Tag: Fantasy

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Book: “Smoke and Summons” by Charlie N. Holmberg

Publishing Info: 47North, February 2019

Where Did I Get this Book: own it!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: As a human vessel for an ancient spirit, Sandis lives no ordinary life. At the command of her master, she can be transformed against her will into his weapon—a raging monster summoned to do his bidding. Unlike other vessels, Sandis can host extremely powerful spirits, but hosting such creatures can be fatal. To stay alive, she must run. And in a city fueled by smoke and corruption, she finds a surprising ally.

A cunning thief for hire, Rone owns a rare device that grants him immortality for one minute every day—a unique advantage that will come in handy in Sandis’s fight for freedom. But Sandis’s master knows how powerful she is. He’s determined to get her back, and he has the manpower to find her, wherever she runs.

Now, to outwit her pursuers, Sandis must put all her trust in Rone and his immortal device. For her master has summoned more than mere men to hunt her down…

Review: After absolutely loving “The Shattered King” and “The Half-Hearted Queen,” I eagerly jumped into Holmberg’s back catalog. Seriously, I think I bought probably two or three e-books in one night after turning the last page on that duology. Out of the many options I purchased for myself, I wanted to try another series, so I picked up this, the first in a complete trilogy.

This didn’t quite live up to the high that was “The Shattered King” duology, but I definitely enjoyed it for what it was! And, honestly, if the bar hadn’t been set quite so high, this one would have landed even better, so any/all qualms I had felt very much a product of unreasonable expectations more than anything else.

To start, I absolutely loved the world-building and magic system introduced here. For the world, our characters live in a highly corrupt city-state, essentially, that eats up its poor and doesn’t allow any past their gates. Right from the start, we see a system that doesn’t care about justice and, if you’re poor or unimportant, you can be disappeared without so much as a bat of the eye. In this world, our MMC, Rone, has pried out a life for himself and his mother by creating a name for himself in the criminal underworld. As for our FMC, Sandis, her side of the coin is the more unfortunate tale of those who have lost everything and been lost themselves, caught up by powerful players with very few options for escape.

The magic system was also great. There are hints of an ancient world that had magical resources that have been lost to this time, except for a few rare trinkets, including a device that allows Rone to be unkillable for a very short period of time once every 24 hours. Sandis’s story, however, is the one that centers more fully around the true magic of this series, that of summoners and the powerful beings that can be called forth from within them. But the process by which this happens is brutal and oppressive, with dire requirements for the body of the one who turns into the summoned creature and a horribly oppressive dynamic often coming from the summoner who controls them.

I also really liked both Rone and Sandis. This might actually be one of the rare books where I think I enjoyed the MMC POV more than the FMC. Sandis was a great character, but she was also a bit too perfect and too naive at times. She treaded the ground of the “perfect victim” stereotype a few times. That said, I did still very much enjoy her. For his part, I think Rone’s voice was stronger, and his character was often the driving force behind much of the action of the story. His arc is also the more complicated, with his attempts to balance protecting his mother as well as this new woman he finds himself working alongside. He doesn’t always make all the right decisions, and I liked him all the more for it.

Overall, I really liked this one! The pacing was a bit uneven at times, with Sandis and Rone playing out a bit of a circular pattern of being on the run, finding temporary safety, and then being found again and again. But their love story was lovely, and the end of this one set up some pretty high stakes for the next book. Of course, I already own it and will be jumping in again soon!

Rating 8: The FMC was a bit weaker than I prefer, but the world-building, magic, and MMC were all excellent, and I’m excited to see where the trilogy goes from here!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Smoke and Summons” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Slow-Burn Romance and Best Kindle Unlimited Books.

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains” by Reena McCarty

Publishing Info:  Orbit, April 7

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: When Poppy Hill was a child she was stolen from her family’s Montana homestead and taken to the land of the fae, where she spent more than a century as a cook in the Wild King’s castle. Now back in the human world, she works for a company that brokers fairy bargains, looking for loopholes in their contracts.

Then a bargain that Poppy is negotiating goes disastrously wrong and she has to return to the world she grew up in to try to rectify her mistake, facing danger, intrigue and a pesky ex-boyfriend along the way.

Review: Once I settled into what this book was, I ended up really enjoying it. But let’s start with what it isn’t: looking at that description above, I went into this one fully expecting some sort of “second chance” romance wrapped in the trappings of a fantasy world focused on faerie bargains. Well, part of that is true, but it was definitely not the romance part. While there are hints of a love story here, the romance took a decided back burner, was not following the trope that this description hints toward, and then, sadly, seemed to fizzle out towards the end. It seems like there could easily be a second book which might retroactively make this love story more compelling, but from the start, readers should not go into this one expecting a romantasy of any kind (and publishers should knock it off with trying to cash in on the popularity of the genre by misleading book descriptions, which just pisses people off and doesn’t get you readers in the long run).

What I did like was the main character and the concept of this world. I’ve always loved the versions of faeries that focus highly on the duplicitous nature of faerie bargains. We’ve seen comedy versions, dark/horror versions, and here, we have the bureaucratic, where faeries interact with our world through a business front, conducting their bargains dressed up in the trappings of our modern society. This was all very creative, and I enjoyed the ins and outs of how this all worked. If anything, I wish the book had focused even more on these bureaucratic shenanigans, which, on the face of it, doesn’t sound like a good thing. But in the context of this book, it was great!

I also really enjoyed Poppy and the challenges she faced. Her backstory, that of a child stolen away for one hundred years to the land of the fae, was incredibly compelling. This left her with a distinct feeling of being a “fish out of water,” even now that she is back in the human world, presumably where she belongs. Her time spent in the land of the fae naturally left her with unique skills for understanding the small print of their tricky bargains, and so her work helping humans find loopholes was fun. But her inner story, that of trying to find her place, her people, and herself, was very compelling.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this one. The writing was strong throughout, and I really enjoyed the world-building in this one, especially the unique ways that the human and fae worlds interacted. The romance was definitely a letdown, as it might as well have not existed, really. But I’m hopeful that there will be a second book that might resolve this aspect better. If you enjoy stories of fae bargains with heroines who have an interesting inner arc, then this might be one to check out!

Rating 8: Light on the romance, but the focus on Poppy’s journey to find her place between two worlds was more than enough to carry me through!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains” isn’t currently on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on Everything Fae.

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Book: “Aicha” by Soraya Bouazzaoui

Publishing Info: Orbit, March 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: The ultimate female rage fantasy, Aicha is a fierce and devastatingly powerful romantic epic fantasy perfect for fans of The Priory of the Orange Tree and She Who Became the Sun.

The Portuguese flag has been planted across Morocco, its empire ruling with an iron fist. But eventually, all empires must fall.

Aicha, the daughter of a Moroccan freedom-fighter, was born for battle. She has witnessed the death of her people, their starvation and torture at the hands of the occupiers, and it has awakened an anger within her. An anger that burns hot and bright, and speaks to Aicha’s soul.

Only Aicha’s secret lover Rachid, a rebellion leader, knows how to soothe her. But as the fight for Morocco’s freedom reaches it violent climax, the creature that simmers beneath Aicha’s skin begs to be unleashed. It hungers for the screams of those who have caused her pain, and it will not be ignored.

Review: I’ve gone on rants about this before, but simplistic writing is by no means synonymous with “YA.” However, the reality is that, for whatever reason, books published as young adult are more prone to watered-down writing. Whether this is due to the publisher pushing an author in this direction or some combination of both the publisher and the author not trusting their audience, the stereotype here is based on at least something. All of this is to say, had this book not included a random-feeling spicy scene, it reads like an example of one of those YA books that is lacking in the writing department.

Not only was the writing fairly bland, but the book heavily relied on telling the readers everything: how the characters felt, how a scene should be interpreted, how the reader should feel about everything that is going on. This wasn’t helped by the slow pacing and the lack of any real tension. For a book about a rebellion and a siege on the horizon, I felt incredibly removed from what was going on on the page and struggled to retain even the barest hint of interest in what was going to happen next. Again, why would I need to invest much in all of this when the author would surely lay it all out for me explicitly shortly thereafter?

None of this was helped by the main character, a woman who, again, read as very immature, both in her actual decision-making and then later in her inability to take responsibility for the poor outcomes of her own choices. The magic system, such as it was, came into play with her powers. These only came into play late in the book and were more confusing than anything by the time they arrived.

I’m also convinced that somewhere in the process someone, be it publisher or agent, told the author that she had to have a smut scene to catch the romantasy gravy train. This scene felt so strange alongside the juvenile writing and shallow characterization, which otherwise would have made it solidly read like a teen book. Beyond that, the romance itself was lackluster, so this scene failed to deliver even there.

Overall, I was very disappointed by this book. This is a debut, so I hate having to write such a negative review for it right out of the gate. But honestly, the writing itself left a lot to be desired. While I think there were some good ideas here, a few solid editorial passes could have helped in a myriad of ways, from tightening up transitions from paragraph to paragraph to reducing the “telling” style of the prose itself. I can’t honestly recommend this book at this time.

Rating 5: A disappointing read. What should have been a tension-filled plot was instead mired in a “telling” style of prose and lackluster characterization.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Aicha” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Debut Poc Authors of 2026 and The Most Beautiful Covers of 2026.

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Book: “The Geomagician” by Jennifer Mandula

Publishing Info: Del Rey, March 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Mary Anning wants to be a geomagician—a paleontologist who uses fossils to wield magic—but since the Geomagical Society of London refuses to admit women, she’s stuck selling her discoveries to tourists instead. When an ancient egg hatches in her hands, revealing a loveable baby pterodactyl Mary names Ajax, she knows this is the kind of scientific find that could make her career—if she’s strategic.

Mary contacts the Society about her discovery, and they demand to take possession of Ajax. Their emissary is none other than Henry Stanton, a distinguished (and infuriatingly handsome) scholar… and the man who once broke Mary’s heart.

Henry claims he believes in the brilliant Mary, and that he only wants to help her obtain the respect she deserves. She knows she can’t trust her fellow scholars, who want to discredit her and claim Ajax for their own—but can she even trust Henry, who seems intent on winning Mary back?

Now Mary has a new mystery to solve that’s buried deeper than any dinosaur She must uncover the secrets behind the Society and the truth about Henry. As her conscience begins to chafe against her ambition, Mary must decide what lengths she’s willing to go to finally belong—and what her heart really wants.

Review: This book wasn’t quite what I expected. That didn’t necessarily make it bad, but I definitely had to realign myself to the sort of book that I was reading. Once I did that, I was better able to enjoy what this book had to offer.

For one thing, it’s clear that the author had a lot to say about faith, religion, and the marriage between them and science. It’s a worthwhile theme for sure, as so many people in either camp are resistant to the idea of merging these two sides in any way. So I applaud what the author was trying to do with this theme. That said, because of this focus, there’s a lot of emphasis on religion and faith throughout. I found these discussions interesting and could appreciate the aspirations here, but it may not be for everyone.

What I enjoyed the most, however, was the world itself. I always love books like this that marry a historical period of time with some sort of fantasy element. The “Emily Wilde” books come to mind as the most recent examples of this. And it felt like that trilogy was a bit of an influence here as well. However, instead of faeries, we have dinosaurs. I enjoyed exploring how the existence of magic in this world affected its history, economics, and political landscape. While, at the same time, some things remain the same, like Mary’s struggles to be taken seriously for her achievements in a male-dominated field.

I did enjoy the characters for the most part, particularly Mary’s internal reflections throughout. That said, readers who are expecting any serious amount of romance here will likely be disappointed. While there are tiny hints of a love story, it’s the barest of subplots, and even by the end, there wasn’t necessarily the grand conclusion that readers often expect from romances.

This was also a fairly long book, all things considered. I feel like it was fairly readable and easily approachable, but it also did start to drag a bit toward the middle and the end. I think it accomplishes what it sets out to do, and if it gets in the hands of the right readers, it will do well. However, for general fantasy romance fans who go in with an expectation of the second coming of “Emily Wilde,” I think they may end up disappointed.

Rating 7: I enjoyed the exploration of themes regarding science and faith, but the story itself felt a bit plodding and the romance was decidedly in the background.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Geomagician” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Light Academia Fantasy Books and Adventure academia.

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Book: “Daughter of Crows” by Mark Lawrence

Publishing Info: Ace, March 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: The Academy of Kindness exists to create agents of retribution, cast in the image of the Furies—known as the kindly ones—against whom even the gods hesitate to stand. Each year a hundred girls are sold to the Academy. Ten years later only three will emerge.

The Academy’s halls run with blood. The few that survive its decade-long nightmare have been forged on the sands of the Wound Garden. They have learned ancient secrets amid the necrotic fumes of the Bone Garden. They leave its gates as avatars of vengeance, bound to uphold the oldest of laws.

Only the most desperate would sell their child to the Kindnesses. But Rue … she sold herself. And now, a lifetime later, a long and bloody lifetime later, just as she has discovered peace, war has been brought to an old woman’s doorstep.

That was a mistake.

Review: Somehow I’ve never gotten around to reading a book by Mark Lawrence up to this point. He’s put out several duologies/trilogies that have sparked my interest (I think I even had a few loaded on my Kindle), but for whatever reason, I just never managed to pick one up. Well, THAT will be changing now!

Because I loved this book. Pretty much everything about it, from the fantastic characters, to the brutal world, to the dry wit, to the rising stakes as the book progressed. I’ll also note that it was a bit refreshing to read a fantasy book that didn’t feature a romance. My favorite genre, honestly by far, is probably fantasy romance. But lately I’ve felt so burned by what feels like the cannibalization of the genre by romantasy slop that I’ve gotten to the point that I see a romance introduced, and I’m immediately put on high alert. No one is sadder about this fact than me. But Lawrence was here to remind me of the absolute gems that can be found back in the good ole “basic” epic fantasy genre.

One of the notable features of this book is the format in which it is told. The book description kind of mildly hints at this, but throughout the book, the story alternates between two timelines: Rue’s current life, when she’s well beyond her prime but facing a rising challenge, and the past, where students fight for their lives in the brutal Academy of Kindnesses. This seems like a simple enough set up, one that is familiar in many ways. But Lawrence took all of my expectations for how this formula would play out and tossed them straight out the window.

It was one major twist after another, to the point that by the halfway mark, I was careful not to take anything for granted. It was destabilizing in the best of ways. The problem with a format like this is that the future section could spoil events from the past. That is in no way the case here! This book is only the first entry, and sure, I can see where Rue has ended up, but I probably have even more questions than I started out with in regard to her life up to this point.

The characters were also fantastic. Of course, Rue is the main character, and her current POV chapters were sharp, poignant, and heartbreaking at various points. No punches are pulled about the realities of age and its effects on the body, but this juxtaposition between Rue’s physical state and her unkillable spirit only served to heighten the tension playing out in this timeline. Her story ends on a definite cliffhanger, and, like I said, by the time we reached this final page, I was left with only burning questions about not only what happened in her past but where the story was going to go from here. There were a few late-game reveals that truly ratcheted this up; the next book can’t come fast enough.

As for the other timeline, it’s harder to go into many details without spoiling some truly epic and surprising moments. It’s been a long time since I was truly as shocked as I was by a few of these twists and turns. Even by the time I had a better idea of the type of book I was reading, there were still swerves in the road that I wasn’t expecting.

I will say, I think the Academy was a brilliant interpretation of a very tired trope: the deadly school/trials plotline. We can all name a half dozen books like this off the top of our head at this point, and one of the biggest challenges for this trope is the premise. The author has to come up with a believable world/system in which a school with a death rate like this would be in any way believable or viable. Well, Lawrence knocked it out of the park. At every turn, there he was with an explanation behind the philosophy of the school, the greater role it plays in society, and the how/why of the people who participate within it.

Further, once we begin to follow students through the day-to-day life of the Academy, he doesn’t overplay his hand with the brutality. Instead, it lingers in the background, building a simmering sort of tension that then explodes at the most unexpected times. Instead of non-stop violence and death, the story focuses on the lives of the girls going through this grueling life. It was immersive in the best way, where I easily became invested in even some of the side characters involved. And, of course, this building of emotional stakes only highlights the horror and terror of the school when it hones in on the more brutal moments.

Beyond this, the story’s greater geopolitical world, its religions, its society, were all incredibly well done. While the true heroes of the story are its characters, the world-building effectively set the stage for the more grand conflicts that we can see simmering in the future.

So, yes. I loved this book. If you enjoy epic fantasy, this is a must-read for sure. You also better believe that Lawrence’s back catalog has taken a massive leap up my TBR list!

Rating 10: Brutal and heartbreaking; a must-read for all epic and grimdark fantasy readers!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Daughter of Crows” can be found on these Goodreads lists: 2026 Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction and Most Anticipated Adult Fantasy & Sci-fi of 2026 (Standalones & New Series)

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Library of Amorlin” by Kalyn Josephson

Publishing Info: Erewhon Books, March 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Former con artist Kasira expected to spend her life as a soldier, miserably working off her prison sentence by hunting down magical creatures for the fanatical kingdom of Kalthos. But when the Kalish ambassador arrives with a non-negotiable assignment, Kasira finds herself swept into the biggest con of her life: infiltrating the Library of Amorlin. 

As the heart of all magic and the protector of magical creatures throughout the six kingdoms, the Library is historically politically neutral. Kasira is meant to pose as the new Assistant to spy for the ambassador and destabilize the Library from the inside, clearing the way to dethrone its Librarian. 

But when she arrives, Kasira learns that the Library is not all she was told it would be. Neither is the prickly, handsome Librarian, Allaster, whose own monstrous secrets are about to catch up with him. 

Swept into the enchanting world of the Library, Kasira’s reluctant con is jeopardized by her growing affection for the wondrous life the Library promises…and by her complicated, burgeoning attraction to Allaster. As the ambassador’s game closes in, Kasira must decide where her loyalties lie: to her newfound home, or to her own survival? 

Review: This book started off strong, introducing a dynamic world, an action-oriented main character, and a compelling plot centered around a long con at which Kasira must succeed if she has any hopes of retaining her freedom. As the book continued, I did run into a few struggles, but let’s start with some of those pros first.

As I said, the beginning of this book was fantastic, especially as an introduction to this world. I loved much of the world-building going on here, especially with regard to the magical creatures/monsters and the various ways they are regarded by the nations of this world. In particular, there are the Kalish, who fanatically view the monsters as the source of all evil in the world. When we meet our main character, she has been strong-armed into a sort of mercenary crew that spends its time combing the forests with the sole purpose of locating and killing monsters. Enter the heartbreaking scene of brutality that the book opens on. But as sad as some of this was, it was also a great way to establish the stakes of the situation. On the other hand, there is the Library, located at the center of this land and the one place dedicated to the protection of monsters and the keepers of magic. The Kalish, of course, hate this, and this then sets up the stakes of the undercover mission to take it down from the inside.

There was a lot to like about this set-up, and the book moved quickly to get Kasira in place to move this plot forward. But, sadly, it was here where the book began to run into problems. There were a couple of things that stood out. Here, once the action begins to settle down a bit more, I quickly realized that regardless of the information I had been given about Kasira and her backstory, I wasn’t connecting with her as a character. Instead, she felt like she was pieced together by these facts from her past but was here, in the present, completely devoid of any personality or actual characterization. In a word, she lacked voice.

Further, I quickly became frustrated with the actual premise of the story. We were given the reasons for Kasira agreeing to pull off this con, but the story wastes no time laying down tons of groundwork proving how utterly disastrous it would be if she succeeded. If I had to give Kasira a character trait, it would be something like “goal-oriented to the point of blindness,” which isn’t exactly a stellar point in her favor. Her focus and motivation were so internal that it began to feel disingenuous when put up against the stakes that began piling up.

I also felt like the MMC was very underutilized. We are given just enough to pique the interest, but, again, never enough for him to fully feel like a character in his own right. It felt like his scenes were sprinkled only sparsely throughout the book, and I was always left wishing we could get just a bit more from him.

All of this said, I think the writing itself was strong, and there were a lot of great ideas here. I think the weaknesses really come down to the characterization of the main character and, to a lesser extent, the MMC. However, if you’re looking for a new fantasy con artist book, this might be one to check out!

Rating 7: Lots of creative world-building to be found here, but the main character suffered from a critical lack of personality.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Library of Amorlin” can be found on these Goodreads lists: 2026 Fantasy Romance/Romantasy books to look forward to and Epic High Fantasy/Romance/Mythology in 2026