Just finished Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews and it was so good that I'll probably have a book hangover for a week. It's a good thing their next book is due in two months - I'm already craving my next IA fix!
"Susan hated Literature. She’d much prefer to read a good book." -Terry Pratchett, Soul Music
I was following links yesterday and ended up at the website of (husband and wife) authors Ilona Andrews. (I know a number of us here have enjoyed their books.) While there I found a thread that was started in mid-December in which readers of the blog shared their three favorite (non IA) books of the year. The thread had hundreds and hundreds of responses, and I spent a happy couple of hours (you have been warned!) reading through them and downloading some twenty or so samples of books that piqued my interest.
I discovered Alex Bledsoe’s Tufa series and read The Hum and the Shiver, Wisp of a Thing, Long Black Curl, and Chapel of Ease. I enjoyed them all and plan to read on. I'd describe these as contemporary fantasy.
I searched the board and see that ariane and mjbett have read this series. Anyone else?
So, after a long brake from urban fantasy, I was in need of something lighthearted and easy and I stumbled upon Annette Marie's The Guild Codex: Spellbound series and have devoured the first 4 books (and one from a spinoff series) in 5 days. I do sometimes want to shake the heroine for her lack of impulse control and there is an overabundance of beautiful men - but no real romance as of yet. I'm really hoping for a demon/mage romance in the spinoff series Demonized though, as I loved the first book.
TL;DR The Guild Codex: Spellbound is a fun light series about a misfit human stumbling into a world of magic users and finding a new "family" there. The spinoff series is promising too.
Last Edit: Dec 7, 2019 15:27:49 GMT -7 by bookwyrm
"Susan hated Literature. She’d much prefer to read a good book." -Terry Pratchett, Soul Music
So after reading this review on SBTB I listened to the audiobook version of Hench and I loved it. If you can handle anti-heroes, gore and a very angry woman out for revenge you might love it too. I found the colourful crew of henchmen very relatable despite their questionable morals and enjoyed this take on "heroes vs. villains" narrative. I was in a book slump and needed a break from romance and this was the perfect palate cleanser for me
"Susan hated Literature. She’d much prefer to read a good book." -Terry Pratchett, Soul Music
I started rereading Riddle-Master by Patricia McKillip last night. It has been years since I read it the first time, so I'm interested to see how it holds up this time.
My son and I visited a used bookstore while I was in GA. He was asking about some of the older fantasy writers, which is what I used to read, mostly epic or high fantasy. I am passing along some of my paperbacks to him including my 17 R.A. Salvatore novels featuring Drizzt Do'urden, the first 3 Dragon Prince books by Melanie Rawn, and the first 2 Crown of Stars books by Kate Elliot. What other older (1970s-90s publications) epic or high fantasy series/authors would you recommend? I have lots more paperbacks but thought I'd ask here in case I forget ones I used to like.
If you are a fan of books by Ilona Andrews, you might enjoy reading this blog post with recommendations of other books enjoyed by her fans. Be aware that there are over a thousand comments.
If you are a fan of books by Ilona Andrews, you might enjoy reading this blog post with recommendations of other books enjoyed by her fans. Be aware that there are over a thousand comments.
Not one of the mentioned books in that post, but I've recently been listening to and re-reading some Audiobook titles, including Swordspoint (The World of Riverside Book 1) by Ellen Kushner, which hasn't really been discounted since I posted about it in March 2018 when it was $1.99. The TOR review is by Jo Clayton. (The hard cover edition has a really beautiful Tom Canty cover) He has a separate web site with examples of his artwork