Adrian Collins's Blog, page 124

REVIEW: Those Below by Daniel Polansky

Following on from the epic book one of this duology, Those Above, Daniel Polansky closes out this amazing series in barnstorming and bloody fashion. Those Below focusses on humankind’s attempt to topple the four-fingered, god-like ruling class, and the ethics of the people and methods used in the machinations of overthrow. Much like the first book, Those Below has everything a grimdark fantasy fan wants in spades.

Some spoilers for Those Above follow.

In the Roost, Seed is a destitute fifth rung boy with one eye facing down his enemy, the man he hates to his core: Thistle. But Thistle is no longer Thistle. He has moved beyond the petty gang fighting and killing that kept humankind down. He is Pyre, and he now holds a sword for humanity—for their coming uprising.  Meanwhile, in the Commonwealth, Eudokia drives her propaganda machine, pushing her mighty forces into the Salucian homeland to expand her borders, and her eyes ever on what few humans have ever dreamed of taking before. Calla, seneschal to the eternal The Aubade, is on a dangerous mission from the luxury and safety of the First Rung, down to the Fifth where she first experiences the horrors of her species. Bas, the only living man to have slain an eternal in on-on-one combat sits at the borders of the Commonwealth waiting on the permission of humankind’s four fingered god like overlords to do what Bas does best.

Those Below focusses on the lengths people will go to in order to free themselves from servitude, poverty, and misery, and also the blind eye (or outright opposition) people will turn on those in need when they are in a position of privilege or too frozen with fear to suffer change. It is a story that really hits on what it is to be human in all of the shades of grey that we exist in. And in these themes, we find the types of characters and stories that grimdark fans revel in.

Something that I love about Polansky’s series is his willingness to kill off characters–whether it be on-screen or off-screen (let’s remember that not every character needs a drawn out heroic or gruesome on-page death when your POVs are in the madness of a city being sacked). There is one amazing character death scene that massively nails this story down as an allegory for the overthrow of the American one percent, and I loved this book all the more for it.

Polansky’s closing to this duology features it all: amazing battles, the fall of the great and small, and the unpeeling of layers of people as their world either comes apart or all their dreams come to horrible fruition. The author has done an amazing job in bringing all the storylines together through a series of jaded, gritty points of view.

A colossally sad, morose, and so very human ending to a beautiful story, Those Below is a book grimdark fans will enjoy. Having read this and The Builders, and his story for The King Must Fall, Polansky is very quickly pushing his way up my favourite authors list.

4.5/5

Read Those Below by Daniel Polansky

The post REVIEW: Those Below by Daniel Polansky appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: White Horse by Erika T. Wurth

White Horse is a haunting, emotional mystery centered around Native American history and lore. Interwoven with equal threads of real life struggles and the supernatural, White Horse is full of intrigue, dark and dangerous turns, and the gutting reality of the devastating secrets our families are capable of keeping from us. Erika T. Wurth’s characters are brutally real, honest, and often make mistakes we can see ourselves making. White Horse takes place in Colorado, where Kari, an Indigenous woman, has her usual life of nicotine, beer, and dive bars interrupted by the unearthing of a family artifact that forces her to come to terms with secrets she buried long ago. Suddenly burdened by the constant appearance of actual ghosts from her unknown past, Kari is put in a position where she has to not only face her darkest, most traumatic memories, but also unearth the true horrors of what happened to her long ago. Filled with Native myth and legend, nightmarish ghosts and boogeymen, and complicated family ties, White Horse has one of the most compelling hooks I’ve seen in a while.

This book’s strength lies in its utterly raw and real portrayal of human life, specifically Indigenous life in Colorado. The story, the details, the grit of this novel are still sticking with me, partially because of the painful human nature of the story, which comes from the author’s ability to write characters so firmly rooted in reality. Wurth’s characters in White Horse are so real and understandable that they nearly come off the page. From the supporting characters to Kari herself, these people felt real, honest, and completely flawed in the way all human beings are. Kari’s nuclear family is fractured and broken, her fast-paced life lived nearly completely alone after the death of her most beloved friend in her youth. This woman, a stubborn metal-head bartender, was everything I look for in a main character. Nearly anyone will be able to sympathize with her, or any other character in the story. Kari’s constant references to rock and heavy metal bands, coupled with her habit of praying to Dave Mustaine instead of God, sunk into my heart. With real-world references to pop culture, famous literature, and bands we all know and love around every corner, White Horse walks the line between reality and fiction quite well.

White Horse does a fabulous job of depicting the complexity of Indigenous life in modern day America, while still at its core being a horror-fantasy novel that fits well into it’s genre. Throughout the story, we not only watch Kari’s mental standing deteriorate as the ghosts of her past continue to torment her, but we also get to see a Native woman rise shamelessly to her power through the magic of her heritage. Without spoiling the ending, this story will stick with me for a while, not because it was an excellently spooky ghost story but because it was, at its heart, a story about people. Families. The way we tear each other apart, and the strength of our friendships and connections.

Read White Horse by Erika T. Wurth

The post REVIEW: White Horse by Erika T. Wurth appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

The cover for Clayton Snyder’s new science fantasy romp: Blackthorne

Do I love a good cover reveal! Clayton Snyder is an author the Grimdark Magazine team know and love. We’ve reviewed a decent stack of his books (Thieve’s War, River of Thieves, and Norylska Groans) and well as published one of his brilliant short stories in Issue #30. Norylska Groans also made our best books of 2021 list. So when Snyder approached GdM to co-host the cover release for his his new book Blackthorne we of course jumped at the opportunity. And it’s an absolute beauty!

About Blackthorne

Framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Haunted by the ghosts of his past. Incarcerated in the most notorious prison in the Freeholds. Fate has mauled Mattias Temple, a failed cadre necromancer, leaving
him with little hope.

Until a rogue military squad kidnaps the governor and threatens the city with a magical plague, giving him a shot to redeem a lifetime of mistakes and be the one thing he never thought possible: A hero.

As the body count rises Mattias finds himself neck-deep in trouble and drowning in ghosts. Outnumbered and outgunned, he has one choice left: Cut a bloody swathe through his enemies or die trying.

Blackthorne Cover

About Clayton Snyder

Clayton Snyder is the co-author of SPFBO finalist Norylska Groans, which Anthony Ryan (Blood Song) described as “Rich in bone crunching violence and a grimly convincing sense of place and character.” Michael R. Fletcher (Beyond Redemption) called Obsidian Psalm “Dark, visceral and unflinching.” Several of Snyder’s other novels have been SPFBO semi-finalists. Snyder has also authored numerous short stories, his most recent, Injustice, at Three Crows Magazine, which has been compared to Gene Wolfe’s work. He currently splits my time between work and writing. He has worked as a systems admin, chainsaw operator, and once did an ill-advised stint as a bodyguard because he is ‘really tall’.

The post The cover for Clayton Snyder’s new science fantasy romp: Blackthorne appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: The Last Blade Priest by W.P Wiles

One of the latest publications from independent SFF house Angry Robot is The Last Blade Priest by Betty Trask Award winning author W.P. Wiles. The Last Blade Priest is Wiles’ fantasy debut. It is a brilliant epic multiple point of view novel with an original and inventive story that uses some of my favourite fantasy features exceptionally well. I think that The Last Blade Priest would be an excellent choice for fans of John Gwynne, R.S. Ford, or Daniel T. Jackson.

Unlike a lot of multiple point of view novels, Wiles only has three perspectives in The Last Blade Priest. However, the first third of the novel follows two of the trio. Firstly, there is Inar, a Master Builder with the extraordinary skill of ‘feeling’ stone. He is drafted to work for the League, a group who invaded and conquered his homeland. Then follows Anton, a pacifist mountain dwelling Blade Priest who is reluctantly part of a bloody religious order. This order has performed human sacrifice for generations to honour massive corvus demi-gods, so in the unlikely event that chapter one of The Last Blade Priest did not grab your attention, then chapter two most certainly will.

I was very impressed with the novel’s opening, but with the first hundred or so pages only switching between the narratives of Inar and Anton I did struggle with the pacing at the start. I love jumping straight into a story that grabs and runs away with you as a reader. However, a slower pace was actually essential here. Wiles’ world building is outstanding, but with the absence of any tools to assist a reader (such as the oft used map, glossary, or dramatis personae) all of this complex world must be conveyed through the narrative. There is a huge realm being introduced in The Last Blade Priest, with an intricate religious hierarchy, numerous factions, and an expansive geography. It is a testament to Wiles’ skill that this opening part of the novel is a successful slow burn that maintains the reader’s interest and does not overwhelm or confuse them.

Once the narrative perspective starts to follow Duna, a young woman whose magical skills hold terrifying possibilities, the pace of The Last Blade Priest significantly increases. When it does, the slow immersion in such a thoroughly established world is proven well worth the wait. Any plot predictions I had made were wrong, so Wiles’ writing ended up being superbly surprising at every twist and turn. I also really loved that the two main characters felt like relatively ‘normal’ people without world altering qualities or messiah-like roles to play. It gave the story a relatable humanity which can sometimes be missed in epic fantasy. Additionally the fact that The Last Blade Priest only follows a few points of view meant that tertiary characters were also well developed and all felt essential to the story. I am hoping that this may mean that some of these minor characters have a bigger role to play in later novels.

The Last Blade Priest is billed as ‘Book One of The Holy Mountain’ and Wiles has created a brilliant foundation for what I can only hope is the first in a series of novels. This has turned out to be one of my favourite new releases of this year, and I am incredibly excited to read what happens next. I am very grateful to both Angry Robot and W.P. Wiles for sending me an advanced reader copy to provide are view for Grimdark Magazine. 4.5/5.

Read The Last Blade Priest by W.P Wiles

The post REVIEW: The Last Blade Priest by W.P Wiles appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: A Storm of Swords by George R.R Martin

The strong momentum from A Clash of Kings continues in A Storm of Swords, the third volume of A Song of Ice and Fire, as George R.R. Martin chronicles his epic War of the Roses-style competition for the Iron Throne and control of Westeros. Although many important events occur on the battlefield, the more consequential tactics involve the forging and breaking of interfamilial alliances through strategic marriages and a healthy dose of backstabbing.

After spending most of A Clash of Kings imprisoned by the Starks at Riverrun, Jaime Lannister becomes one of the main point-of-view characters in A Storm of Swords. George R.R. Martin has accomplished a nearly impossible feat with Jaime, making the reader feel sympathy for this obnoxious, arrogant, incestuous Kingslayer. Despite all the terrible things he has done, Jaime still has a shred of honor, and I actually felt compassion for him by the end of the book.

Another highlight from Jaime’s chapters is getting to know Brienne of Tarth, an imposing warrior who has sworn to deliver Jaime safely to the Lannisters in exchange for release of the Stark girls. I especially enjoyed seeing how Brienne manages her distaste for Jaime while fulfilling her promise to the Stark family. As Jaime’s situation becomes increasingly out of hand, Brienne’s strong commitment to his safety never falters.

Tyrion Lannister remains as one of the most intriguing characters in A Storm of Swords. Tyrion’s fraught relationship with his family is brought to the forefront, especially with his siblings, Cersei and Jaime, and his nephew, the insufferable boy-king Joffrey. The relationship between Tyrion and his father, Lord Tywin Lannister, is particularly tragic.

Among the Stark children, Sansa is essentially a Disney princess caught in a grimdark world. Originally hoping for a happily-ever-after with the pouty-lipped Joffrey, Sansa’s delicate innocence only brings her suffering. In A Storm of Swords, Sansa finally escapes the clutches of the Lannisters but is left to deal with the creepy Littlefinger, who harbors a lifelong infatuation with her mother, Catelyn. It’s hard to tell which situation is worse for the unfortunate Sansa.

Sansa’s younger sister, Arya, is the most Dickensian figure in A Song of Ice and Fire, orphaned and destitute, trying to survive in a cruel world that never does her any favors. Arya’s only glimmer of hope in A Storm of Swords—her arrival at a family wedding—proves to be an ill-timed disaster.

Love and violence are inexorably linked at Westeros weddings, especially in A Storm of Swords which includes the infamous Red Wedding massacre. We lose several major characters during nuptial festivities, although one of them has trouble staying dead.

Meanwhile up north, Jon Snow struggles between honoring his Night Watch vows and acting on his love for Ygritte. Unbeknownst to Jon, Bran Stark is also traveling north to the Wall in search of the three-eyed crow from his dreams. George R.R. Martin also introduces a third point-of-view character at the Wall, Samwell Tarly, the loyal friend of Jon Snow who serves as the Samwise Gamgee of the book. I found Sam’s perspective to be unnecessary given the other already-established point-of-view characters.

I also question George R.R. Martin’s decision to go all-in with Davos Seaworth, Stannis Baratheon’s favorite onion-obsessed confidant. There are many layers to the Onion Knight, but none of them are particularly interesting. The Davos chapters serve as a window into the matters of Stannis and the red priestess Melisandre. With her powerful magic and shadowy intentions, Melisandre would have been the more interesting choice to become the point-of-view character for these chapters.

Fortunately, we get to spend more quality time with Daenerys Targaryen in A Storm of Swords compared to A Clash of Kings. The exiled Mother of Dragons continues to amass power as she overcomes treachery within her own ranks. Daenerys becomes a favorite with everyday people as she frees enslaved populations en masse and exacts justice for crimes committed against them.

A Storm of Swords is a delight for grimdark fans and another high point in George R.R. Martin’s enduring saga of war and betrayal.

4.5/5

Read A Storm of Swords by George R.R Martin

The post REVIEW: A Storm of Swords by George R.R Martin appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

The Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves trailer is out!

Twenty-two years feels like a lifetime ago. I was nearly a whole other person; not as hardened or calloused to the world and its offerings. Not as jaded, certainly. I was an eager teenager with big bright eyes and on one weekend in particular I bought a ticket, a grossly over-priced and over-sized bucket of soda and tub of popcorn, and shoved myself into a seat to watch the much anticipated Dungeons & Dragons movie. What a time to be alive and a geek in the world. I’d spent most my young life consuming fantasy novels and game supplements, having adventures in imaginary lands with my friends, and none of us could believe they’d finally gone and made an actual movie seemingly just for us.

Fast forward roughly one hour and forty-seven minutes later and I left the theater … a little perplexed over what I’d just experienced. Flash forward roughly another twenty-two years and the world has seemingly, blissfully chosen to forget the existence of what would only be remembered as something of a box office flub at best and an absolute failure at worst (3.6 on IMDB says a lot). Which means it would come as no surprise when it was announced by the cinematic powers that be another big screen, blockbuster adaptation of the world’s most beloved role-playing game franchise was being adapted again there was a bit of a reaction. People were forced to dredge up memories of purple melodrama and unfunny comedic bits. Weird ear monsters and less savory moments. The most vocal of the crowd were flat out against it, of course. The fandom has grown emboldened and empowered over recent years thanks to a surge in popularity and acceptance of the past-time once relegated to nerds, losers, and weirdos in their parent’s garages and basements. We have a voice now and we will be heard, dammit.

The powers that be must’ve listened. Must have taken the fandom seriously. Maybe some of the folks making the new movie were some of the same kids who, just like me, walked out of that theater twenty years ago wondering what the hell just happened. Maybe, just maybe, they thought they could do better. They had to do better.

If the recently released trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is anything to go by, we’ve got something really special to look forward to. A trailer is made—edited and weaponized—to serve a singular purpose: distill something down to its absolute essence and raise interest, and the trailer I watched did that and then some. It got me excited. It made me genuinely happy. Sure, yeah, some of that was a brilliantly applied bit of Led Zepplin scored over all the action but a lot of it was just the tone and the portrayal of the action and the characters themselves. The movie just looks fantastic, top notch, like it takes place in a thriving and detailed world. The characters look fascinating and interesting and fleshed out and genuinely serve up some funny moments just in the couple minutes of the trailer’s length. More than anything else, what the trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves does accomplish?

It looks fun.

It looks like an adventure I want to go on. And that’s exactly what a movie is supposed to be. That’s what a night around the table with your friends, rolling dice, laughing and hollering until the sun comes up is supposed to be.

It’s supposed to be fun.

Straight out the gate the trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves sets the tone with a dragon. A freaking dragon. And, I don’t know, unless I’m mistaken it looks like a black dragon and that is just rad as hell and makes my geek heart soar. Then, sure, cue up Whole Lotta Love and the party’s rocking. If the trailer alone is so damn cool, it sets a heavy precedent for the rest of the movie. One I hope it definitely capitalizes on, especially with the party of adventurers—like the super cool Druid that goes full owlbear and hulks out on some unsuspecting knights. Major points. It’s like a highlight reel of awesome moments you’ve always wanted to see come to life from your own game sessions.

So, yeah. I’m hopeful. I’m optimistic and excited and will without question be buying a ticket and checking out Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on opening weekend. I’ll probably be blowing the dust off some old, beloved books I haven’t spent any time with in too long and diving back into a world I’ve stayed away from for a lot of years as well. I feel a bit inspired. It’s an exciting time to be a geek, and the new trailer has given us something I think truly worth being well and excited about.

The post The Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves trailer is out! appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: Kingshold by D.P. Woolliscroft

The novel Kingshold by self-published author D.P Woolliscroft is the first offering of the Wildfire Cycle series. If I could describe Kingshold in a few lines, it would be a beautiful but complicated tapestry. It is written in the vein of dark and intricate fantasy, much like the Malazan series or The Darkness That Comes Before. There are magic and fantasy aspects in Kingshold, but they come second to the political and societal maneuvers of the characters. Because of the breadth and scope of the worldbuilding, the first 200 pages of the story are on the slow side. I don’t fault the author for this. He had a lot of history and territory to lay out for the reader. Subsequently, I would think later books in the series Tales of Kinghold and Ioth, City of Lights, require much less narrative exposition and worldbuilding to get going. If you stick with the story and let Woollenscroft build a foundation for the politics and intrigue to sit in, you are rewarded with a well-crafted and entertaining political fantasy story.

Kingshold is a place that has been riotously turned on its head. The king and queen of the city have been murdered, their heads set upon pikes. The governing body is in chaos. It is a vacuum that wants to be filled by the vainglorious and social climbers. Jyuth, the ancient wizard that had guided the court for centuries, is guilty of regicide. Tired of bad kings and queens, he sets out the rules for a new election.

The people will vote on a new leader.

Anyone can vote as long as you can put in the 1000 coins to earn a spot at the voting table. This causes the disenfranchisement of many would-be voters; only the rich and elite get a say. And with that thought, the race to the crown proceeds. There is death, back-stabbing, pay-offs, propaganda, and riots. Everything you would come to expect in a situation like that.

Kingshold is entirely character-driven once the settings are set for the story. Most of it revolves around Mareth, the bard. Mareth is a man with stars in his eyes and the intelligence to help shape the future of Kingshold. Jyuth is the great wizard who started this tumultuous election in the first place. Both of these characters’ machinations shape the kingdom’s future.

Another one of the real strengths of Kingshold is the humor. This isn’t a powerful laugh-out-loud type story. But Woolliscroft does a great job in injecting a bit of lightheartedness into conversations that lift the dialog and keeps the pacing from getting stodgy. I appreciated that as a reader, and it was an excellent counterpoint to the dark political intrigue and backstabbing.

The engaging and detailed political plots, along with the humor and gorgeous worldbuilding, made this a treat to read. I look forward to tackling the next book in the series.

Read Kingshold by D.P. Woolliscroft

The post REVIEW: Kingshold by D.P. Woolliscroft appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: The Trials of Ashmount by John Palladino

The Trials of Ashmount is the debut grimdark fantasy from John Palladino and the first volume in his Tragedy of Cedain series. In creating this complex world, brimming with nefarious characters, political backstabbing, and personal deceit, the author proves himself to be a promising new voice in grimdark fiction.

Palladino’s worldbuilding is ambitious in scope and accomplished in execution. Cedain encompasses three continents with five different countries. The author pays keen attention to each land’s unique politics, economy, and culture, as driven by their varying geography and religion. The worldbuilding in The Trials of Ashmount occurs naturally through the various point-of-view characters hailing from each of those lands. None of the exposition feels forced and, with one exception, the author mercifully spares us any extended info dumps.

The Trials of Ashmount introduces a hard magic system with five branches: Enforcer, Glyphist, Collector, Healer, and Examiner. An intriguing aspect of Palladino’s magic system is the interdependence of these five branches. The practitioners of magic, the so-called Magicai, are centered at the University of Arcanical Arts, located adjacent to the great Ashmount volcano. New prospective Magicai must pass the Trials of Ashmount to receive formal training. Despite the nominally hard magic system, there is a soft element as well, predominantly coming from the Camel Clans of Vessia, who appear to have discovered a new form of magic outside the known branches at the University.

The Trials of Ashmount is primarily told from five point-of-view characters spanning the full world of Cedain. My favorite character is Demri Slarn, a sadistic rogue Magicus fixated on revenge against a former classmate and one of the most gleefully grimdark characters of the book. Demri is the Sand dan Glokta of the novel. Like Joe Abercrombie’s infamous character from The Blade Itself, Demri suffered grave injuries earlier in life and now lives in constant physical and emotional pain. Demri initially appears to be entirely villainous, but as we learn more about his background and motivation for revenge, he becomes a complex and even sympathetic figure.

My second favorite character is Kelden Stoole, the son of a baker who believes he is destined to escape his small-town life and become a powerful Magicus at the University of Arcanical Arts. Kelden travels to the University and dutifully follows their archaic and seemingly arbitrary rules to earn admission. His natural curiosity leads Kelden to discover some of the Magicai’s carefully guarded secrets.

Edelbrock Brendis is a fascinating point-of-view character, a minor nobleman who tries to scheme his way to greater fortune through a combination of lies, adultery, and murder. But the tables are turned on him rather quickly as he discovers a greater scheme at play. Although Edelbrock spends most of the novel as a rather shallow, pathetic figure, near the end he is given a fair amount of depth that helps earn sympathy.

I didn’t connect quite as well with the remaining two point-of-view characters. Sera Wintlock is an ordinary girl from the northern bird-farming continent of Cyrok who finds herself as an unlikely hero when her village is slaughtered during a surprise attack from the south. Sera suffers a lot during her plotline, but I don’t feel like the emotional trauma was fully conveyed. Finally, Villic is a nomadic warrior from the Camel Clans who hopes to leverage newfound magic to empower his people. Unfortunately, I never really connected with Villic as a character.

One of the joys of reading The Trials of Ashmount is seeing how the diverse storylines eventually intersect. This requires patience, since the connections don’t become apparent until the second half of the novel.

The plot is fast-paced and carefully constructed, full of unexpected twists, some of which left my mouth agape. My only criticism regarding the plot is that some of the major decisions occur too abruptly (for example, the discussions leading to war).

Palladino’s writing is straightforward and unadorned, with just the right level of snark to keep readers laughing but without becoming a parody of itself. Palladino has done an admirable job finding a balance between serious storytelling and irreverent commentary. Still, I was hoping that the prose could reach greater heights of eloquence, which would have helped deepen the emotional impact of many scenes and strengthen the reader’s personal connection to the characters. The characters suffer a multitude of tragedies throughout The Trials of Ashmount, and I feel that the impact of these situations could have had greater impact by slowing down and offering some more nuanced prose.

John Palladino shows great promise with his debut novel, which is also an entrant in Mark Lawrence’s 8th Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO8). Overall, Palladino has created a compelling grimdark world that has a lot of potential for future entries in his series. With a bit more attention to developing the emotional depth of the characters, Palladino will be able to bring his craft to new heights.

3.5/5

Read The Trials of Ashmount by John Palladino

The post REVIEW: The Trials of Ashmount by John Palladino appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis is not at all what you think. Marketed as a YA Horror novel, you would think that maybe this might be a campy horror story. Perhaps with a 1980s vibe.

You would be entirely wrong.

Instead, Harrow lake is a story of intense psychological horror. I think in a lot of ways, psychological horror is much scarier than slasher horror. The reader can eternalize much of the plot; we readers all have psychological quirks. Harrow Lake is a good book for that. The lead character, Lola, has broken parts of her psyche. She has suffered her mother abandoning her, a father who smothers her, and deep mental wounds that sound much like PTSD. This leads to a realistic characterization of mental illness and a developing and strong protagonist.

Lola Nox is the daughter of the famous Horror movie directer Nolan Nox. Nolan made his fame with the movie Nightjar, and he also met Lola’s mother on the set of Nightjar because it was filmed in her hometown, and she ended up being her star. Nightjar has an almost cult-like following to it. After an accident with Lola’s father, Lola ends up staying with her estranged grandmother in Harrow Lake while Nolan recuperates. Harrow Lake is dark, and something is off with it. Something is not right. The reader can not tell if the town is off or Lola’s perceptions of things are off. As Lola navigates the village of Harrow Lake and her traumatic memories, things escalate in the story to a fevered pitch.
What is real? What is imagined? The reader won’t know till the very end, and I can’t tell you more because of SPOILERS!

Harrow Lake ended up being one of those books that I appreciate as a reader but has aspects of it that didn’t sit well with me. In a lot of ways, Harrow Lake is perfectly crafted. The narrative moves from page to page, the horror is almost palpable, and the lead character is one that the reader can empathize with. However, I had a difficult time with the supporting characters in the story. I did not find them wholly believable. That was hard for me because the supporting characters are a huge part of the narrative. In the scheme of things, it is a small thing set against the excellent writing and Lola as a character, but it was a bit hard for me to get over it.

All in all, this is a solid and exciting story. It is terrifying and so much more than you thought it was going to be. The visuals that the author Kat Ellis creates are gripping, and the pacing is frenetic.

This story is a must for YA Horror fans.

Read Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

The post REVIEW: Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: In A Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power

In A Garden Burning Gold is Rory Power’s adult debut. After a couple of young adult novels, she’s switched over to writing for a new audience, and a new genre. This is dark epic fantasy, of politics, betrayal and power. In short, a book extremely well suited for the Grimdark Magazine readership, even if it may not look it at first glance. Inspired by Mediterranean culture, this is set in a secondary world ruled by Stratagyozi, long-lived tyrants with magical powers. Rhea and Lexos are the two oldest children of one such man, forced into his bidding for all of their lives. Rhea is married off on the regular, then kills her partners for power. Lexos is his father’s second, sent out to negotiate on his behalf, and has power over tides.

But they don’t operate in a vacuum. And they’re not content with their lot in life. And so this is a book about the game of thrones, about revolution, about shaping theworld into what you need it to be. It is not a happy story, and it is one in which much goes wrong – while there is a lot of very real betrayal inherent in the plot (and the concept), there is even more suspected betrayal, meaning that ultimately no character can trust the other’s motives. In many ways, this creates a world and a story in which you as the reader don’t know what will happen next as the plot unfolds. You are being kept on your toes throughout, and that is a brilliant feeling. In A Garden Burning Gold is one of those books where the puzzle of the story only gets put together slowly, where you don’t know what sort of picture you’re assembling, and that worked really well for me.

This is a standalone epic fantasy novel, which means that despite it being slightly longer than your average book at around 432 pages it doesn’t feel too long. As the story keeps twisting and turning, the pacing feels fast, and the tension is kept high throughout, making this a quick and entertaining read. It is not the most deep of books, but it feels like a book that you don’t encounter every day, especially given its setting in a Greek and Balkan inspired world, but not one inspired by Classic Mythology. I loved the complexities of the characters, especially Rhea and Lexos as the leads, though there were many more that were just as fleshed out with multifaceted personalities and motivations. This was a very solid four star read for me – and I’ve already reread it on audiobook!

Read In A Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power

The post REVIEW: In A Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.