Book Review: The Dragon of Jin-Sayeng by K.S. Villoso

I’ve finally made it to the end of The Chronicles of The Bitch Queen. It’s been an emotional and intimate journey with Queen Talyien as she penned her story, and it would be an understatement to say I enjoyed it. Tali’s narrative has become a new favorite fantasy series, with a new favorite protagonist, and with K.S. Villoso as a new favorite author. If you’re looking for compelling and complex characters in an epic non-western fantasy setting I recommend you give this series a chance.

What I’m Reading: The Dragon of Jin-Sayeng by K.S. Villoso

I’d hoped that this “What I’m Reading Post” would be a book review but alas it’s not. I had that hope because this book is scheduled to be released today in the U.S. and the publisher sent me an ARC, and I’ve had it a while, and I usually try to get reviews for ARCs posted before the book comes out if not weeks before it comes out. But I didn’t. Because I’m still reading it. Because I’m behind. Because life.

Anyway, the least I can do is get a What I’m Reading post put together to go live on the day the book releases. That’s something right? So what am I reading? Well…it’s The Dragon of Jin-Sayeng by K.S. Villoso.

Book Review: The Ikessar Falcon by K.S. Villoso

Why? Why did I wait so long to read The Ikessar Falcon? Like, seriously why? I mean yeah I’ve got a lot of books on my TBR and this was just one among many. But I could have bumped it up the stack a bit. I should have bumped it up the stack a bit. I loved The Wolf of Oren-Yaro so why didn’t I read the follow-up right away? Why?

Look, here’s the takeaway you need from this review…you don’t even need to read the rest of it if you don’t want to…the one thing I want to get across if nothing else is this…

If you’re not already reading The Chronicles of The Bitch Queen, you should be because this series is just damn fantastic.

There. That’s it. That’s the whole point of anything else I might have to say about this book and this series. If you want a little more keep reading.

What I’m Reading: The Ikessar Falcon

My fifth book of the year is one I’ve sat on since September. Orbit sent it to me at my own request and as is usual one thing after another came up and I’m just now getting to it. I might have put it off longer if it weren’t for a recent dust up on Twitter which I’ll discuss below.

So what am I reading? It’s The Ikessar Falcon by K.S. Villoso.

Book Review: Jade City

I’m always nervous to start reading a book that I’m also going to review when that book has already received gobs of praise from other readers. I’m always worried that it will be a letdown for me and I’ll be that one guy who craps on what everybody else loves. Thankfully, in the case of Jade City this isn’t the case.

Jade City is a vivid, gritty, gangster fantasy. I seriously enjoyed this read.

Book Review: The Sword of Kaigen

The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang is one of the most unique books I’ve read this year. Any one of the following is reason enough to read it; It’s imaginative and defies expected norms; It has elemental magic and one of the best set piece fight scenes I’ve ever read; It is one of the best non-western/Asian inspired fantasies I’ve come across; It’s very much a character driven book for those who love character driven books; It will hit you in the feels; It won the Fifth Annual Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (#SPFBO).

So take your pick. Of the selling points I just listed what grabs your attention the most? Is it more than one? I’ll try to run through them and give you my thoughts. Here we go…

Book Review: The Bone Shard Daughter

Andrea Stewart weaves a thrilling new fantasy story with The Bone Shard Daughter. Intrigue, ancient enemies, diverse creatures, an intricate magic system, characters with heart, and an island filled world come together in some fascinating world building to deliver a story that grabs you and won’t let go.

Book Review: We Ride The Storm

Absolutely riveting! We Ride The Storm is already one of my favorite books of the year.

The Wolf of Oren-Yaro Review (Again)

Book Haul: Self-Pub Fantasy Month 2019 Edition

Earlier this week there was a sale going on for books related to the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (#SPFBO). A bunch of self-published/indie authors got together and put their books on sale for $0.99 each. Most of the books were part of SPFBO5 that is currently underway, but there were a few books and authors from SPFBO4 that I noticed.

Anyway, what’s important for this conversation is there were a bunch of self-published/indie books on sale. This of course meant I had to buy some. Because you know, there was a book sale going on. It’s what one does.

I bought five books. I’m pretty sure at least one of these will be read and reviewed for Self-Published Fantasy Month in September though I haven’t decided which one or whether there will be more than one.

Here’s what I picked up…