What’s not to love about this series? Roaring 20’s, mythological creatures, and a hard-boiled noir gumshoe. What to Expect Black City Angel is the fourth full-length novel in the series (and it’s been a while since the previous). This one sees Nick dealing with an increasing number of refugees from Feirie. Trying to investigate affairs […]
Book Review
Tasmanian Crime Fiction – or is it?
Since moving to Tasmania and embracing the scene, I have naturally started to toy with an idea about a modern-day, Outback-noir style, fantasy (duh) crime mystery. So for the sake of ‘research’ I’ve been reading a few police procedurals and crime fiction set in Tasmania. Or so I thought. This post collects several reviews in […]
Book Review: Fated, by Benedict Jacka
The Alex Verus series of urban fantasy has been recommended to me repeatedly, so finally got around to it. What to Expect Expect a well-written, original take on urban fantasy themes. TRhe story is told from the point of view of Alex, a mage living in London. While he’d like nothing more than to run […]
Book Review: A Specter Raps on My Windowpane, by Douglas Lumsden
I love the urban-fantasy noir-detective blend of this series, and have followed it from the start – it maintained its high quality throughout. What to Expect Trigger warning: Alex doesn’t get paid for this case. Well, OK, that’s not that atypical of gumshoe detectives – but most cases don’t start with being ‘hired’ by the […]
Book Review: Dragonfired (The Dark Profit Saga #3, by J. Zachary Pike)
I’ve enjoyed the first two parts of this trilogy (Orconomics and Son of a Liche), and was eagerly looking forward to the grand finale. What to Expect Pike started the Orconomics series as a deep satire, on both fantasy and economics. This continues in this vein, though the focus shifts more toward the epic (which […]
Book Review: Split the Party, by Drew Hayes
Though it’s been a while since I read the first book of this series, I was in the mood for some light entertainment and this fit perfectly. What to Expect Another D&D-ish adventure for the band of heroes, this one leading them to chase an evil artifact that a whole town into zombies. Naturally, they […]
Book Review: Something from the Nightside, by Simon R. Green
A bit of a twist on the paranormal detective, a genre which I generally like. What to Expect What starts as a noir detective quickly moves into a bizarre world, more Alice in Wonderland on a bad acid trip than your typical paranormal detective. As the blurb says, John Taylor isn’t really a detective, just […]
Book Review: This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
This novel was all the rage a while ago, with rave reviews and an interesting premise. Took a while, but I was in the mood for something different. What to Expect A literary work on a sci-fi backdrop, telling a romance. It’s an epistolary novel, told in the exchange of letters between two operatives – […]
Book Review: Thraxas and the Warrior Monks, by Martin Scott
It’s, err… been a while since I read the first Thraxas novel. I did enjoy it, but didn’t get to the rest of the series till now. Still, the time is right for a quick and fun read. What to Expect Another case – actually several, interconnected – for our grumpy investigator. He just wants […]
Book Review: An Evil Planned, by Theo Faurez
A murder mystery in Roman times but outside of the usual backdrop got me intrigued. What to Expect The story takes place outside Antioch, the capital of the Roman province of Syria. Early in Trajan’s reign, a girl is murdered on the road outside the town and the vigiles are called to investigate. Asking the […]