Book Reviews

I was luck enough to be asked to write reviews for Fantasy-Faction by site owner Marc Aplin. Here is a list of reviews I've done. Enjoy!

Shadow Fox by Ashley J. Barnard
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Soul Born by Kevin James Breaux
The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Control Point by Myke Cole
Ravenmarked by Amy Rose Davis
Hard Spell by Justin Gustainis
The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey
Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes



Control Point
by Myke Cole

Oscar Britton took his job seriously. As an officer in the US Army, he helped defend both the country and its citizens. That in and of itself was difficult, but when people all over the world are randomly manifesting powerful magical abilities on a regular basis, the job becomes that much more dangerous. However, there was no doubt in Oscar’s mind that he was doing the right thing, until the enemy became a high school girl and her boyfriend.

Read the rest of the review on Fantasy-Faction.



The Warded Man
by Peter V. Brett

To Arlen the night was a thing to be feared. In his world things didn’t just lurk in the night, they owned it. The only safe place to be when the sun set, was behind magical warding symbols. The only way to live through the coreling demons’ nightly onslaughts was to hide and pray that morning would come without incident – without the wards failing. That’s the way it had been for hundreds of years and as far as the world was concerned that’s the way it always would be.

But Arlen was not satisfied with his people’s mantra of ‘hide and wait’. And after personal tragedy strikes his family, Alren decides he is going to find a way to fight back. Alren will never again give anything to the corelings, if they want something from him, they are going to have to take it.

Read the rest of the review on Fantasy-Faction.



Tome of the Undergates
by Sam Sykes

On a ship in the ocean, bound for a faraway place, in search of an ancient magical gateway, a group of adventurers fight off a band of evil pirates and encounter a creature too terrible to exist in our world or theirs. In the ensuing battle with said beasty, an ancient tome is stolen and our heroes go boldly off to reclaim it! Well maybe not boldly, but they do go.

Read the rest of the review here or on Fantasy-Faction.



Shadow Fox
by Ashley J. Barnard

Jared Bruin has felt out of place his whole life. In his current home of London, England, he has few friends, and after his adopted American mother dies, no family. When he is fired from his dream job of fencing instructor at Magdalen University for using heroin, Jared gives up and slits his wrists.

Read the rest of the review on Fantasy-Faction.



Hard Spell
by Justin Gustainis

Stan Markowski is a detective in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Like many normal detectives he has a partner, drives an unmarked car, and carries a gun. A gun loaded with silver bullets blessed by a priest. Okay maybe that’s where the similarities end. You see, Detective Markowski works in the Occult Crime Unit. Not that such a thing is unusual these days. After all, the undead are people too. And werewolves and witches have the same rights as everyone else, it’s just their cases sometimes need to be handled a bit…differently.

Read the rest of the review here or on Fantasy-Faction.



Soul Born
by Kevin James Breaux

Everything Opal had ever wanted was now within her grasp. After years of training under the High Council of Mages she had finally been given the opportunity to show her skills and to earn the respect of her teachers. She would help her paramour, Karn, defeat the invading warlord, Mustaffa, who threatened to destroy the entire kingdom.

Read the rest of the review here.



The Last Unicorn
by Peter S. Beagle

In a forest that time wouldn’t touch was a creature who would live forever. A creature of immortal beauty and purity: a unicorn. She spent her days admiring her own loveliness and watching as the curious creatures in her forest went about their short and frantic lives. Time meant nothing to her, and the outside world was merely a dream inside the eternal spring of her forest. That was, until one day two hunters passed through searching for game, but found none. The first warned the second that they should hunt elsewhere, as this was the home of a unicorn. The second scoffed at his friend, saying there were no unicorns, they were myths that mothers told their children at bedtime, nothing more. But the first insisted that here, in this forest, was the last.

Read the rest of the review here or on Fantasy-Faction.



Ravenmarked
by Amy Rose Davis

When Braedan, the heir regent of the kingdom of Taura, decides to declare himself king after his father’s death, he finds more than just a few upset nobles standing in the way of his plan. A true heir to the long-vacant throne has appeared; an heir whose coming has been prophesied to bring peace to the kingdom and to unite all its people once more. Luckily for her, the young woman Mairead slips through his fingers, escorted away by a hired sword named Conner.

Read the rest of the review here or on Fantasy-Faction.



The Fire Rose
by Mercedes Lackey

Rosalind Hawkins was born in the wrong era. Before women were allowed to vote, even before electricity had reached all areas of the country, Rose was working towards acquiring her Ph.D. in medieval and ancient languages. While most women were reading Jane Austin and The Bronte sisters, Rose was reading The Odyssey in its original Greek! Rose cared little for what others thought of her. She would make her own way and not have to rely on her father’s money or some man to leave her mark on the world.

Read the rest of the review here or on Fantasy-Faction.



Storm Front
by Jim Butcher

Chicago’s mean streets are probably the last place you’d think to look for a fully certified, practicing wizard, but that’s exactly where Harry Dresden decided to set up shop. You’d think being the only wizard listed in the windy city’s telephone directory would make him a pretty popular guy. It turns out, however, that when most people see Wizard listed they tend to think he is the kind that pulls rabbits out of hats, not the kind that solves cases using true magic.

Read the rest of the review here or on Fantasy-Faction.



Furies of Calderon
by Jim Butcher

A single grain of sand can tip the scale. A single beat of a butterfly’s wings can add just enough wind to create a tempest. And the single action of one boy can change the fate of his homeland forever. Of course, that’s not what Tavi was thinking about when he shirked off his responsibilities for the evening to collect flowers at the request of the most beautiful girl in Bernardholt. But even as the ‘yes’ left his lips, the wheels of fate were already turning, propelling him forward towards a greater adventure then he could ever have imagined.

Read the rest of the review here or on Fantasy-Faction.

More reviews to come!

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