Category Archives: Book Reviews

The Bitter Fruit of War – The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis

Posted on September 9, 2021 by H.P.

The Coldest War is book 2 in alternate history series The Milkweed Triptych, and the sequel to Bitter Seeds.  If you’ve come here to decide whether to read Bitter Seeds—do it!—I’ll still be here when you get back.  If you’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternate History, Book Reviews | Tagged , | 6 Comments

The Bitter Fruit of War – Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

Posted on August 31, 2021 by H.P.

British sorcerers versus German supermen in an alternate history WWII: what’s not to love?  Actually, the premise left me nonplussed initially.  Sorcerers v. supermen seems a little like grist for post-role-playing discussions turned story premise for nothing more than the … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternate History, Book Reviews | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Throwback SF Thursday: The Verdant Passage by Troy Denning

Posted on August 26, 2021 by H.P.

Troy Denning was one of the primary game designer for Dungeons & Dragons’ Dark Sun setting, so it is no surprise he got tapped to pen the first Dark Sun novel, The Verdant Passage.  Dark Sun is one of D&D’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy, Throwback SF | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Review of Starlight Enclave by R.A. Salvatore

Posted on August 10, 2021 by H.P.

Tolkien was my real gateway into fantasy.  But like a lot of kids in the 80s and 90s, a huge part of my fantasy reading was devoted to D&D tie-in novels.  Outside of the Dragonlance Chronicles, R.A. Salvatore was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Throwback SF Thursday: Scott Oden Presents The Lost Empire of Sol: A Shared World Anthology of Sword and Planet Tales, edited by Jason M. Waltz and Fletcher Vredenburgh

Posted on July 30, 2021 by H.P.

Can writers today still produce stuff with the verve and the flavor—the outright joy—of the pulp and pulpy tales of yesteryear?  The Lost Empire of Sol is evidence they can.  A collection of otherwise unconnected tales set in a far-future, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Throwback SF | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Throwback SF Thursday: Conan the Rogue by John Maddox Roberts

Posted on June 10, 2021 by H.P.

John Maddox Roberts is probably my favorite of the Conan pastiche authors, but Conan the Rogue isn’t my favorite of his Conan books.  It is a fun book, and the concept of Conan as the greatest rogue of all in … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy, Throwback SF | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Review of The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

Posted on May 25, 2021 by H.P.

Buehlman had me at “stag-sized battle ravens.”  That alone was enough to make me jump at an ARC of The Blacktongue Thief when offered one by the publisher.  And we do indeed get a giant warbird (if not quite so … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Bardugo Caps One of the Best YA Series of the Young Century with Ruin and Rising

Posted on March 23, 2021 by H.P.

“I am not ruined.  I am ruination.” Ruin and Rising brings Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy to a close.  I was in at the ground floor, reading the first and second books right around the time they came out.  I inexplicably … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Siege and Storm is The Empire Strikes Back of the Grisha Trilogy

Posted on March 9, 2021 by H.P.

Siege and Storm is the second book in The Grisha Trilogy and the follow-up to Bardugo’s very promising debut, Shadow and Bone.  Rest assured there is no sophomore slump.  The second act of a trilogy can be the high point … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Shadow and Bone is an Inspired, and Russian-Inspired, Fantasy

Posted on February 23, 2021 by H.P.

Alina, an orphan turned military cartographer, has her life changed forever when her military unit attempts a crossing of the Fold, a mysterious, flesh-eating monster-filled swath of darkness that cuts her home country off from vital sea trade.  The army’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy | Tagged , , | 8 Comments