Tag: Fantasy

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Book: “The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood” by H.G. Parry

Publishing Info: Redhook, July 2026

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

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

Book Description: Wales, 1941. As the second world war ravages the globe and bombs fall from the sky, people all over the world begin to dream of King Arthur. The dreams spread like a fantastical plague, flooding people’s sleep night after night. Whispers arise of wonders and unexplained sights—dragons in the London Underground, and strange lights over Stonehenge. Self-proclaimed prophets claim they are miracles, heralding Arthur’s return at the time of Britain’s greatest need.

Elaine Ambrose has never dreamed of Arthur, and she doesn’t believe in miracles. A librarian at the British Museum, she wants only to protect the museum’s collection from the London Blitz, and is frustrated to be sent instead to catalogue a reclusive professor’s private library on the coast of North Wales. But all is not as it seems. Soon Ellie must confront what she’s tried to she dreams not of Arthur, but of Nimue—the Lady of the Lake. And her dreams promise not salvation, but a return to the darkness of the last days of Camelot. 

Review: This sounded like a match made in heaven when I came across it this spring! I’ve really loved everything I’ve read by Parry, and I’ve been desperately searching for a good Arthurian fantasy for several years now. There have been quite a few to come out, but for whatever reason, none of them have really scratched my particular itch. Well, that ends today!

There was so much to love about this book! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with the format of this book, told in two timelines, one following Elaine during WWII and the other featuring Nimue recounting her life at Camelot. The latter sounded familiar enough, but how would Elaine and WWII figure into things? Well, I can’t get into how it all ties together, as that would include massive spoilers, but the twists and turns that wove it all into one cohesive tale were very impressive.

Further, I appreciated the historical fiction aspect that was explored through the WWII sections, with Elaine’s experiences and thoughts while living through the bombing of London and the national crisis that followed. Hers is a story of a nation living in a constant state of fear and desperately looking for heroes, even if they have to turn to long-lost myths. At first, I thought this general theme (the comfort found in stories during times of trouble) was as deep as this would go. But, again, the twists really pulled this all together in a deeper, more meaningful way.

Nimue’s tale, of course, gets into the more traditional Arthurian myths. However, even here, there were just enough twists and turns woven through the stories we’re more familiar with to keep me on my toes. Indeed, the very fact that there are so many variations on these tales is pulled into the narrative in a fantastic manner. And, of course, I loved the simple joy of getting to experience these characters on the page, all under the steady hand of an author who knows how to bring out what’s most important about each character without overdoing it. Merlin, Lancelot, Guinevere, Arthur. All fantastic.

I also loved Elaine and Nimue themselves. Elaine’s story is much more mysterious, as we’re never quite sure what’s going on with the dreams she is having. But through her attempts to unravel the mystery, there was a lovely friendship built up between her and Tom, the groundskeeper. This relationship was so lovely and, again, progressed toward a conclusion that was as beautiful as it was heart-wrenching.

And for Nimue, I loved the relationship between her and Merlin. This was an interesting relationship as, on its face, the romance is very much a subplot. But on the other hand, by the time you get to the end, it also becomes clear that the romance itself almost IS the plot. It was one of those love stories that you can’t fully appreciate until the book is over.

Overall, I loved this book. It was beautiful, heartbreaking, and full of deep themes. In particular, the core theme that fighting for what is right is enough on its own. Even if you can’t win, even if it feels hopeless, even if you know that doing what is right will lead to your own doom. I strongly recommend this to all fantasy fans, particularly those who enjoy Arthurian legends!

Rating 9: Absolutely brilliant! Parry takes familiar Arthurian legends and breathes new life into them!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2026 Arthurian releases

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Book: “Vicious” by V.E. Schwab

Publishing Info: Tor, September 2013

Where Did I Get this Book: copy provided by the publisher!

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

Book Description: Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

Review: Somehow, even though I’ve loved V.E. Schwab’s work for years, I’ve never gotten around to this book. In this case, however, this has worked out for me since what was once a stand-alone novel has now turned into a soon-to-be-completed trilogy! So I thought now was the time to jump in so that I’d be all ready to pick up the final book when it drops this fall.

Right from the start, this is one of those compulsively readable books. The writing jumps off the page, and I was immediately drawn into the story and quickly invested in the characters. This is all the more unique as neither Eli nor Victor are particularly good people. But man, are they, especially Victor, the sort that you quickly grow to love in spite of (or because of??) these very same flaws.

The story alternates between two timelines. One is set when Eli and Victor are both students, sharing a room and dreaming of the limits of their world. The other is set years later, with Victor finally freed from the prison in which he’s languished for years, dreaming of his revenge against his former friend. Sometimes I struggle with dual timelines like this, but in this case it works really well. We get to see very different versions of both characters and slowly piece together how they go from that version to the ones we see in the current day.

Naturally, given the subject matter, there was a detailed exploration of what it means to be both a hero and a villain. Victor is very much an anti-hero, and Eli, the more “villainous” of the two, is the one the world looks to as a hero and who sees his own mission as the more virtuous. Through both characters, there’s much reflection on what makes one a hero or a villain: actions, intentions, or some nebulous combination of the two.

I will say that the ending left a bit to be desired. It’s an interesting thing, as when it first came out, it very much felt like a stand-alone affair, and this ending would have been even more frustrating. As it stands, I’m glad there are two more books to delve more fully into both of these characters and to get a better resolution to the entire storyline. If you enjoy fantasy novels with a strong focus on morally gray characters, I definitely recommend this one!

Rating 8: Compulsively readable, I really enjoyed this book and its greater exploration of what makes a hero…or a villain.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Vicious” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Super Hero Books [Not Graphic Novels] and Superhero Fiction.

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Book: “The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy” by Brigitte Knightley

Publishing Info: Ace, July 2o26

Where Did I Get this Book: the publisher!

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

Book Description: Osric is a member of the Fyren Order, a guild of assassins who gleefully murder for money. Aurienne is a Haelan, a scholar-healer whose Order’s motto is Harm to none. Clear-cut absolutes separate them: good and bad, right and wrong, light and dark . . .Until they don’t.

When Osric first bribed Aurienne to heal him, he never imagined those lines would begin to blur. But every healing session draws them closer together. He finds himself developing unwanted feelings for Aurienne as her capable hands heal his body—and his heart.

Aurienne’s perfect life has been flung into chaos in the form of a devastatingly handsome assassin. She should be in her research lab, not illicitly healing a Fyren every full moon—nor wrestling an attraction to him that threatens to slip into something else.

Things go superbly sideways when Osric and Aurienne discover more about the deadly Pox deliberately unleashed through the Tīendoms. The plague may be the work of another Order—an Order far nastier than either of them can handle.

As the lines between Osric and Aurienne continue to blur, the balance between peace and war, and love and hate, trembles, shifts, and hinges on a heartbeat.

Previously Reviewed: “The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy”

Review: While I had mixed feelings on the first book in this duology, this is one of those pleasant instances when the series actually ends stronger than it begins! Across the board, from pacing, to characterization, to the use of humor, all were improved here. So, from the start, if you were like me and not quite sure after the first book, I definitely recommend finishing up the duology!

One of my struggles with the first book was the use of humor. It was a weird experience, because there was a lot that I found genuinely funny. But there was also a strong reliance on fairly crude humor that’s just not really my style. Well, here, there was much more of the former and only a few instances of the latter. Indeed, the balance all around of humor to plot to romance was much better done, so when the comic moments or banter came, it landed much stronger for not being layered on so thickly throughout the entire read.

I also enjoyed the love story here more. The first felt like it dragged the “enemies” portion of the romance on just a bit too far. Here, the book still needs the entire page length to get to the true HEA, but both characters are in the process of managing their own growing feelings and then transition more into the challenges of the relationship as a whole. Further, the plot itself gave us more instances to see these characters come into these feelings through their actions rather than the strong reliance on inner monologues that we had in the first book. That still was here too, of course, but I appreciated the more action-based approach to the love story in this book.

The plot and pacing were also more interesting. The first book did a lot to set up the characters (less so the world, which was left fairly unexplained). But here, we got more into the true stakes of the story and the villainous players. I will say, I still struggled with some of the world-building and whether some of it was truly necessary. For example, like the first book, I continued to not understand why it was necessary to have different countries as unique entities involved at all. The entire plot of this book is based around a conflict between the magical faction, and then there is a throwaway line, essentially, that various factions are working with such-and-such country. But we never meet any of these countries’ leaders, never travel to their capitals, literally never get any reason why we should care about them at all.

All in all, this was a great conclusion to the duology. In every way, it felt like a more mature book, with better plotting, characterization, and a proper balance between romance, action, and humor. The romantic storyline wraps up well; however, the state of this world at the end is still very much up in the air. It definitely makes me wonder whether we’ll see more in this world following new characters! If you were a fan of the first book, definitely finish out the experience with this one.

Rating 8: A stronger finish than it was a start, this duology ended up being a blast, full of romance, action, and a healthy dose of humor.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2026 Romance Duets.

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

Book: “A Tangled Magic” by Andrea Eames

Publishing Info: Erewhon Books, July 2026

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

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

Book Description: All her life, Netta has only known the Tower—its musty shelves of books she cannot read, ink-splattered quills, and endless scrolls of paper. Her mother, ambitious and analytical, has spent decades perfecting her greatest masterpiece: a spellbook of unspeakable power. Netta’s only companions are her long red Hair, which moves of its own accord, and a telepathic raven named Baldbeak. Her only amusement lies in crafting intricate embroidery from scraps of silk and thread.

When attackers storm the Tower, her mother and the spellbook vanish. Determined to find her, Netta ventures into a kingdom on the brink of civil war. The monarch lies dying, while pious Temple fanatics and the noble elite scheme for the throne, forging secret alliances and building hidden armies. For reasons she cannot yet fathom, all these factions seek Netta—and the dangerous, uncontrollable magic in her Hair.

But whom can she trust? The sharp-eyed pickpocket bent on revolutionizing the use of magic? The elusive black market trader known only as the Book Man? The charming magician who slips between shadow and light? From masked carnivals to opulent ballrooms, from hidden monasteries to catacombs, Netta must untangle a web of lies and intrigue – not only to find her mother, but also to uncover the true nature of the power that has shaped her life.

Review: Given the title and the comps listed for this one, I did go into this expecting a closer “Rapunzel” retelling. However, I was more than happy with what we got instead! This is a slow, quiet fairytale that clearly draws from many traditions but is more focused on highlighting a softer sort of heroine than it is on retelling a specific plot, like that from “Tangled” or “Six of Crows” (another comp title, which I get even less than the “Tangled” one!).

Luckily, I very much enjoy this sort of quieter fantasy tale. It’s not cozy, but it does remind me of some of Juliet Marillier’s books, and as she is one of my favorite fantasy authors, this is quite the point in this book’s favor! Like Marillier, Eames has created a heroine who is soft, reserved, and not prone to grand gestures. Hers is an inner strength, and one that she needs to build throughout the book, having started from a quite naive, sheltered perspective early in the book. So too, there’s a strong focus on “womanly” work, such as the embroidery that Netta works so diligently at.

I also enjoyed the complicated mother-daughter relationship that is explored in this book. I always find this particular relationship so interesting both in the original fairytale and in other adaptations, like “Tangled.” What a complex knot of emotions, a parent-child relationship all caught up in exploitation and lies.

For all that I did enjoy Netta’s quieter type of heroism, she was quite naive even long into the book. On one hand, I think this makes sense given her circumstances, but it did make the character read younger than she is supposed to be. That being the case, the entire affair felt more on the YA side than adult, which is fine, but will make its task of finding the right readership perhaps a bit more difficult. So too, I felt like the very small romantic subplot was largely unnecessary. As much as I enjoy a good love story, it didn’t feel like it fit well here. It either needed more to resolve things and make it stand more on its own as an arc, or it could easily have been removed altogether.

Overall, this was a nice read. It didn’t amaze me, but it was also the sort of slow-paced, quieter fantasy novel that you don’t see as often. Fans of this sort of fairytale fantasy should definitely give it a shot!

Rating 8: This was a lovely little fairytale read that, if it gets into the hands of the right readers, I think will be very much enjoyed!

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Tangled Magic” is not on any Goodreads list yet, but it should be on Fairy tales & Retellings.