“Anger is like fire. Let it burn unwatched, and it will hurt you. Use it wisely, and it becomes what gods intended it to be: fortitude.” Sci-Fi meets Fantasy ✓ Hero’s Journey ✓ Charming Characters ✓ Kristian del Rosso has led a quiet life, burying himself in research and teaching at the University of St…
Shadowmarch – Tad Williams (Shadowmarch #1)
“Most dreadful of all, as she lay with her shivering children on the cold ground just outside the murdered town, she could hear the destroyers of everything she had, and they were singing. Their voices were painfully lovely. Darkness claimed her then, but only for a while.” High Fantasy ✓ Slow Storytelling ✓ Strong Emotions…
Skyward – Brandon Sanderson (The Skyward Series #1)
So what’s the book about? For hundreds of years, young Spensa’s world has been under attack by the Krell – only the fleet of spaceship pilots still stands between the superior aliens and the humans. High up in the stars, protecting her homeland as a pilot is all Spensa has ever dreamed of. But her…
The Collarbound – Rebecca Zahabi (#1)
“Secrets are more precious than money. They’re the currency of power.” So what’s the book about? On the other side of the Shadowpass, rebellion is brewing and refugees have begun to trickle into the city at the edge of the world. Looming high on the cliff is The Nest, a fortress full of mages who…
The Wolf of Oren-Yaro – K. S. Villoso (Chronicles of the Bitch Queen #1)
“I liked smiles. In my world, they could mean anything: a hidden joke to a friend, a threat to an enemy. There are songs written about my smiles and what usually comes after them.” So what’s the book about? Born under the crumbling towers of Oren-yaro, Queen Talyien was the shining jewel and legacy of…
Gardens of the Moon – Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen #1)
“Ambition is not a dirty word. Piss on compromise. Go for the throat.” So what’s the book about? The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the…
The Children of Gods and Fighting Men – Shauna Lawless (Gael Song #1)
““The right?” My voice rose. “The air we breathe gives me the right, the soil beneath my feet. I am born of this land, just as you are.““ So what’s the book about? They think they’ve killed the last of us… 981 AD. The Viking King of Dublin is dead. His young widow, Gormflaith, has…
Empire of Grass – Tad Williams (The Last King of Osten Ard #2)
“Saying peace never lasts, or that an empire must grow or die, is like saying that only birth and death matter,” she told him. “Most of life is not part of either, but what comes between–the simple hard work of living.” So what’s the book about? Danger lurks on all sides in Osten Ard. King…
The Hand of the Sun King – J.T. Greathouse (Pact and Pattern #1)
“Magic could reshape the world. Its power was undeniable. It needed no argument to bolster it, nor any faith to make it true.” So what’s the book about? All my life, I have been torn between two legacies: that of my father, whose roots trace back to the right hand of the Emperor. That of…
The Dragon’s Path – Daniel Abraham (The Dagger and the Coin #1)
“There’s ways you can trust an enemy you can’t always trust a friend. An enemy’s never going to betray your trust.” So what’s the book about? Captain Marcus Wester has a tough past behind him. He has learned one thing above all else: in the end, only survival counts. For him, it is time to…
The Reading Stray 