Tag: Dark fantasy

The New World – Mark Lawrence

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So, the other day on Twitter, Mark Lawrence asked if there were any bloggers interested in reading a new novella featuring Jal & Snorri, the two main characters from his Red Queen’s War trilogy.

My hand shot up like a kid who FINALLY knew an answer in class!

It’s wild to think that Mark Lawrence has four completed trilogies out in the world, but there it is. He’s one of my absolute favorite authors, and while Book of the Ancestor is currently my most favorite of his, The Red Queen’s War has a very special place in my heart. Lawrence’s humor comes through in all of his work, but The Red Queen’s War books are for sure his funniest. Of course they are also beautifully written, bloody & brutal, and insanely gut-punchy & emotional. But still fucking hilarious.

The New World is going to be included with the upcoming Grim Oak Press omnibus edition of The Red Queen’s War (I may or may not have shamed my sister into pre-ordering it for my birthday that just went by), but I couldn’t pass up the chance to reconnect with Jal & Snorri, one of the most memorable fantasy duos of ever!!

(Oh, if you haven’t read The Broken Empire and The Red Queen’s War trilogies…this might be a bit spoilery)

The New World finds Jal & Snorri reunited, and boarding a ship to set sail for the New World (which, if I’m understanding my Broken Empire geography, would be somewhere in North America). There’s a small crew aboard the ship, some familiar faces, some new. Jalan is now a cardinal, yet another job for which he seems rather ill-suited. But he’s happy, thrilled to be together with Snorri, and adventure is in the air.

Then they set sail and it’s one fucking nightmare after another.

Jalan is no great lover of the sea, but they have a very long voyage ahead of them. Like…long to the point where Jalan tries making stew out of old boot leather.

*ahem*

This is just a fun story, and it thrilled me to get to see Jal & Snorri together again! It has everything you’d want in a nautical fantasy tale…mutinies, funerals at sea, pirates, epic bad weather, puking, hardtack…The New World has got it all!

This is a quick story you could read in one sitting, but one of the most exciting things about it is the introduction by Lawrence. He mentions that while The New World stands on its own (it does), it was written as the begging of a new Jal & Snorri novel!

*dies*

Maybe that novel gets finished someday, and maybe it doesn’t. Either way, it was great to catch up with these two! I think Jalan Kendeth will forever be Lawrence’s funniest & most surprising character. And Snorri…oof…an over-sized Viking with a heart to match…they were the unlikeliest of duos, and the friendship that developed between them is one of my favorites in all the fantasy books I’ve read.

Thanks so much to Mark Lawrence for sending me a digital copy of The New World!!

Cursed – Various

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ALL THE BETTER TO READ YOU WITH

It’s a prick of blood, the bite of an apple, the evil eye, a wedding ring or a pair of red shoes. Curses come in all shapes and sizes, and they can happen to anyone, not just those of us with unpopular stepparents… 

Here you’ll find unique twists on curses, from fairy tale classics to brand-new hexes of the modern world – expect new monsters and mythologies as well as twists on well-loved fables. Stories to shock and stories of warning, stories of monsters and stories of magic. Continue reading “Cursed – Various” →

The Wolf of Oren-Yaro – K. S. Villoso

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Born under the crumbling towers of her kingdom, Queen Talyien was the shining jewel and legacy of the bloody War of the Wolves. It nearly tore her nation apart. But her arranged marriage to the son of a rival clan heralds peace.

However, he suddenly disappears before their reign can begin, and the kingdom is fractured beyond repair.

Years later, he sends a mysterious invitation to meet. Talyien journeys across the sea in hopes of reconciling their past. An assassination attempt quickly dashes those dreams. Stranded in a land she doesn’t know, with no idea whom she can trust, Talyien will have to embrace her namesake. Continue reading “The Wolf of Oren-Yaro – K. S. Villoso” →

The Bone Ships – RJ Barker

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For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war.

The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted.

Now the first dragon in centuries has been spotted in far-off waters, and both sides see a chance to shift the balance of power in their favour. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory, but the war. Continue reading “The Bone Ships – RJ Barker” →

Come Tumbling Down – Seanan McGuire

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When Jack left Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister―whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice―back to their home on the Moors.

But death in their adopted world isn’t always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.

Eleanor West’s “No Quests” rule is about to be broken.

Again. Continue reading “Come Tumbling Down – Seanan McGuire” →

Ship of Smoke and Steel – Django Wexler

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In the lower wards of Kahnzoka, the great port city of the Blessed Empire, eighteen-year-old ward boss Isoka enforces the will of her criminal masters with the power of Melos, the Well of Combat. The money she collects goes to keep her little sister living in comfort, far from the bloody streets they grew up on.

When Isoka’s magic is discovered by the government, she’s arrested and brought to the Emperor’s spymaster, who sends her on an impossible mission: steal Soliton, a legendary ghost ship―a ship from which no one has ever returned. If she fails, her sister’s life is forfeit.

On board Soliton, nothing is as simple as it seems. Isoka tries to get close to the ship’s mysterious captain, but to do it she must become part of the brutal crew and join their endless battles against twisted creatures. She doesn’t expect to have to contend with feelings for a charismatic fighter who shares her combat magic, or for a fearless princess who wields an even darker power. Continue reading “Ship of Smoke and Steel – Django Wexler” →

An Artificial Night – Seanan McGuire

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Changeling knight in the court of the Duke of Shadowed Hills, October “Toby” Daye has survived numerous challenges that would destroy fae and mortal alike. Now Toby must take on a nightmarish new assignment.

Someone is stealing both fae and mortal children—and all signs point to Blind Michael. When the young son of Toby’s closest friends is snatched from their Northern California home, Toby has no choice but to track the villains down, even when there are only three magical roads by which to reach Blind Michael’s realm—home of the legendary Wild Hunt—and no road may be taken more than once. If she cannot escape with all the children before the candle that guides and protects her burns away, Toby herself will fall prey to Blind Michael’s inescapable power.

And it doesn’t bode well for the success of her mission that her own personal Fetch, May Daye—the harbinger of Toby’s own death—has suddenly turned up on her doorstep… Continue reading “An Artificial Night – Seanan McGuire” →

A Shattering of Glass – Deck Matthews

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THE PAST IS A FRAGILE THING

For Shade, returning to Taralius is like a homecoming she never wanted. She soon finds that old relationships are changed and past contacts have turned sour. Worse yet, a bitter enemy stalks the streets—a venomous assassin who’s sworn to deliver Shade to her own sending.

Meanwhile, others in the city are delving into their own pasts. While Second Corporal Avendor Tarcoth re-establishes contacts from the shadowy life he thought he’d left behind, Tiberius follows the trail of an unexpected message toward an equally unexpected encounter. Neither man is aware of the dangers that stalk them.

Far across the Realm, the man calling himself Carvesh Tarne leads a small company through the depths of Jadenwood in search of answers surrounding the shadowbeasts that nearly destroyed his home and family. But answers aren’t always what they seem. Sometimes they fight back. Continue reading “A Shattering of Glass – Deck Matthews” →

Hex Life – Various

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These are tales of wickedness… stories of evil and cunning, written by today’s women you should fear. Includes tales from Kelley Armstong, Rachel Caine and Sherrilyn Kenyon, writing in their own bestselling universes.

Hex Life: Wicked New Tales of Witchery will take the classic tropes of tales of witchcraft and infuse them with fresh, feminist perspective and present-day concerns–even if they’re set in the past. These witches might be monstrous, or they might be heroes, depending on their own definitions. Even the kind hostess with the candy cottage thought of herself as the hero of her own story. After all, a woman’s gotta eat.

Bring out your dread. Continue reading “Hex Life – Various” →

The Killing Light – Myke Cole

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Heloise and her allies are marching on the Imperial Capital. The villagers, the Kipti, and the Red Lords are united only in their loyalty to Heloise, though dissenting voices are many and they are loud.

The unstable alliance faces internal conflicts and external strife, yet they’re united in their common goal. But when the first of the devils start pouring through a rent in the veil between worlds, Heloise must strike a bargain with an unlikely ally, or doom her people to death and her world to ruin. Continue reading “The Killing Light – Myke Cole” →