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Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Cover Reveal Q&A: Jackal Of The Mind by Madolyn Rogers


Monday, May 30, 2022

TLSOMGC Blog Tour: The Last Stand Of Mary Good Crow by Rachel Aaron (reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

 


Official Rachel Aaron Website
Pre-order “The Last Stand Of Mary Good Crow” HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Forever Fantasy Online"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "FFO: Last Bastion"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "FFO: The Once King"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Nice Dragons Finish Last"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "One Good Dragon Deserves Another"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "A Dragon Of A Different Color"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Last Dragon Standing"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Minimum Wage Magic"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Part-Time Gods"
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of “Night Shift Dragons                                      Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "The Spirit Thief
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of “The Spirit Rebellion” 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of “The Spirit Eater” & “Spirit’s Oath” 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of “The Spirit War” 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Spirit's End"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Fortune's Pawn"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Honor's Knight"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of "Heaven's Queen"
Read Fantasy Book Critic's joint interview with Rachel Aaron & Travis Bach
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Interview with Rachel Aaron
Read Eli Monpress series completion interview with Rachel Aaron
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Interview with Rachel Bach
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Heartstrikers interview with Rachel Aaron
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Second Heartstrikers interview with Rachel Aaron
Read "Why A Nice Dragon" by Rachel Aaron (Guest post)
 
Friday, May 27, 2022

All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie (Reviewed by Daniel P. Haeusser)


 
Official Author Website
Order All the Horses of Iceland
HERE
 
OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: Sarah Tolmie is the author of the poetry collection The Art of Dying (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2018), the 120-sonnet sequence Trio (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015), and the chapbook Sonnet in a Blue Dress and Other Poems (Baseline Press, 2014). She has published two novels with Aqueduct Press, The Little Animals (2019) and The Stone Boatmen (2014), as well as three short fiction collections, Disease (2020), Two Travelers (2016) and NoFood (2014). She is a medievalist trained at the University of Toronto and Cambridge and is a Professor of English at the University of Waterloo. Read Sarah’s entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.

 
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: A hypnotic historical fantasy with gorgeous and unusual literary prose, from the captivating author of The Fourth Island.
 
Everyone knows of the horses of Iceland, wild, and small, and free, but few have heard their story. Sarah Tolmie’s All the Horses of Iceland weaves their mystical origin into a saga for the modern age. Filled with the magic and darkened whispers of a people on the cusp of major cultural change, All the Horses of Iceland tells the tale of a Norse trader, his travels through Central Asia, and the ghostly magic that followed him home to the land of fire, stone, and ice. His search for riches will take him from Helmgard, through Khazaria, to the steppes of Mongolia, where he will barter for horses and return with much, much more.
 
All the Horses of Iceland is a delve into the secret, imagined history of Iceland's unusual horses, brought to life by an expert storyteller.

 
FORMAT/INFO: All the Horses of Iceland is a novella of 104 pages, without chapter breaks. The story of Eyvind and the Horse with No Name is set in the 9th Century, and is told in the third-person by Jór, approximately three hundred years after its occurrence. Short first-person interjections by the narrator occur amid the main tale.
 
1st March 2022 marked the release of the novella by Tordotcom Publishers in paperback and eBook.
Thursday, May 26, 2022

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo (reviewed by V)

 


Official Author Website
Order Siren Queen over HERE
 
OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFO: Nghi Vo is the author of the novels Siren Queen and The Chosen and the Beautiful, as well as the acclaimed novellas When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain and The Empress of Salt and Fortune, a Locus and Ignyte Award finalist and the winner of the Crawford Award and the Hugo Award. Born in Illinois, she now lives on the shores of Lake Michigan. She believes in the ritual of lipstick, the power of stories, and the right to change your mind.
 
Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Interview with James Rollins (interviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

 

(Author picture courtesy of James Rollins)

Order The Starless Crown over HERE

Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of The Starless Crown

Read A Paean To Myrillia (The Godslayer Chronicles World And Series Analysis

Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of Subterranean
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of The Judas Strain
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of The Doomsday Key
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of The Last Oracle
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of The Devil Colony
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of The Blood Gospel

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne - Review


Buy The Hunger of the Gods HERE
Read Caitlin's Review of THE SHADOW OF THE GODS


Sunday, May 22, 2022

Book review: Any Minor World (The Midnight Jury #1) by Craig Schaefer



Book links: 
Goodreads

AUTHOR INFO: Craig Schaefer's books have taken readers to the seamy edge of a criminal underworld drenched in shadow (the Daniel Faust series), to a world torn by war, poison and witchcraft (the Revanche Cycle), and across a modern America mired in occult mysteries and a conspiracy of lies (the Harmony Black series).

Despite this, people say he's strangely normal. Suspiciously normal, in fact. His home on the Web is www.craigschaeferbooks.com.

Publisher: Demimonde Books (April 26, 2022) Length: 356 pages Formats: ebook, paperback

Thursday, May 19, 2022

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel (reviewed by Shazzie & Mihir Wanchoo)

 


Order Kaikeyi over HERE
OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFO: Vaishnavi Patel is a law student focusing on constitutional law and civil rights. She likes to write at the intersection of Indian myth, feminism, and anti-colonialism. Her short stories can be found in The Dark and 87 Bedford's Historical Fantasy Anthology along with a forthcoming story in Helios Quarterly. Vaishnavi grew up in and around Chicago, and in her spare time, enjoys activities that are almost stereotypically Midwestern: knitting, ice skating, drinking hot chocolate, and making hotdish.
Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Book review: Mind of My Mind (Patternmaster #2) by Octavia E. Butler

 


Book links: AmazonGoodreads

OCTAVIA E. BUTLER (1947–2006) was the renowned author of numerous ground-breaking novels, including Kindred, Wild Seed, and Parable of the Sower. Recipient of the Locus, Hugo and Nebula awards, and a PEN Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work, in 1995 she became the first science-fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship ‘Genius Grant’. A pioneer of her genre, Octavia’s dystopian novels explore myriad themes of Black injustice, women’s rights, global warming and political disparity, and her work is taught in over two hundred colleges and universities nationwide.

Genre: Sci-fi First Published: 1977 Page count: 169 

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

SPFBO 8 Introduction Post - meet the Fantasy Book Critic Team

 


FBC will have the pleasure to participate in the SPFBO for the eighth time. This time we'll have five judges involved in choosing our SPFBO champion. We're happy to welcome one new judge this year :) Here’s a bit of information on all of us:

Monday, May 16, 2022

Book review: Glitterati by Oliver K. Langmead

 


Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

AUTHOR INFO: Oliver Langmead is an author and poet based in Glasgow. His long-form poem, Dark Star, featured in the Guardian's Best Books of 2015. Oliver is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Glasgow, where he is researching terraforming and ecological philosophy, and in late 2018 he undertook a writing residency at the European Space Agency's Astronaut Centre in Cologne, writing about astronauts and people who work with astronauts.

Publisher: Titan Books (May 17, 2022) Page count: 288 pages Cover art:

The Umbral Storm (The Sharded Few #1) by Alec Hutson (reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

 


Official Author Website
Pre-order The Umbral Storm over HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Crimson Queen
Read Fantasy Book Critic's interview with Alec Hutson
 
Sunday, May 15, 2022

Ruin by John Gwynne (reviewed by Matthew Higgins)

 


Official Author Info: John Gwynne studied and lectured at Brighton University. He's been in a rock 'n' roll band, playing the double bass, travelled the USA and lived in Canada for a time. He is married with four children and lives in Eastbourne running a small family business rejuvenating vintage furniture. He is the author of the epic fantasy series The Faithful and the Fallen including Malice, ValourRuin and Wrath.
 
Saturday, May 14, 2022

Book review: An End to Sorrow by Michael R. Fletcher (reviewed by Lukasz Przywoski & Mihir Wanchoo)

 


Book links: AmazonGoodreads

Series links: 

BLACK STONE HEART—FBC Review —Amazon 
SHE DREAMS IN BLOOD - FBC REVIEW - Amazon

ABOUT AUTHOR: Michael R. Fletcher is a science fiction and fantasy author, a grilled cheese aficionado, and a whiskey-swilling reprobate. He spends his days choreographing his forklift musical (titled "Get Forked"), and using caffeine as a substitute for sanity. Any suggestions that he is actually Dyrk Ashton in disguise are all lies.

Friday, May 13, 2022

Anna by Sammy H.K. Smith (Reviewed by Daniel P. Haeusser)

 


Official Author Twitter
Order Anna in HARDCOVER or PAPERBACK
 
OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: Sammy H.K Smith lives and works in Oxfordshire, UK as a police detective. When not working, she spends time with her children, husband and pets, renovates her house, and inadvertently kills plants. A keen writer and lover of all things science fiction and fantasy, she’s often found balancing a book, a laptop, a child, and a cat whilst watching Netflix.
 
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURBS: A chilling feminist novel set in a near-future dystopia, Anna explores the conflicts between selfhood and expectations, safety and control, and the sacrifices we make for the sake of protection.
 
Beaten. Branded. Defiant.
 
Anna is a possession. She is owned by the man named Will, shielded from the world of struggles and possessions by his care. He loves her, protects her, and then breaks her. Anna is obedient, dutiful, and compliant. Anna does not know her place in the world.
 
When she falls pregnant, Anna leaves her name behind, and finds the strength to run. But the past - and Will - catch up with her in an idyllic town with a dark secret, and this time, it’s not just Anna who is at risk.
 
FORMAT/INFO: Anna is 300 pages long, divided over thirty-one chapters within three parts. Narration is in first person via the titular character Anna/Kate.

25th May 2021 marked the hardcover publication of Anna. Audio and eBook versions are also available. Anna is published by Solaris (Rebellion Press) and distributed through various imprints.
 
Thursday, May 12, 2022

Introducing Fantasy Book Critic’s Newest Reviewers: Daniel H., Shazzie., Matthew H. & V (Caffeinated Covers)

 


Fantasy Book Critic is pleased to introduce the four new members of our team: Daniel Haeusser, Shazzie, Matthew Higgins & V (Caffeinated Covers)!
 
We hope you’ll give them a warm welcome :)
Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Book review: Equinox by David Towsey



Book links: Publisher, Goodreads


AUTHOR INFO: David Towsey is a graduate of the Creative Writing programmes at Bath Spa University and Aberystwyth University. Born in Dorset, he now lives in Cardiff with his girlfriend and their growing board game collection. Together, they write under the pseudonym of D.K. Fields whose Tales of Fenest trilogy is also published by Head of Zeus. David's first novel, Your Brother's Blood, was published by Quercus, and was the first in the Walkin' Trilogy. He is also one half of the indie games company, Pill Bug Interactive, who have released three titles across PC and Nintendo Switch (TM).
0 Reviews

Publisher: Head of Zeus (May 12, 2022) Page count: 336 Cover art: Format: Hardback, paperback, ebook

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah - Review

Official Author Website
Buy The Stardust Thief HERE

OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Chelsea Abdullah is an American-Kuwaiti writer born and raised in Kuwait, where she grew up listening to stories about mysterious desert creatures and wily (only sometimes likable) heroes.

Consumed by wanderlust, she has put down roots in various states. After earning her MA in English at Duquesne University, she moved to New York, where she currently lives. When not immersed in her own fictional worlds, she spends her free time playing video games, doodling characters, and hoarding books she doesn’t have the shelf space for.

Monday, May 9, 2022

Book review: Kagen The Damned by Jonathan Maberry

 


Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

AUTHOR INFO: JONATHAN MABERRY is a NY Times bestselling suspense novelist, five-time Bram Stoker Award winner, and comic book writer. He is one-third of the very popular and mildly weird Three Guys With Beards podcast. He is a board member of the Horror Writers Association and the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. Jonathan lives in Del Mar, California with his wife, Sara Jo. www.jonathanmaberry.com

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (May 10, 2022) Page count: 560 Cover art:

Friday, May 6, 2022

Sins Of The Mother Release Interview with Rob J. Hayes (interviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

 


Official Author Website                                                                                                      
Order Sins Of The Mother over HERE (USA) and HERE (UK)  
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of Spirits Of Vengeance                    
Read FantasyBook Critic’s review of Pawn’s Gambit                               
Read FantasyBook Critic's review of Never Die                                                 
Read FantasyBook Critic's review of Along The Razor's Edge              
Read FantasyBook Critic's review of The Lessons Never Learned          
Read FantasyBook Critic’s review of From Cold Ashes Risen                          
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of Sins Of The Mother
Read FantasyBook Critic's review of City Of Kings                                   
Read FantasyBook Critic's review of Where Loyalties Lie                        
Read FantasyBook Critic's review of The Fifth Empire Of Man           
Read FantasyBook Critic's review of The Heresy Within                       
Read FantasyBook Critic's review of The Colour Of Vengeance         
Read FantasyBook Critic's review of The Price Of Faith  
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of It Takes A Thief To Catch A Sunrise
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of It Takes A Thief To Start A Fire
Read Fantasy Book Critic interview with Rob J. Hayes
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Mini Q&A with Rob J. Hayes
Read Fantasy Book Critic trilogy completion interview with Rob J. Hayes
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Best Laid Plans Series Interview with Rob J. Hayes
Read Fantasy Book Critic's SPFBO Aftermath Q&A with Rob J. Hayes
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Post COK interview with Rob J. Hayes
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Never Die Release Interview with Rob J. Hayes
Read Fantasy Book Critic's The War Eternal Trilogy Release Interview
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Pawn’s Gambit Release Interview                         
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Spirit’s Of Vengeance Release Interview                      Read A Game of ̶T̶h̶r̶o̶n̶e̶s̶ Death by Rob J. Hayes (guest post)
 
Thursday, May 5, 2022

Book review: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel



Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

AUTHOR INFO: Emily St. John Mandel was born and raised on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. She studied contemporary dance at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and lived briefly in Montreal before relocating to New York.

She is the author of five novels, including The Glass Hotel (spring 2020) and Station Eleven (2014.) Station Eleven was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, won the Morning News Tournament of Books, and has been translated into 34 languages. She lives in NYC with her husband and daughter.

Publisher: Knopf (April 5, 2022) Page count: 276 pages

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Mini-Reviews: No Gods, Only Monsters by Steve McHugh & The Hand That Casts The Bone by H. L. Tinsley

 


Official Author Website
Order The Hand That Casts The Bone over HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of We Men Of Ash And Shadow
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s interview with H. L. Tinsley
 
Monday, May 2, 2022

Blog Tour: NO GODS ONLY MONSTERS Q&A with Steve McHugh (interviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

 


Order NO GODS ONLY MONSTERS over HERE
Read chapter one over HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Crimes Against Magic
Sunday, May 1, 2022

EXCLUSIVE COVER REVEAL + Q&A: The Umbral Storm by Alec Hutson (interviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

 

Pre-order The Umbral Storm over HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Crimson Queen
Read Fantasy Book Critic's interview with Alec Hutson

FBC's Must Reads

FBC's Critically Underrated Reads

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE