Book Review: Demons, Ink by Clayton Snyder

This review first appeared on Beth Tabler’s Before We Go Blog as part of the current Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (#SPFBO) competition. I’m a member of Beth’s #SPFBO reviewing team and Demons, Ink was in my initial batch of books to read. I enjoyed it so much I selected it as a semi-finalist. I held off on publishing the review here until now so as not to confuse my blog with any of the official judging blogs for the competition. Ultimately Demons, Ink was not chosen as our team’s finalist, but now that the first phase of the competition is over I wanted to circle back and post the review here as well in order to show some love for a book I really enjoyed. I hope you’ll give it a go as well.

Book Review: Jade War by Fonda Lee

I’ve returned to the world of Fonda Lee’s The Green Bone Saga and let me tell you it was such a good experience! Jade War is just as engrossing as it’s predecessor Jade City, but now on a more global scale. I previously described Jade City as being a “vivid, gritty, gangster fantasy.” Well, Jade War doubles down on that description and throws in some serious character and plot development ensuring it doesn’t fall into that dreaded sophomore slump, but instead stands up and carries the torch for this series as it continues on to the next installment in Jade Legacy.

SPFBO 7 Review: Demons, Ink by Clayton Snyder

Yesterday my SPFBO 7 review for Demons, Ink by Clayton Snyder went up over on Before We Go Blog. This was my selection from my initial batch of books to move on to the next round in the team’s selection process, and the first selection for the team as a whole. We may end up with 9 or 10 books in that second round and from those we’ll narrow it down to a few semi-finalists, and then a finalist.

Anyway, I enjoyed this read and hope you’ll check it out. Click below to be taken to to the review.

Demon’s, Ink Review

As always if you don’t know about SPFBO it’s an annual contest hosted by author Mark Lawrence with 300 self-published fantasy books/authors split between ten judges or judging teams that will eventually work it’s way to a final winner. Check out the SPFBO Webpage for more details and the SPFBO 7 Page for more on this year’s books and judging teams. I hope you’ll follow along!

Book Review: The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter

The Helm of Midnight is a dark, suspenseful, fantasy thriller. Ambitious world building, a multi-faceted magic system, and an exploration of the connected themes of morality, trauma, and family do the heavy lifting in this jack the ripper style mystery investigation.

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 Haunting of Tram Car 015

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 is a delightful and engaging read; a spellbinding ghost story in an alternate timeline filled with djinn, and automatons. Wit and humor, magic and science, secrets and revelations, tradition and upheaval; all combine in this investigative mystery novella by P. DjèlÍ Clark that will leave you craving for more.

Book Review: The Last Smile In Sunder City

What do you do when you discover that Long John Silver has written a book? Not the actual literary character mind you, but the guy who played one so superbly on TV. You do everything you can to get a copy of it and read it is what you do! And the first question you ask yourself is “can an actor write a good book?” Well, let me say this…

What I’m Reading: The Haunting of Tram Car 015

This is going to be a quick post because it’s 8:30 PM and we just got home and settled for the night after taking the kids to tutoring after work and then getting dinner. I want to get to reading, and I’m probably going to keep an eye on the Iowa Caucus results.

I know I just posted a What I’m Reading post like two days ago. These will probably be spaced out a little more in the future as I typically read about one book a week, but I only had about 30 pages left in Legacy of Ash before I posted about it, and my current read is a novella which I can finish in one or two days.

Vicious Review

A dark, page turning superhero revenge tale inhabited by morally challenged supernatural characters, brought to life with V. E. Schwab’s quickening prose.

“Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong” – Back Cover Blurb.

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…