Review: The Last Sun, by K.D. Edwards

 

Rune Saint John, last child of the fallen Sun Court, is hired to search for Lady Judgment's missing son, Addam, on New Atlantis, the island city where the Atlanteans moved after ordinary humans destroyed their original home.
With his companion and bodyguard, Brand, he questions Addam's relatives and business contacts through the highest ranks of the nobles of New Atlantis. But as they investigate, they uncover more than a missing man: a legendary creature connected to the secret of the massacre of Rune's Court. In looking for Addam, can Rune find the truth behind his family's death and the torments of his past?

"I am, before anything else, a survivor."

K.D. Edwards' The Last Sun is a queer urban fantasy adventure that's brimming with heart, with a tight plot and poignant moments. It's witty and fast-paced, but also deals with found families while the protagonist faces the aftermath of a decades-old horrific assault, and there's even a bit of an achillean romance.

The emotional center of the book is without a doubt the platonic relationship between main character and sole narrator Rune and his bodyguard Brand. This beautiful bond of love, trust, and friendship defies the expected conventions of the genre, showing a healthy male relationship filled with moments of intimacy. Rune isn't the stereotypical main character of an action-packed urban fantasy either; he's kind and welcoming while being a competent agent and a great fighter. The romance doesn't take center stage in the narration, also because he's very tentative and traumatized, but his love interest is perfect in that regard. 

This trio of characters plays against each other very well, and I'm curious to see how things will develop in the rest of the trilogy and then the nine-books series. The rest of the cast is very well-developed, too, especially the two young boys with problems of their own.

The prose is very simple and matter-of-fact, but the world-building is very intriguing, teeming with some mysteries about the current situation came to pass and with conspiracies in the shadows, tantalizing tidbits that get the reader's attention while keeping, for now, most of the cards close to the author's chest. New Atlantis is a fascinating city, and so is the complex web of intricate influence held by the Arcana, living embodiments of the tarot cards who hold all the secular power.

The Last Sun is an excellent first installment.

✨ 4.5 stars

 

Review: The Moon Blessed King, by Lindsey Byrd

 

Elician, a Giver with the power to raise the dead, is crowned King of Soleb, but it’s forbidden for Givers to rule. However, Elician is determined to end a generations-long war with the kingdom of Alelune – and will marry Alelune's rightful heir to do so. But Cat is a Reaper, able to kill with a touch, and is therefore feared by his own people. His claim to the throne is a gamble at best, until his tyrannical brother, Gillage, seizes power before Cat can lay his claim to it – and now the conflict Elician had hoped to avoid seems inevitable.
Just as the war between nations begins anew, the goddess of death releases a devastating plague across the continent. To stop it, Elician and Cat must confront Death herself, leaving Elician's rebellious sister, Fen, to do what she can to heal the sick in their absence. But when a coup threatens to upend her brother’s reign, Fen must decide exactly what she is willing to sacrifice to help her brother succeed. With the death toll rising and the struggle for the Alelunen throne in the balance, it’s a race against time to appease the wrath of a god with the monarchies of both countries at stake.

​“To die is to make life, and all life is sacred.”

Lyndsey Byrd's The Moon Blessed King is the lovely conclusion to the perfect duology that began with The Sun Blessed Prince (HERE you can read my review). This achillean tale of life and death and what it means to be human takes all its strong points from the first book, detailing the relationship of two kind and duty-bound princes as they strive to make peace between their nations despite the horros they went through in the first book. Kindness, honor, and mercy guide their hands, towards a moving finale that packs some truly emotional punches. This slowest of slow burns is not for the faint of heart, but it all pays off in the end.

Running parallel to this emotional journey is the tale of the young princess of the sun kingdom, as she struggles to help the war effort but, most importantly, to grow up. Her journey is a highlight of the book, and her chapters a great counterpoint to the bigger plot. She's young and abrasive and drenched in prejudice, but she's willing to learn, and therein lies her saving grace.

The worldbuilding keeps the excellent simplicity of the first book, expanding just the tiniest amount to incorporate a simple but profound philosophy and a beautiful exploration of godhood. At the same time, the magic system keeps the inspiration to science, making it a complex read.

The Moon Blessed King is a stunning conclusion.

✨ 4.5 stars

 

ARC Review: The Sun King's Noon, by Briar Niran

 

King Richard of Ardenia knows fear well. The veil is his kingdom's only defence against Gloamvarn—a neighbouring realm of monsters—and it is crumbling.
In a bid to gather allies for the coming war, Richard throws open his court for a grand Summer Ball. As he navigates political wiles and new threats, it becomes hard to hold steady. Harder still, when bitter arguments erupt between him and his devoted knight.
Meanwhile, a long-buried secret threatens to shatter his family and court, and through it all, the Gloam King waits with a smile.

​Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Briar Niran's The Sun King's Noon is the excellent sequel to The Sun King's Dawn (HERE you can read my review). This second book in the quadrilogy doesn't hold back its punches, continuing the tale of asexual king Richard and his struggles both as monarch of a realm in peril and as a man who finds love for the first time and needs to navigate his feelings. As in the first book, his sex-repulsion features heavily and it's handled deftly, detailling the strong feelings of alienation and the first fluttering beats of a romance that he feels he can't have, duty-bound and unwilling to deny affection to his knight. This is done beautifully and delicately, and it's lovely to see such a nuanced exploration of achillean asexuality in a fantasy novel.

For his part, the knight Kaelen also has some maturing to do, and his journey is worth reading. This continues to be a series about strong relationships, both familial and friendship. Richard learns to open up a bit, to seek counsel more, to heed advice; but he's still strong-willed and used to load everything up on his shoulders, with mixed results. He's a flawed character, but they all are: flawed and incredibly human. The complex web of human relationships is further entangled by the introduction of many new characters as Richard reaches for allies against the threat to his kingdom.

The worldbuilding expands with new kingdoms and people, showing complex traditions and still drawing from our own folklore in a way that is fresh and interesting. The looming threat gives urgency to everything, but there are still some lulls of introspection, quiet moments that are very poignant. One particular moment in the second half of the book, a conversation between Richard and a thief, is especially beautiful and brought tears to my eyes.

The villain gets something of a backseat in this book, still appearing in all his menacing self, but not so overtly present as in the first book. This allows for a tighter focus, and for some really spectacular moments towards the end, a much-needed conversation, and a nail-biting finale.

The Sun King's Noon is a great sequel.

✨ 5 stars

 

Review: Metal from Heaven, by August Clarke

Ichorite is progress. More durable and malleable than steel, ichorite is the lifeblood of a dawning industrial revolution. Yann I. Chauncey owns the sole means of manufacturing this valuable metal, but his workers are on strike. They demand Chauncey research the hallucinatory illness befalling them. Marney Honeycutt, a lustertouched child worker, stands proud at the picket line with her best friend and family. That’s when Chauncey sends in the guns. Only Marney survives the massacre. She vows bloody vengeance.
A decade later, Marney is the nation’s most notorious highwayman, and Chauncey’s daughter seeks an opportune marriage. Marney’s rage and the ghosts of her past will drive her to masquerade as an aristocrat, outmaneuver powerful suitors, and win the heart of his daughter, so Marney can finally corner Chauncey and satisfy her need for revenge. But war ferments in the north, and deeper grudges are surfacing.

"Unalone toward dawn we go."

August Clarke's Metal from Heaven is a genre-bending sapphic epic that defies expectation with its bold use of second person narration, a prose that feels like wading through molasses, and a rich, tight worldbuilding. It deftly explores issues of class struggle and anti-capitalism and what price we are willing to pay to have a revolution.

This is absolutely not a love story but a tragedy, and yet it brims with hope and with a visceral sensuality and with longing devotion that borders on feverish obsession, as main character Marney makes a martyred beacon of her dead best friend. This is also absolutely a novel about butch culture, and the all-female cast is a glorious exploration of masculinity and femininity and all the flavors-in-between, and the intersection of class and queerness, with a very clever distinction between working-class and noble lesbians. Marney is unapologetic in her desires, and pursues many women, although only one has her bleeding heart.

The worldbuilding is rich and complex and almost incomprehensible at times, with a great number of places and cultures and complicated politics governing their alliances, and to complicate matters further, many religions. The crux of the matter, the conflict at the heart of the novel, is the usage and mining conditions of a magical metal that causes unnatural consequences on child laborers and creates a condition of chronic illness on many such children, Marney included; this allows the author to also make a vivid depiction of chronic illness, something that is rare enough in speculative fiction.

The prose is a glorious fever dream of ambitious narrative choices, featuring nonlinear storytelling and long paragraphs that lovingly describe women and hallucinations and sex, and a dizzying muddling of I and you and we. It's also hysterically funny at the most unexpected times.

Metal from Heaven is a modern masterpiece.

✨ 5 stars

 

 

ARC Review: The Sun King's Dawn, by Briar Niran

 

Burdened with an inability to desire others, King Richard of Ardenia still finds peace in his unruly siblings, his loyal circle, and even in his young knight, Sir Kaelen, whose yearning stares he has spent years ignoring. But when Richard rides to a borderland village to investigate eerie happenings, all peace shatters. The veil containing Gloamvarn, a neighbouring realm filled with fell beasts and unimaginable horrors, is cracking. Sooner or later, it will fall.
As Richard hunts for a way to safeguard his kingdom, Kaelen stays close, a constant, protective presence that stirs a strange tenderness Richard doesn’t dare name. For the monsters have a new ruler. And the tyrant hungers not only for Ardenia. But its king, too.

Thank you to the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Briar Niran's The Sun King's Dawn is a gorgeous achillean romantasy with the slowest of burns, first volume of a quartet, featuring an asexual king and his loyal knight. Told exclusively from the point of view of the king, the novel is a deft exploration of sex-repulsed asexuality and of how alienating it feels to live in a world where everyone expresses their love through carnality. At the same time, it's a novel about finding out one's own way to express love.

King Richard is a beautiful protagonist, complex in his grief and in his belief to be defective. He fiercely loves his siblings, and puts their well-being over his own more than a few times. His loyal knight shines bright with fealty and honor and with the kind of all-encompassing love that the bards sing about, but to the king it's anathema, and source of endless embarrassment and disgust, despite holding deep affection and trust for the knight. This creates a very interesting dynamic that promises to become much more intricate as the series goes on, without the need to somehow "fix" the King.

The worldbuilding and writing might be deemed simple, but they hold up very well, creating the perfect backdrop for the story. This is a secondary world with many creatures from our legends and a basic magical system, but the way it all blends is quite nicely done; the kingdom of the vampire-like creatures especially comes to mind, and there's some really horrifying moments linked to the overall threat of the book, a coming corruption of the flesh. In that regard, threat of sexual violence is also present, but handled expertly in a sensitive manner.

The main villain is perfectly villainous and quite disgusting in his pursuit, while his motivations may at first feel at least partly justified. We feel Richard's despair and horror as the book goes on and the villain's leery overtures become more and more explicit and terrifying. The rest of the cast holds up very well; Richard's three siblings are all well developed, and especially his kid sister is a delight.

The Sun King's Dawn is a perfect first installment.

✨ 5 stars

 

Review: Six Wild Crowns, by Holly Race

 

The king has been appointed by god to marry six queens. Those six queens are all that stand between the kingdom of Elben and ruin. Or so we have been told.
Each queen vies for attention. Clever, ambitious Boleyn is determined to be Henry's favourite. And if she must incite a war to win Henry over? So be it. Seymour acts as spy and assassin in a court teeming with dragons, backstabbing courtiers and strange magic. But when she and Boleyn become the unlikeliest of things - allies - the balance of power begins to shift. Together they will discover an ancient, rotting magic at Elben's heart. A magic that their king will do anything to protect.

"The smallest amount of hope is more precious than none at all." 

Holly Race's Six Wild Crowns is an extraordinary take on the story of Henry VIII and his six wives, filled with sapphic yearning. Drawing from history, the author creates a fantasy tale where an England-inspired island is led by a king who has to take six wives in order to keep up a magical shield that protects the realm. Things, of course, are not as they seem and we follow two women, Boleyn and Seymour, as they contend with secrets that might destroy everything and with the reality of being married to a mercurial king.

The two wives couldn't be more different: Boleyn is ambitious and truly loves the monster; Seymour just wants to survive. Over the course of the book, they change and grow organically. Readers who expect a happy ending should however be cautioned, as this novel is more akin to a Shakespearan tragedy than a modern romantasy. In fact, the sapphic yearning is mostly that, and mostly one-sided; and while the bisexual Boleyn is shown to reciprocate some of the affection, this is a larger tale about living in a men's world and standing up in sisterhood.

The blurb is a little misleading; there's little spycraft and court intrigue, and the dragons are not what we are used to. It's mostly a character-driven tale, although there's some twists and turns that move the plot into uncharted territory. The gorgeous prose makes up for a worldbuilding that is, maybe, not as innovative as it could have been, but that still works perfectly for the purposes of this book. The core cast is painted vividly: we meet the other wives, of course, each of them with her own goals, and Henry is a cumbersome character.

Six Wild Crowns is a fantastic first installment.

✨ 5 stars

 

Snippet: The Wolf and His King, by Finn Longman

The wolf-sickness strikes always without warning, stealing Bisclavret’s body and confusing his mind. Since boyhood he hasn’t dared leave his isolated holdings—not to beg the return of his father’s lost estate, not to seek brotherhood among the court, not even to win the knighthood he yearns for. But when a new king ascends, Bisclavret must deliver his kiss of fealty or answer for the failure.
Half an exile himself, the young king is intrigued by this uneasy, rough-hewn nobleman. Bisclavret seems a perfect knight: bold, strong, and merciful. But he keeps his secrets close, and the king’s longings are not for counsel alone. As his fascination grows, the barriers between them multiply, until the king battles desperation and grief. Then Bisclavret vanishes beyond reach, just as the greatest threats to the kingdom converge. Only duty to his people stands between the king and ruin—duty, and the steady loyalty of the strangest wolf.

"Always I am tired of running."

Finn Longman's The Wolf and His King is the achillean retelling of a medieval tale about a werewolf at court, teeming with yearning and courtly love and fealty in spades. The gorgeous writing, very atmospheric, gives the reader the impression of reading an old lai. The author experiments with PoVs, weaving an incredible tapestry of second and third person, and writing in verse from the perspective of the Wolf. No character is named, save for Bisclavret, giving a feeling of both deep disconnect and great immersion. The nameless king, the wife, the cousin, the knight in green: everyone's a reflection of the role they take in the old tale, but also vivid characters of their own. We feel deeply the King's yearning for Bisclavret, and the latter's turmoil. This isn't a novel in the truest sense, more of a joyful reclamation.

✨ 5 stars

 

 

ARC Review: Princeweaver, by Elian J. Morgan

Born with forbidden, nature-infused magic in an occupied land, anxious apothecary Meilyr survives by keeping his head down. Until he ends up engaged to invading prince Osian in order to save his brother’s life. Now, he is in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse to hide his true self.
When nobles in Osian's court are gruesomely murdered by the same magic that flows through his veins, Meilyr realises someone is seeking revenge for his homeland. As suspicion towards him grows, he and the prince work together to uncover the killer, or risk losing the crown - or their lives. Between court politics, unwieldy magic and a murderer on the loose, Meilyr must keep his wits about him. Especially as his feelings for Osian grow deeper with every passing day...

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Elian J. Morgan's Princeweaver is an achillean murder mystery inspired by Welsh folklore and filled with yearning, also offering a stern condemnation of colonialism and showing the toll it takes on the land and its people. It perfectly sets the pieces for what promises to be a gorgeous series, but readers should be warned that the ending is quite abrupt and heart-wrenching, leading to the ferocious need to immediately get to the next book.

The slow burn between Meilyr and Osian is exquisite and acutely slow, a perfect counter to the terrifying and quite horrific murder spree happening around them. Meilyr is a sympathetic protagonist, torn between his secret past and the loyalty to his wrecked land, and the love he starts to bear for the very representative of the kingdom that destroyed his home. For his part, Osian is keenly aware of the wrongs of his royal family, and it shows both in his politics and in the tender respect he gives Meilyr, every interaction between them laden with care and attention. It's rare, refreshing, and beautiful to see so much attention given to consent, even for the smallest gestures, and each moment truly is swoon-worthy. There seems to be demisexual representation, too, which is lovely to see.

The rich worldbuilding ensnares the reader, seamlessly weaving elements of folklore into the narrative. The countryside of the Welsh-inspired conquered nation is rarely explored, most of the action set in the keep, but the old magic and the incredible resilience of its people seep through, especially with the focus on the banned language and on the persecution of magical individuals. The focus on herbology is also very interesting, and the magical system derived from it is clearly described.

This being a mystery, it offers clues that a more savvy reader may catch quickly on; I was personally taken aback, having been working on a completely different theory, but the signs were there, ready to lead to a stunning showstopper of an ending.

Princeweaver is a gorgeous first installment.

✨ 5 stars

 

Review: Aurethia Rising, by Atlas Laika

 

Elio Henly has been preparing for marriage his entire life. As the Henly heir and future steward of Aurethia, he will inherit great power, including control of a lucrative trade route, and ownership of the most precious substance in the Greater Universe — Avara. The mysterious blue crystal native to Aurethia is the sole treatment for parsec sickness, an epidemic ravaging space travelers within the Greater Universe. But when he meets Cael Volkov, the charming heir of the outfitted military planet, Griea, everything he thought he knew about his homeworld, his family, and his heart is turned upside down.  Cael Volkov has been raised to conquer. Champion in the Tupinaire, commander of the Royal Reserve, and son to the mighty Legatus, Cael knows his mission is gain the Aurethian heir’s trust, learn everything he can about the forest moon, and prepare to take it by force. But the longer he spends with Elio Henly, the quiet, brilliant Aurethian prince, the more he questions everything he was taught, and begins to push back against the rhetoric seeded in him by a lust for vengeance.

"How does one undo a lifetime of inequity?" 

Atlas Laika's Aurethia Rising is a queer sci-fi romance that works perfectly as a standalone, but it's actually first in a series that promises to be explosive. Teeming with political maneuvers and betrayal, this stunning space opera takes more than a little inspiration from Dune to show a political marriage between rival Houses and the powerful love that can be born even in the direst circumstances, while reflecting on greed and capitalism.

Elio and Cael are exquisitely explored, and their courtship is a slow affair whose ending feels inevitable. They're a byproduct of their environment; Elio is painfully naive to the realities of commerce, his family the only one that can provide a substance coveted by the rest of the universe, and Cael was bred and trained for the sole purpose of taking back much needed resources, his whole people confined to a harsh homeland. Yet, they persevere, facing harsh betrayals and a seismic truth. The last PoV character is Cael's cousin, a harsh warrior and a tragic, hateful character. Of the rest of the cast, Elio's sister shines with her strength of will and her ferocious loyalty.

The powerful worldbuilding immerses the reader in a big universe, conquered by Earth's descendants, with a confederation made of many powerful Houses ruling planets and moons; but there's also a hint of otherness, the sense that humans aren't alone. The titular Aurethia is a stunning place, and the lush prose paints everything in vivid, colorful strokes, composing a beautiful symphony.

Aurethia Rising is a gorgeous journey.

✨ 4.5 stars

 

List: Best Books of 2025

2026 is coming! In no particular order, here are my favorite books of this year. Click on the covers to read my reviews!

Review: The Isle in the Silver Sea, by Tasha Suri

 

In a Britain fuelled by stories, the knight and the witch are fated to fall in love and doom each other over and over, the same tale retold over hundreds of lifetimes. Simran is a witch of the woods. Vina is a knight of the Queen's court. When the two women begin to fall for each other, how can they surrender to their desires, when to give in is to destroy each other?

As they seek a way to break the cycle, a mysterious assassin begins targeting tales like theirs. To survive, the two will need to write a story stronger than the one that fate has given to them. But what tale is stronger than The Knight and the Witch? 

"I’d rather break the world to fit you." 

Tasha Suri's The Isle in the Silver Sea is an atmospheric tale about the importance of stories, also taking a firm stance against colonialism and monarchy and the erasure of diversity. This gorgeous sapphic standalone vividly paints an out-of-time Great Britain completely disconnected from the rest of the world, taking away the memories of whover comes to live there from over the sea. It's a powerful reflection on connection, racism, and revolution, and a compelling tale of reincarnation.

Incarnates are archetypes, but they're also complex characters with needs and wants and the desire to break free. Drawing on many known English tales and even Arthurian legend, Tasha Suri weaves a stunning tapestry of interconnected fates and creates a beatiful reflection on predestination and the choices we can make. Simran and Vina are fated to love each other and die for each other, but theirs is finally a choice to fight for each other and for freedom. The glimpes of past lives make this story greater, showing the magnitude of these unnatural cycles and their effect on the island.

The world-building is perfectly sculpted by the lush prose, detailling a kingdom that's stuck in the past and refuses to recognize change as a good thing. The supporting cast shines, especially the assassin's tragic figure. The pacing stumbles a bit in the second part, but it leads to a perfect finale.

The Isle in the Silver Sea is another masterpiece from a great author.

✨ 4.5 stars

Review: Bloodtide, by Sophie Burnham

 

Cracks are forming in the empire’s facade. In the wake of startling revelations and personal betrayals, Tair finds herself the Iveroa Stone's new custodian as she embarks on a battle for Luxana's streets. As the fallout of the fighting pit massacre leads to a rise in legionary crackdowns and vigilante justice, Tair is determined to find a better path forward for Sargassa’s future. Up in the Imperial Archives, meanwhile, Selah tries to make sense of her family’s tangled history within the Imperium's shadowed beginnings.
Elsewhere, in the far-flung reaches of Roma Sargassa's badlands, Arran and Theo undertake a covert mission for the Revenants, one that could tip the scales between victory and defeat in Griff's upcoming war. But long-laid plans and careful maneuvering are nothing compared to the forces of nature, and Sargassa's future might just be determined by the coming storm. 

"No one is nothing. No one exists alone." 

Sophie Burnham's Bloodtide doesn't suffer from second book syndrome as it continues the excellent series that started with Sargassa (HERE you can find my review). It may stumble a bit in the execution in the very first quarter, as it juggles many moving pieces and experiments with different formats to account for the seismic revelation from the first book, but once it finds its footing, it's an ambitious rollercoaster from start to finish, digging deeper into issues of slavery, class, and the circle of violence, but also into the resiliency of human nature. The twists keep coming, too, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat or laughing in delight. Predictably, it ends with a cliffhanger, but the stage is perfectly set for what promises to be an epic conclusion.

The worldbuilding expands to explore more of Sargassa, showing the ruins of a time long past. It's delightful to catch on to the references, or sheepishly realize what they were long after reading them. The city is further explored, too, with more focus on the struggles of the servae as the entire community reckons with a perfect storm that lasts days.

The character work is excellent. Everyone must reckon with terrible truths and with the shocking revelation from the first book, everyone grows and changes and matures. Selah is the definite highlight, on a journey to a paradigm shift and the realization that the system was rigged from the start. Even if she was already sympathetic, here she really takes charge and faces her preconceptions. Her relationship with Tair, so fraught after the first book, is given time to breathe, offering no quick solution, but taking most of the book to bring the both of them to the correct mindspace. The revolution's coming, after all, and they're all very busy.

The other PoV characters are given their time to shine, of course. Maybe Theo remains the more static, but they still get some very interesting moments dealing with their gender identity. Arran gets more to do, and the focus is of course on his dual status that puts him at the edge of society, never really fitting in. Darius was the most surprising; a character that was really hateful in the first book, here he gets some moments that really challenge his worldview, and I get the feeling his will be an interesting journey.

Bloodtide lives up to the hype and raises the bar.

✨ 4.5 stars

 

Review: The Sovereign, by C.L. Clark

 

Luca is the new queen of Balladaire. Her empire is already splintering in her hands. Her uncle wasn’t the only traitor in the court, and the Withering will decimate her people if she can’t unearth Balladaire’s magic. The only person who can help her wants the only thing Luca won’t give—the end of the monarchy.
Touraine is Luca’s general. She has everything she ever wanted. While Luca looks within Balladaire’s borders, Touraine looks outward—the alliance with Qazal is brittle and Balladaire’s neighbors are ready to pounce on its new weakness. When the army comes, led by none other than Touraine’s old lover, Touraine must face the truth about herself—and the empire she once called home. 

"Trust is a choice." 

C.L. Clark's The Sovereign is the excellent conclusion to the Magic of the Lost series (HERE's my review of the second book), a vividly painted tale of love and betrayal that reckons with issues of colonialism and imperialism in a lush world filled with lost magic. Touraine and Luca must reckon with their choices and with their respective duties - to their lands, to their families, to their loves. It's a strong novel, filled with impossible choices, heartbreaking and brutal, but love permeates every step of the way.

The character work is exquisite. The love between Touraine and Luca never wawers, but it's put to the test more than once. As their world comes crumbling down with magical desease, war, and revolution, they stay at the center, dealing with the crisis while trying to navigate their relationship and what it means for their lives and their goals. The tension works because they are often at odds with each other, and the complex duties and loyalties make this book shine. The book careens towards a quiet ending after a mad roller coaster of emotions, and it feels inevitable and perfect.

It's a book filled with loss and grief. With so many characters and a war looming, it doesn't feel like a spoiler to say that not everyone comes out unscathed. And every character has their moment to shine; from the deadly courtesan Sabine, to Touraine's previous lover, to the girl that will end up a symbol of the revolution, every character is lovingly rendered and perfectly understandable in their motivations. Others, old and new, are not mere faces, but each of them expertly written.

The worldbuilding expands, exploring another conquered land, its people and their magic; and Touraine's own people and magic, and Luca's Empire and its lost magic. The book manages to give answers and new questions and paint a well-contained secondary world, maybe not especially creative but expertly crafted.

The Sovereign is an incredible conclusion.

✨ 5 stars

 

Review: Fate's Bane, by C.L. Clark

 

The clans of the fens enjoy a tenuous peace, and it is all thanks to Agnir, ward and hostage. For as long as she can remember she has lived among the enemy, learning their ways, growing strong alongside their children. When a burgeoning love for the chieftain’s daughter lures them both to a hidden spring, a magic awakens in them that could bind the clans under one banner at last—or destroy any hope of peace. By working their intentions into leather, they can weave misfortune for their enemies… just like the Fate’s Bane that haunts the legends of the clans.
Ambitions grow in their fathers’ hearts, grudges threaten a return to violence, and greedy enemies wait outside the borders, seeking a foothold to claim the fens for themselves. And though their Makings may save their families, the legend that gave them this power always exacts its price.

"Symbol as I was, I was powerless." 

C.L. Clark's Fate's Bane  is a complex tragedy woven with a lyrical, stunning prose. This compact novella details the tragic love between a hostage and the daughter of her captor, as the years go by and their clans keep warring. With evocative turns of phrase, feeling like a folk tale, this heartbreaking sapphic tale explores the cycle of violence and the cycle of stories, exploring queer longing and the insanity of war.

Told entirely from the perspective of the hostage, this novella breezes through years and years of development, but nothing feels rushed; every word is precise and evocative, especially when it describes the eerie spring that might have doomed or blessed them. Their love starts slow, and burns bright, and it might be the only thing that can save them. But nothing is certain, and in that nebulous unclarity lies the real beauty of this story.

This short masterpiece is perhaps not for everyone, with its soft edges of a story narrated around a campfire, a clan story, a tragedy in the making; but its beauty compels and hurts. Its magic is not the loud magic of high fantasy, but a quieter, uncanny thing, like something straight out of Faerie.

Fate's Bane is a stunning novella.

✨ 5 stars

 

Review: To Clutch a Razor, by Veronica Roth

 

A funeral. A heist. A desperate mission. When Dymitr is called back to the old country for the empty night, a funeral rite intended to keep evil at bay, it's the perfect opportunity for him to get his hands on his family's most guarded relic—a book of curses that could satisfy the debt he owes legendary witch Baba Jaga. But first he'll have to survive a night with his dangerous, monster-hunting kin.
As the sun sets, the line between enemies and allies becomes razor-thin, and Dymitr’s new loyalties are pushed to their breaking point. Family gatherings can be brutal. Dymitr’s might just be fatal.

"I know they're monsters. But a man can love a monster." 

Veronica Roth's To Clurch a Razor is the extraordinary sequel to last year's When Among Crows (HERE you can find my review). A perfectly self-sustained novella, this powerful work deals with teams of grief and abuse. Every word is expertly woven, carefully calculated. We drown once more into Polish folklore as the main characters embark into a borderline suicidal mission in Europe, old wounds are split open, and a new understanding shines through the pain.

This is a compact, painful book, and the author doesn't hold anyone's hand as we bear stunned witness to horror. But there's hope in the luminous relationship between the trio, in the friendship between human and 'monster', in the love between owl and man. Niko and Dymitr are doomed, but only they can save each other; Dymitr can only find repentance in protecting Ala. It's a heartbreaking gem of a book.

The prose is exquisite, simple and cutting. The worldbuilding stuns, too, with its cruel simplicity, drawing from myths and old tales. Baba Yaga is cruel and gentle in equal measure. The ending wraps up everything perfectly, but like the first book, it leaves the door open; and I do hope the author will keep writing this stunning series.

To Clutch a Razor is a small masterpiece.

✨ 5 stars

 

Review: The Sun Blessed Prince, by Lindsey Byrd

 

Prince Elician is a Giver – a closely-guarded secret. He can heal any wound and bring the dead back to life. He also can’t be killed, so is cursed to watch his country wage an endless war. Reapers can kill with a single touch. And when one attacks Prince Elician near a hotly contested battlefield, the Reaper expects a terrible punishment. Instead, Elician offers him a new life on enemy territory.
Cat, as Elician calls him, hadn’t realized he could ever find someone who would make life worth living. Yet Elician’s enemies plan to turn his kindness against him. As the pieces of a deadly plot come together, tensions escalate at court and on the battlefield. The fires of conflict burst into new flame – but can those who wield the powers of life and death find peace?

"To heal a wound, you need to start small."

Lindsey Byrd's The Sun Blessed Prince is an excellent epic fantasy with a slow-burn achillean romance subplot. First in a duology, this book sets the stage for what promises to be an explosive conclusion by introducing a varied cast of characters, two realms at constant war, and two very different sets of beliefs based on the gods of Life and Death. Blessed by their respective gods, Cat and Elician are going to do their best to change things for the people in their realms.

Their relationship develops slowly. It's not too much of a spoiler to say that they're separated for most of the book, but their brief time together made an impression on both, and when they reunite they pick up from where they've left, changed forever by what occurred in the meantime. The final chapter is a very moving piece of writing, and almost brought me to tears.

Romance is decidedly not the focus. This is a great political fantasy with lots of moving pieces, twists (I spoiled myself on a big one by looking for the second book while still reading, but there's still so much more going on), and social commentary on slavery especially. There's a great focus on science, unexpected but fairly contained, and it worked well within the narrative. It's a big book with big themes and a list of trigger warnings one may want to check out before reading.

The trio of POVs is completed by Elician's young sister, a girl who’s grappling with her powers and with her place in the world. Her narration might feel out of place, but it provides much context, and her journey is one to pay attention too. The rest of the cast has its moments to shine, starting from Elician's devoted best friend.

My only gripe with this book and the only reason why I'm not giving it five stars is that the passage of a time in a certain portion of the book was unclear, and the same portion would have benefitted from a few more chapters with Elician's POV.

The Sun Blessed Prince is an incredible debut.

✨ 4.5 stars

 

🤴🏻☀ So you want to read about duty-bound princes?

Here's my review of Laura R. Samotin's The Sins on their Bones 

 

Review: The Hymn to Dionysus, by Natasha Pulley

Raised in a Greek legion, Phaidros has been taught to fight for the homeland he’s never seen and to follow his commander’s orders at all costs. But when he rescues a baby from a fire at Thebes’s palace, his commander’s orders cease to make sense: Phaidros is forced to abandon the blue-eyed boy at a temple, and to keep the baby’s existence a secret. Years later, after a strange encounter that led to the death of his battalion, Phaidros has become a training master for young soldiers. He struggles with panic attacks and flashbacks, and he is not the only one: all around him, his fellow veterans are losing their minds.
Phaidros’s risk of madness is not his only problem: his life has become entangled with Thebes’s young crown prince, who wishes to escape the marriage his mother, the Queen, has chosen for him. When the prince vanishes, Phaidros is drawn into the search for him—a search that leads him to a blue-eyed witch named Dionysus, whose guidance is as wise as the events that surround him are strange. In Dionysus’s company, Phaidros witnesses sudden outbursts of riots and unrest, and everywhere Dionysus goes, rumors follow about a new god, one sired by Zeus but lost in a fire.

"We don’t last long, but our stories do."

Natasha Pulley's The Hymn to Dionysus is, in perfect Pulley fashion, a pointed novel about grief, memory, and identity, a reflection on PTSD and love, and a labirintine narration that draws you in, confuses you, enchants you, and leaves you begging for more. Pulley's distinctive voice is a soothing caress, mesmerising and hypnothising, as she tackles Greek Mythology with a deft hand and creates a new story that feels like the myth. Her Dionysus is a feral and uncanny creature, an ancient and curious god, kind and terrible.

The sole narrator, Phaidros, finds himself earning Dionysus' attention from a very young age. A vicious soldier and a polyglot, widowed of his guardian and commander, he is suicidal and compelled by duty and honor. He's the quintessential Pulley protagonist, and yes, she definitely has a niche, but what she does with her niche works everytime, like beautiful clockwork. This book has an intricate plot, with twists and turns that weren't predictable even by knowing the actual myths, and it meanders gently, pulling you by your hand, slowly unraveling madness and knowledge and freedom.

The relationship between Phaidros and the strange witch he suspects from the start of being a god develops beautifully, with moments of terrible tenderness and others that are heartbreaking. Phaidros' internal monologue paints him as a desperate, grieving man who can't find in himself to believe he's worthy of anything anymore, dealing with staggering loss and with the sudden duties he takes on because he has to. Slowly he'll learn to find value in himself, all while battling with a draught that threatens to kill all and with a supernatural madness taking on soldiers, as well as with a dynastic crisis.

The author did her research into history and myth, and it shows with her usage of greek words and historical references and with her deft threading of her own special Pulley-ness into the mythological tapestry. Her usage of language and etymology is as always superb, as is her particular kind of magical realism. This book has mask magic and bronze marvels that might or might not be inhabited by gods, and her inclusion of the blind prophet Thiresias in a new and fresh way is handled with grace. The major female character is handled with the usual depth and narrative cruelty. It should feel trite, but despite this, her women are always vibrant and never dulled down, and that is the saving grace.

The Hymn to Dionysus is a marvelous piece of art.

✨ 5 stars

Snippet: The Raven Tower, by Ann Leckie

For centuries, the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by the god known as the Raven. He watches over his territory from atop a tower in the powerful port of Vastai. His will is enacted through the Raven's Lease, a human ruler chosen by the god himself. His magic is sustained via the blood sacrifice that every Lease must offer. And under the Raven's watch, the city flourishes. But the power of the Raven is weakening. A usurper has claimed the throne. The kingdom borders are tested by invaders who long for the prosperity that Vastai boasts. And they have made their own alliances with other gods.
It is into this unrest that the warrior Eolo--aide to Mawat, the true Lease--arrives. And in seeking to help Mawat reclaim his city, Eolo discovers that the Raven's Tower holds a secret. Its foundations conceal a dark history that has been waiting to reveal itself...and to set in motion a chain of events that could destroy Iraden forever.

“Perhaps, long or short, it mattered how one spent that time.”

Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower is an excellent standalone Hamlet-inspired novel with a twist about manipulative and manipulated gods. It features fascinating mythology and magic system, and a beautiful usage of the second person narration. The narrator is a delight, going on with patience about the past and the present and the power of language and stories, and about finally caring for someone. The novel explores themes of imperialism, power, and personal identity, the latter especially through the eyes of the ostensible main character, a transgender man named Eolo, whose gender is not what the story is about, but rather his gender is an important part of his identity that informs his decision-making and emotions and his relationships with several other characters. This books is a gem that I, for one, certainly intend to reread, as I read it upon publication.

✨ 5 stars

ARC Review: Angel Eye, by Madeleine Nakamura

When a healer begins murdering hospital patients, Professor Adrien Desfourneaux discovers that the threat is far closer to him than he could have imagined.
Still recovering from a recent institutionalization and unable to trust his own mind or magic, Adrien is drawn into the witch hunt as suspicion falls upon those closest to him. The city’s inquisitors and witchfinders are losing control, the magicians are growing more and more resentful, and the scars from Adrien’s last brush with disaster refuse to fade. To put an end to the innocent deaths, to keep his dearest friends, and to prove himself worthy of a potential new romance, Adrien is forced to confront his own blind spots before he’s fatally ensnared by the angel of death’s machinations.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Madeleine Nakamura's Angel Eye is the gut-wrenching sequel to the excellent 2023 debut Cursebreakers (HERE you can read my review). It's a fast paced, tightly woven thriller, and the first half is absolutely anxiety-inducing and heart-breaking. The themes from the first novel are further explored, giving a nuanced read on addiction, mental illness, and hypersexuality, while also teeming with overwhelming kindness and understanding for battered protagonist Adrien, who just can't seem to catch a break. In this book, his support system grows exponentially, and it's a joy to read amidst the tears.

All the characters from the first novel get their moments to shine, their relationship to Adrien front and center, but it's the new characters that really sell this book and make this a perfect sequel, building on the already strong foundations and creating a perfect gem. Adrien's new keeper is an incredibly intense figure, sharp and terrifying and bigger than life; and his new love interest is just what he needs, sweet and loyal and utterly unafraid, their relationship growing organically and beautifully. There are othere addictions to the cast, all absolutely delightful.

The worldbuilding was really the only thing that I thought had some small problems in the first novel, and here the issues are corrected thanks to a more narrowed focus on the city and its politics. We also lose a bit of the focused academic setting, but it works because it allows for a more thorough exploration.

This book adds on the mental anguish from the first one by adding physical and mental torture, gaslighting, and attempted rape; as such, one might want to proceed with caution, but it's a rewarding read.

Angel Eye is an excellent sequel.

✨ 5 stars

List: Best books of 2024

2025 is coming! In no particular order, here are my favorite books of this year, with links to my reviews.

✨ 5 stars

READ MY REVIEW HERE. This one was a feast, an incredible vampire story with an epistolary twist.

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READ MY REVIEW HERE. The incredible conclusion to a heartfelt duology.

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READ MY REVIEW HERE. An excellent exploration of a toxic immortal love.

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READ MY REVIEW HERE. The trilogy sticks the landing with this powerful tale of love and sacrifice.

✨ 4 stars

READ MY REVIEW HERE. Another great conclusion to a trilogy, leaving no storyline unaccounted for.

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READ MY REVIEW HERE. An utter surprise, a delightful banger with great things to say.

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READ MY REVIEW HERE. A poignant exploration of grief.

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READ MY REVIEW HERE. A delicious vampire tale.

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READ MY REVIEW HERE. A stunning and lovely debut about love.

READ MY REVIEW HERE. A powerful tale about healing after an abusive relationship.

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READ MY REVIEW HERE. An incredible retelling of the Iliad.

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READ MY REVIEW HERE. An excellent alt-history tale with great characters.