Here be dragons.
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The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf is the third entry to a series that started with the brilliant Lonely Werewolf Girl. I am a huge fan of the series and the author and will reading this outing in early February. … Continue reading
With a possible marriage proving important in Moth and Spark, debut novel of Anne Leonard, I decided to pigeon hold it into an old wedding superstition. Something old; a love story at the heart of war. Something new (at … Continue reading
This is the second book the Alchemancer series, following on from ‘The Five Elements’. Like that one, this starts with a bang, literally, a mysterious underground explosion in the city of Brighton, just as our heroes from the first book, … Continue reading
Completely indescribable and apologetically dark, God’s War quickly became a favorite of mine when I read it several years back. Recently, due to the magic of twitter, I learned my friends across the ocean are just now able to get … Continue reading
I have decided to finally give Chuck Wendig a chance. All I knew about him is A. He supposedly has a morbid sense of humor and B. his books involve a use of profanity that would make a sailor blush. … Continue reading
Can we get one thing out of the way? The main character, described as two people on the cover blurb, is actually an intergender teen called Iphigenia by her family and taking the name Micah when he goes out on … Continue reading
This is something I’ve had sitting on my Kindle for almost two years, it was dirt cheap and I had no expectations going in. I just decided to clear out some of the old stuff. And blow me down, it … Continue reading
It is a story that epic fantasy fans will fall right into, as comfortable as a favorite shirt. Signs are starting to show of an ancient prophecy coming to pass; stones bleeding, giants attacking, solar eclipse coming, etc. A fight … Continue reading
All black outfit, complete with full length duster? Check. Eyeliner properly applied? Check. Lights turned off, except for the cool skull lamp from Hot Topic? Check. Playlist set up, containing nothing but lots of The Cure and Creep by Radiohead? … Continue reading
I’m interrupting your scheduled programming to make a small personal announcement. As well as reading and reviewing fantasy books, I also have a foot on the other side of the divide, as a writer of epic fantasy. I’ve been dabbling … Continue reading
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The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf is the third entry to a series that started with the brilliant Lonely Werewolf Girl. I am a huge fan of the series and the author and will reading this outing in early February. And thanks to the good folks at Soft Skull press I won’t be the only one with this opportunity. Up for grabs are three copies of a galley for this title, one each for three lucky winners. (U.S. only) So old fans can join me and reading the continued adventures of my favorite violent werewolf and new fans will have a solid reason to catch up. Intrested? Of course you are. Here is the blurb.
With a possible marriage proving important in Moth and Spark, debut novel of Anne Leonard, I decided to pigeon hold it into an old wedding superstition. Something old; a love story at the heart of war. Something new (at least to me); dragons that are not fully tied to humans nor completely independent, but rather a bit of both. Something borrowed; well, there is nothing completely original about rebellions, love stories or even dragon riders, is there? And something blue. Um, I think lead female Tam wore a blue dress to the ball, didn’t she? If not go with the cover, it has a lot of blue on it
Completely indescribable and apologetically dark, God’s War quickly became a favorite of mine when I read it several years back. Recently, due to the magic of twitter, I learned my friends across the ocean are just now able to get their hands on it. That little tidbit also reminded me that I have not read the concluding volume of this trilogy. So I decided to remedy that this year; and in order to do so I knew I had to reread the first two. As I read them pre-blog, I will give them a quick review as well.
supposedly has a morbid sense of humor and B. his books involve a use of profanity that would make a sailor blush. As such reading his stuff is a no brainer. It may shock you all to learn this, but I am a fine connoisseur of 
we get one thing out of the way? The main character, described as two people on the cover blurb, is actually an intergender teen called Iphigenia by her family and taking the name Micah when he goes out on his own. This is not a ‘plot twist,’ nor some cheap trick to fool the reader. It is not a gimmick, nor an incidental fact that has no bearing on the story. This is Micah’s story, his gender (I will use ‘he’ as the pronoun due to Micah choosing to present as male for most of the story) is the catalyst that drives the story. Micah’s attempts to define his gender to himself, to understand what it means both physically and within the social bounds, make the core of the story. It is the thread that ties everything together; it is the reasoning behind so many day to day decisions Micah has to make. The way it is handled may be the highlight of the book. 
It is a story that epic fantasy fans will fall right into, as comfortable as a favorite shirt. Signs are starting to show of an ancient prophecy coming to pass; stones bleeding, giants attacking, solar eclipse coming, etc. A fight between the gods is coming. There will be war. There will be clashes between kings. There will be a chosen one, or maybe chosen ones as each side picks their own (The Bright Star and the Black Sun of prophesy). Comparisons to the big hitters of the genre are impossible to pass up; but hey, no one person owns the right to the title of ‘Kingslayer.” And as long as Gwynne doesn’t kill off that big lovable pup I am cool with its inclusion.