Books shelved under “Fantasy”

Short story collections are, as I always say at the start of every review of one, a hard sell for me. I love novels. Indeed, I identified a lot with what Samantha Mills says in her afterword about writing long novels in her youth and only recently getting around to learning how to short story. That’s true for me as a writer and a reader. Nevertheless, I liked The Wings Upon Her Back enough that…

A friend lent A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping to me, and I was worried it wouldn’t be me for me—it would be too cutesy, too romancey, for my tastes (I am such a snob). Sangu Mandanna sure schooled me! This was a delightful fantasy, and while events towards the end belie its “cozy” status, I do think that label generally describes it well.

I really want to discuss the ending of this book, so…

Spotlight on Keza, and I couldn’t be happier. I love her irascibility as a cover for her loneliness and trauma. Claudie Arseneault’s talent for assembling an ensemble cast of complementary characters is one of the strengths of Chronicles of Nerezia. Now, in Lost Traditions, we get a close-up on Keza and some of her concerns. I received an eARC in exchange for a review.

The Wagon crew are nearing their destination and hoping—Aliyah…

With just a few historical novels, Kate Quinn has skyrocketed to the top of my list of contemporary authors to buy. The Astral Library came as a very welcome surprise to me. It’s quite different fare from Quinn’s other work—more fantasy than history, though with a few historical elements, to be sure. It didn’t impress me as much as I was expecting, yet that’s because Quinn has done so well for me in the past;…

After a two-book hiatus, Bob Howard returns as the narrator and main character (albeit as more of an ensemble, with Mo in a prominent role) to the Laundry Files. The Delirium Brief deals with the fallout from The Nightmare Stacks in a satisfying way as Charles Stross emphasizes that there is no going back for these characters: the world as we know it has changed, forever. The climax of the story and the fallout…

I tried and failed to read Haruki Murakami’s latest novel, so I wanted to fall back to something uncomplicated. Raymond E. Feist’s portrayal of women is at about the same level as Murakami, and his writing is definitely on the less complicated side—but if you know what you’re getting, King of Ashes will give it to you.

In yet another generic fantasy world, King of Ashes follows two main protagonists: Declan and Hatushaly (aka Hatu).…

I love how I’m always talking in reviews of previous books that I can’t wait to read the next book, then I go ahead and wait over two years, lol, what even is time. Human Rites is the exciting, bombastic conclusion to Juno Dawson’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven trilogy. Despite not remembering much of the previous book, I was able to get into this one very easily, and aside from a few minor quibbles, I…

Slightly less than a year ago, I read the first book in this two-book omnibus edition: Sing the Four Quarters. It was a great little fantasy novel that only made Tanya Huff rise in my estimations as a reader. Though I didn’t love Fifth Quarter quite as much, I still enjoyed it.

The two stories are set in the same universe but not directly related, so no spoilers per se for the first book!

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Here we go! This is the first of the new-to-me Laundry Files books I ordered last year so I could catch up. Having finished my rereads of the earlier books, I eagerly picked up The Nightmare Stacks when I next wanted a reset. Charles Stross has shared how he needed to change up the viewpoint protagonist of the series for a few reasons. Alex Schwartz is an interesting successor to Bob and Mo, and he’s…

You know your girl loves a time loop. So when I realized one of my favourite contemporary authors wrote a time-travel secondary world fantasy, my jaw dropped. Has Christmas come early?? The Everlasting, Alix E. Harrow’s latest, might be my favourite novel from her thus far (I would have to reread The Once and Future Witches to be sure). Despite being in no uncertain terms a romance, its time-travel mechanics are timey wimey in…

Sometimes you can’t shake the idea that you’ve forgotten something. In Ruined History, the sixth book of The Chronicles of Nerezia, this feeling haunts Aliyah quite literally. As they navigate the expectations placed upon them by friends and foe, they learn a lot about themselves—but there is still so much missing. Claudie Arseneault’s storytelling continues to be a fun combination of thoughtful, creative, and fulfilling. I received an eARC in exchange for a (long…

Memory has always fascinated me. I consider myself someone of below-average recall: my memories feel hazy, disordered, disappointing. The chance to revisit some of my memories with perfect fidelity on a big screen? Wow. The Second Chance Cinema is that rare novel with a perfect premise for me. Thea Weiss sets it up so neatly: a couple, engaged, stumbling on a mysterious movie theatre. Alas, the secrets they’ve kept are more banal than bombastic, and…

Every so often I read a book I had convinced myself I was excited to read only to discover I wasn’t. Not “I was excited but this book let me down” but rather “I thought I was excited, and now I realize that excitement was something else all along!” That, unfortunately, is the fate of Queen Demon by Martha Wells. I received an eARC from NetGalley and Tor in exchange for a review, and I…

I requested the eARC for Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World purely on the basis of its title, and Mark Waddell did not disappoint. This is a book that delivers exactly what I expected—which is to say, I knew going in that this book would not be groundbreaking in any way, and that’s fine. It was exactly the kind of absurdist fantasy I was hoping for.

Colin is a low-level employee of Dark Enterprises,…

Um, OK. Wow. Rude. Seriously, it’s so inconsiderate of C.L. Clark to just go and write a gut-punch of a concluding volume to this incredible trilogy. This is one of my favourite modern epic fantasy series, and if you haven’t picked up The Unbroken or The Faithless yet, then run, don’t walk to your nearest indie bookshop or library because wow. I’m giving this book five stars and actually retroactively want to go back…

After reading Renegades and Archenemies back to back last year, I slept on borrowing the final book in Marissa Meyer’s superhero trilogy. But no more! Supernova is an explosive conclusion to this story, and while it is far from surprising, it is definitely satisfying.

Spoilers for the first two books but not this one.

The Renegades are recovering from an attack on their headquarters. Max Everhart, the young adopted son of Captain Chromium and the…

The renaissance of fantasy continues in The Faithless, the second book of C.L. Clark’s explosive Magic of the Lost series. When I read The Unbroken last year, I was stunned. Finally, I was sinking my teeth into some proper postcolonial secondary world fantasy. The Faithless continues this trend. If anything, Clark seems even more at home in this story—no second-book syndrome here—pushing plots and characters forward while never failing to leave our protagonists…

Alix E. Harrow is fast becoming an instant buy for me. First, I love that her books are standalone novels. Second, I love that each one feels fresh and different yet retain her signature style. Third … her books are just really good! While she has yet to garner a five-star rating from me, there’s a consistency to my enjoyment of her work that I appreciate. Starling House is no exception: it is a solid,…

Unexpectedly healing and wholesome, Lessons in Magic and Disaster is queer, witchy, and compassionate in just the right amounts. Anders manages to acknowledge the effects of intergenerational trauma while at the same time holding characters to account for their individual bullshit. I received an eARC from NetGalley and Tor in exchange for a review.

Jamie is a graduate student writing her thesis on a fictional novel (Emily) by a real eighteenth-century novelist (Sarah…

If I claimed to remember anything of Baker Thief, Claudie Arseneault’s aspec mystery romp involving a genderfluid baker, I would be lying. Five years is too long for this reader to remember details of books. Nevertheless, when Arseneault announced a sequel to this story, I jumped at the chance to read a review copy. Painted Flock is just as enjoyable and fun as my review of Baker Thief tells me I found that book.…