pleads for Harry to hide him from the White Council (world magic regul...
8.5/10
The Way of the Warrior by Chris Bradford (Young Samurai)
August 1611. Jack Fletcher is shipwrecked off the coast of Japan – his beloved father and the crew lie slaughtered by ninja pirates. Rescued by the legendary swordmaster Masamoto Takeshi, Jack’s only hope is to become a samurai warrior. And so his training begins… But life at the samurai school is a constant fight for survival...
9.0/10
The Midnight Charter by David Whitley (The Agora Trilogy)
In the city of Agora, anything can be bought and sold. Even children are possessions until their twelfth birthday. Mark has been sold by his father, and Lily, an orphan from birth, has bartered for her life. Thrown together by chance, in the ancient tower of Count Stelli, they face an existence of poverty and servitude, unless they can find a wa...
8.5/10
The Magicians by Lev Grossman (The Magicians series)
Quentin Coldwater’s life is changed forever by an apparently chance encounter when he turns up for his entrance interview to Princeton he finds his interviewer dead – but a strange envelope bearing Quentin’s name leads him down a very different path to any he’d ever imagined.The envelope, and the mysterious manuscr...
9.0/10
Mirrorscape by Mike Wilks (The Mirrorscape Trilogy)
When Mel becomes an apprentice to a master painter, he discovers not only two good friends – Wren and Ludo – but the secret world of the Mirrorscape. A world that mirrors the painting's canvas, where strange people, fantastical inventions and dangerous creatures come to life. A world where swivel-headed butlers fight in houses wi...
7.0/10
The Two Pearls of Wisdom by Alison Goodman (Eona series)
Stereotypical modern-day fantasy is based on medieval Europe. It’s just the way it is these days, thanks in part to J.R.R. Tolkien and his beautifully fleshed out Middle Earth, which was, in his own mind, an attempt at giving England a mythology it sorely lacked.So when I come across a fantasy book that is not set in that stereotype...
9.3/10
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún by JRR Tolkien
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudr�n contains 800 narrative verses adapted from Old Norse by Tolkien when he was professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University during the 1920s. The text was hidden away for years but has been released by the writer's reclusive 84-year-old son Christopher, who has edited the book and written a foreword from his h...
7.0/10
Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton
A timeless secret is unfolding. The mystery has only just begun… Who or what is Endymion Spring?In the dead of night, a cloaked figure drags a heavy box through icy streets. The chest is magically sealed by a carved serpent’s head – and can only be opened when its fangs taste blood.Centuries later, an ordinary bo...
9.1/10
Redoubt by Alexander Janaway
SynopsisAfter a short and bloody war on foreign soil, the Expeditionary Army of Ashkent is preparing to return home. Captain Jon Forge and his company, however, are assigned one more task – to oversee a workforce of enslaved Bantusai tribesmen as rebuild a remote and long-abandoned bridge. With construction already underway,...
7.5/10
Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda
Billi SanGreal is the only girl in the Knights Templar, and the most kick-ass weapon-wielding heroine around. At fifteen, her life is a rigorous and brutal round of weapons practice, demon killing and occult lore – and a whole lot of bruises. But then, she didn’t have much choice. Her father, the Grandmaster of the Order, forced her ...
8.0/10
Shadow of the Demon by David Burrows (The Prophecy of the Kings)
The threat from Trosgarth is growing and betrayal is in the air. The Priests of Ryoch, no longer a minor faction, now include warrior priests with empathic powers. Armies are marching to war and the balance is no longer in the favour of the allies, for without the Eldric and their sorcery they cannot hope to win. Desperate to redress the bal...
7.8/10
Dragon Rider by David Burrows (The Prophecy of the Kings)
Vastra has dealt a cruel blow to the very men who befriended him, but even he cannot predict the outcome of his betrayal. Armies threaten Thrace and an alliance must be forged but Trosgarth has been busy, which nations can be trusted is in doubt. Friend is set against friend whilst the enemy, no one believes exists, quietly awaits the outcom...
7.8/10
The Story of Cirrus Flux by Matthew Skelton
You shall help me find him still… there is nowhere for the boy to hide.” Orphan boy Cirrus Flux is being watched. Merciless rogues are conniving to steal the world’s most divine power, which they believe Cirrus has inherited. Now he faces a perilous journey through the dirty backstreets of...
9.0/10
Dragon Horse by Peter Ward
‘The sleeping dragon awakes!’Aeons ago, winged dragons spread terror across the Chinese empire.Their descendants, magnificent horses bred and ridden by the Wild Horsemen, are known as dragon horses.But now an ancient evil is stirring – and two brothers, Rokshan and An Lushan, are about to b...
8.5/10
The Alchemyst by Michael Scott (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
He holds the secret that can end the worldThe truth: Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on 28 September 1330. Nearly seven hundred years later, he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life.The records show that he died in 1418....
7.8/10
The Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane (The Forgotten Legion Chronicles)
Romulus and Fabiola are twins, born into slavery after their mother is raped by a drunken nobleman on his way home from a good night out. At 13 years old, they and their mother are sold: Romulus to gladiator school, Fabiola into prostitution, where she will catch the eye of one of the most powerful men in Rome, and their mother into obscurity an...
9.0/10
The Spook's Tale by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
Dare you face the dark?'How would you like to train as a spook?I need a brave lad for my line of work…'The Spook keeps the County safe from creatures of the dark; things that suck your blood and snatch your bones and squeeze the breath from your body. When young John Grego...
8.4/10
Cloak of Magic by SA Rule (Shaihen Heritage)
Cloak of Magic is the first book in the Shaihen Heritage series by SA Rule.SynopsisSomewhere along the line where human nature meets human imagination, myths are created. Somewhere in that space lives the spirit that created and sustains Shahaios, the Fair Land.One man embodies the gifts of the spir...
8.0/10
Ancient Appetites by Oisin McGann (The Wildenstern Saga)
I can honestly say this book is unlike any I've ever read before. The plot is so bizarre and there is so much that writer Oisìn McGann packs into its 440 pages that it just shouldn't work but it so does at such break neck speed that you'll finish reading it long before you're ready for the story to end.Set in the 19...
7.0/10
Seed of Seerling by Amy Kennedy
An act of compassion in her childhood leads to slavery for Astril and several of her fellow Seerlings. Her journey as a slave leads her out of the magical evil of her childhood and into the saving grace of the One True God. Giving up her birthright is difficult, but will she be able to make the sacrifices her new path requires?Toren is in...
7.0/10
Seven Candles by Melissa and Emily Boverhof (The Reclaiming of Haven)
SynopsisWhen Alaric ruled ancient Haven; his people turned on him and killed his son, causing Alaric to vow to leave Haven. But before doing so, he gave out seven unique necklaces to seven men and promised that his son would one day return from the dead and that a messenger would announce his coming.Hundreds of years later, when the...
3.0/10
The Immortals by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (The Edge Chronicles)
SynopsisFive hundred years into the third age of flight and mighty phraxships steam across the immensity of the Deepwoods, plying their lucrative trade between the three great cities. Nate Quarter, a young Lamplighter from the mines of the eastern woods is propelled on an epic journey of self-discovery that encompasses tournaments...
10.0/10
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Fiver could sense danger. Something terrible was going to happen to the warren - he felt sure of it. So did his brother Hazel, for Fiver's sixth sense was never wrong. They had to leave immediately, and they had to persuade the other rabbits to join them. And so begins a long and perilous journey of a small band of rabbits in search of a saf...
9.5/10
Dartmoor... The Saving by BJ Burton
Beneath the wide-open spaces of Dartmoor live the Dini. Now just two feet tall, their bodies no longer able to bare children, the Dini are dying out. Only ten survive on the moor.According to their own folklore they are descendants of the Celtic tribe, the Votadini, who were great warriors and horsemen. Led by their kinsman warlord, whose...
8.0/10
The Ice Crown by Sean Beech (The Lords of the Moon)
For nearly three hundred years now the Moon lands have known peace. But the Ice Crown of Man been stolen and also the Ancient Howl of the Fennigan Wolves. Their theft robs both races of the power to unite their peoples! But who is responsible; the mysterious Fey; the magical Mages or the lands’ erstwhile enemy, the dreaded Dark Knights?...
8.6/10
Legacy of the Eldric by David Burrows (The Prophecy of the Kings)
Long ago the Eldric mysteriously disappeared from the land, shortly after the Krell Wars when Drachar's shade was finally banished from the world. Perhaps they believed the threat was gone, but in leaving they took with them sorcery, the only effective means of defeating demons. Then came the Prophecy and only one thing is certain in the cry...
7.8/10
Who is Charlie Keeper? by Marcus Alexander
‘Who is Charlie Keeper?’ is the shockingly paced fantasy novel that tells the tale of Charlie, an iron-willed, twelve year old girl suffering an unjust and unhappy fate. Forced to flee her home in the gloomy, rain-drenched landscape of London by a bloodthirsty and terrifying new foe, she escapes to the vibrant, parallel land of Bella...
9.0/10
Small-Minded Giants by Oisin McGann
Small-Minded Giants is set in a not too distant future when Earth has entered another ice age and small pockets of survivors take to living in artificial environments. Ash Harbour is such a place, a city built under a vast glass dome to keep out the elements and powered by the machine, which runs on the continual motion of Ash Harbours residents...
7.5/10
Caligula by Douglas Jackson (Roman Trilogy)
SynopsisGaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the third Roman Emperor, is better known by another name: Caligula, a name synonymous with decadence, cruelty and madness.Rufus, a young slave, grows up far from the corruption of the imperial court. His master is a trainer of animals for the gladiatorial arena, and Rufus dis...
7.1/10
The Riddler’s Gift by Greg Hamerton (The Lifesong Cycle)
The Riddler's Gift is about a young woman whose life is changed by the talent she discovers within herself. It is about music that resonated in our blood, a song which might still linger there. It is about reaching for power, and the choices one has to face. In a time when the world was ravaged by chaos, one kingdom remains; ordered...
8.7/10
King of the Cloud Forests by Michael Morpurgo
When Japan invades China, Ashley and Uncle Sung are forced to flee. It is a perilous journey across the Himalayas, and they struggle to survive. Then Ashley is captured. Who are these strange creatures that revere him as their king?King of the Cloud Forests is a beautifully told story featuring unforgettable characters. Humour an...
8.5/10
The Spook's Mistake by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
The Spook’s Mistake is the fifth book in The Wardstone Chronicles, a series of novels for young-adults written by Joseph Delaney.SynopsisAs danger increases in the Country, Tom is sent north by his master to be trained by Bill Arkwright, another spook. Arkwright lives in a haunted mill on the edge if a treacherous mar...
9.5/10
Domain of Illusion by EA Sunden
Twilight’s sombre grace echoed softly through the grief-stricken Valley of Tsura. Not long after the loving burial of the beautiful Empress Zaiya, the valley was struck down in disbelief once more by the brutal slaying of her benevolent father-in-law, the High Emperor. A sharpened blade covered with fresh blood and an empty vial of poison c...
7.0/10
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling (Harry Potter Companion)
The long awaited book of (magical) children’s fairy tales as mentioned in the Harry Potter books is finally here but was it worth the wait…….oh come on, of course it was!!Only a 105 pages in length this is a beautifully illustrated and dare I say it a pretty little book, but chaps, don’t let that put you off beca...
8.0/10
The Cornish Adventures of Robert the Rabbit by Veronica Holdgate
The Cornish Adventures of Robert the Rabbit is the first literary offering from Veronica Holgate and was born out of her desire to entertain her five grandchildren and inspired by the love of her home since 1990, Cornwall.Offering eight stories, which are embellished with Holdgate's own illustrations of Robert and his family and frien...
6.0/10
Wizard of Arabah by Tristan Parrish (The Scrolls of Solomon Magus)
Wizard of Arabah is the first published novel by Tristan Parrish. It is a tale of historical fantasy and the first chapter in The Scrolls of Solomon Magus – the life and times of a Wizard of Arabah series.Shipwrecked and orphaned on an island as a boy, Solomon the Strange becomes apprenticed to Namada Magus, a sorceress who teaches ...
6.8/10
Raven: Blood Eye by Giles Kristian
Raven: Blood Eye is a Viking adventure, set in ninth-century England and marks the debut of English / Norwegian author Giles Kristian.For two years Osric has lived a simple life, apprentice to the mute old carpenter who took him in when others would have cast him out. But when Norsemen from across the sea burn his village, Osric finds him...
7.9/10
Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud
“Listen then, and I’ll tell you again of the Battle of the Rock. But none of your usual wriggling, or I’ll stop before I’ve begun…”Halli loves to hear stories from the days when the valley was a wild and dangerous place, besieged by the bloodthirsty Trows. He likes to imagine the night the legendary he...
9.4/10
Jarrak's Darkness by Colin R Parsons (Wizards' Kingdom)
Jarrak's Darkness by Colin R Parsons is the third and final instalment in Colin R Parson's Wizards' Kingdom trilogy.The Obelisk of Ashmar is crumbling and Jarrak, the evil Catchet, has been defeated. Yet in his dying moments, he cast a wicked spell on Loof, brainwashing him into attacking Wizards' Kingdom. Accompanied by E...
7.0/10
Chosen by Jerry Ibbotson
Chosen is the debut novel of former BBC radio journalist Jerry Ibbotson; an ambitious tale of contemporary fantasy influenced by the works of CS Lewis and Nick Hornby.Magic books, undead vicars, God and fondue forks are brought together in the story of Alex Preston: a grumpy, daydreaming office worker who finds a tunnel in the basement at...
7.6/10
The Galaxy Boys and The Sphere by Andrew Steele (The Galaxy Boys)
The Galaxy Boys and The Sphere is a jet-fuelled space adventure written by an earth resident called Andrew Steele. This is an action-packed and heart-warming fantasy based around the author’s own children.The Galaxy Boys had no idea they were boys of the galaxy, living in an orphanage in Brooklyn as they were. They also had no perce...
8.7/10
The Spook's Battle by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
In Pendle the witches are rising and the three most powerful witch clans are rumoured to be uniting in order to conjure an unimaginable evil. Together they will be capable of raising the dark made flesh – the Devil himself. Tom and the Spook need to set off for Pendle to avert the unthinkable. Before they go, the Spook tells Tom to jou...
9.0/10
Eye Of Osiris by AB Shires
Five children from Shipley find a crystal that transports them to a mysterious hallway of magical treasures and doorways to other worlds. All five enter the dark world of Osiris plagued by sirens, beasts and Dark Lords - only four return. Each child receives special powers through the magic of the crystal - the Eye of Osiris - and the group is c...
6.0/10
The Obelisk Of Ashmar by Colin R Parsons (Wizards' Kingdom)
Since the defeat of Evilan, Wizards’ Kingdom has lived in peace under the benevolent rule of Zendal. Until now… Zendal’s beloved stallion, Shim, has been stolen and an evil foreboding once again fills the wizard’s heart. Along with his fellow wizards, Crasmont and Mydar, and with assistance from old friends and new, Zend...
8.0/10
Silver Mage by CM Debell
In the first age of Andeira, men and dragons brought together the two halves of the elemental magic of the world to create a union through which their magic, and the world, could support and renew itself.When war broke out, that union was destroyed – deliberately severed by the ancient mages in a desperate attempt to stop their enem...
9.1/10
Charlie Cook's Favourite Book by Julia Donaldson
This story begins as a young boy, Charlie Cook, sits down to read his ‘favourite book’ which is ‘about a leaky pirate ship which very nearly sank..’, the story then jumps into this story about the pirate – he is also reading a book ‘About a girl called Goldilocks and three indignant bears’ it then jumps ...
9.0/10
Lost And Found by Oliver Jeffers
Originality in story telling doesn’t get much better than Oliver Jeffers. Lost and Found is a simple tale about a boy and a penguin and their growing friendship.One day the penguin just turns up at the boys house and the boy presumes he is lost so takes him to the lost and found office. Once they reach the office he discovers no one...
9.5/10
How To Catch A Star by Oliver Jeffers
Oliver Jeffers made a name for himself in children’s books with this title and it’s not hard to see why when you turn the pages. Jeffers uses the simple relationship of a boy and his fascination with stars and turns it into a page turning story. How to Catch A Star tells the tale of the boy as he goes on a quest to catch a star of hi...
9.0/10
Twelve by Jasper Kent (The Danilov Quintet)
The voordalak - a creature of legend; tales of which have terrified Russian children for generations. But for Captain Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov - a child of more enlightened times - it is a legend that has long been forgotten. Besides, in the autumn of 1812, he faces a more tangible enemy - the Grand Armée of Napoleon Bonaparte.Cit...
8.5/10
The Spook's Secret by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
As the weather gets colder, the Spook announces that it’s time to move to his winter house on Anglezarke – a bleak, forbidding place, close to the dark with a deep cellar full of bound witches and boggarts. Once there, Tom finds himself discovering more and more about his master’s past and the identity of a mysterious visit...
9.0/10
Sister Warrior by Teel James Glenn
Welcome to the sensual, savage, and fantastic world of Altiva. It is a world of crystal-smiths and warp wizards, first visited in the novel Death at Dragonthroat where Ku'zn, blue-furred warrior woman of the Z'n, gained her freedom from slavery. Now she begins a journey to free her brother, who along with her had been sold into contract ...
7.0/10
Glammenport by Kevin Lane
Timion the Black has exhausted his options. Reckless, despicable, Timion’s own band of mercenary men turn against him, leaving him for dead in a back alleyway. Fate deposits the usurped buccaneer into the hands of altruistic nuns. There he finds his way to health and into their debt. Revenge, dark magic, and clever technology collide, cata...
8.7/10
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Review by AngelaThis is the story of Bod (Nobody Owens) who had to live in a graveyard because all his family had been murdered. He is raised by ghosts, Mr and Mrs Owens with the help of his guardian, Silas, who is neither alive nor dead. The novel is aimed at 8 – 11 year olds, but the gruesome murder descriptions in the fi...
9.6/10
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
Sarah, Percy and Bill wake up in their tree nest to find their owl mother gone. “I want my mummy” cries Bill, whilst Sarah and Percy do their best to comfort him and each other whilst waiting for their mother's return.This is a story that children who are maybe starting nursery or pre-school for the first time or who are e...
8.0/10
Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell
Poor Duck, he has to do everything around the farm whilst the Farmer lies in bed eating chocolates and gets fatter and fatter. “How goes the work?” the Farmer asks, “Quack!” says the Duck. This wonderfully illustrated and funny book from Martin Waddell tells the tale of the hardworking duck how does everything from feedin...
8.0/10
The Spook's Curse by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
The Spook and his apprentice, Thomas Ward, have travelled to Priestown to defeat the Bane, a powerful, evil creature that lurks in the catacombs of the cathedral and is corrupting the County. As Thomas and his master prepare to battle with the Bane, they soon realize it isn’t their only enemy in Priestown. The Quisitor has arrived, sea...
9.0/10
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (The Inkworld Trilogy)
A story within a story, Inkheart tells the tale of a book of the same name owned by Mortimer Folchart who is a book restorer who lives in a remote farmhouse with his 12-year-old daughter Meggie. Mo, as he is known to his daughter, has not told Meggie about his ‘gift’, that he can read characters out of books and that is why he never ...
8.0/10
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Anubis Gates is reviewed by Elliot, who blogs at Claw of the Conciliator.After I was introduced to Tim Powers through his Cold War fantasy, Declare, I attempted to track down his earlier works at libraries and used bookstores. Several proved impossible to find. Among ...
9.5/10
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
Review by IndraStrangely told by a nameless narrator, The Gargoyle is a tale of love, pain, transformation and more. The narrator, is involved in a serious car accident causing horrendous burns to his body, forcing him into hospital for many months to under go numerous painful surgeries and rehabilitation. During the stay in hospital he i...
8.9/10
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Far from fading with time, Kenneth Grahame’s classic tale of fantasy has attracted a growing audience in each generation. Rat, Mole, Badger, and the preposterous Mr. Toad (with his ‘Poop-poop-poop’ road-hogging new motor-car), have brought delight to many through the years with their odd adventures on and by the river, and the ...
9.7/10
The Prophecy Keepers by Melaine Bryant (Prophecy Keepers)
There is an ancient legend in the memories of the humans of Niwengeard, that a time will come when Darkness will fall upon the kingdoms of Earde and one will rise who threatens all species. It has been foretold that at this time, a Gifted human child possessing the powers of the magical races-the empyreals-will be born to lead a revolution again...
9.0/10
Lady Friday by Garth Nix (The Keys to the Kingdom)
Review by IndraThousands of people are going missing from Earth, being taken by Lady Friday in the guise of Dr Friday, first mentioned in Sir Thursday, but what does Lady Friday want with all these mortals, and where is she taking them? In the meantime Arthur, the Piper and Superior Saturday each receives a letter saying that Lady Friday ...
7.0/10
Beckwood Brae by David H Webb (The Chronicles of the Corriian Wars)
The grey monster disappears into the bracken. After the near encounter, Norri is left shaken and wondering. What is it? How did it come to be in the Fornvelt? He has no idea that sighting the creature is just the first portent of great events that are taking shape, much less what his part in them will be. Norri, Tom and the others find themselve...
8.8/10
Wizards' Kingdom by Colin R Parsons (Wizards' Kingdom)
The shadow of evil has spread over Wizards’ Kingdom, and at the centre of the web is the power-crazed warlock, Evilan… Can the three benevolent wizards – Zendal, Crasmont and young Mydar – pool all their sorcerers’ energy together and rescue Lord Torsk, imprisoned by Evilan in Spellock Castle? And is Torsk all that...
7.0/10
Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl Series)
Our intrepid anti-hero Artemis Fowl returns again in this second instalment in Eoin Colfer’s best selling series. Artemis, having been installed at a prestigious boarding school by his now recovered mother Angelina, takes great delight in confounding the school psychologist and taking leave as he pleases to pursue his other 'interests&...
8.5/10
Come To Tea On Planet Zum Zee by Tony Mitton
With its vibrant front cover and fantastically entitled book, Come to Tea on Planet Zum-Zee oozes appeal to kids. Written by Tony Mitton, his unique writing style captures the imaginations of pre-schoolers and school children exploring the world of outer space.As aliens descend on Planet Zum-Zee for a tea party each brings their own mouth...
9.6/10
The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips by Michael Morpurgo
Set in the village of Slapton on the south coast of England during the Second World War, this story from master storyteller Morpurgo tells the tale of Lily Tregenza and how she, her family and her cat cope with rationing, evacuation, hope and grief. It is a charming tale with a gentle pace told in the form of a child’s diary.The sto...
9.0/10
Upsy Daisy Wants To Sing! by Andrew Davenport
This book is the sixth title in the In The Night Garden series written by Andrew Davenport and is based on the successful children's television also written by the author.This book sees the permanently cheerful Upsy Daisy, best friend of Igglepiggle and a reoccurring character in all the In The Night Garden books, take her megaphone a...
8.0/10
The Bouncy Jumping Game! by Andrew Davenport
The Bouncy Jumping game is the fifth book in a series of six that is based o the successful BBC children's television programme also written and co-created by Andrew Davenport.The Bouncy Jumping game is a delightfully silly and fun story of several different residents of the Night Garden that one by one, page by page, are enjoying a g...
8.0/10
Time To Wash Faces! by Andrew Davenport
Time To Wash Faces! Is the third installement in the In The Night Garden series of books based on the successful children’s television series also written by Andrew Davenport.This board book one again contains bold, bright, photographic illustrations of favourite characters from the television series and a simple and fun story. The ...
9.0/10
Small Magics by Erik Buchanan
Small Magics, by Erik Buchanan (Dragon Moon Press, 2007).ISBN 10 1-896944-48-5 Print EditionISBN 13 978-1-896944-48-7A Review by Kathryn WhitneyWith the world of both publishing and the film industry aflame with excitement over what Harry, Ron and Hermione got in the morning owl post at Hogwarts, it is more than fair to...
7.0/10
Stick Man by Julia Donaldson
Julia Donaldson yet again produces a winning formula with The Stick Man. Taking an everyday object of a stick, the author gives it an identity and creates the Stick Man and his instantly loveable family of his ‘stick lady love and his stick children three’. The story follows the life of Stick Man as he is torn away from his family an...
9.6/10
The Happy Waving Game! by Andrew Davenport
The Happy Waving Game is the forth book in a series of six based on the successful CBeebies television programme. Set in a magical garden that exists in the twilight before a child's bedtime the books contain all your children's favourite characters.The Happy Waving Game centres on the cheeky and cheerful characters called the Tom...
8.0/10
Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo
Kensuke’s Kingdom is a thrilling adventure story from exceptional children’s writer Michael Morpurgo.Michael, his parents and their faithful dog Stella set sail around the world in their yacht the Peggy Sue. Michael has never been so happy and then disaster strikes when he and his dog are swept overboard and find themselves st...
9.4/10
Sir Thursday by Garth Nix (The Keys to the Kingdom)
Review by IndraIt's day four and Arthur and Leaf are returning back to Earth after claiming the Boarder Seas, however Arthur has to remain in the House, due to an imposter having already passed through the front door. Leaf sets off to track down the imposter, the skinless boy as he has become known, who is spreading a mind control mou...
7.0/10
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl Series)
This is the first instalment of the Artemis Fowl series, which continues to grow in success as well as its number of books.Artemis Fowl is a 12 year old genius born into the Fowl dynasty, that is, he is heir apparent and an already accomplished master of criminal activities that have founded the Fowl empire; he also has every intention of...
7.8/10
Charlotte's Web by EB White
Fern Arable lives with her mother, father and brother on their small farm. When her father decides to ‘do away’ with the runt of the piglet litter Fern takes it upon herself to raise the small piglet herself and names him Wilbur. When Wilbur gets too big for the Arable’s land he goes to live with the Zuckerman’s, Fern&rsq...
9.0/10
Night Child by Jes Battis
Tess Corday soon realizes that there is not going to be anything ordinary about this case-not the lab results on the cause of death; not Mia Polanski, the teenage girl living at the address found in the vamp’s pocket, who may well be in thrall to a demon; and certainly not Lucien Agrado, the necromancer who is liaison to the vampire commun...
7.5/10
The Gruffalo's Child by Julia Donaldson
If you’ve ever read a book that you don’t want to end then The Gruffalo is perhaps a childs equivalent – luckily Julia Donaldson continues to keep little minds satisfied with The Gruffalo’s ChildBased on the successful format of the original story, The Gruffalo’s Child, as it suggests, follows the adventure o...
9.6/10
The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
The Gruffalo certainly lives up to its reputation as a classic read for both children and parents. The fantasy story captures the imagination of pre-schoolers as it takes them on a journey with mouse as he strolls through the wood and meets the beast himself, the Gruffalo. As the mouse revisits inhabitants of the wood with the Gruffalo, the mous...
10.0/10
Ooh Pretty Flower! by Andrew Davenport (In The Night Garden)
Ooh Pretty Flower! Is the second book from the In The Night Garden collection and is a board book containing bright and colourful pictures of characters from the television series.This book tells the story of Upsy Daisy and Igglepiggle and their journey to visit the prettiest flower in the garden. However, this journey isn't without i...
8.0/10
The Iron Man by Ted Hughes
The Iron Man: A Children’s Story In Five nights by Ted Hughes does indeed consist of five chapters; designed to be read a chapter per night, although some children may find it difficult to wait a whole day to hear more of this exciting story.Set in an unnamed rural town, a town where a small boy called Hogarth goes fishing in the lo...
9.6/10
All Aboard The Ninky Nonk! by Andrew Davenport
All Aboard the Ninky Nonk is book one in a series of six books aimed at the 0-2 years market that are based on episodes of the children's television series In The Night Garden also written by Andrew Davenport.This book centres around one of the fantastical and almost sentient modes of transport in the fantasy land that is The Night Ga...
8.0/10
Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson (A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen)
FantasyBookReview.co.uk advises printing and using the following pages for reference when reading Midnight Tides. The dramatis personae and glossary are featured at the beginning and end of the book respectively and are very helpful.Midnight Tid...
10.0/10
The Spook's Apprentice by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)
Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has been apprenticed to the local Spook. The job is hard, the spook is distant and many apprentices have failed before him. Somehow Thomas must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches and bind boggarts. But when he is tricked into freeing Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the Coun...
10.0/10
Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
Tunnels is a children's adventure book set in present day London and follows the exploits of Will Burrows, fourteen years old and just as obsessed with digging as his museum curator father. The first chapter of the book finds us already underground with Will and Mr. Burrows and their amazing discovery of a disused rail station. Not content w...
7.2/10
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (The Gormenghast Trilogy)
Titus Groan is the Seventy Seventh Earl of Gormenghast in waiting and his birth begins this story and that of his rather eccentric family, their servants and the kingdom of Gormenghast itself. The story covers the first two years of Titus’ young life, from birth to his investiture as the seventy-seventh Earl and everything that happens in ...
9.0/10
The Stealer Of Souls by Michael Moorcock
Elric of Melniboné, the haunted, treacherous and doomed albino sorcerer-prince, is one of the great creations of modern fantasy. An introspective weakling in thrall to his soul-eating sword, Stormbringer, he is yet a hero whose bloody adventures and wanderings lead inexorably to his decisive intervention in the war between the forces of L...
7.4/10
Kendulla by Robert Le Normand
Khompchoi and Sharwendai were likeminded and worked towards the betterment of mankind; Kendulla, however, was of a different ilk. Whereas Khompchoi and Sharwendai were happy merely to preside over all worlds and help things along without and direct involvement, Kendulla wanted more. His plan was simple enough. He would take over one world at a t...
7.5/10
Sauron Defeated by JRR Tolkien (The History of The Lord of the Rings)
In the first section of Sauron Defeated Christopher Tolkien completes his fascinating study of The Lord of the Rings. Beginning with Sam's rescue of Frodo from the Tower of Cirith Ungol, and giving a very different account of the Scouring of the Shire, this section ends with versions of the hitherto unpublished Epilogue, in which, years afte...
7.0/10
Conquerors Moon by Julian May (Boreal Moon)
To forge a kingdom takes a will of iron�Prince Conrig of Cathra has a vision: to unite all four provinces of the island of High Blenholme under Cathrane sovereignty. One of the provinces is stubbornly refusing to bend to his will, but Conrig has a new secret weapon. He has formed an alliance Ullanoth, princess of the remote northern pro...
7.0/10
Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb (The Tawny Man)
The triumphant conclusion to the tale of the Farseers, in which kingdoms must stand or fall on the beat of a dragon’s wings, or a Fool’s heart. A small and sadly untried coterie – the old assassin Chade, the serving-boy Thick, Prince Dutiful, and his reluctant Skillmaster, Fitz – sail towards the distant island of Aslevja...
9.3/10
Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett (The Discworld Series)
Lords and Ladies is one of fantasy author Mark A. Cropper's favourite books. Mark kindly took the time to tell FantasyBookReview.co.uk why he rates the book so highly. Mark is the author of the highly enjoyable epic fantasy novel The Wizard of ...
9.0/10
Once Upon A Time In The North by Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials Novella)
Once Upon A Time In The North is another episode from the universe of His Dark Material including the very first meeting of Lee Scoresby, the Texan balloonist, and Iorek Byrnison, the armoured bear. Once Upon A Time In The North is set many years before Lyra's birth, a young Lee Scoresby pilots his recently won (in a poker game) balloon to t...
8.5/10
The Storyteller and other tales by KV Johansen
The Storyteller and other tales by KV Johansen is a collection for adults and older teens that will take you on a journey through exotic worlds and times.The StorytellerDemon bears take human shape and devils walk in the north of a world where every hill hosts a god and every river and spring a goddess. The storytel...
7.0/10
The Wizard of Rainbows by Mark A Cropper
There is a road of darkness and awful peril, a path that shall take you to places beyond the knowledge of men. The Lord-of-Mists has awakened in his dark realm with one purpose - to enslave the world, leaving nothing but a despairing, colourless void. The bonds are loosened. The winds cry of it. The earth trembles because of it. They tell of pow...
7.0/10
Star Wars: The Clone Wars by Karen Traviss (Star Wars)
The raging Clone Wars illuminate dark motives and darker destinies until one question must be answered: Does the end ever justify the means? It's time the Jedi found out.The Clone Wars is part of a new five-book Star Wars series for adults; based on the Clone Wars movie and TV show. The movie and TV show were aimed at younger fans but...
7.0/10
The Enemy's Son by James Johnson (Erth Chronicles)
One truth is clear. 'Whatever is, is right.' Alexander PopeThe Enemy's Son is the debut novel of Derby-born author James Johnson and was first published in 2008 by Mam Tor Publishing Ltd.The Enemy's Son follows the story of Jeradon and Pirian Horncastle, father and son, outcast from the flying city of Newto...
7.0/10
Quondam by Jayel Gibson (An Ancient Mirrors Tale)
Quondam - adjective - former; onetimeQuondam is the fourth and final instalment in Jayel Gibson's Ancient Mirrors fantasy series. The story centres on Cwen, who finds herself transported to another world, to become engulfed in a war to dethrone an evil queen and restore magick and peace to Quondam....
7.0/10
Golgotha Falls: Genesis by George Udenkwo
The story is set in a metropolis of ninety million souls known as Golgotha Falls and features sixteen tales chronicling the spider-god, Desdemona, one of the city’s most feared deities. The book is a mixture of gothic, horror, science fiction and fantasy containing vivid characters, a pulsating narrative and more action than you could ever...
8.6/10
A Storm of Swords 1: Steel and Snow by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire)
Blood runs truer than oathsThe Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud as winter approaches like an angry beast. In the northern wastes a horde of hungry, savage people steeped in the dark magic of the wilderness is poised to invade the Kingdom of the North where Robb Stark wears his new-forged crown. And Robb’s ...
9.9/10
Spellbound by Margit Sandemo (The Legend of the Ice People)
Spellbound is set on Norway's northern coast is 1581. The plague has robbed sixteen-year old Silje of her family and home and fate has placed two abandoned children in her care. Silje leaves the corpse-strewn streets of Trondheim and heads towards the warmth of the mass funeral pyres. On route Silje encounters one of the infamous Ice People,...
7.9/10
Ghost King by David Gemmell (Stones of Power)
Ghost King is the first book in the Stones of Power series by David Gemmell, the author of the classic Drenai novels. Ghost King was first published in Great Britain by Century Hutchinson Ltd in 1988.Rebellion and invasion have plunged Britannia into the Dark Ages. Chaos and terror stalk the land, the King slain by traitors, the great Swo...
7.5/10
The Golden Fool by Robin Hobb (The Tawny Man)
The Golden Fool is the second book in Robin Hobb’s The Tawny Man series. First published in Great Britain by Voyager in 2002.Fitz has succeeded in rescuing Prince Dutiful from the clutches of the Piebald rebels. But once again the cost of protecting the Farseer line has been dear: Nighteyes is dead.A grieving and reluctant Fit...
9.0/10
Gifts by Ursula Le Guin (Annals of the Western Shore)
Gifts is a book by Ursula Le Guin, the best-selling author of the Earthsea series. First published in the United Kingdom by Orion Children's Books in 2004.Gifts is what can be described as a “grower”. It did not immediately grab me and hold my attention, the multitude of names and locations were slightly confusing and the ...
7.8/10
Soul Eater by Michelle Paver (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness)
Soul Eater is set 6,000 years ago in Northern Europe, after the end of the last ice age, the novels take place along a wooded coastline, inhabited by wandering clans whose cultures revolve around totemic animals or trees: the Raven Clan, the Wolf Clan, the Willow Clan and so on.The chief character is Torak who has the power spirit walk (i...
9.5/10
Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb (The Tawny Man)
Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb is the first book in The Tawny Man trilogy. The series begins fifteen years after the events in The Farseer Trilogy were concluded. Fool’s Errand is 661 pages in length and was first published in Great Britain by Voyager in 2001.We are here, you and I, Fitz, to change the world. Again....
9.0/10
Enchanter's End Game by David Eddings (The Belgariad)
Enchanter’s End Game by David EddingsEnchanter’s End Game is the fifth and final book in The Belgariad, an epic fantasy series by David Eddings. The book is 444 pages in length and Corgi Books published the edition we review in 2000.The quest was over. The Orb of Aldur was restored. And once again, with the crowning of ...
8.4/10
Duncton Quest by William Horwood (The Duncton Chronicles)
Duncton Quest is the sequel to the worldwide bestseller Duncton Wood. Forming part of The Duncton Chronicles, this 917-page book is followed by Duncton Found, which completes the original trilogy. Duncton Quest was first published in Great Britain by Century in 1988.When Tryfan, son of Bracken and Rebecca, returns to the sacred Burrows of...
9.4/10
Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb (The Liveship Traders)
Ship of Destiny is the final book of Robin Hobb’s epic fantasy trilogy The Liveship Traders. First published in Great Britain by Voyager in 2000. The story is written in third-person narrative and consists of 903 pages.The dragon Tintaglia, released from her wizardwood coffin, flies high over the Rain Wild River. Below her, Reyn and...
9.5/10
Spirit Walker by Michelle Paver (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness)
Spirit Walker is the second book in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver. 288 pages in paperback format – the book is published by Orion Childrens.Torak still misses Wolf. He is now part of the Raven Clan and when disease hits forest clans he sets out to find the Seal Clan and a cure. Torak must learn to spirit walk ...
9.5/10
The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien
The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien was not published in his lifetime. It was completed posthumously by the Professor’s son Christopher Tolkien and first published by Harper Collins in 1992. JRR Tolkien first began working on the history of Middle-earth in 1917 and the work continued up until his death in 1973. The paperback edition holds 480 ...
8.8/10
House Of Chains by Steven Erikson (A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen)
House of Chains is the fourth book in Steven Erikson’s A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Bantam Press originally published House of Chains in 2002.In the aftermath of the Chain of Dogs extraordinary destinies are being played out. Karsa Orlong, a tribal warrior from Northern Genabackis descends into the southern lands as par...
9.2/10
Mort by Terry Pratchett (The Discworld Series)
Mort is a Discworld novel by fantasy author Terry Pratchett. The book is the fourth in the series and was first published in the UK by Victor Gollanz Ltd in association with Colin Smythe Ltd in 1987. The book is 315 pages in length and Corgi Books published the edition reviewed. Mort belongs in the comic fantasy sub-genre of fantasy.Death...
9.0/10
Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance)
The Dragonlance Chronicles brings together the first three volumes of the highly popular Dragonlance series. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman write the three books. Denis Beauvais and Jeffrey Butler illustrate them. The Chronicles consist of 1056 pages and were first published by Penguin books in 1988.Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of...
8.5/10
Waylander II by David Gemmell (The Drenai Novels)
Waylander II – In the realm of the wolf is a novel belonging to the Drenai series written by David Gemmell. The book was first published in Great Britain in 1992 by Legend Books and has been reprinted by Orbit Books since 1997. The book is 323 pages in length and is the fifth Drenai novel.In the mountains of Skeln live Dakeyras and ...
8.5/10
Tales From Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin (Earthsea Saga)
Tales from Earthsea comprises of five magical stories of Earthsea, the realm created by master storyteller Ursula Le Guin. The stories help explain the mythology of Earthsea and fill in the gaps between the four prior stories, most notably between Tehanu and The Other Wind.This wonderful and enchanting collection includes essays on Earths...
9.0/10
The Crystal Shard by RA Salvatore (The Legend of Drizzt)
Ten-Towns is in peril. The mage Akar Kessel has set in motion events leasing to the discovery of the crystal shard, a magical device that might be capable of utterly defeating Ten-Towns. It is left to the dark elf Drizzt, the dwarf Bruenor and the barbarian Wulfgar to stave of the forces of the crystal shard.The Crystal Shard is a book th...
7.1/10
Guardians Of The West by David Eddings (The Malloreon)
The Malloreon begins three years after Garion defeated the evil Torak, a story told in the five books comprising The Belgariad. Garion is now Overlord of the West and when the Orb of Aldur warns him “Beware Zandramas” he discovers that a new danger is growing in the East. The Dark Prophecy still exists.The Belgariad was a pref...
7.6/10
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
The ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite Empire has splintered into decadent city-states lead by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, t...
8.3/10
Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness)
Wolf Brother is the first book of six and begins The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver.Torak is now alone and scared. His father is dead, slain by a demon in the form of a great bear. Torak must keep going; his only friend is another orphan, a small wolf cub. Evil stalks the forest and Torak must face a foe that stalks him ...
9.9/10
Into the Wild by Erin Hunter (Warrior Cats)
FOUR CLANS, ONE DESTINYInto the Wild is the first book in the popular Warrior Cars series. The four Clans have shared the forest for generations but ThunderClan’s territory is in danger as the sinister and mysterious ShadowClan grows stronger each day. Enter Rusty, a domestic house cat who may turn out to be the gre...
8.5/10
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett (The Discworld Series)
The Light Fantastic is the second Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett and picks up the story that was begun in The Colour of Magic.A red star has appeared in the sky and the Discworld is heading right towards it. There is only one person who can save the world; but unfortunately this is the rather inept and cowardly wizard called Rincewind...
8.5/10
Eldest by Christopher Paolini (The Inheritance Cycle)
Darkness falls…despair abounds…evil reigns…Eldest is the sequel to Eragon and is the second book in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle.Eragon and Saphira, saviours of the rebel state must travel to Ellesmera, a land of elves to complete their Dragon Rider training. A journey begins, full of adventure...
7.6/10
The Wounded Land by Stephen Donaldson (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever)
After Stephen Donaldson had completed the three books that made up The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant he had absolutely no intention whatsoever of writing any more stories featuring either the same character or setting."I had - and have - no interest in repeating myself. But I had an editor at the time (Lester del Rey) who belie...
9.6/10
Eragon by Christopher Paolini (The Inheritance Cycle)
When Eragon, a young farm-boy, discovers a polished stone in the forest his first thoughts are of selling it to feed his family. The stone turns out to be the home of a dragon hatchling and as Eragon secret ely raises it evil forces descend upon his family and he is thrown into a world of magic and power with only an ancient sword and a fledglin...
6.6/10
The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb (The Liveship Traders)
The Liveship Traders series continues with the second book, The Mad Ship. Althea Vestrit continues her quest to reclaim her rightful inheritance, the liveship Vivacia. The Vivacia has been seized by pirates led by the enigmatic Kennit, a man who believes that destiny leads him to become King of the Pirate Isles. The Vestrit family are nearing fi...
9.9/10
Castle Of Wizardry by David Eddings (The Belgariad)
Castle of Wizardry is the fourth book of the Belgariad. The Orb of Aldur has been retrieved but unless the company can escape from a crumbling enemy fortress of Rak Cthol and avoid the Murgo soldiers it would have all been for nothing. The meeting of the Child of Light and the Child of Dark looms nearer.This is a coming of age story for t...
7.5/10
Magicians Gambit by David Eddings (The Belgariad)
Magician's Gambit is the third book of the Belgariad. Two prophecies, made thousands of years ago are approaching and the moment is nigh when only one will hold true. Garion is only now beginning to understand the part that he will play in the future of the world.Magician’s Gambit begins with us seeing life through the eyes of P...
8.0/10
The Last Guardian by David Gemmell (Jon Shannow Novels)
Jon Shannow is the only one capable of finding the Sword of God that can close the gateway between the past and the present. The Stones of Power continues with The Last Guardian.Jon Shannow is a fantastic character, right up there with Druss and Waylander and the opening book, Wolf in Shadow saw Gemmell at his best. David Gemmell is a uni...
8.5/10
Prince Caspian by CS Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Prince Caspian, the unofficial, but official, highly debated sequel/non-sequel not really to The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, returns the four Pevensie children to the land of Narnia, thousands of years after the events of LW&W to discover that it is has become an entirely different place.Overrun by the Telmarines, Narnia is no...
9.0/10
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams (Memory Sorrow and Thorn)
The Dragonbone Chair chronicles the coming of age of Simon of Hayholt; from scullion boy, to sorcerer's apprentice and beyond. The book is broken into three story arch's: Simon Mooncalf, Simon Pilgrim and Simon Snowlock. The story encompasses the peoples of Ostren Ard and the return of one of the elf-like Sithi, the Storm Kin...
8.5/10
The Gunslinger by Stephen King (The Dark Tower series)
In his first step towards the powerful and mysterious Dark Tower, Roland encounters an alluring woman names Alice, begins a friendship with Jake, a kid from New York, and faces an agonizing choice between damnation and salvation as he pursues the Man in Black.Few books can grab you and draw you into them quite as quickly and comp...
9.6/10
Wolf In Shadow by David Gemmell (Jon Shannow Novels)
Armageddon had visited the world 300 years earlier and it is within this post-apocolyptic nightmare that we are introduced to the Jerusalem Man, Jon Shannow.The Lord of the Pit has taken Shannow's woman for blood sacrifice and the deadly warrior in now on their trail and intend on revenge.David Gemmell once again gives us a fas...
8.3/10
The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay (The Fionavar Tapestry)
The conclusion of Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry is reached with The Darkest Road.The five young hereos from our world go back to Fionavar to face the ultimate battle between good and evil. With only their new-found powers, courage and Arthur Pendragon to aid them, they must sail to meet the Unraveller, Rakoth Maugrim, for the fi...
8.5/10
The Power That Preserves by Stephen Donaldson (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever)
And so to an end came my re-read of the first trilogy in the Thomas Covenant chronicles. And I must say that it won me over in a way that it didn't first time around. I can put this simply down to the fact that I am much older, was able to appreciate the skill of the writing and, perhaps most importantly, I now have a vocabulary that is suff...
9.2/10
Nine Princes In Amber by Roger Zelazny (The Chronicles of Amber)
Amber is one real world, casting infinite reflections of itself - shadow worlds, which can be manipulated by those of royal Amberite blood. But the royal family is torn apart by jealousies and suspicion; the disappearance of the patriarch, Oberon has intensified the internal conflict by leaving the throne apparently up for grabs; and amnesia has...
8.4/10
The Colour Of Magic by Terry Pratchett (The Discworld Series)
Terry Pratchett's first Discworld novel, The Colour Of Magic is set on a world sitting on the backs of four elephants hurtling through space. Rincewind, the wizard and Twoflower, the Discworld's first tourist encounter DEATH and Hrun the Barbarian on their journey through the Discworld.Twoflower, and his menacing luggage ...
8.5/10
The Wandering Fire by Guy Gavriel Kay (The Fionavar Tapestry)
The Wandering Fire is the second volume in Guy Gavriel Kay's trilogy The Fionavar Tapestry. The five travellers are once again called back to the First of All Worlds to play out their given roles.The Wandering Fire is set six months after the events in The Summer Tree. Back in Toronto, Jennifer is expecting the god Rakoth Maugrim'...
8.5/10
The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay (The Fionavar Tapestry)
I've had several recommendations of Kay's work over the years from various people, usually very much of the sort of thing said in these reviews, "It's good solid fantasy" etc, so while I certainly wasn't against reading it, it wasn't exactly far up on my list either.My lady however recently read through the t...
8.8/10
Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind (The Sword of Truth Series)
Wizard's First Rule is the first book in Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth series.Richard Cypher holds the fate of three nations in his hands, he must learn the Wizard's First Rule to achieve his goals. The heart hounds are stalking the humans, blood sucking flies are abound and nowhere is safe. Magic makes love stronger and...
8.1/10
Waylander by David Gemmell (The Drenai Novels)
Waylander, published in 1986, was David Gemmell's third book. Once again set in the land of the Drenai in which Gemmell brings us his best known anti-hero, Waylander.The King of the Drenai is dead and troops are invading the Drenai lands killing men, women and children. The hopes of the Drenai are with one man - Waylander - the traito...
9.0/10
Legend by David Gemmell (The Drenai Novels)
David Gemmell is unquestionably one of my favourite fantasy authors. For the past 25 years his books have been read and re-read and I am still not weary of them, and I hope that will always be the case. Some Gemmell books I read as a teenager and so I was interested in seeing whether my now older, more cynical self, could derive the same am...
9.8/10
Knights of Dark Renown by David Gemmell (The Drenai Novels)
David Gemmell’s Knights of Dark Renown is an addition to the author’s Drenai series but is a stand alone novel in its own right. If you have not read any other books in the series, there is not need to worry as this is not necessary to fully enjoy this title. Gemmell is back on excellent form and this is a tale of heroic fantasy, mag...
8.1/10
The Legend Of Deathwalker by David Gemmell (The Drenai Novels)
The Legend Of Deathwalker is part of David Gemmell's Drenai series and was first published in the U.K. in 1996.The Nadir are dreaming of the Uniter, the Great One, who will bring the tribes together and end their brutal oppression at the hands of the Gothir. Talisman, a Nadir who attended a military academy in Gothir, is seeking the l...
8.0/10
The Lair Of Bones by David Farland (Runelords)
The Lair of Bones is the fourth installment in David Farland's Runelords series. Although not the last book in the series this does bring the curtain down of the tales of Gaborn and Iome.Once again Farland writes a fast paced, almost screen-play style story that makes enjoyable reading. If you have read and enjoyed the three books pri...
7.7/10
Wizardborn by David Farland (Runelords)
Wizard Born is the third book in David Farland’s Runelord’s fantasy series. This book follows on from the events in The Sum of All Men and Brotherhood of the Wolf.The reavers have been temporarily defeated and are in retreat. Raj Ahten’s own forces are turning against him and Lord Anders is building a force to defeat Kin...
8.0/10
Brotherhood Of The Wolf by David Farland (Runelords)
Brotherhood Of The Wolf is the second book in David Farland's Runelords series. The second of three books, the story continues on from The Sum of All Men and continues in Wizard Born.The Sum of All Men was an excellent book, original, exciting and an extremely rewarding read. Brotherhood of the Wolf continues the story.Gaborn, ...
8.0/10
The Sum of All Men by David Farland (Runelords)
The Sum of all Men is the first book in David Farland’s Runelords series. The first of three books, the story continues in Brotherhood of the Wolf and Wizard Born.This novel is different to anything I had read before. The main feature that stood out for me was the use of runes to give Runelords and also ordinary men greater power. T...
9.0/10
Silverthorn by Raymond E Feist (Riftwar Saga)
I will admit I was not a huge fan of Magician, so I was not overly eager to return to Midkemia which is why it has taken me so long to read Silverthorn. Nevertheless, since I have had some very solid recommendations for later books in the series, I thought I should get back to wading through the earlier ones, after all, presumably matters were g...
6.3/10
Gardens Of The Moon by Steven Erikson (A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen)
"In the years and many novels since, certain facts have made themselves plain. Beginning with Gardens of the Moon, readers will either hate my stuff or love it. There’s no in-between. Naturally, I’d rather everyone loved it, but I understand this will never be the case. These are not lazy books. You can’t float through, yo...
9.2/10
Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings (The Belgariad)
Queen of Sorcery is the second book in David Edding's fantasy series The Belgariad. The book follows on from the events in Pawn of Prophecy.Zedar, priest of Torak has stolen the Orb of Aldur and Belgarath (Mister Wolf), Polgara (Aunt Pol), Garion and their friends are following him across Arendia, Tolnedra and Nyissa.This story...
8.0/10
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings (The Belgariad)
Magic old and new awaits the world when Riva’s Orb is stolen from its Guardian. Sleeping Gods that should be left to lie begin to awaken with consequences for all. Prophecies ruin and dominions eye will fall upon the men of the West if Ancient Belgarath, Polgara and Garion can’t return the Orb to its rightful place.Let’s...
8.8/10
The Illearth War by Stephen Donaldson (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever)
Thomas Covenant finds himself once again summoned to the Land. The Council of Lords needed him to move against Foul the Despiser who holds the Illearth Stone, ancient source of evil power. But although Thomas Covenant has the legendary ring, he doesn't know how to use its strength, and risks losing everything...The Illearth W...
9.0/10
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever)
Thomas Covenant. Arguably one of the most famous names in fantasy, but not all who know it love it. Whether it is due to the Covenant character himself, or simply as a response to the series as a whole, readers find themselves often divided in their opinions: Some love it, some hate it. But few dismiss it. And it should not be forgotten that The...
9.5/10
The Children Of Hurin by JRR Tolkien
When you begin reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s work many start with The Hobbit and then move on to The Lord of the Rings. That is often the extent to many people’s Tolkien-intake – and it’s certainly the easiest route to take, for if you take even a one step more,Now far ahead the Road has g...
8.3/10
The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe by CS Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Heralded as one of the most enchanting and well written stories of our time The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe was the first published story about the magical land of Narnia.Set in London in the Blitz in 1950 four children are sent out of the city and into the country while the war effort is fought by their parents. Staying with an ol...
9.8/10
A Clash Of Kings by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire)
A Clash of Kings, book two of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, is the follow-up to George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones.Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark are dead; the crown rests with King Joffrey but Robb Stark, Stannis Baratheon and Renly Baratheon all lay claim. The comet in the sky is seen as a sign of war and incest, frat...
9.0/10
A Game Of Thrones by George RR Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire)
As warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must ... and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty. The old gods have no power in the south, Stark's family is split and there is treachery at cour...
9.5/10
Duncton Wood by William Horwood (The Duncton Chronicles)
Duncton Wood is the moving love story of Bracken and Rebecca and the trials they must face and overcome to be as one. It is unfortunate that this work must be compared to Watership Down but that is the only book with which I can really compare it to in terms of story-line and excellence. This book is about moles and unlike anything you have ever...
9.6/10
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb (The Farseer Trilogy)
The Realm of the Underlings is a recommended fantasy series.Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb is the first book in her acclaimed work, The Farseer Trilogy. First published in 1995, and followed by ...
9.2/10
Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb (The Farseer Trilogy)
"We are here, Fitz, you and I, to change the future of the world..."Royal Assassin is the second book in Robin Hobb's fantasy series The Farseer Trilogy and follows on from the events in Assassin's Apprentice.The book begins precisely where we left off and FitzChivalry is slowly recovering from the poision adminis...
9.2/10
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb (The Liveship Traders)
The Ship of Magic is book one of the Liveship Traders trilogy written by Robin Hobb. First published in 1998, the series is set far to the south of The Six Duchies, the setting for the excellent Farseer Trilogy.After having read and thoroughly enjoyed the Farseer trilogy I was expecting more of the same again. I was not disappointed; in f...
9.7/10
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld was first released in 1974 and has become one of the most endearing and enduring fantasy novels of the past fifty years. Patricia McKillip has written a book that is amongst many fantasy readers’ favourite possessions. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld won the World Fantasy Award for best novel in 1975.The Forg...
9.2/10
Magician by Raymond E Feist (Riftwar Saga)
The story begins in Crydee, a frontier outpost in the Kingdom of the Isles. An orphaned young boy named Pug becomes a master magician’s apprentice and two world’s destinies are forever changed. The peace that he has known all his short life disappears and is replaced by war in the shape of invaders from another world. A magically cre...
9.0/10
The Other Wind by Ursula Le Guin (Earthsea Saga)
This is another wonderful book from Ursula Le Guin. Exploring themes such as fear of death and belief in reincarnation. This is not a fantasy book full of large battles and insurmountable odds but a book about people and how they live life, deal with grief and try to make the right choices when they are presented.The sorcerer Alder dreams...
9.0/10
Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson (A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen)
Deadhouse Gates continues the Malazan Book of the Fallen, a story begun in the wonderful Gardens of the Moon.There are characters that are familiar to us from the first book of this series, Garden of the Moon. Kalam, Fiddler, Apsalar and Crokus have their stories further explored here and we are also introduced to new characters such as t...
9.2/10
The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula Le Guin (Earthsea Saga)
The Earthsea Quartet brings together Ursula Le Guin’s four legendary Earthsea sagas for the first time in a single volume. The novels belong to the high fantasy genre and follow a young boy from the discovery of his magecraft through to him becoming the greatest mage of all time. The four books are: A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan...
10.0/10
Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson (A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen)
Memories of Ice is the third book of the series entitled A Tale of the Malazan Book of The Fallen. It follows directly after the events of the first book, Gardens of the Moon, and runs concurrently to the events in the second book, Deadhouse Gates.The continent of Grenabackis, setting for Gardens of the Moon is returned to for Memories of...
9.8/10
Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb (The Farseer Trilogy)
" We are here, Fitz, you and I, to change the future of the world... "Keystone. Gate. Crossroads. Catalyst. Fitz is about to discover the truth about the Fool's prophecy. Having been resurrected from his fatal tortures in Regal's dungeons, Fitz has once more foiled Regal's attempts to be rid of him. Now, back in his ...
9.8/10
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is one of the best known and best loved fantasy books. First published by George Allen & Unwin in 1937, The Hobbit has been translated into over 50 different languages and sold well over 100 million copies. The Hobbit was written by Professor Tolkien for the reading pleasure of his own children, of whom ...
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The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power, the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring, the ring that rules them all, which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with a...
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