Favorite Fantasy Books
By Black Forest Basilisks
By Black Forest Basilisks
There's a fantasy for everyone out there. How do ships made from dragon bones sound? Or maybe angry, suffragist witches are more your speed?
Inda
Sherwood Smith
$9.99 $9.29The Inda Quartet by Sherwood Smith is, heart and soul, a traditional epic fantasy. A young boy must go on a quest to save his homeland, along with a group of treasured friends. What sets Inda apart from the rest, however, is Smith’s ability to create strong, believable character and place them in a world that lives and breathes. I laughed, I cried. Smith takes us from Inda’s young school days in the first book and brings us through to his adulthood and legacy in the last. Do not be fooled into thinking the first novel has touches of YA due to the young cast; this is a quartet that takes on complex, adult themes.
The Winged Histories
Sofia Samatar
$16.00 $14.88Samatar treats prose as poetry, eschewing traditional structures in favor of a stream of consciousness style narrative. I feel as though I’m listening to a symphony, melodies repeated with variations across the piece, voices ebbing and flowing as needed to create chords rather than mere notes.
Stone in the Skull
Elizabeth Bear
$19.99 $18.59The Stone in the Skull has been my first experience with Elizabeth Bear, and all I can say is… why did no one ever tell me about this amazing series before!? Bear is known best for her Karen Memory series, but I’ve found myself bringing up both this book and Samantha Shannon’s latest novel, The Priory of the Orange Tree, every time I hear someone express an interest in political fantasy. The Stone in the Skull seems to have flown under the radar. While this novel is fairly low on action, it makes up for it with a compelling and eclectic cast of characters. Mrithuri and Sayeh, cousins and prophetess-queens of rival kingdoms. The Dead Man, an elite bodyguard sworn to a dead king. The Gage, a brass automaton driven by old hurts and a desire for revenge. Oftentimes, I find myself drawn to only one or two characters in a multi-POV novel; however, this was not at all the case in The Stone in the Skull – I found myself looking forward to each and every character. Once the cast begins to interact with one another directly, this became even more true.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Alix E. Harrow
$29.00 $26.97This book ripped me apart and wrote me back together again. Alix E. Harrow’s debut novel is truly a work of art. I laughed, I cried, and I sat on the edge of my seat in suspense. January’s voice comes through each and every word – first like a gentle rain when her life is filled with upper class stability, and later like a typhoon when she must break away from the chains and preconceived notions holding her back. She wants so badly to be free, but can’t quite tear away without a push.
The Bone Ships
Rj Barker
$18.99 $17.66RJ Barker’s world in The Bone Ships is a rich, vibrant tapestry. The reader is immersed from the start, drowned in the sheer audacity of the writing. Each sentence had a lot of love poured into it, and it comes across clear as a clarion. The prose is dense with strong slice-of-life elements and creates a sense of “otherness” without crossing over into inaccessible. The use of vernacular is masterful, neither too extreme nor too campy, contributing to the je ne sais quoi that pervades the novel as a whole. The world is strange, disturbing, and filled with dangers the characters must navigate at every step… yet which is entirely normal to them in context.
Our Bloody Pearl
D. N. Bryn
$12.99This book was super cute and super fun. Our Bloody Pearl sits on the cusp between YA and adult fantasy, somewhat similar in this regard to authors like Mercedes Lackey or Brandon Sanderson – albeit completely different in terms of themes and style. If you want an easy weekend read featuring murder mermaids (!!!), a kind and caring found family (!!!!), and an adorable ace romance (!!!!!), then this is absolutely the book for you! All of these things are completely my catnip, and I’m so, so happy that the author reached out to me offering a review copy since it might not have made it onto my radar otherwise. There’s even wonderful representation of disability and disability accommodations! Perl, of course, is the titular murder mermaid – Our Bloody Pearl. They are a siren who was captured by an abusive and evil pirate named Kian, trapped in a small tub with their tail crushed to prevent escape. When another pirate, Dejean, attacks and overcomes Kian’s ship, Perl finds themself in very a different set of circumstances. Initially, they’re in a “don’t bite the hand that feeds me” mindset. They recognizes that they need Dejean to heal from the physical damage Kian inflicted on them, and they don’t want to jeopardize this. However, as the two grow closer, they gradually find that they genuinely enjoy his company.
The Pursuit of William Abbey
Claire North
$16.99 $15.80I’m convinced: it’s literally impossible for Claire North to write a bad book. I think she’s just genuinely incapable of anything less than excellence. When she writes a sentence, it just comes out good. Every single time. Of this I am certain. Alternatively, there’s the much more mundane and likely scenario: she’s very, very good at proofing, has a wonderful editor and team behind her, and has honed her craft over many years and novels. However her frankly gorgeous writing originates, the result is the same: yet another brilliant novel being gifted to the world. The plot is a fascinating mix of intrigue, social issues, and politics – all set on top of a deadly game of tag. The titular William Abbey has been cursed with the shadow of young boy who was burned to death by a mob as Abbey looked on. The shadow follows him at a shuffle… slow, but implacable. When the shadow reaches him, it uses him as a conduit to jump to the person he loves most and kill them. And then… it begins its journey again. Abbey must constantly be on the move in order to stay ahead of the shadow and protect the few friends he has remaining.
Queen of the Conquered
Kacen Callender
$18.99 $17.66Queen of the Conquered is a fearless new addition to the SFF world, tackling issues such as slavery, colonialism, and the structures that perpetuate bigotry from within. Kacen Callender, formerly known as and published under Kheryn Callender, doesn’t flinch and holds no punches as he discusses these issues in a gritty, hands-on manner. He does not shy away from the harsh brutality of slavery and the day-to-day life required for plantation-style economies. Slavery is often used as a backdrop within the SFF genre – while it may have some impact on the main character, the sheer dehumanization that accompanies it fails to come through. It may provide plot momentum or motivation for a set of characters, but rarely does an author allow it to truly permeate their work. Frequently, it also falls to a “white saviour” character to end the slavery. Kacen takes that trope and uses it to draw the reader in, making them see the world from a perspective that is both similar and foreign to their own… and then twists, pulling the rug out from below.
Witchmark
C. L. Polk
$16.99 $15.80The entire time I was reading Witchmark, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to another historical romance I loved – Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian. Although Hither, Page, doesn’t have the same fantasy elements as does Witchmark, it touches on many of the same themes: trauma, healing, and trust, specifically within the context of PTSD following service in the war. Both have a murder mystery element, and both allow for the two romantic leads to come together as they work as a team both to heal old wounds and find the murderer. Witchmark, however, takes this all a step further by introducing stakes that affect not only the immediate characters, but also the world as a whole. The introduction of magic and prejudice against non-aristocracy magic users adds in a new level of politicking and intrigue.
The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep
H. G. Parry
$26.00 $24.18Fans of low fantasy with mundane, yet endearing, characters will find much to love in H. G. Parry’s The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep. I’ll confess, I was very slightly dubious when I encountered this book’s premise. It felt a little cheesy to me. However, when I saw the names who were endorsing it, I couldn’t resist prodding Orbit for a review copy. Alix E. Harrow loved it? So did Matthew Ward? Okay, I was in. And I didn’t regret it one little bit. This book has the one thing I love most in my books: absolutely wonderful characters. The characters took a book that would have been merely good, and made it into something loveable and joyous.
The Once and Future Witches
Alix E. Harrow
$28.00 $26.04The Once and Future Witches is possibly the angriest book I have ever read in my life, which is very much something I can relate to. I, too, am angry – I’m angry that womanhood is a threat dangling over my head, I’m angry that it’s the source of trauma for me. I’m angry that I’ve been denied power, agency, and even basic respect. Often, I’m diminished for even implying that I’ve been denied these things. I’m told I’m imagining things, that sexism doesn’t exist even though I see its effects in my day to day life. It’s a man opening a training session with “Good morning, gentlemen!” and the abuse I went through when I was a mere child. Although Harrow’s prose is poetic and gorgeous as always, sheer fury seethes from the pages. This is a book about righteous, feminine anger. It is a book about tearing down the establishment that controls you and burning the fences they’ve built to cage you in. I don’t know if I am a woman, really, but perhaps I have the anger of one. I don’t know if I want my gender to be wrapped up in anger, but I can’t deny that it’s at the core of what womanhood has meant for me. It’s been fear, trauma, and, yes, a great deal of anger.
Race the Sands
Sarah Beth Durst
$17.99 $16.73As an introduction to Sarah Beth Durst’s works, you can’t go wrong with Race the Sands. This stand-alone epic fantasy adventure features hair-raising monster racing, an older woman as a protagonist, and found family elements all set against a backdrop filled with intense political machinations.