Tag: SF/F

Review – Paladin’s Hope

Posted November 25, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – Paladin’s Hope

Paladin's Hope

by T. Kingfisher

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 254
Series: The Saint of Steel #3
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Piper is a lich-doctor, a physician who works among the dead, determining causes of death for the city guard's investigations. It's a peaceful, if solitary, profession... until the day when he's called to the river to examine the latest in a series of mysterious bodies, mangled by some unknown force.

Galen is a paladin of a dead god, lost to holiness and no longer entirely sane. He has long since given up on any hope of love. But when the two men and a brave gnole constable are drawn into the maze of the mysterious killer, it's Galen's job to protect Piper from the traps that await them. He's just not sure if he can protect Piper from the most dangerous threat of all...

I absolutely sped through Paladin’s Hope, perhaps because it’s fairly self-contained and feels tighter than the previous books (with a lower word-count, too). It’s a romance for Galen and Piper, who’ve both appeared in the story before, and while there’s a samey-ness to the brooding and suffering nobility of Kingfisher’s paladins, overall it was still cute and effective (and honestly I found Galen’s worries about it among the most realistic, compared to Istvhan’s and Stephen’s).

I really enjoyed the monster-of-the-week nature of this book, somehow: Piper and Galen help out a gnole, Earstripe, in trying to get to the bottom of a bunch of dead bodies that have some kind of undefinable sameness about them. In so doing, they get themselves into a trap, a labyrinth that they have to work their way out of by handling what is basically an obstacle course — and of course the close proximity stirs up the chemistry between Piper and Galen, and the situation stirs up Galen’s nightmares…

Earstripe is a great third for their merry band; we get quite a bit of time with gnoles in this one, which for people who liked The Wonder Engine should be a draw (unless you’re a monster and find them annoying or something). Piper’s scientific fascination with all kinds of things is lovely, and particularly his interest in gnole anatomy and gnole culture.

As ever, Kingfisher’s storytelling is fun and her ideas fascinating. I wasn’t very happy about that epilogue, though, just because… how could you end there?! This big mystery that’s hovered around each book, and that’s where you end this one!? Is there going to be more about this?!

Yes, I just used up my entire quota of question marks and exclamation marks for the day.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Solo Leveling, vol 8

Posted November 25, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Solo Leveling, vol 8

Solo Leveling

by Dubu, Chugong

Genres: Fantasy, Manga
Pages: 304
Series: Solo Leveling #8
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Sweeping the ants on Jeju Island put Jinwoo on the map. The top guilds in Korea are all clamoring to recruit Jinwoo—but why join one when he can establish his own?

Volume eight of the Solo Leveling manhwa positively sped by, with lots of action scenes and less politicking than some of the other volumes. I loved that even in a dungeon, Jinwoo was immediately ready to return to his sister and help her, even though he can’t let the people he’s working with down either.

I’d love to see a bit more of his sister and his mother now, but it’s also clear that hunting isn’t something Jinwoo’s going to give up, and that the primary focus remains how strong he is. His minions are ridiculously powerful at this stage, and I find myself surprisingly 100% behind it. It might not sound fun to have little at stake because Jinwoo’s always gonna beat everything, but it becomes entertaining just to watch his constant ascent.

Also… poor Haein Cha. He’s so oblivious, so confused about her feelings. Yeesh.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – The Bookshop Below

Posted November 22, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Bookshop Below

The Bookshop Below

by Georgia Summers

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 352
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron's bookshop is where you go. For those lucky enough to grace its doors, it's a glimpse into a world of deadly bargains and powerful, magical books.

For Cassandra Fairfax, it's a reminder of everything she lost, when Chiron kicked her out and all but shuttered the shop. Since then, she's used her skills in less . . . ethical ways, trading stolen books and magical readings to wealthy playboys looking for power money can't buy.

Then Chiron dies. And if Cassandra knows anything, it's this: the bookshop must always have an owner.

To restore the shop, she'll need the help of Lowell Sharpe, a rival bookseller who is everything Cassandra is not - and knows it, too.

But as she is plunged into a world of unscrupulous collectors, deadly ink magic and shady societies, a dark force threatens to unravel the bookshops entirely . . .

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A certain amount of my reaction to Georgia Summers’ The Bookshop Below is due to really bad formatting on Kindle, which chopped off the ends of some words (I think) and made it difficult to see what’s meant to be part of the narration, where it’s including documents and people’s notes on the documents, the notes sent between different characters, etc. Some of that will presumably be better in the final version, and that would likely help the flow of the story.

I thought the magic system reminded me a lot of Ink Blood Sister Scribe, and it felt like it never got very clearly laid out and delimited. That’s probably in part a matter of taste: I mostly rolled with it, but I can see other readers finding it extremely annoying. I did enjoy the concept of magic as a river, and bookshops as a way that magic gets out into the world through books which are more than just text. Despite that, sometimes it felt less about loving books and more just about making tangible magic with them; I wish it’d hewed a bit closer to books as magical and wonderful objects in and of themselves.

(Though sometimes worship of the printed codex as magic in and of itself can be annoying and problematic, too…)

I thought Cassandra brought a lot of her problems on herself in a way that was annoying, but I still got into her relationship with Lowell and her friendship with Byron, and her messy love for the bookshop she inherits. It ended on a surprisingly ambivalent note that I found pleasing: not a straightforward happy-ever-after, but a complicated compromise, with some signs of hope.

Overall, I enjoyed it, while thinking that some stuff could probably have used pruning out and tightening up, while other things could’ve stood to be a bit more detailed. Not a perfect read, but entertaining.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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Review – The Honey Witch

Posted November 18, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – The Honey Witch

The Honey Witch

by Sydney J. Shields

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 348
Rating: one-star
Synopsis:

Marigold Claude is entering another season without any intentions of accepting a proposal. When her eccentric grandmother Althea visits and finally provides an explanation for Marigold's strange magical abilities, they return to the Lake Isle of Innisfree where she begins training as a Honey Witch-an apothecary and alchemist who uses her magical connection with the bees to create enchanted honey for her spells.

While this lovely power leaves her especially adept at helping others find love, it also comes with an ancient curse that none have been able to break: no one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.

When Lottie Burke, a notorious grumpy skeptic who doesn't believe in magic, accompanies her best friend to the cottage for a love spell, Marigold can't resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. She invites Lottie and her best friend, August Owens, to stay with her for the summer to prove her abilities, but Marigold begins to care for Lottie in a way she never expected.

She longs to break the curse and escape her lonely fate, but when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her freedom-at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.

I was kinda prepared for Sydney J. Shields’ The Honey Witch to be mediocre, based on a few reviews I’d read beforehand — I ended up getting it in a sale, just to give it a shot. It’s a semi-cosy fantasy romance which ends up involving rather a lot of dramatic bleeding, burning, death during a sex scene, enslavement, poisoning, etc. It tries for a sort of cottagecore aesthetic over the top, but the dramatic story that provides the set-up makes that pretty impossible.

It’s also just… not very good, with more plot holes than Proud Immortal Demon Way, and I absolutely refuse to die and become one of the characters to fix it (shoutout to the two danmei fans in my audience; sorry to the rest of you, I just couldn’t resist — this was a reference to The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System). For example, the main character’s grandmother is a Honey Witch. She has an enemy, an Ash Witch, who cursed her so that she can never be loved, with the stated intention of ending her bloodline.

However…

1. I don’t know if the author needs this explained or something, but you don’t have to be in love to have sex and conceive a child.
2. The main character’s grandmother can (and did) have a child parthenogenically.
3. Even though the main character’s mother chose her true love over being a Honey Witch and gave up her power, her child inherited the power and could become a Honey Witch.

So… there is no sense in which the curse works for the stated purpose, even if you assume you have to be in love to have a baby in this world (which is never stated).

The world-building is also incredibly clunky. It’s a Regency-ish world, and we’re given to understand in the opening that there are distinctive gender roles for men and women, which the main character wants to flout by becoming a witch. Except… it becomes apparent that same-sex relationships are totally fine and celebrated, including by the main character’s family. Yet no thought is given to the effect that might have on gender roles.

I don’t even want to get into the enemies-to-lovers thing going on with Lottie and Marigold, or the sex scene which literally kills Lottie (and is kind of horrifying to just come across without being aware that it’s not a steamy scene, a character is literally going to die mid-scene, even if she gets better because magic).

It’s… it’s just really not good, folks, and I didn’t even like the style. It felt like we’re just expected as readers to instantly get invested in things like Marigold’s relationship with her grandmother (who she hasn’t seen since she was a child) or friendship with August (likewise), or her interest in Lottie, a girl who can barely even be polite to her for the first half of the book.

Rating: 1/5 (“didn’t like it”)

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Review – The Deep Dark

Posted November 17, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Deep Dark

The Deep Dark

by Lee Knox Ostertag

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels
Pages: 470
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Everyone has secrets. Mags's has teeth.

Magdalena Herrera is about to graduate high school, but she already feels like an adult with serious responsibilities: caring for her ailing grandmother; working a part-time job; clandestine makeouts with a girl who has a boyfriend. And then there's her secret, which pulls her into the basement each night, drains her of energy, and leaves her bleeding. A secret that could hurt and even kill if it ever got out -- like it did once before.

So Mags keeps her head down, isolated in her small desert community. That is, until her childhood friend Nessa comes back to town, bringing vivid memories of the past, an intoxicating glimpse of the future, and a secret of her own. Mags won't get attached, of course. She's always been strong enough to survive without anyone's help.

But when the darkness starts to close in on them both, Mags will have to drag her secret into the daylight, and choose between risking everything... or having nothing left to lose.

I found Lee Knox Ostertag’s The Deep Dark a little predictable in a way — almost familiar, really made me wonder if I’d maybe read it before? But I don’t think so. Anyway, I wouldn’t say that finding it predictable was a bad thing, to be clear: it was more about the connection between Nessa and Mags for me, the path they took to the ending, than about being stunningly original.

It’s about self-blame and acceptance, even when it’s really, really hard. Yeah, it’s obvious as a metaphor when you get there, but that doesn’t make it any less of an important story. And the relationship between Nessa and Mags is in part about learning you don’t just have to go it on your own, and again, about finding self-worth… all of these are stories worth telling, especially with a trans girl and a butch girl as the protagonists.

I always really like Ostertag’s art, and I liked this too — character design, expressions, etc.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – The Vampyre

Posted November 14, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Vampyre

The Vampyre

by John William Polidori

Genres: Classics, Fantasy
Pages: 54
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Lord Ruthven is a mysterious newcomer among England’s social elite. A young gentleman named Aubrey is fascinated by the suave stranger and is intrigued by his often curious behaviour. While travelling in Europe amid rumours of vampire killings, the pair are attacked, leaving Ruthven on his death bed. As he draws his last breaths, he pleads with Aubrey to keep his death a secret for just over a year. When Ruthven reappears in London alive and well, Aubrey realises that his friend might be hiding dark and horrifying truths behind his seductive fabrication.

The Vampyre was written during the ‘Lost Summer of 1816’, when John William Polidori was among the group of friends who accompanied Lord Byron to the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva. This short, stormy stay in the mansion led to a horror story writing competition in which famous tales such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein were first produced.

Decadent, sinister, and macabre The Vampyre started the enduring fascination with bloodsucking monsters that produced stories such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This chilling tale is not to be missed by lovers of fantasy and horror fiction.

I basically read John William Polidori’s ‘The Vampyre’ because Lord Ruthven (the vampire of the title) is a major character in Vivian Shaw’s Greta Helsing books, which I adore. To be fair, the character would hate that anyone read this, but… sorry, got curious! Especially since Polidori certainly had an influence on later portrayals of vampires.

Often viewed as a diss of Byron, it’s definitely readable as such, and it’s definitely at least heavily linked with Byron, given Caroline Lamb’s previous use of the name for a thinly-disguised Byron. It’s pretty fun to read it as a diss, though poking around a bit there’s some criticism of that reading, which also seems reasonable (it would hardly be the declaration of independence from Byron that some people think it is if it’s also centering a triumphant Byron stand-in). There’s that whole vampire-typical loathing/fascination thing going on…
And hey, a rare seasonally appropriate read for me! Spoopy season, that is; I finished this in October.
Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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Review – Audition for the Fox

Posted November 12, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – Audition for the Fox

Audition for the Fox

by Martin Cahill

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 128
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Nesi is desperate to earn the patronage of one of the Ninety-Nine Pillars of Heaven. As a child with godly blood in her, if she cannot earn a divine chaperone, she will never be allowed to leave her temple home. But with ninety-six failed auditions and few options left, Nesi makes a risky prayer to T’sidaan, the Fox of Tricks.

In folk tales, the Fox is a loveable prankster. But despite their humor and charm, T’sidaan, and their audition, is no joke. They throw Nesi back in time three hundred years, when her homeland is occupied by the brutal Wolfhounds of Zemin.

Now, Nesi must ally with her besieged people and learn a trickster’s guile to snatch a fortress from the disgraced and exiled 100th Pillar: The Wolf of the Hunt.

Martin Cahill’s Audition for the Fox was a pretty random find, about which I knew very little other than that it was a novella that had just released. It turned out to be set in a fantasy world with many gods and many stories, and it felt very much like a single person’s story within a broader and richer world, which is something I always appreciate.

It’s a coming of age story for the main character, Nesi, who gets scent back in time by the fox god as part of her test for whether she can become an acolyte — and as with many coming of age stories, Nesi starts out a bit sheltered and spoiled, wanting to just call the Fox to help her and get out of the situation. Eventually she settles down and understands that she needs to work within the time period she’s been sent to and get the Fox’s work done, and she begins to understand what the trickster does exactly.

T’sidaan, the trickster, is one of the loveable trickster types: they’ll take a sibling down a peg when they need to, and sometimes the laugh’s on them. The conflict they bring Nesi to is darker than that, though, a fierce rivalry between T’sidaan and the wolf god — and Nesi comes to understand both why T’sidaan finds this particular conflict so important, and also why T’sidaan won’t descend to the wolf god’s level, always contending with him on their own terms. It’s a very effective illustration of being careful not to become the thing you’re fighting, and the scene where it’s all revealed is good.

I liked the world, and Nesi’s allies, and there’s a genuine wrenching when Nesi’s test is over and she returns to her own time, which I also liked. It’s not a bloodless story, even though T’sidaan and Nesi are acting as tricksters, destabilising through meddling rather than outright war: it has teeth.

So overall, really enjoyable, especially the sense that there are so many other stories, a whole world that’s been thought out (or could be thought out) in order to play in.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Solo Leveling, vol 7

Posted November 11, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Solo Leveling, vol 7

Solo Leveling

by Dubu, Chugong

Genres: Fantasy, Manga
Pages: 304
Series: Solo Leveling #7
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

The joint expedition between South Korea and Japan to the ant-infested Jeju Island is well underway, and the Korean team has successfully located the queen. Taking her out should finally spell the long-awaited closing of the S-rank gate. But little do they know that wings aren't the only mutation the latest generation of ants has gone through— and having made short work of the Japanese hunters, the queen’s strongest soldier is now headed straight for them!

Volume 7 of the Solo Leveling manhwa features Jinwoo being more overpowered than ever, with him finally jumping into the action at Jeju Island, along with some aftermath stuff that makes it increasingly obvious how different he is to other hunters. There’s a reference again to the earlier reappearance of his father, though I’m impatient for that to get somewhere so we can find out more about where he’s been, whether it really is him, etc, etc.

The tension doesn’t come from wondering whether/how Jinwoo will win, at this point: it’s obvious that he will, that he’s constantly leveling up, and can outmatch anything thrown at him. Instead, it’s about what the System is, what certain mysterious characters/conversations mean, and so on. I’m getting really curious about what it’s building up to, and when we’ll finally see something that really tests Jinwoo.

I wish there’d been a tad more about his mother and sister, given the development in the last book, as well.

Anyway, looking forward to reading more, though not sure what exactly is next after Jeju Island!

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Mockingbird Court

Posted November 10, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Mockingbird Court

Mockingbird Court

by Juneau Black

Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 249
Series: Shady Hollow #6
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

In the latest installment in the beloved Shady Hollow series, everyone’s favorite vulpine investigator Vera Vixen must contend with a cold-hearted killer—and the ghost of her own past.

It’s a crisp, cool autumn in Shady Hollow, and preparations are underway for the annual Harvest Festival. Creatures have flocked from far and wide to partake in the seasonal festivities, from pumpkin carving to pie tasting to soup throwing. With all these new faces around town, it’s the perfect time for someone to slip in unnoticed.

Unless that someone is Bradley Marvel, the most famous author—and most noticeable personality—in any woodland warren. It seems the wolf is on the lam. Back in the city, a body was found in his penthouse apartment at Mockingbird Court, and Marvel skipped town before the questioning could commence.

Marvel claims to be innocent, and it’s up to Vera and her friends to piece together what might have happened that fateful night so many miles away in the beating heart of the big city. But things get complicated when Vera learns that she also knows the victim … and might even be implicated herself.

I snagged Juneau Black’s Mockingbird Court as soon as I could lay hands on it, of course — I love the Shady Hollow series, and this installment takes us back to the town and to the usual cast, after Summer’s End took us to another town. This time Vera’s in trouble, with Bradley Marvel showing up again, and skeletons from her past — barely hinted at in previous books — tumble out of the closet.

I did find the book a bit frustrating in that it felt like Vera’s relationship with Orville has barely progressed, with Orville coming off all righteous and cross, Vera failing to communicate, etc, etc. It wouldn’t have hurt to have Orville actually come after Vera for an explanation, for instance, or for Vera to stay and explain things rather than running away.

Still, it’s cute how the town come together to try to protect Vera, and it’s also nice to start to understand her backstory and how she came to Shady Hollow. I will say that I worked out the culprit quite a bit before she does, and I was a liiiittle worried by the dramatic confrontation scene — that could have been majorly frustrating! But the way it worked out wasn’t so bad.

Not my favourite of the series, I’d say, but some nice autumnal vibes, good character moments, and a reasonable if not super-exciting mystery.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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Review – Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur

Posted November 8, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur

Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur

by Ian McDonald

Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 128
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Tif Tamim wants nothing more than to be a dinosaur buckaroo. An orphan in search of a place to rest his head and a job to weigh down his pockets, Tif has bounced from circus to circus, yearning for a chance to ride a prehistoric beauty under the sparkling lights of a big-top.

To become a buckaroo, Tif needs to learn the tools of the trade, yet few dino maestros want to take a scrawny nobody from nowhere under their wing. But when Tif frees a dino from an abusive owner and braves the roving gangs of the formerly-American west to bring the dino to safety, he catches someone’s eye. And boy, how those eyes dazzle Tif from the back of a bucking carnotaur.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I was a shoo-in for picking up Ian McDonald’s Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur, because… well… dinosaurs! There’s a whole world here built around the rodeo culture that grows up when dinosaurs can be brought through from the past, and it’s not always clear how important it is in general, whether dinosaurs are used outside the rodeo circuits, and even exactly how the rodeo world works. It feels like there’s a lot of potential that isn’t used, and there’s no reckoning with stuff that seems like it should be important (like a dinosaur getting sent back to the past after being shot with bullets which obviously shouldn’t be present in the past).

Mostly, it’s a sort of coming of age story for the main character, Latif, but even that seems a bit unfocused. I felt like I couldn’t see where the story was going, and once finished, I couldn’t see that we’d got much of anywhere at all. It felt like the author playing with the world more than creating a satisfying story.

There are some neat details and ideas, like the ocarinas/whistling used to communicate with the dinosaurs, and hints at the world outside the rodeo and the levels of technology around… but for me it didn’t come together.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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