Legends Of The Exiles Review

Author: Jesse Teller
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date:  April 15, 2019
Format: e-book (read on Kindle)
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

I was sent a copy of this book for review by the author’s spouse.

The Story

“The isolated barbarians of Neather have deep ancestry and strict traditions. Four resilient women defy tribal customs as they fight to overcome their own tragedies. Abuse. Addiction. Assault. Grief. What struggles can they endure to defend their hopes and their hearts?

Helena seeks a love as bold as she, yet finds the men of her village lacking. 

Jocelyn fears her strange visions and sacrifices a life with the man she loves for the one her destiny demands. 

Torn apart by abuse and grief, Ellen is a brilliant woman who must focus her intellect on finding reasons to persevere.

Rachel, a brash girl of noble heritage, dares all men to challenge her and longs for one who will.

In this set of four interwoven novellas, award-winning author Jesse Teller challenges assumptions and showcases the strength of feminine resolve.”

Legends of The Exiles tells the stories of four legendary women of the Ragoth, a seemingly barbarian mountain people in the decades leading up to “The Escape.” They are stories of love, life, strength, loss, and suffering, where the characters struggle to fight back against the fate of tradition, choose their own paths, and forge their own destinies.

I’ve been sitting here a while trying to decide how I want to tackle this review. A book that is four stories woven together could be approached in a number of ways. It isn’t just a collection of short-stories (or novellas) and it isn’t a single story with a single story arc. At first I was going to dish on what I liked and didn’t like but sometimes they could go together. So instead I think I’m going to just talk about the things that really popped out to me.

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Seven Blades In Black Review

Author: Sam Sykes
Series: The Grave of Empires Book 1
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date:  April 9, 2019
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 704 (661 + Extras)
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars

I was sent a copy of this book by the publisher.

Seven Blades In Black is the dark, gritty, sarcastic, epic, guns, swords, and sorcery revenge story you’ve been wanting, even if you didn’t know it.

Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City Review

Author: K. J. Parker
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date:  April 9, 2019
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 384 (350 + Extras)
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

I was sent a copy of this book for review by the publisher.

When I first saw Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City I was intrigued. Before this I’d never read anything by K.J. Parker and honestly didn’t know much about him. Somehow I’ve been living under a rock because he’s written a crap ton of books either under this name or as Tom Holt, and more than one twitter/blog follower commented how much they loved his books. The premise was one I was instantly drawn to, a medieval siege with little hope for success; a city whose defenses are led by an engineer not a regular army commander. And this colonel of engineers is a “liar and a cheat” who has issues with authority? Add to that the medieval themed cover design by Lauren Panepinto (I’m a sucker for cool covers) and well of course I wanted to read it.

Grey Sister Review

Author: Mark Lawrence
Series: Second Book Of The Ancestor
Publisher: Ace
Publication Date:  April 3, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 432
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

I love this series! That’s probably an understatement but it’s easily become one of my new favorite series in fantasy fiction. There’s just something about it whether it’s the story, the compelling baddass nun characters, or Mark Lawrence’s writing. I stayed up late to finish Grey Sister and I’m still not sure I’ve digested it all but I’m giving it a go.

Beware, as this is the second book in a series there are bound to be minor inevitable spoilers in this review if you haven’t read book one. If you haven’t read my review of Red Sister you can find it here. For this review I’m going generally follow the same format I did for Red Sister with some technical stuff first then overall comments at the end.

The Winter Road Review

Author: Adrian Selby
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date:  November 13, 2018
Format: Paperback
Pages: 496
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

The Circle – a thousand miles of perilous forests and warring clans. No one has ever tamed such treacherous territory before, but ex-soldier Teyr Amondsen, veteran of a hundred battles, is determined to try.

With a merchant caravan protected by a crew of skilled mercenaries, Amondsen embarks on a dangerous mission to forge a road across the untamed wilderness that was once her home. But a warlord rises in the wilds of the Circle, uniting its clans and terrorizing its people. Teyr’s battles are far from over . . .”

I finished The Winter Road last night, set the book down, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. I had to collect myself a moment – had to pause and digest it. The Winter Road is a story of the pain and heartbreak that underlies human achievement. It’s the kind of book I haven’t read in a while, like you’re drawing back the curtain on some grand event in history where everyone knows the glorious result, only to discover the grim truth about how it came to be. One where the reader is pulled through the wringer along with the characters…you may be new on the other side, but the pain and disfigurement of the experience lingers, some parts of you are left in the bucket, and you’ll never go back to the way things were before.

The Bear And The Nightingale Review

Author: Katherine Arden
Series: Winternight Trilogy Book One
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date:  January 10, 2017 (Hardcover)
Format: Paperback (June 27, 2017)
Pages: 333

“Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil.

Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.

But Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and o groom her rebellious stepdaugher for marriage or a convent. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has concealed – to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales.”

Oh man…this book. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know if I was going to like it when I set out to read it. Yeah I’d seen a lot of reviews rating it highly but I still wasn’t sure it was for me. Boy was I wrong…this was so me.

Arden weaves a modern story that feels like a fairy tale set in medieval northern Rus. It is atmospheric and bewitching, with captivating prose and compelling characters that will transport you to another time and place. A place so richly described you can smell the earth, feel the cold, and sense the spirit world around you.

The Wolf Of Oren-Yaro Review

Author: K.S. Villoso
Series: Annals of the Bitch Queen (Book One)
Publisher: Liam’s Vigil
Publication Date:  January 2018
Format: Kindle Edition
Pages: 417

Let me start by saying I’m a bad, bad book blogger and should be punished for how bad I am. I read The Wolf of Oren-Yaro in September as part of Self-Published Fantasy Month here on Off The TBR. SEPTEMBER. The book had already been out four 9 months. It’s been five more months. The book has now been out over a year. Book two has already been published and has been out for ten months. And I’m just now getting around to posting this review. It’s been so long I will miss important details and points because I didn’t take notes and the review won’t be up to my usual standard. This book is good and deserving of a detailed review. Really good in fact. I suck.

Now that I’ve got some self-flagellation out of the way let me tell you something about this beautiful book. Because of what I mentioned above this review won’t follow my usual format and may not be as detailed as usual. (Some of you will like that).