Gogmagog tells the story of an epic journey through the sixty-mile long ghost of a dragon.
Travel is by boat, a rickety steam launch captained by veteran taxi pilot Cady Meade, on the river Nysis. In her heyday Cady carried people and goods from the thriving seaports of the estuary into Ludwich, the capital city. Now she’s drunk, holed up in a rundown seaside resort, telling her bawdy tales for shots of rum.
All that’s about to change, when two strangers seek her out, asking for transport, one of whom – a young girl – is very ill, and in great danger. The other, an artificial being of singular character, has secrets hidden inside his crystal skull. So begins the voyage of the Juniper.
The Nysis is unlike any other river. Mysteries unfold with each port of call. Not many can navigate these channels, not many know of its whirlpools and sandbanks, and of the ravenous creatures that lurk beneath the surface.
Cady used to have the necessary knowledge, and the powers of spectral navigation.
But her glory days are well behind her now. This might well be her final journey.
The epic environmental coming of age fantasy continues. An ideal series for YA and MG readers who love fantasy, the magic of nature and want a stellar female cast of characters.
After one of the bloodline Elementals is snatched, Hannah and her guardian – a magical silverback fox called Alpha – must journey into the unknown to save a future still under threat.
But is it a trap?
As old enemies emerge and darkness spreads across the worlds, Hannah discovers that her own mother has mysteriously gone missing. With Gaia, the Mother of all Nature, hellbent on seeking revenge against those that are trying to destroy her, Hannah realises she’s running out of time and that to save the future, might just mean the mother of all sacrifices.
Awoken in the middle of the night by an alarming phone call, Hannah and her mum, Caroline rush to the bedside of Eleanor, Hannah’s estranged Grandmother. One of them has been lying to Hannah and one has been keeping a magical, but dangerous secret.
With deadly forces aligning to destroy the Mother of All Nature’s bloodline, Hannah is rushed to the safety of the Hollow Tree. But will she make it in time. And can a mysterious silverback fox keep her alive long enough to save not just the world we know…
Format: 392 pages, Hardcover Published: December 15, 2023 by Harper Voyager ISBN: 9780008596965 Goldsboro Books Exclusive Edition
Two elven sisters become imprisoned in the hidden world of the fae where danger, and love, lies in wait. Faebound is the first book in an enchanting new trilogy from the internationally bestselling author of The Final Strife.
A thousand years ago, the world held three fae, elves, and humans. But now the fae and humans exist only in myth and legend, survived by the elves who are trapped in an endless war over the remaining lands.
Yeeran is a colonel in the elven army and has known nothing but a life of violence and hardship. Her sister, Lettle, is a diviner whose magic promises a different future for her and her sister, but the prophecies have yet come to pass.
When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran’s exile from the Elven Lands, Lettle, fearful for her sister’s life, follows her into the uncharted territory beyond their borders. In the wilderness the sisters encounter the largest obeah they have ever seen. Part leopard, part stag, the obeah’s magic is harnessed to make weapons for the elven war. It is during this hunt that they are confronted with the a group of fae who take them captive. Imprisoned in a new land, they must navigate the politics of the fae court all while planning their escape.
Now Yeeran and Lettle are fighting a different kind of between their loyalty to their elven homeland and the intoxicating world of the fae, between what duty decrees is right, and what their hearts tell them they need.
My Review
Alright, one last review for the day and then I’m off to bed. I’ve just read about 300 hundred of the 395 pages this evening. I read the rest last month. I’ve been busy. Now I have to wait for the next one! And it promises to be so good!
I don’t normally like romantic fantasy, even though it seems to be a really popular genre at the moment. I prefer fantasy with a romantic sub-sub-sub plot. Fantasy that could stand without the romantic elements. There should be more that just lust and romantic love moving the plot forward. Nor should sex be substituted for actual character development.
But.
I like this one. The characters are fun, there’s battles, murder, prophesy, finding and losing family, betrayal, talking animals…all the fun stuff. The plot does rely a bit on the enemies to lovers trope, but that’s a romantasy staple and in the context it actually works. El-Arifi doesn’t use sex as a substitute for character development, although there is some in there. On the beach, of all places.
The main characters are Yeeran and Lettle, a colonel in the Waning army and a Seer. They are sisters in their late thirties and twenties, respectively. That makes a nice change. Main characters that aren’t children. They’ve had a hard life. Yeeran chose to join the army and fight in the Forever War, while Lettle was too young to leave, and had to stay with their father. After poisoning him as dementia took control, Lettle seeks solace in an old temple, and meets her mentor, a Seer, who takes her to their capital and trains her in divination. Yeeran rises to become the youngest general in the Waning army, while Lettle becomes a powerful diviner, although divination, the gift to elves from the moon god is increasingly ignored and disparaged.
Then Yeeran makes a battlefield mistake that costs hundreds of lives. Sent into exile, Yeeran seeks out a way to win back favour with her chieftain/lover. Lettle, and Yeeran’s Captain, Rayan, follow her into exile, through the neighbouring Crescent and meet up as Yeeran is hunting an obeah.
Then things turn nasty. Because the obeah is faebound to a fae prince, who will die when the obeah does, and a fae princess witnesses the death. There is a nasty fight and Yeeran is condemned to death. But first the three elves must be marched through the wasteland to the underground home/prison of the fae.
Just when it looks like everyone is going to die, Yeeran bonds with an obeah herself. This changes everything. The fae won’t kill an obeah, and killing Yeeran would kill an obeah. This gives Yeeran, Lettle and Rayan a few months respite to find a way to escape. Something is happening outside the fae lands, and inside there is dissension in the ranks. The arrival of three elves changes the balance and they will all learn something about themselves and the world.
I’ll admit, my favourite character is Pila, the obeah bonded to Yeeran. She’s a sarcastic bint and I love her. The elves and fae are okay, I suppose, but I want more obeah adventures! I’m joking, although Pila is my favourite, I like the way the characters are developing and the push-pull of duty and attraction. Lettle sees most things more clearly than her sister, but Yeeran is too bound up in her training to accept that Lettle might be right. The tension between the two sister, and the tension between Yeeran and Furi, drive the story forward. These tensions represent the tension between two elvish worldviews and the competing elvish and fae worldviews, that need to be reconciled for them the move forward.
Furi is furious most of the time, be as the reader gets to know her through Yeeran’s eyes, we discover that the anger is a cover for grief, pain and fear. She’s trapped in Mosima, trapped in her duty to people and family, her future is determined for her by a curse, and she has no way out. She turns this outward towards elves in general and Yeeran in particular. Yet, it’s the arrival of Yeeran, Lettle, and Rayan that will eventually free her.
Also, it’s very, very queer. As in the societies are queer normative. And I love to see it.
That’s the big reveal at the end. Which I’m not going to spoil. You all need to go out and get this book. The standard edition will be published in a week or so, and I think I have a copy on order with Waterstones. (Look, we all know I’m a completist, I can’t help myself. I just found out there’s a FairyLoot exclusive edition and I can’t get it! It’s very frustrating!)
Format: 352 pages, Hardcover Published: November 21, 2023 by Hodderscape ISBN: 9781399724685 (ISBN10: 1399724681) Language: English
Blurb
Marriage isn’t always sunshine and unicorns… sometimes it’s monsters and necromancy.
In a world of magic and adventure, Logan “the Bear” Theaker had hung up his axe and settled down with his sunshiny bard husband, Pie. But when Pie disappears, Logan is forced back into the world he thought he left behind.
The kingdom is in turmoil, and Logan must come out of retirement to save it. But first, he must save his beloved husband from whatever danger he’s in. With the help of an old adversary and a ghost from his past, Logan discovers that Pie has been blackmailed into stealing a powerful artifact capable of creating an undead army.
The fate of the kingdom hangs in the balance as Logan and his team set out to stop the brewing war and put an end to the king’s ban on magic. But in doing so, Logan must confront his own hero complex and come face to face with the one man who’s ever made him feel worthy of love.
Legends & Lattes meets Kings of the Wyld in this thrilling, queer, light fantasy. Follow Logan and Pie’s journey as they fight to save their love and the kingdom they call home.
My Review
I got myself a signed copy of this book from Goldsboro Books a couple of weeks ago and started reading it when it arrived two days ago. I’ve been busy with work and blog tours so I only got three chapters in, until this evening. Four and a half hours later I’ve finished reading the book.
We meet Pie and Logan at a village festival, a few months after they marry and settle down from their lives on the road as a bard and a hero. But things quickly go wrong when Pie disappears on a trip to the nearest city and Logan has to search for him. He calls on a necromancer he once arrested and that sets off a chain of events that eventually include grave robbing, nearly drowning, killing a king and unicorns, lots of unicorns.
This romp of a story is a D&D campaign! Seriously, it has the sorts of characters and structures you get in a really good game, with a really good DM. There’s an inciting event, a quest, a collection of characters who appear and join the expedition, monsters to defeat, an even bigger challenge to over come when it looks like you’ve got to the end, and a final big boss to destroy. It was a lot of fun to read.
It was also heart-breaking at times! Pie and Logan are absolutely wretchedly in love and their arguments are caused by love and their insecurities as they face their pasts and their feelings. I cried, a few times. I
I’m soppy, I know.
They’re so lovely though, and they develop over the course of the novel as they confront their fears and insecurities about being left behind, and express how overwhelming their love for each other is.
I found the countess hilariously funny, relentlessly positive and of all the secondary characters she’s my favourite. She has a sad history, uses her magic for seemingly trivial things like getting the gardening done, and is feared because she’s a necromancer. Yet, she comes through in the end, even though she sort of betrayed Logan before the story started. And she has a CHARTER!
I loved the descriptions of places and people in the book, they were very evocative and quite, quite amusing at times. The contrast between the ‘real’ world, the ‘pocket’ world of the unicorns, and death’s realm were very clear and stark. I loved the descriptions of the library in the capital. Also, totally agree with Logan on the suspended walkways. They are a baaaaaad idea.
Genre: steampunk historical fiction Publication Date 27 November 2023 ISBN 978-1-3999-5773-1 Dimensions 229 x 152mm Extent 306 pages RRP £9.99 BIC FL, FV Rights Worldwide
Published by Open Door Books. Page design and typesetting by SilverWood Books.
Key Selling Points
From the author of The Mechanical Maestro and The Copper Chevalier, a new story following the Abernathy siblings as they face an enigmatic adversary.
Character-driven story centred around three genius siblings.
A steampunk-tinged tale with Gothic overtones sure to enthral fans of clockwork, androids and the Victorian era alike.
Immersive world filled with colourful characters.
Blurb
1863
Six years have passed at Ravenfeld Hall. The Abernathy siblings’ fortunes continue to improve as George and Douglas’s android-building business thrives. But change looms on the horizon. Douglas’s engagement to the sweet, charming Clara Marsden threatens to take him from his family, while sister Molly contemplates whether a future with the man she loves means sacrificing her independence and academic pursuits.
Then the family face more pressing concerns…
One night, George’s latest invention escapes the Hall. Four months later, a charismatic inventor by the name of Gearhart appears in London, with an intellect to rival that of the Abernathys’. George senses there’s something sinister about the mysterious Mr Gearhart, who’s planning to unveil an invention that could change the world. But does he have far grander ambitions? And can George uncover the truth about him in time?
) Published February 28th 2023 by Head of Zeus Hardcover, 460 pages Author: Django Wexler ISBN: 9781801101424 Format:460 pages, Paperback Published: February 28, 2023 by Orbit ISBN: 9780316519663 Publisher : Head of Zeus — an AdAstra Book (9 Nov. 2023) Paperback : 528 pages ISBN-10 : 1801101442 ISBN-13 : 978-1801101448Format: Audiobook Published: August 8, 2023 by Orbit ISBN:9781668634899
Blurb
Two siblings divided by magic and revolution must finally join forces and rally the people to take down the Twilight Order once and for all in the final book of this brilliantly imagined epic fantasy trilogy. The last surviving Chosen, Ashok has finally risen up and taken control of The Twilight Order. He promises equality and prosperity, but Gyre and Maya know the truth. Only death follows in Ashok’s wake. To take him down, Gyre will have to unite old allies from all across The Splinter Kingdoms and the depths of Deepfire. And Maya will have to seek out a legendary weapon hidden in the mountains that could turn the tide in their battle for freedom.
Format: 352 pages, Paperback Published: November 7, 2023 by Tor Trade ISBN: 9781250886101 (ISBN10: 1250886104) Language: English
When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn’t always what we seek.
In Bookshops & Bonedust, a prequel to Legends & Lattes, New York Times bestselling author Travis Baldree takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books.
Viv’s career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam’s Ravens isn’t going as planned.
Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she’s packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she’ll never be able to return to it.
What’s a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?
Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn’t possibly imagine.
Still, adventure isn’t all that far away. A suspicious traveller in grey, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.
My Review
Viv the coffee selling orc returns, but twenty years younger, and with less enemies. Injured in a raid, she’s left in Murk, a seaside town, while her crew, Rackham’s Raven’s continue hunting for Varine the Pale, a necromancer and her hoard of wights. Bored, Viv takes a chance visit to bookshop and discovers a love of reading. In time, she makes friends, falls in love with a dwarf and deals with an undead problem. She meets a famous romance author and a bony homunculus called Satchel in the process. She also meets Galina, the gnome we first meet in Legends & Lattes, in Murk, as a young, untired mercenary.
I have several copies of this book, a hardback special edition from The Broken Binding, a standard Tor hardback, and this Tor US paperback. I have the UK paperback on order for next year. I am a completist with my books, especially when I like them. That’s why I have multiple copies of the Burningblade & Silvereye series (UK and US editions), and many, many editions of The Lord of the Rings.
I really enjoy Travis Baldree’s cosy fantasy novels. That’s why I spend the money to get The Broken Binding special editions, as well as the standard hardback and paperback. Isn’t it glorious? I love the artwork!
Other editions I have
Back to the actual story. Viv is a young, over-confident orc on a mission to prove herself. Right up until she gets stabbed in the leg and is shipped off to a dull seaside town. We see Viv, the young orc who becomes the Viv of Legends & Lattes, learning her first lessons in being a mercenary, and that there is a chance at life afterwards, if you find out what you really want to do. We see the start of the yearning that leads to her eventually opening her café and finding a partner. First though, she has to learn to temper her impatience, that sometimes you meet the right person, in the right place, but at entirely the wrong time. Someone who’s had their adventures and found a place, while you are just starting yours and haven’t found your place yet. These bittersweet lessons in life and love are handled well.
There’s the cosy bakery, a dank bookshop that needs modernising, and a gnome with a chip on her shoulder as big as she is. It’s all so delightful. I loved the use of a bookshop – Viv dives in to helping her new friend in return for being given the joy of books. The spread the joy by sharing books with other people and bringing in innovations in bookselling (at least they’re innovative in Murk). Between that, falling in love with a baker, and saving Murk from the undead hoards, Viv has a lot going on, as she impatiently waits for the return of Rackham’s Ravens. Her stay in Murk is a temporary one, she hopes, and dreads both staying and leaving by the end.
This story is about books. It’s a book about stories, too. Mostly. It’s about what books can do for you, about how books, and stories, can explain the world and help us through difficult times and turbulent emotions, by acting as mirrors. It’s about finding the story after the end of the story. In LOTR, Sam talks about how they’re characters in a story, that one day, their great adventure will be another part in a greater story. Viv, Fran, and, Maylee say it differently, but it’s the same concept: we’re all stories, our story streams become part of the greater river of stories that all join each other in the sea of history.
Oh, great, I’m getting metaphorical and poetic!
I was deeply affected by this book, which might sound daft, considering characters include a gryphon-dog hybrid, a cake baking dwarf, a snake-person who runs the town police force, a rat-person who runs a bookshop, a homunculus that need dusting with bone dust to form, and a poetic orc. Then there’s the romance writing elf, who is wildly popular with everyone but a bit of a recluse, until Viv and Fran visit with cakes from Maylee’s bakery. I loved the characters, they’re so squishy. I could cuddle them all day. That’s what I enjoy about cosy fantasy, everything turns out fine in the end, even if the ending is a bittersweet one. The main character leaves wherever they are better than they found it and people’s lives better for their presence. It’s soft and cosy and just the thing for a winter’s evening.
Once again, Travis Baldree has written a cracking good book. The epilogue promises more to come, and I’d definitely read more about Viv’s adventures in between the events of L&L and B&B.
Lost among the dune-swept ruins of ancient glass towers, 14-year-old Spiric hunts for his stolen memories. Guided by the exiled scholar that found him, he embarks on a perilous journey across the Droughtlands to uncover his origins.
He’s told his red eyes mark him as a Hytharo, one of the long-extinct storm callers that sealed all water into the air itself before they were erased from history. In the thousand years since, thirst has been quenched simply by breathing, but that hasn’t stopped the surviving runic peoples from wanting water any less.
For without it, there’s no ink, no runes, no magic, and in the vast desert wastes of the Droughtlands, magic means power.
To Spiric, the mantra is eerily familiar.
Word of his presence ripples across the Droughtlands and pressure mounts on him to reverse the Hytharo’s final, sacrificial act. It’s only as his memories begin to return that he realises the true reason his people were wiped out.
With the fragments of Spiric’s memories growing bloodier and more desperate, he must determine whether carrying out his supposed fate will cause history to repeat, or if he can forge a new destiny, both for himself and the Droughtlands.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 