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Review: Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
Godkiller is a wonderful debut by Hannah Kaner. The narrative is split into four narrators: Kissen, the eponymous Godkiller; Elogost retired Knight of King Arren; Inara, orphaned noble who has been cloistered so far in her life and is bonded with Skediceth a small god of white lies. Kissen and Ianara are thrown together when Inara’s world collapses. Oh how did I love this novel. This world is dark and frightening. Gods are real and they can grow to be exceedingly powerful depending on how much belief they receive. Some years prior to the novel the humans rebelled against the gods that had become too powerful, or too wild…
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Review: The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai
This is a helluva novel to wake up to the new year with. The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai is an absolutely gripping fantasy novel set in an alternate Egypt with a feminist agenda front and centre. Nehal and Giorgina are in different social classes but both feel the oppressive weight of a society where a woman does not have the vote, where she is the possession of her father and can be sold into marriage. Add in the magic for this world where elements can be controlled by weavers. Water, earth, air and fire can all be controlled by adepts with talented weaver specialising further. Prior to the…
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Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect with this. I was won over by Heather Fawcett’s promise of Faeries (spelt the way I like too). Emily Wilde is a scholar. An expert in the Fae and her life’s work has been the compiling of her Encyclopedia. The novel takes the form of her journal with footnotes included. This, the first in what I hope will become a series details Emily’s expedition to study the folk of Ljosland. She is single-minded when it comes to her research, hyperfocusing on her studies. Her rival at Cambridge is the effortlessly successful Wendell Bambleby. Where Emily is methodical and diligent with her eyes on…
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Review: The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
The Witch and the Tsar is perfect winter reading and I enjoyed it very much. Set in the Russia of Ivan the Terrible. He is the Tsar that the witch Yaga is pitched against in the title. This folklore retelling of Baba Yaga mythos is engaging and dramatic. If you’ve been reading my reviews you know I have a soft spot for feminst retellings of traditionally vilified women characters and The Witch and the Tsar does this really well. Yaga is a demi god, daughter of Mokosh. She is a Vedmar (witch) a healer and midwife she travels from place to place. Until she is called out in this christianised…
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Review: Where it Rains in Color by Denise Crittendon
Denise Crittendon has created a vivid sci-fi world where melanin bearers are highly prized and the lead character Lileala is the rare indigo who is a figurehead for her people chosen for her beauty and her ability to shimmer. At the beginning of the novel Lileala is a bit of a pampered brat. She has been chosen to be the rare indigo a symbol of beauty and grace, although one without a voice. The previous rare indigo Ahonotay had abdicated her role many decades ago and has retreated from all society leaving a void and much expectation on the new rare indigo. All is going well until Lileala comes down…
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Review: Loki by Melvin Burgess
It is almost like this was written for me. I am a sucker for Norse retellings. Doubly so when they are from Loki’s point of view. And this is a retelling of the Norse Myths from Loki’s point of view so obviously I am here for it. Loki is always a figure of fascination, as a trickster and purveyor of chaos and often being the villian of the piece. Melvin Burgess here gives Loki a voice and a chance to intepret the norse myths his way. This is an earthy retelling, bodily functions and plenty of bedroom shenanigans including the weird things that gods of several mythologies like to do…
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Review: Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell
Ocean’s Echo is the second novel set in the same universe as Winter’s Orbit, but with new characters and new drama. The headline of this review is that I adored it. It is full of themes that I really got behind. Consent, mental control, neurological modifications and the ethics surrounding them. We are first introduced to Tennal. He is an extroverted disaster zone. He’s contrary, rebellious, charismatic, and the nephew of the Legislator, one of Orshan’s senior political figures. At the beginning of the novel, he is slumming it in a gambling den hiring himself out as a reader. Second generation of the orginal neuro-modded humans. He can read minds…
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Review: Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
Kaikeyi is a beautifully written retelling of the Ramanayan from Kaikeyi’s point of view. We follow her through from childhood to adulthood. There is a feminist angle to the story. Her desire to be more than society expects her to be and also improve things for other women. It’s written in the first person so it is her voice she is telling us her story and it is one that had me from the opening chapter. I’m not overly familiar with Hindu mythology but this was a story I couldn’t get enough of and sped through ravenously. I needed to know how KaiKeyi would react and what she would do…
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Review: Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowen
First thoughts, oh my word such an effective and beautifully written novel. The prose is evocative and emotive and l was drawn into the world that Natasha Bowen has created. It is the second novel in a series and despite the potential drawbacks to a quick immersion into the world, any gaps in my knowledge were filled in deftly. What we have is Simidele our protagonist. A Mami Wata who at the beginning of the novel is trapped in service to a god of the dead. Simi is a wonderful protagonist. She is forever trying to do what is right whether that bodes good or ill for her. Her desire…
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Review: The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H. G. Parry
Charley and Rob are brothers with an awkward past. Charley a former child prodigy with the very unique ability that he can read characters out of books and have them appear in ort world. This concept I found utterly delightful, not least the opportunity to meet some of your favourite characters in the flesh. However, for Rob its something of an embarrassment, his brother is deliberately ruining his life and always has done. Especially as Rob is a Solicitor and has a serious life that he has built with his partner Lydia. The brothers are not close and Charley feels like the kind of vague professor who is so much…
