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Friday, January 17, 2025

The Last of the Atlanteans by P. L. Stuart (Reviewed by Miggins)

 Book Review: The Last of the Atlanteans by P. L. Stuart




Buy The Last of the Atlanteans here - Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: P.L. Stuart was born in Toronto, Canada. He holds a university degree in English, specializing in Medieval Literature. P.L. is an assistant editor with Before We Go Blog https://beforewegoblog.com/ . The Drowned Kingdom Saga chronicles flawed and bigoted Prince Othrun's journey towards change, and his rise to power in a new world after the downfall of his homeland, which is based on Plato's lost realm of Atlantis. The Bestselling A Drowned Kingdom is mentioned in the esteemed Kirkus Magazine’s 2021 Indie Issue among “Four Great Examples of the Genre” of fantasy and won the 2022 Picky Bookworm Award for Best Indie Book Based on Mythology.

Publisher: Friesen Press (March 22nd 2022)

Length: 534 pages

Formats: Paperback,Ebook,Hardcover

ABOUT THE BOOK: PL Stuart’s The Last of the Atalanteans is a triumph of genre storytelling, eagerly recommended to fans of Game of Thrones, Sons of Darkness, and all other deliciously dark political fantasies. 
Fiercely compelling, the sequel jumps out the gate with a snarling lioness roar, pounding the way onward from the devilish cliffhanger he left us with in A Drowned Kingdom.

Spoilers for A Drowned Kingdom below

Prince Othrun is a man on the edge. Having lost his Kingdom not once but twice, through exile and eradication, he is *not* prepared to lose another chance to seize the birthright he believes is owed. Together with his Atlantean brethren, and heathen allies; the ever faithful King Hert, the slyly treacherous Centi seeking royal redemption, and the deposed King Wely ,the lioncrest himself, Othrun is embarking on an ambitious reclamation of Wely’s divided Kingdom.

Yet as we learnt in A Drowned Kingdom, Othrun is an ignorant, unseemly ignoramus of a man. Why would such an arrogantly ambitious character want to help foreign rulers he sees as backwards and beneath? Well, this book goes a long way to answer such questions.

For Othrun is the type of compelling character that makes for some of the best in fantasy. Othrun is a man in the process of change.

At times this can be excruciating in all the best and wrigglesome of ways, as the reader squirms at some of his openly bigoted statements.

However Othrun is not above ingratiating himself to his potential neighbours, as long as it gets him to the status he believes is rightfully his.

It is through this that he begins to open himself to the possibilities that the people of Acremia were not as he thought. Not wrong though! Oh no, never wrong. But an acceptance of their differences with equinimity. This, in itself, is progress. A complicated man indeed. Perhaps each aspect of himself not fully known, even to himself.

In fact, one could say progress is the theme of the book. I shan't spoil the twisted delights to be found along the way, but I will say that by the end you will feel that this chapter has closed, and a new stage is set to begin. The dust has settled, and yet our characters are not. Such is the genius of PL, to never leave his characters in a comfortable spot for too long, for uncomfortableness makes for great conflict.

OVERVIEW/SYNOPSIS: In The Last of the Atalanteans  PL fully delivers on that front (war pun not entirely intended :D)

You of course have the return of the ever great pairing of Lysi and Othrun woven throughout. PL's devilish take on a ‘will they, won't they’ dynamic will leave you squirming in delight. Of course Othrun views all women as beneath the hierarchy of God and man, but in walks the sensual seductress Lysi. Now here is a woman Othrun can admire as an equal, a powerful and political force of nature.

Pared back so she appears at all the right (or perhaps worst!) moments, their dynamic was a true highlight everytime they filled the screen with oozing, electrified energy.

How a heathen can be such a powerful, imposing, and self confident lady is beyond Othrun, causing him to re evaluate how he can maintain his monotheistic beliefs in the face of such tempting power. Accepting help once was bad enough, but can Othrun receive once again, especially with his potential new Kingdom at stake? These are the delicious maggots of doubt worming their way into Othrun’s mind and you'll have to read on to find out how he resolves this one!

Then you have the central conflict of King Wely fighting to retake his rightful Kingdom. With his malicious brother stealing the throne along with his marriage to the mage Syda, Wely has an almost herculean task on his hands, with only a small band of loyal troops, along with Othrun's remaining Atalanteans to enact his daring plans. With his own Kingdom believing him dead, allies will be hard to find and far and few between, especially when one never knows how far friend or foe goes.

Their arduous journey will take them zealously into the heart of the Lioncrest's Kingdom, desperately cobbling together Wely's true believers as Syda's forces relentlessly hunt them down.

At the start PL lights the fuse, and when that bomb explodes, my goodness is it glorious. Battle speeches Shakespearean in their generous grandiosity; bone crunching, blood spewing, nose curlingly, toe curlingly voracious conflict dripping with consequence. Do not hold onto characters too tight my friends, for PL writes with one mighty fist.

With Othrun the star of the show, miscellaneous characters can often take a bit of a backseat. As this is Othrun mythologising his own history, this approach works very well for the story PL is trying to tell, an excellently unreliable narrator. However two characters in particular (aside from Lysi, my magnificent Lysi) got more depth in The Last of the Atalanteans.

First and foremost King Wely, perhaps the most sympathetic character thus far in this woefully sorry saga. One truly understands his struggle, and the deeply personal pain of such a close betrayal. Out of all the characters, despite some personal missteps which led to his downfall, Wely might just be the most centrally ‘good’ of them all. He is a good king, a well liked king, a just king, simply guilty of being a poor husband and a fallible man. Perhaps Centi, his former betrayer and current protector has more in common with him than he dares in his anger to realise. I was desperately hoping beyond hope that Wely would pull through somehow, fully invested in his reclamation and ready to fist pump if the time came. I shan't say if I got what I wanted (and often that';s a dangerous gift for authors to give their readers), but what occurred was fitting to his tale and true to his character. Long live King Wely, the true lioncrest!

Secondly, uncle Yedwol began to worm his way into the narrative. I will say that this one was
much less satisfying due to the heavily expositional nature of his arc. In fact, it did feel a little out
of step with the rhythm PL had previously set, treading water somewhat.

Readers will learn of Yedwol’s less than savoury past, and see how this affects Othrun and his view of kingship. Whilst certainly interesting, it didn't quite feel like the right space for these developments and I was eager for the story to move forward a little after the previous thrusts of momentum. It's a shame because Yedwol is a fantastic character and I look forward to learning even more in the future, it just paled in comparison after the adrenaline of the preceding sections.

By the conclusion PL signals the exciting directions the series will take us next, with the potential for new conflicts appearing on the near horizon tantalising us for more pulse pounding battles and rich examinations of kingship.

Whilst the somewhat episodic nature of each part did leave me slightly wanting at first, by the end I was fully onboard with the way PL is developing his world. An good author's work is never fully what the reader wants or expects, so once I reminded myself to check my expectations at the door and surrendered to PL's exceedingly good writing, I was having a great time. It's just so exciting to see a new Kingdom come into formation! I don't think I've read a fantasy where I've seen one built from nothing. Shades of Bernard Cornwell begin to creep in, with elements of classics such as Le Mort D'Arthur in the structure. Once the inspiration for PL’s unique structure and prose became clear, best read like a medieval tome, I fell in love with it all over again.

CONCLUSION: Startlingly brilliant, PL is helping give fantasy a fresh shot in the arm with his ambitiously crafted A Drowned Kingdom Saga. Readers will delight in the morally grey characters, and marvel at the stirring battles PL effortlessly paints onto the page. Fearless, ferocious fantasy destined to stay atop your TBR and reread piles.
Thursday, January 16, 2025

Book review: The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk

 


Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Olga Tokarczuk is the author of nine novels, three short story collections and has been translated into more than fifty languages. Her novel Flights won the 2018 International Booker Prize, in Jennifer Croft’s translation. She is the recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature. 

Publisher: Riverhead Books (September 24, 2024) Length: 320 pages Formats: audiobook, ebook, hardback, paperback Translator: Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Book review: The Way Up is Death by Dan Hanks


Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dan is a writer, editor, and vastly overqualified archaeologist who has lived everywhere from London to Hertfordshire to Manchester to Sydney, which explains the panic in his eyes anytime someone asks “where are you from?”. Thankfully he is now settled in the rolling green hills of the Peak District with his human family and fluffy sidekicks Indy and Maverick, where he writes books, screenplays and comics.

Publisher: Angry Robot (January 14, 2025) Length: 400 Pages  Formats: ebook, paperback

Saturday, January 11, 2025

Mihir's Top Reads of 2024

 

 
Last year I wasn’t able to post my top reads but I was reminded that there are a few readers who are keeping their eye out for it (thanks Pradeep). So this year I wanted to be sure to not be lazy. 2024 was a varied reading year with a wide variety of epic fantasy. Infact my top 7 are indicative of how rich the stories were  and it wasn’t easy ranking them.

 
So without further ado, here are my top reads for 2024:



1) 
 
The Storm beneath The World by Michael R. Fletcher – This was an incredibly unique story about an anthromorphic insect civilization & easily the best story that has sprouted form the mad Canadian’s mind. Can’t wait to read the sequel and see how Fletcher ends it all.



2) 
The Doors Of Midnight by RR Virdi – The sequel to The First Binding was in everyway a sequel that outshone its predecessor. The brilliance of the author’s prose & plotting skills were already visible in the preceding title but in this one, he took things to a new level. The 3rd volume in the Tales Of Tremaine is easily one of my most anticipated reads whenever it releases.



3) 
Herald by Rob J. Hayes – The beginning of a new epic fantasy from one of my favourites is always a cause to celebrate. With the Godeater saga, Rob plans to go the GRRM route and has written a story that is simultaneously unfolding across three millennia.



4) 
The Last Shield by Cameron JohnstonCameron Johnston is a huge fan of David Gemmell and in this book, he was able to give us a heroic fantasy story & a stoic female MC who absolutely would have done the big man proud. 



5) 
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang – This book was a fantasy title that originally was released in 2023 but I got to it in 2024. M.L. Wang’s BOBH was a fascinating tapestry about academia, racism and xenophobia while giving us a fascinating world. An incredibly different follow up to Kaigen but retaining all of the author’s signature style.



6) 
The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence – This was another 2023 title which I was only able to read a year later after its release. The Library trilogy book 1 is possibly the most meta story that Mark Lawrence has written & another feather in his already shining cap.



7) 
Fool’s Promise by Angela BoordAngela Boord’s 2nd volume of the Eterean saga showcased exactly why we loved Fortune’s Fool. With more worldbuilding & complex characters, accompanied by stellar prose, this sequel proved why AB needs to be celebrated by more readers.



8)  
How To Become The Dark Lord And Die Trying by Django Wexler – This was a funny story that exceeded my wildest expectations as the author really went all in with its zany premise. Filled with snark, humour & a lot of fun, this is one series that I couldn’t get more of.



9)  
Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. GibsonAdrian M. Gibson’s debut was a sleek hybrid mixing fantasy, SF, & Noir with a complex world scenario. It was also very polished & hence was the FBC finalist for SPFBOX. If you haven’t read this one yet, you need to jump on it.



10) 
The Hunter’s Gambit by Ciel Pierlot – I was made aware of this book thanks to my blogmate Caitlin, and her review precisely encapsulates what this book is about. Evil vampires, bloody action, a morally grey protagonist made this standalone a quick and fast read. Ciel Pierlot absolutely nailed this dark fantasy tale & I hope we get more stories within this milieu.

 


Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Review: Level: Unknown by David Dalglish


 Buy Level: Unknown

OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: David Dalglish currently lives in Myrtle Beach with his wife, Samantha, and daughters, Morgan, Katherine, and Alyssa. He graduated from Missouri Southern State University in 2006 with a degree in mathematics and currently spends his free time tanking dungeons for his wife and daughter in Final Fantasy XIV.

FORMAT/INFO: Level: Unknown was published by Orbit on January 14th, 2024. It is 464 pages long and told in third person from multiple POVs. It is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Nick is just a simple lab tech, he shouldn’t have to worry about swords swinging at his head. But that becomes a daily concern when an alien artifact forms a connection with him, plunging him into a simulated fantasy world every time he falls asleep. Nick quickly learns that while the world might be fake and death just means waking up, the pain is still very real. Even worse the pain is taking a strain on his real life body, and it might not be too long before his body gives out entirely. To top it all off, Nick's fellow researchers have discovered that a devastating event is heading to their planet, and the clues to how to stop it lie somewhere in the game. It's up to Nick to delve into this fantasy world and find the answers...but he's only got so many more lives before he'll never wake up again.

Level: Unknown is a fun romp of a LitRPG adventure, accessible to both game enthusiasts and those who have never picked up a controller. For those unfamiliar, LitRPG is a genre inspired by tabletop role playing games and video games, where characters for one reason or another are aware of stats, health meters, and other mechanics. In Level: Unknown, Nick essentially finds himself in a virtual video game world, with an AI assistant, experience points, hovering UIs that display health bars, etc. While those who play games regularly will easily recognize the mechanics, Nick is written as a novice to such things so that the reader can learn the ropes alongside him. (Although I did beg the question: is the future so dark that an 18-year-old has never played a video game before?)

After the initial set up, the story takes a familiar fantasy bent: Nick starts out on a quest and goes on a journey, picking up companions, encountering dangerous monsters, and discovering the history of this virtual land he’s in. The story is mostly told from Nick’s POV, but I appreciated the inclusion of POV chapters from a virtual character that lives in this fantasy world. While Nick sees the digital inhabitants of this world as things that can be killed without remorse, Sir Gareth views Nick as a ruthless monster roaming about killing hapless villagers. His POV grounded the world, showing that to these simulated individuals, death is a very real, sobering experience.

As in his previous works, the author writes one heck of a climax; I found myself tearing through the pages towards the end. The one disappointment is that when the dust clears there are no real answers, just lots and lots of questions. What is the artifact? Where did it come from? How and why is it possibly destroying planets? These questions and more are all asked; while you’ll get a genuinely satisfying climactic boss fight, you'll get no answers to any of these questions by the end of this first book. This is the first of a trilogy (with all three books releasing in 2025), so the answers are coming, but I would have liked at least one answer to a major question by the end of this outing.

CONCLUSION: Level: Unknown is a good popcorn adventure that's a lot of fun to escape into. As a relative novice to the genre itself, I cannot tell you how it compares to other Lit RPGs. What I can say is that I enjoyed my time in this world, and I'm looking forward to seeing how these mysteries pan out in the sequel.

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Cover Re-Reveal: The Storm Beneath The World by Michael R. Fletcher

 

THE STORM BENEATH THE WORLD

COVER RE-REVEAL!

 



ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael R. Fletcher lives in the endless suburban sprawl north of Toronto. He dreams of trees and seeing the stars at night and being a ninja. He is an unrepentant whiskey-swilling reprobate of the tallest order and thinks grilled cheese sandwiches are a food group.

Publisher: Michael R. Fletcher (April 4, 2024) Length: 366 Formats: ebook, hardcover, paperback
Monday, January 6, 2025

SPFBO Finalist Review - The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids by Stephanie Gillis



ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stephanie Gillis is a vlogger, writer, dog trainer, and dinosaur-enthusiast living in Colorado with a very load and obnoxious parrot. She has two Bachelor's degrees in Linguistics and Japanese. When she's not staring at a bright white computer screen for hours on end you may be able to spot her in her natural habitat digging through thrift stores or seeing movies at ridiculously early hours of the morning. If seen in public, approach with caution, puppies, and musical song lyrics.

Find Stephanie online: website

The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids links: AmazonGoodreads

SPFBO Finalist Interview - Stephanie Gillis, the Author of The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids




ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stephanie Gillis is a vlogger, writer, dog trainer, and dinosaur-enthusiast living in Colorado with a very load and obnoxious parrot. She has two Bachelor's degrees in Linguistics and Japanese. When she's not staring at a bright white computer screen for hours on end you may be able to spot her in her natural habitat digging through thrift stores or seeing movies at ridiculously early hours of the morning. If seen in public, approach with caution, puppies, and musical song lyrics.

Find Stephanie online: website

The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids links: Amazon, Goodreads

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

2024 Team Favorites - Łukasz

It’s time to start wrapping up the year, and since I can’t resist a good Top X list, here’s mine:) Books, comics, TV series - you name it, I’ve got some gems to share.

I'll focus on broadly defined speculative fiction, but if thrillers are your thing, let me know - I’ve got a few killer suggestions.

I hope at least some of these picks will grab your attention, especially since some of them are criminally underread and deserve way more love.

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Review: The Relentless Legion by J.S. Dewes

 


Buy The Relentless Legion

OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: After graduating with a degree in film production, J. S. DEWES went on to serve as cinematographer for independent films, write, produce, and shoot a zombie musical, slay internet dragons, and act as lighting designer for presidents and presidential-hopefuls so many times it became mundane. To add to her list of random career paths, she unlocked the Dream Job achievement and now writes for triple-A science fiction video games.

She is the author of the Divide series (The Last Watch, The Exiled Fleet) and Rubicon

Jenny spends her free time drawing, gaming, scrolling ArtStation, cuddling her two sweet dogs and mercurial cat, and occasionally sleeping.

FORMAT/INFO: The Relentless Legion was published on November 12th, 2024, by Tor Books. It is 512 pages long. It is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS:
  After a harrowing journey to recover the fuel and supplies needed to bring the fleet safely home from the Divide, the Sentinels have at last returned to the center of civilized space. They've spent months in hiding, preparing to go to war with Cavalon's grandfather, Augustus Mercer. Obsessed with eradicating a specific incurable genetic defect from humanity, Augustus has been playing a long game, using legislation to slowly ostracize any affected humans from society. But the long game is coming to an end, as Augustus is preparing to unleash a horrific weapon on the galaxy. It will take every ally that Rake and Cavalon can rally if they're going to have a prayer of stopping the plot in time.

The Relentless Legion is another fantastic adventure in The Divide series that continues to raise the stakes for the fate of the universe. This one is a little slower-paced than the previous novels in the series, preferring to take some time to focus on how the characters are coping with the strain of the last several months (spoiler, some of them are not). I will say that I did find Cavalon a bit exasperating this novel, but the author seems fully aware of it, given that characters called him out for exactly the things that were frustrating me. The characters get a chance to regroup and reflect before everything goes sideways.

And it WILL go sideways. If you've enjoyed the author's action-packed books in the past, there is plenty of conflict to be found here. The midpoint was particularly nail-biting, an absolute gut-punch in more ways than one. You can also expect some surprising developments as Rake and Cavalon continue to deepen their understanding of the Divide and the devices that keep the collapse of the universe at bay.

The one negative I had with this book is it felt like there were too many things going on. The Divide books have always juggled multiple threats, from the collapsing edge of the universe, the reappearance of alien enemies, and the conspiracy led by Augustus Mercer. Past books have managed to keep everything balanced and give every storyline its due. This third book, however, introduced a new problem originating from the alien ruins our group has chosen as their hideout, and that new problem proved to be just one too many things for me.

CONCLUSION: The Relentless Legion is a fitting conclusion to a sci-fi adventure I've really enjoyed. But it isn't a complete conclusion. While one of the major storylines is wrapped up by the end of the book, the door is left wide open on another one, with plenty of runway for more adventures. No fourth book has been announced as of writing this review, but I would not be shocked (and very pleased) to hear of one eventually, especially as official marketing for The Relentless Legion refers to The Divide as a series, not a trilogy. With that in mind, be prepared to have some loose threads dangling when the dust settles. I, for one, will be happy to come back if another book is in our future, but if not, The Relentless Legion is a satisfying send off for a new favorite series.

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