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Review: The Feathered Tree  by Allan Frewin Jones

My Review

The publisher sent me this ARC a couple of months ago and it was on my list for June, but I’ve got a gap and I thought I’d read it now. It came with a lovely letter, a magpie feather and some beech seeds.

I made a post on Instagram last week when I had read the first 23 chapters. Here’s my summary from there:

The MC is 16 but acts younger in some ways. Immediately got Au vibes, from her and her new friend, Quinn. Tree and corvid special interests.

The writing is probably more what I’d have read at 12 rather than 16. It actually reminds me of the tone and comprehension level of the first two Song of the Lioness books but obviously not set in a secondary world or with knights and battles.

The supernatural element of the dryad and setting in the west country feels familiar but also unfamiliar, a weird, uncannyness. Could be real, could be a traumatised teenager on her summer hols daydreaming, if you see what I mean.

Easy to read, short chapters.

Bullying element is sensitively handled, and an experience I recognise. Just because they aren’t beating you up doesn’t mean they aren’t bullies. Teenage girls are absolute bitches at times and their boy ‘friends’ are nasty little cowards hoping to touch a boob if they are just unpleasant enough. Touched a nerve, sorry.

Now, having finished the book, I have more to add:

The way Polly and Quinn share their joy in their interests is really sweet, they really want to know each other and their interests, and the description is an amazing description of two autistic people sharing their special interests and being intoxicated with it and each other.

The final trick from Ashley and her friends is awful, but Quinn seeing the truth about his sister, and Nyssa and the tree-wights coming to the rescue is really engrossing.

I cried. The way Polly and Quinn celebrate planting saplings and joining the song of nature is so powerful. I couldn’t help myself, I cried so much.

This is a story for younger teenagers, but it explores things they will be interested in, like first love, dealing with family difficulties and unusual family structures, being bullied, and the transition from secondary school to Further Education. It is written in a way that would have appealed to me as a younger teenager, but these days I don’t know what twelve-year-olds are reading.

The environmental theme is strong in this book, and I can see the intention – humans have messed up, we can do better, and some people are. I can see that the author is linking folklore to modern environmental issues, but it is a little unsubtle at times. Maybe it needs to be for the intended readership age to get the message over, but it can also put them off. Kids don’t like being told what to think, it’s better to let the theme speak for itself.

Frewin Jones has done a good job of integrating the folklore elements in with the coming of age story. It’s possible that the characters could be imagining things, like Polly and her friendship with Nyssa could be a teenager going through a difficult time telling stories to make things better, but the way it’s written pulls it together so that we the reader knows that Polly is really experiencing these things.

There’s something of a romanticism of the past and folklore, which is fine, but can be slightly misleading about history. We don’t know the beliefs of people in the West Country pre-Christian conversion. There are a lot of folk stories, and the Cornish saints had some good stories, but no one knows the significance of the stone circles or the individual stones that they set up. I read a lot of Rosemary Sutcliffe etc. as a young teen, I know this stuff when I see it – it’s based on 19th and 20th century beliefs about prehistoric beliefs and lives, based on limited understanding of the archaeological evidence available at the time. See also, the green man etc. for 19th century fuckery with folk traditions and folklore. I’ll forgive it because 30 years ago I wouldn’t have known that. I’ve read a lot of mythology and folklore because I read books where the author wasn’t quite correct. Go forth children and read all the archaeology, history, mythology, and folklore!

I enjoyed this story. It was well-written, pitched well for the target audience and sensitively deals with difficult topics. Some of the Devon dialect from the elderly neighbour was fun; my gran is an old lady from Devon but she doesn’t use a lot of dialect anymore, which is a shame.

Also, visit Devon, it’s amazing!

Netgalley Audiobook Review: Hoax, by Madeleine Pelling

Version 1.0.0

Description

Here lies Fanny Lynes, whose whispers from beyond the grave set London alight with scandal.
Here swings Mary Bateman, who lived a life of lies – and died a prophetess and murderer.
Here stands Mary Willcocks. Or is it Anne Burgess? Or Princess Caraboo, from the distant island of Javasu?

A ghost. A witch. A princess. This is a story of those who lie. And of those who choose to believe them.
The discoveries of the Enlightenment unsettled as much as they excited. New truths challenged longstanding beliefs. Rationalism jarred with superstition. Which voices would be heard in this ferocious battle for certainty?

From the chaos, three women and their hoaxes rose as symbols of terror and fascination. But were the lies surrounding Fanny Lynes, Mary Bateman and Mary Willcocks entirely of their own making? Why were the public transfixed?

Questioning culpability and complicity, Pelling’s engrossing history of this great age of the hoax reveals a veiled world of moral panic, tall tales and true crime, and holds a mirror to our own turbulent relationship with truth.

My Review

Maddie Pelling is one of my favourite podcasters and I really enjoyed her previous book ‘The Writing on the Wall’ so I was excited to listen to Hoax. The author has a good voice for narration, she speaks steadily and the narrative flows well. The book is about three famous 18th century hoaxers and it puts each person in the context of their time and place, follows their lives and the effects their actions have on society and the people around them.

I hadn’t heard of any of these individuals and found their stories fascinating. The particular circumstances of each shows certain aspects of their society and times in a century of advancing change, and the influence the media of the day had on the spread of the hoaxes. I found this an enjoyable and informative listen.

Review: All That Is in the Earth, by Andrew Knighton

3rd February 2026
978-1-915556-67-7
£8.99

Description

Luna Novell #24


When Clifford crash lands on the planet of Abaddon, he might as well be dead: a terrible plague and a strict quarantine mean that no one leaves Abaddon alive. 

Clifford isn’t the only dead man walking. Corporate mercenaries and desperate survivors are looking for ways to live in a hostile world. Constantly on the run from flesh-hungry monsters, there’s no chance to escape or to build something more. 

But when Clifford makes a discovery that could change the meaning of Abaddon, loyalty clashes with survival in a story about how to live with the certainty of death.

The Author

Andrew Knighton is an author of short stories, comics, novellas, and the novels The Executioner’s Blade (Northodox, November 2024) and Forged for Destiny (Orbit, March 2025). As a freelance writer, he’s ghostwritten over forty novels in other people’s names, as well as articles, history books, and video scripts. He lives in Yorkshire with an academic and a cat, growing vegetables and dreaming about a brighter future. You can find more of his work and social media links at andrewknighton.com .

My Review

I read this novella at the end of March and my brain being what it is, totally forgot to write a review.

Today I went to York.

That is not the non sequitur it might appear. I went to York for a BFS Yorkshire and Humber regional group meet-up. We went on a book crawl after meeting at the amazing Portal Bookshop. My trains were horrendously late, and I had time for a lemonade and cake in the tiny café before we left for the next bookshop. I intend to do an order for the books I didn’t get round to buying when I next get some money. As we, a group of about 10 weirdos in a very strange city, strolled in the afternoon sun towards our second bookshop, The Minster Gate Bookshop, a gangly looking fella in a red Schrodinger’s Cat joke t-shirt, by the name of Andy, started talking to me. I should have run away right then, especially after he asked if I could review his book. Once he told me what it was called, I realised that ‘Andy’ was Andrew Knighton.

I informed Andy I’d already read it, and enjoyed it. We had a bit of a chat about the story and then went on to talking about how much we both love Luna Press Publishing. Not surprising, Andy has two Luna Novellas and I fell in love with Francesca at my first Fantasycon in 2021. Alright, I fell in love with the selection of academic and Tolkien-adjacent books they print, Francesca just happened to be standing behind the table. I spent so much money! I regularly buy books from Luna Press Publishing and I recommend them.

So, that’s how I met an author and remembered to review this novella.

Clifford crash lands on an interdicted planet as a spoil scientist working for an organisation that sounds really dodgy. Actually, the entire society sounds very dystopia and authoritarian. On the planet, he meets a priestess dying of cancer, and a mixed group who show him how to survive on a planet where a disease can mutate you into bizarre forms and will kill you in days. He’s terrified of dying and desperate to get off the planet.

He isn’t getting off the planet.

As part of his travels he discovers a possible cure for the disease and tries to use it as a bargaining chip to get off the planet.

He isn’t getting off the planet.

This story is a meditation on facing the inevitability of death and deciding to live. You get the one chance, and even if it’s short and possibly painful, you can still find a way to face it all and live.

The priestess is a delight in snarkiness and her wisdom helps Clifford see that life continues even in terrible circumstances and there are ways to make the best of things even when you want to despair. There is so much potential for the world Andy built in this novella, but this story works well in the novella format; it’s just the right length for the story.

I enjoyed it immensely. It was a satisfying little read for a midweek evening. Definitely recommend it.

I did not stay in my budget today, but I only bought eight books, one of which was a recommendation from Andy and another was a new edition of Carpe Jugulem, because I need a new copy. The trains were an absolute mess all day and I had to leave early to catch a train to Doncaster that would mean I could catch my originally planned TransPennine Express back to Grimsby. I finally got home just before 7 p.m., having been out for 10 hours! I am in pain! I ended up ordering take away because my brain refused to cook, even though I have a fridge full of food. It was UC and shopping day yesterday. Also, some scum bag racist put cheap, nasty looking flags on the lampposts during the night, it was quite disconcerting when I went out this morning. Going now, I need painkillers and to put rubbish in the bin.

Review: Ember and Steel, by Donna Morgan

Published Date – 2026-03-09
ISBN – 9781919396910
Page Count – 425
Publisher – Godrevy Publishing
Language – English

Author Website

Description

The gods are gone. Magic is lost. Vengeance is nigh.

There is death in the north; entire settlements slaughtered in the night by unknown hands. But dead things do not rest. Mages and scholars from across Breitho search for answers, to no avail.  

The church clings to a whispered prophecy to bring back the gods and end the horrors in the dark.

But none of them understands what is truly at stake.

In her tiny village, Sarah Brandt has her own problems. She has witnessed her friend’s murder and is now running for her life.

Her frantic escape takes her to a circle of Druid stones, where something ancient and powerful is waiting in the darkness. When she encounters the burning presence within the stones, Sarah’s world changes forever. 

Now it isn’t just justice she seeks, but salvation.

Not for herself, but for all humankind.

Order links – takes you to the Author’s website

My Review

Donna Morgan asked for ARC reviewers int he BFS Discord, so I filled in the form and a few days later got the ebook. That was in December, it’s been a busy year so far, and I’ve just got the book read in time for publication day tomorrow. I’ve just pre-ordered a paperback and I need to know what Sarah, Gwith, Taran and Cas do next.

Sarah is a neurodivergent, poor, although literate, outcast living in a small village at the beginning. At the end she’s the embodiment of the spark of life and magic, living in a castle, with a knight husband, and working for the local Duke as his Librarian’s Assistant. The journey she takes to get there include the murder of her only friend, surviving a witch hunt, learning to fight, becoming the Ember Bearer, meeting a goddess, fighting monsters, meeting her husband, dying, and returning from the dead, not necessarily in that order.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I mean, I bawled my eyes out twice, possibly three times, it was fantastic. Sarah’s struggles as a neurodivergent person mirrored some of my own; the rejection of most of society, wearing a mask and contorting yourself to fit into other people’s ideas of normal and still failing, the fear of rejection based on being rejected so often. Surviving despite everything. I adored the first person perspective of Sarah and the interspersed chapters with Moriga and Gwith’s chapter when Sarah dies. I actually felt close to the characters because of that perspective, although I usually prefer 3rd person close.

There’s Sarah’s story and in the background we learn about Gwith, Cas and Taran, the three men who rescue her and become her found family. Cas and Taran are adorable, and would probably drive me up the wall. They’re dancing around each other and it’s obvious, while Sarah is terribly conflicted by Gwith. Since both of them have some trauma related to relationships, it’s understandable. They get the push to sort themselves out after fighting for their lives, which was so very sweetly written, and not graphic.

In the background is a corrupt church that wants to destroy magic and is trying to take over the human duchies. It has succeeded in a couple, but won’t in Trewan; Sarah is there and her presence helps to start the pushback against them. They want her dead because their ‘Veiled Lady’ has told them Sarah, Ember Bearer, will bring about the end of the world. It’s a complex plot the unleash the emptiness from the beginning of the universe and directed by a mad god.

There’s druids, elves, dragons, knockers, gods, and all the fun stuff we expect in fantasy. There’s a darkness that’s relieved by the light moments and love. The world building is magnificent, and the seeding of details that make sense later is really well done. I do like that the god’s are still about in various forms, they just aren’t responding to humans. I enjoyed the insertion of quotes from ‘historical documents’ at the beginning of chapters and the autistic traits I resonate with. I loved the developments of the characters as they go through events and survive. Sarah finding a job in the library is brilliant, I’d totally be hiding in the library and struggling not to ask the sentient giant snake all about his species and homeland, between disappearing into old books for days at a time, too. I think it’s a ‘autistic book person’ thing.

Anyway, as I said, I have a physical copy of this book on the way and if you enjoy darker fantasy, I recommend it.

Review: Nine Goblins, by T. Kingfisher

Book Description

No one knows exactly how the Goblin War began, but folks will tell you that goblins are stinking, slinking, filthy, sheep-stealing, henhouse-raiding, obnoxious, rude, and violent. Goblins would actually agree with all this, and might throw in “cowardly” and “lazy” too for good measure.

But goblins don’t go around killing people for fun, no matter what the propaganda posters say. And when a confrontation with an evil wizard lands a troop of nine goblins deep behind enemy lines, goblin sergeant Nessilka must figure out how to keep her hapless band together and get them home in one piece.

Unfortunately, between them and safety lies a forest full of elves, trolls, monsters, and that most terrifying of creatures…a human being.

My Review

I wasn’t planning to buy this book when I went into Waterstones Grimsby this afternoon. I was looking for the paperback edition of A Song of Legends Lost, by M. H. Ayinde. I have a lovely hardback and the paperback has just come out so I can start reading it at last. Anyway, this little gem was sat on the shelf and the cover made me pick it up. The blurb made me buy it.

I also found another dragon for my collection, a Charlie Bears Cuddle Cubs Collection one, its green with tired eyes and is currently sat with my blue and yellow Suki brand dragon that I got from Leeds Royal Armouries, and my ‘TY Original Beanie Babies’ dragon Scorch. The dragon shelf is full, so I’ve had to shift those three to a different part of the desk.

I need a bigger dragon shelf…

Back to talking about books and not my weird dragon stuffy collecting.

So, as I said I was initially attracted by the cover and then the description. I started reading while waiting for my bus home, then on the bus and I’ve just spent 2 hours on my settee finishing it. It’s a novella, obviously, and the first adult book the author wrote after writing best selling children’s books. It has too many dead bodies for a children’s book, although I’m pretty certain kids like goblins that are always picking their nose or ear, or running away and stripping off, or things blowing up. It’s funny, well-written and has a satisfying story arc and ending. I haven’t read any T. Kingfisher books, I don’t think, but I have Clockwork Boys on my TBR pile. I think I like the writing style of this book, so I’m hopeful that I’ll like a longer novel.

Review: Mushroom Blues, by Adrian M Gibson

Book Description

ENTER THE FUNGALVERSE. Blade Runner, True Detective, and District 9 meld with the weird worlds of Jeff VanderMeer, Philip K. Dick, and China Miéville in Adrian M. Gibson’s award-winning fungalpunk noir debut, now with a foreword from acclaimed author Nicholas Eames and six pieces of original interior artwork.

Two years after a devastating defeat in the decade-long Spore War, the island nation of Hōppon and its capital city of Neo Kinoko are occupied by invading Coprinian forces. Its fungal citizens are in dire straits, wracked by food shortages, poverty, and an influx of war refugees. Even worse, the corrupt occupiers exploit their power, hounding the native population.

As a winter storm looms over the metropolis, NKPD homicide detective Henrietta Hofmann begrudgingly partners up with mushroom-headed patrol officer Koji Nameko to investigate the mysterious murders of fungal and half-breed children. Their investigation drags them deep into the seedy underbelly of a war-torn city, one brimming with colonizers, criminal gangs, racial division, and moral decay.

In order to solve the case and unravel the truth, Hofmann must challenge her past and embrace fungal ways. What she and Nameko uncover in the midst of this frigid wasteland will chill them to the core, but will they make it through the storm alive?

SPFBO X 2nd place. Shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer. Winner of the FanFiAddict Award for Best Indie Debut, the Literary Titan Gold Book Award, and the Next Generation Indie Book Award.

My Review

I picked this book up at World Fantasy Convention 2025 in Brighton, from the Broken Binding table in the dealers room. I got a lovely signed and illustrated hardback edition. Usually I’m uncomfortable with mushrooms – I saw that episode of Hannibal where a killer was using bodies to grow mushrooms and one of the victims was alive and sprouting, and I’ve had an issue ever since. It’s weird, anything with parasites also upsets me, but I managed to read Alien Clay, so I can manage to read Mushroom Blues.

This novel was originally self-published in 2024 and did well in a variety of awards. The edition produced with The Broken Binding is a hardback, signed and illustrated. It’s published by Kinoko Book Co. which is hard to find anything about, so I’m assuming it’s the name the author has chosen for his self-publishing venture. Gibson is, according to his bio, “an award-winning Canadian SFF author, podcaster, illustrator, and tattoo artist. He is the creator of the SFF Addicts podcast, which he co-hosts with fellow authors M.J. Kuhn and Greta Kelly. The three host in-depth interviews with an array of science fiction and fantasy authors, as well as writing masterclasses.”

This is his debut novel. And it’s really quite enjoyable. We follow Hofmann, a detective sent from the homeland to work for the NKPD, and she’s struggling. In a world of men, she’s a divorced older woman in recovery from alcoholism – caused by the job, worsened by the death of her daughter in a car crash Hofmann caused. She hates mushrooms. Not just the people of Hoppon, but mushrooms in general – she can’t see them or eat them without feeling sick. And she’s stuck in a place where humans are a minority, and the majority are fungal people who live in fungal architecture. It’s her worst nightmare. She’s been fed a load of manure in the form of propaganda and holds all sorts of prejudices about the Hopponese.

Children are going missing. Hipponese and ‘half-breeds’ – mixed human and Hipponese children. An Elder finds the dismembered body of one of the children on a sacred island. The NKPD assign the job to Hofmann, and the force’s only Hopponese officer, Koji Nameko, since he was the one to first arrive and to speak to the elder who found the body.

They uncover the fates of the missing children and race to prevent a disaster that involves Nameko’s own family at a major midwinter festival.

As the pair investigate, Hofmann finds herself overcoming her prejudices and learning to appreciate the culture of the people her own are occupying. She even eats mushrooms and doesn’t vomit, at one point.

It’s obviously based, in part at least, on conditions in Japan between 1945 and 1970. After the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the yanks imposed a military occupation on Japan. Japan had been the aggressors, attacking China and Russia from the 1930s, before joining the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) and attacking Hawaii in 1940. There are still people alive who were children at the time and had relatives who fought with British, Commonwealth/Imperial forces in the Pacific, and who have inherited hate for Japanese people. Australian forces were expecting a Japanese invasion, British colonies around the Pacific were invaded and occupied. We’ve all heard about the horrors of Singapore and the POW camps that murdered thousands.

After the war, the USian Americans felt particularly aggrieved, as though they were the only ones to lose people in horrible ways, to be traumatised. And they took it out on the ordinary people of Japan during their occupation. Soldiers and civilian occupiers had been fed a diet of dehumanising propaganda for years and as a result treated everyone as though they were personally responsible for the actions of prison camp guards and commanders.

No one gets out of this looking good, by the way. There were massacres of people protesting for equal treatment in their own home, soldiers killed with impunity, the General in charge was a nutter. Japanese survivors of the hydrogen bombs were stigmatised because of fears of mutations and genetic damage and the institution of the Japanese Emperor got out of everything without a stain. Blame bad advisors, for the throne is divine and can do no wrong. Where have we heard that before?

Anyway, I recommend learning a little post-war Japanese history, after reading this novel, because the context adds depth.

Of course, this book is about an imaginary world, an imaginary war, and imaginary species, an imaginary occupation…

The mystery is well-paced throughout and the climactic race to stop the murder of children and incite a riot at a temple is exciting and balanced by the post action resolution. The description of the city is a blend of cyberpunk futurism and early 20th century detective noir, gritty and flashy, destruction and growth. The main characters develop as people and we learn about their back grounds as they move through the story. It was a quick read, although it’s not a short book, and I really couldn’t put it down.

Recommended, can’t wait for the next one.

Review: Path to Power, by Charlotte Goodwin

PATH TO POWER
The Stolen Throne Trilogy, Book 1

A queen without a throne, a sorcerer without magic, a usurper bent on genocide…

Emma thought she was just an ordinary woman. She had no idea that she’d been abducted by aliens to save her life; until they returned her memories. The Zargons watch, they study, they don’t interfere, until one of them did. One of them saved Emma’s life when they shouldn’t have, and now they want her to save thousands more.

Emma’s stepmother is the mightiest sorcerer Dunia has ever seen. She used her power to steal Emma’s birthright, and now she’s using it for genocide. Only Emma can supplant Queen Lila, but she can’t do it alone. Her husband, Tom, has a potential he never knew; a potential to wield magic. Together, they must travel across the galaxy, find Tom’s magic, and save the homeland she never knew existed, until now.

About the Author

Charlotte Goodwin is an Army Reservist of twenty years with just another twenty-two to go!  She openly admits she is unable to ever leave through choice and will still be serving until they kick her out at sixty.  Around the Army, Charlotte somehow manages to fit in being a mum to two young children, a never ending renovation project, adventures in the great outdoors and an addiction to writing.

Continue reading “Review: Path to Power, by Charlotte Goodwin”

Review: Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die, by Greer Stothers

ISBN: 9781835413807
Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Published:
3 Feb 2026 (US)
3 Feb 2026 (UK)

Description

In Which Many Dangerous and Homosexual Things Happen.

All his life, Sir Cameron has stayed as far away from danger as possible. He is quite frankly too handsome to die a pointless death in battle. But then the Church hands down a prophecy to his fellow knights: the only way to defeat their nemesis, the mad sorcerer Merulo, is to kill Sir Cameron. Short of ideas, Cameron throws himself on the mercy of the one person who now actually wants him to survive: the mad sorcerer.

Merulo isn’t thrilled to be babysitting a spoilt, attention-seeking knight, but transmogrifying him into a vulture is at least entertaining. Cameron, meanwhile, is on a voyage of self-discovery. It turns out he’s really, really into surly sorcerers who lock him up and tell him what to do. Who knew?

As a legion of knights surround their stronghold, the sorcerer’s poisonous ambitions draw ever closer to fruition. Cameron is quite invested in not dying, but he finds he’s also invested in Merulo. And sometimes, supporting the sorcerer you care about means taking an interest in their hobbies. Even if that hobby is trying to kill God.

Even if it might get you killed, too.

Fall in love with this laugh-out loud, genre-bending romp full of concussed elves and queer romance like you’ve never seen before.

Continue reading “Review: Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die, by Greer Stothers”

Review: Ballad of the Bone Road, by A.C. Wise

ISBN: 9781835413784
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Published: 27th Jan 2026

Description

Port Astor is a city of ghosts. Once home to the beautiful, brutal courts of the fae, forty years ago they vanished without explanation – and Port Astor decided to forget.

Brix and Bellefeather are paranormal investigators, working to keep Port Astor’s wraiths and spectres from consuming the city. Both have hauntings of their own: Belle shares her body with a demon, Belizial; Brix has trapped the soul of his dead fiancée in the world of the living, unwilling to let her go.

While investigating the glamorous and notoriously haunted Peony Hotel, Brix and Belle come across a young couple tangled up in one of the city’s most infamous tales. Jimmy Valentine, silver screen idol and one-time favorite of a fae queen, has returned to haunt the Peony. But Jimmy is no mere ghost, and Brix and Belle soon realize his return is more intimately tied to their own hauntings than they could ever have imagined.

The fae have not forgotten that Port Astor once belonged to them. And their Hollow Queen won’t give up her kingdom so easily.

My Review

Brix is dealing with losing his beloved Abby, Belle is dealing with her childhood trauma. They work together as investigators of the supernatural in a haunted city. One day they investigate a haunted hotel, and the next they’re dealing with the Hollow Queen, a powerful fae.

Brix discovers that a ghost has been called, a ghost so powerful that it’s drawing others to the hotel. He sets about rescuing the two young people who caused the problem, only to realise that the ghost, famed singer and actor, Jimmy Valentine, was once the amour of the Hollow Queen, and she’s never forgiven him for loving her.

Belle’s sister Dee comes to call, desperately looking for help. Her husband Clarence, a priest, has been behaving strangely: he’s cheating on her with a parishioner, he doesn’t go to church anymore, and he’s spending an awful lot of time in the old barn. When Dee takes herself back to the family farm, Belle, and her demon Beliziel, follow, because something is clearly not right.

It’s very not right. And the two cases are linked. Between them, Brix and Belle work on either end of the case, lay ghosts to rest, and banish the fae, while fighting their own internal wars. Belle and Beliziel have to find a way to live equally, while Brix has to find the courage to let Abby go. And they both have to rescue/protect the two young people, Virgil and Leonie, and Dee, from themselves, Clarence, and the Hollow Queen.

Wow, this was…

Overwhelming melancholy

Longing for a lost love

Demon sex

Ghost threesomes

Pyres and gallows

A bullet to the brain

Strangely enough, it ends with hope, and I can see this being the first in a series following Brix and Belle, as they mentor Virgil and Leonie, and Belle builds a new relationship with her sister, while they hunt down the rest of the doors, and work out why the fae retreated from Arcadia in the first place.

The story starts strong, and I was intrigued by the going’s on at the hotel. That strand was definitely the strongest of the novel, exploring Brix’s angst about losing Abby, and the strong connection of people to places. The young lovers, Virgil and Leonie, who carelessly summon the spirit of Jimmy Valentine, are bound up in each other. This is where the ghost threesomes come in. Yeah, that was weird, but fine I suppose. It makes sense in the plot.

Brix, with Virgil, and then Jimmy, unwind the bonds, discover the cause, and fight the Hollow Queen, in the confines of a hotel room that keeps disappearing. It’s beautifully described, and the four characters feel full, rounded, even the ghost.

There’s the echo of the Hollow Queen permeating the whole narrative, too, becoming solid when Jimmy leaves, helped by Brix and Virgil. The other haunting here is love and heartbreak. Jimmy was in love with everyone, and broke hearts, including his own every day, always seeking a home and never finding it. His love is so deep, he might even sate the Hollow Queen. And that’s a problem for her. Their complicated relationship drives the hauntings and the religious fervour, as the Hollow Queen hungers to devour everyone and everything, and Jimmy hungers for a place where he can stop running.

Belle’s strand was weaker, and there could have been more focus on her past with Clarence. Why does Clarence hate her? He’s a priest and he knows about Beliziel, but how? The reader knows Belle’s parents abused her – they were religious and delusional believing her to be possessed long before she actual met Beliziel, but she left home before Dee met Clarence. Did her parents tell him about their wicked, demonic daughter? Did Dee?

The relationship between Belle and Beliziel is complex, and it’s only after they accidentally kill Ada, Clarence’s mistress and the host to whatever is causing the blinding light in the barn, that there is a reckoning between them. Belle must face her pain, as must Beliziel, instead of holding it back and hurting each other. They also have sex a lot. I’m not sure why, other than as a bonding exercise? It wasn’t particularly explicit so I am not going to object.

I think if the author writes a sequel, focusing on Belle and Dee’s relationship will be an important strand, maybe answering some of the questions I have about their childhood and Clarence.

The setting is pseudo-1950s U.S. There’s cars and movies, industrialists and robber barons, a Gilded Age hotel past its prime, and Belle is clearly considered to be eccentric, someone out of time, but there’s an otherness to it. Some of the dialogue feels psuedo-working class English, not American. Arcadia could be anywhere, a floating place, unattached to any known map, and yet has a definite USian vibe.

Honestly, an enjoyable read that kept my attention and the way the two separate mysteries are brought together is clever. I found the ending a little abrupt, but I can see what they author was doing. I think it would make a good film. There’s a theatrical quality to the novel that would translate well.

It’s a bit gothic, with a dark undertone and terrifying highlights. Hardly anyone dies. There are no explosions.

Other than the lack of explosions (the hotel could definitely have blown up from the energy of fighting the Hollow Queen, surely? Or the barn?), I recommend this novel to lovers of gothic horror who wants to shake things up and read something lightly dark, and to the urban fantasy or paranormal romance lover looking for something slightly less romantic and slightly darker.

Review: In Solitude’s Shadow, by David Green

War Comes For Those Who Forge It. And It Never Forgives…

Haltveldt is a nation built on bloodshed. With the Order of Sparkers brought to heel, Emperor Locke wields his mages – and their magic the Spark – like a weapon as he wages a war of genocide.

But the enemies of his empire multiply.

In the almost-forgotten north, the ancient citadel of Solitude, filled with two-hundred exiled Sparkers, watches over the mysterious Banished. With a new apprentice under her wing, Zanna Alpenwood pines for her estranged daughter when everything changes – for the first time in centuries, The Banished are on the move.

Miles away in Haltveldt’s southern frontlines, Calene Alpenwood makes a startling discovery in the most unlikely of places and her estrangement from her mother is tested. As is her faith in the Order of Sparkers and loyalty to the Empire.

And in Haltveldt’s capital, Kade Besem – whose son Arlo is training with Zanna – scrambles to react to the events at Solitude in a den of vipers.

Haltveldt is an empire forged in fire and nothing is at it seems. But one thing is certain: with the Banished returning, and the elves to the south on the brink of annihilation, Zanna, Calene and Kade stand on the brink of earth-shattering change.

A great game, millennia in the making, is coming to its stunning conclusion. Who will survive? And who is the true enemy of Haltveldt? ‘In Solitude’s Shadow: Extended Edition’ – now with all new chapters, expanded scenes and including the prequel ‘Before The Shadow’, reveals all…

The magic of ‘The Wheel of Time’ meets the grittiness of ‘The Witcher’ in this fast-paced series starter!

https://www.davidgreenwriter.com/book-inner

If you read ebooks, the whole saga is available on Kindle Unlimited.

My Review

I have two editions of this book, the original and the updated edition. I’ve only read the updated edition. There are spoilers in this review.

Set some time after Magic, Maps, and Mischief, about two centuries I think, we return to Haltveldt to find the eleven genocide almost complete, a paranoid emperor, and a Master of War searching for new enemies.

In Solitude, Zanna Alpenwood watches as the Banished gather before the gates, running from something. Zanna wants to talk to them, the leadership want to kill them.

Her daughter, Calene, leaving the southern battle front finds herself escorting a Banished to the capital, until terrible events in Spring Haven and an assault on the road, leads Calene and her new companions towards Solitude. Something is happening in the far north and it’ll bring destruction to the empire.

The characters of Zanna and Calene are fully fleshed out and their relationship reads realistically. The rift between them is illogical – Zanna killed to save Calene – but understandable in the cultural context. The healing of their rift is a slow but natural consequence of the changing circumstances.

Zanna is caring for a 12 year old apprentice, Arlo. His parents are a man of influence in Spring Haven, Kade, and an elven slave, who died in childbirth. The relationship between Zanna and Arlo is parental and loving. She’s in awe of his growing power and dedication to research. He’s instrumental in finding information relevant later in the story. His heritage puts him at a severe disadvantage in Spring Haven but in Solitude nobody notices and his strong Spark protects him. So long as no one finds out his mother is an elf.

The nascent relationship between Sparker Calene, recently returned from the battlefields to the south, and Brina, an elven freedom fighter who rescues enslaved elves from humans, is subtle and well-written. Brina is angry and hates humans, because they’re committing genocide against her people. The humans have been convinced by imperial propaganda that elves are evil and will kill humans if given a chance, even though the elves and humans worked together to defeat their common enemy in the past. Calene doesn’t believe it, but she is forced by the Emperor, like all Sparkers, to fight in his war. She doesn’t kill, only defend and heal. Brina makes it clear she feels that’s a narrow distinction without meaning.

Kade Besem has a minor ministerial position in the imperial government, with a serious addiction to a snuff-like substance, a son in Solitude, and very few friends. He is increasingly side-lined, when he receives the message that the Betrayed are at Solitude’s gates and tells everyone, he is ignored. Kade tries to get mercenaries to go to Solitude but is prevented by the mad Master of War, who kills his allies and tries to kill Kade. Kade grabs a ship and travels north.

Tilo is Tilo. A Betrayed sent south to find his purpose and to warn the humans of the south that there is something coming. Calene finds him in a cellar and initially plans to take him to Spring Haven, but an attack on the road by a new type of Sparker changes plans. He slowly learns to understand Brina and Calene, as they travel north, and rescues Kade from a murderous attack. His singing magic is unusual to Calene and Brina who are used to the Spark.

This disparate and desperate band come together on the road to Solitude to help Zanna and Arlo, find out what is happening beyond Solitude, and alert the rest of Haltveldt to the danger.

Greton makes appearances by reputation if not in person throughout. He’s leading some sort of resistance from his library by the sounds of it.

Unfortunately, there are people who don’t really want them to get there. The emperor and his Master of War are both paranoid and narcissistic, convinced that they are right and that hidden prophesies are about them. This leads them to commit terrible acts of torture, murder, and genocide which leaves the empire vulnerable to the unseen forces coming from beyond Solitude.

The worldbuilding is strong and full. The magical system has rules and consequences for breaking the rules. The writing is easy to read and flows well, while the dialogue feels natural. The events rush along with action and not a scene wasted. The tone is quite dark but the moments of affection and lightness relieve it.

The final scenes are a crashing wave of excitement, fear, and then a mix of sadness and relief. I loved it, but I need to know what happens next.

I really enjoyed the novel and would like to read the rest of the series. I need to order them directly from the author, when I’ve got enough money together. The full series is available on Kindle Unlimited, but as people know, I struggle with e-books, so usually use that to read graphic novels. I will be downloading it though, to help David.