Review Items

Romantic Fantasy
•   Sword Dancer - He was Tiger, born of the desert winds, raised as a slave and winning his freedom by weaving a special kind of magic with a warrior's skill. She was Del, born of ice and storm, trained by the greatest of Northern sword masters. Together, they discover a kinship and friendship that grows to love while facing dangers of both sword and sorcery.
•   Ruin, The City of Life - Imaginitive, fascinating, complex and entertaining. This is the second book in the Ruin series by author, Isobel Noble. The books have psychological and sexual scenes that are very entertaining and entice you to read on and on. A great summer read.
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Steampunk
•   Imagers - I am currently reading this book and I have been (almost) unable to put it down.

It is great, contains an interesting magic system, a complicated, well fleshed out world of trade, commerce and politics. So far, so awesome, even though I haven't finished yet I think this should be in the Good/Great book category on the site!

Fantasy Books
•   THE ATRIUM OF MIRRORED WINDOWS - I was delighted to find this book a real alternative to the children with "secret powers" or trainee "wizard/witch"genre. Real kids in an unreal world. Sharply observed and written with pace and humour, Bailey never disappoints as the adventures come thick and fast.
Easy to read and hard to put down, I found the storyline gripping from the start and couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next! My kids have been having this as a bedtime story all week and have thoroughly enjoyed the adventure, identifying with the main characters and happily cheering the demise of the various villains and monsters along the way.
Nothing disappoints in this story, the plot is enjoyable, the humour sparkling, the characters engaging and the writing is done in a brisk "no nonsense" style.
As a first novel, I think G C Bailey has quite a future ahead of them and I can't wait to see if there will be any further adventures of the Phoenix clan.
Overall, it's a great book and immensely readable and I hope will herald the start of a new era in children's fantasy/fiction. Highly Recommended!
•   Burn in Hades - Cross never forgives because he never forgets.



Haunted by the Hell of his past transgressions, he sets out on an epic journey across the underworld to paradise--not to frolic in the gardens with the righteous, but to drink from the river Lethe which causes complete forgetfulness.



He's a rare soul who remembers his life before death, known throughout the underworld as "The Man Who Remembers". There's a bounty on his memories, and envious spirits hunt his head to steal them.



Erasing his mind will get the spirits off his neck and allow him to keep his crown on its throne, but he will have to continue his afterlife in an ignorant bliss. Even more unfortunate for him, paradise is guarded by a great wall that annihilates any soul that gets too close. No member of the damned has ever broken in.



Burn in Hades is an action packed and fast-paced fantasy by Michael L. Martin Jr. It is the first book in The Life After Death Trilogy and is approximately 113,000 words long (about 400 printed pages).





FROM THE BACK COVER



Martin has built a world so rich and complex, fans are eagerly picking apart every word and hunting for clues! Burn in Hades bridges mythology from over fourteen different cultures with Martin's original concepts and will engage both loyal and casual fantasy readers.



Taking inspiration from Sergio Leone's epic spaghetti western, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Martin weaves a sweeping tale of battles, betrayals, and unlikely bonds. The plot revolves around three main characters: a human soul who goes by the name Cross; a fallen angel called The Raven, who follows her own law; and a demon named Diamond Tooth, who's simply terrifying.

Epic Fantasy
•   The Blade Itself - Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he's on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian - leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies. <P>Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules. <P>Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it. <P>Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult. <P>Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. Unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Blade Itself is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.
•   Royal Assasin - Young Fitz, the illegitimate son of the noble Prince Chivalry, is ignored by all royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has had him tutored him in the dark arts of the assassin. He has barely survived his first, soul-shattering mission, and returns to the court where he is thrown headfirst into the tumult of royal life. With the King near death, and Fitz's only ally off on a seemingly hopeless quest, the throne itself is threatened. Meanwhile, the treacherous Red Ship Raiders have renewed their attacks on the Six Duchies, slaughtering the inhabitants of entire seaside towns. In this time of great peril, it soon becomes clear that the fate of the kingdom may rest in Fitz's hands--and his role in its salvation may require the ultimate sacrifice.
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Historical Fantasy
•   Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England – until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and becomes an overnight celebrity. Another practicing magician then emerges: the young and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell’s pupil, and the two join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wild, most perilous forms of magic, and he soon risks sacrificing not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything else he holds dear. Susanna Clarke's brilliant first novel is an utterly compelling epic tale of nineteenth-century England and the two magicians who, first as teacher and pupil and then as rivals, emerge to change its history.
•   Across the Nightingale Floor - This is the first book in a new epic trilogy that has already become a bestselling sensation in England and Australia, earning comparisons to The Lord of the Rings. It begins with the legend of a nightingale floor in a black-walled fortress-a floor that sings in alarm at the step of an assassin. It will take true courage and all the skills of an ancient Tribe for one orphaned youth named Takeo to discover the magical destiny that awaits him...across the nightingale floor.
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Mythical Fantasy
•   Mythago Wood - Myth and Terror in the Forest Deeps

The mystery of Ryhope Wood, Britain's last fragment of primeval forest, consumed George Huxley's entire long life. Now, after his death, his sons have taken up his work. But what they discover is numinous and perilous beyond all expectation.

For the Wood, larger inside than out, is a labyrinth full of myths come to life, "mythagos" that can change you forever. A labyrinth where love and beauty haunt your dreams. . .and may drive you insane.

Young Adult Fantasy
•   The Subtle Knife -
•   The Amber Spyglass - In concluding the spellbinding His Dark Materials trilogy, Pullman produces what may well be the most controversial children's book of recent years. The witch Serafina Pekkala, quoting an angel, sums up the central theme: "All the history of human life has been a struggle between wisdom and stupidity. The rebel angels, the followers of wisdom, have always tried to open minds; the Authority and his churches have always tried to keep them closed." Early on, this "Authority" is explicitly identified as the Judeo-Christian God, and he is far from omnipotent: his Kingdom is ruled by a regent. The cosmic battle to overthrow the Kingdom is only one of the many epic sequences in this novelAso much happens, and the action is split among so many different imagined worlds, that readers will have to work hard to keep up with Pullman. In the opening, for example, Lyra is being hidden and kept in a drugged sleep in a Himalayan cave by her mother, the beautiful and treacherous Mrs. Coulter. Will is guided by two angels across different worlds to find Lyra. The physicist and former nun, Mary Malone, sojourns in an alternatively evolved world. In yet another universe, Lord Asriel has assembled a great horde of otherworldly beings-including the vividly imagined race of haughty, hand-high warriors called GallivespiansAto bring down the Kingdom. Along the way, Pullman riffs on the elemental chords of classical myth and fairy tale.
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Urban Fantasy
•   The Magicians - Like everyone else, precocious high school senior Quentin Coldwater assumes that magic isn't real, until he finds himself admitted to a very secretive and exclusive college of magic in upstate New York. There he indulges in joys of college-friendship, love, sex, and booze- and receives a rigorous education in modern sorcery. But magic doesn't bring the happiness and adventure Quentin thought it would. After graduation, he and his friends stumble upon a secret that sets them on a remarkable journey that may just fulfill Quentin's yearning. But their journey turns out to be darker and more dangerous than they'd imagined. Psychologically piercing and dazzlingly inventive, The Magicians is an enthralling coming-of-age tale about magic practiced in the real world-where good and evil aren't black and white, and power comes at a terrible price.
•   Storm Front - Harry Dresden--Wizard
Lost items found. Paranormal investigations.
Consulting. Advice. Reasonable rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things--and most of them don't play too well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a--well, whatever.

There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get... interesting.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.

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