A dark and twisty story that encapsulates the best that urban fantasy has to offer, Menagerie by Rachel Vincent is supremely satisfying. In the back of my mind, I heard dark, discordant calliope music while reading (creepy and foreboding). A crazy alternate reality of paranoid humans seeking to cage the monsters […]
Thriller novels take an eerie spin in A Vision of Fire by writing duo Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin. The plot revolves around the seemingly ordinary PTSD of one teen and unfold into a tale of epic proportions. From beginning to end, I was on the edge of my seat, […]
The thrill and intrigue of Lovecraftian mythos is beautifully used in Cherie Priest’s Maplecroft. The debut novel of Priest’s new Borden Dispatches series is a departure from the post apocalyptic steampunk realm we have come to know her for. Taking off with the infamous Lizzie Borden, Priest creates an amazingly […]
With a mix of Lovecraftian sensibility meets film noir, Greg van Eekhout gives us an interesting tale in California Bones. The backdrop is Los Angeles but it is far from the reality of today. Instead, LA of Eekhout’s imagining feels like old Hollywood with a magic twist. Magic is simply […]
Bringing more investigation into her latest installment of The Disenchanted & Co. steampunk series, Lynn Viehl creates a delightful story with The Clockwork Wolf. Romance takes a back seat to the intrigue and adventure, creating an all around amusing tale. Doing a favor for deathmage Lucien Dredmore, Kit agrees to interview […]
Urban Fantasy is turned onto its Science Fiction side in The Furies by Mark Alpert, which brings us a new kind of witch that is simply misunderstood and shows how magic is simply science wrapped in mystery. Alpert brings a refreshing authenticity to his story, creating a believable world which draws the […]
The reader is instantly transported into another time in Ken Gregory’s The Polaris Whisper. With chilling landscapes and glorious traditions, Gregory proves he has a respect for the Norse culture of old. Though he starts of slow, Gregory hits his stride in an epic journey of trials. It is a […]
Lynn Viehl twists a tale mixing paranormal, romance and steampunk in Disenchanted & Co., the first in her new series. Viehl creates a neat alternate reality where America lost the Revolutionary War and despite being past WW1, is still in a Victorian state of development. This setting makes the world […]
Cherie Priest’s renowned Clockwork Century Series continues in the fifth installment Fiddlehead. At the close of the civil war, Priest thrusts the reader into political plans. With a heavy emphasis on reunification, Priest shifts the story to DC. Though Priest has proven in the past to be a masterful storyteller, […]
In the debut novel of the new Baskerville Affair Trilogy, Emma Jane Holloway puts her own spin on steampunk with A Study in Silks. Unlike any other Sherlock spin off I’ve read, Holloway mixes humor with intrigue and magic with science. There are neat concepts at each turn and Holloway […]