Books shelved under “Fantasy”

Technically a part of the Laundry Files universe, Dead Lies Dreaming is the first in a spinoff trilogy called The New Management, and it shows. I respect what I think Charles Stross is trying to do here, but I enjoyed this book a lot less than previous Laundry Files books, and this review will mostly be an explanation why.

Wendy Darling is an ex–police officer now working for a private security company. Imp is…

I was a huge fan of M.A. Carrick’s Rook and Rose trilogy, starting with The Mask of Mirrors. So when I heard this duo had the first book in a new series coming out, I ran to request it over at NetGalley. Thanks to Orbit for providing a review eARC!

It’s the turn of the seventeenth century, Spain. Except this is a Spain in a world where faeries are real, and if you sail…

I was very impressed by C.L. Polk’s Kingston Cycle of novels, starting with Witchmark, and I absolutely adored The Midnight Bargain, so when I heard they had a new standalone fantasy novel, I was feral about it. I somehow missed that it was an IP novel. Oddly enough, while I have been D&D adjacent my entire life, I have never actually played D&D, and in general I don’t read tie-in novels. Occasionally, I…

This is the successor anthology to the original Common Bonds, and it is a worthy one! This collection comprises nineteen stories and poems, all of which have an arospec protagonist or arospec themes of some kind.

As always, I struggle to review anthologies, especially when it’s a collection of works by multiple authors. It’s hard to single any one out, either for praise or criticism! In the case of Common Bonds 2, however,…

Umm, all I really want to say is give me more, please! I don’t remember how A Master of Djinn got on my to-read list, but I devoured this alternate history fantasy novel set in a 1912 Cairo where djinn walk the Earth. P. Djèlí Clark and his protagonist, Fatma el-Sha’arawi,

In this world, a mysterious figure named al-Jahiz returned magic to the world a half-century prior, changing everything. Djinn of varying abilities and…

Reluctantly coming to the conclusion Kiersten White’s books just might not be for me. The Fox and the Devil had exciting potential: a sapphic historical murder mystery with loose ties to Dracula? I was sold. However, the storytelling is so-so and the romance and characterization, while diverse and at times interesting, didn’t maintain my level of excitement.

Anneke van Helsing works, on occasion, with the Amsterdam police to solve bizarre murders. Years of studying…

This was very nearly a five-star book for me right until the end. Read on to find out why it was not! I don’t remember how I learned about The Will of the Many, but it has been on my to-read list for a bit, and I was craving a very classical epic fantasy story, and my library had it available, so here we are. I was very nervous going in—male author, male protagonist,…

It was time to treat myself to more candy with my next new-to-me Laundry Files novel: The Labyrinth Index continues the mission of moving beyond Bob and even Mo’s perspectives as the Laundry goes global. It’s really fun to see how Charles Stross changes up each book to keep the series fresh. I found this one a little less exciting than The Delirium Brief and some of the other entries in this series, hence the…

I’ve had this on my shelf for a while and am so glad I finally got around to it. Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a delightful standalone fantasy by Emma Törzs. It blends a lot of common tropes and motifs—family ties, the weight of inheritances, magical libraries—while also telling a unique story about standing up to (and standing in) power.

Joanna and Esther are half-sisters who have been semi-estranged for years. Joanna stays put at…

If you had told me I would be reading another anthology so soon, I would have chortled incredulously, yet here we are. Amal El-Mohtar has put out Seasons of Glass and Iron, collecting eighteen previously published stories and poems. I bought it because I loved her novella from last year, The River Has Roots and have previously enjoyed some of her short stories, including some from this collection. If you are looking for atmospheric…

Last year around this time, I enjoyed A Palace Near the Wind. A River from the Sky is the essential and satisfying conclusion to this duology. I received an eARC from Titan Books and NetGalley in return for a review.

Literally picking up where the first novella leaves off, A River from the Sky follows Lufeng’s attempt to flee with her siblings and reunite with her sister, Sangshu. Lufeng wants to tear down the…

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…