Marc Aplin's Blog, page 189
February 14, 2015
The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas
Think Harry Potter in Victorian England and you have the backdrop for The Burning Sky. Written in the third-person narrative, I rather felt like I was watching the story unfold from the sidelines as opposed to being right in the middle of everything. The plot idea was fascinating and held great potential. The execution left […]
February 13, 2015
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
The premise of The Invisible Library is brilliant. Clandestinely situated between dimensions – and yes, invisible – the Library is a vast repository of fiction ‘acquired’ from myriad parallel worlds. I use the term loosely, as the agents of the Library don’t mind resorting to a bit of larceny when on the hunt for a […]
February 12, 2015
Clariel by Garth Nix
Clariel is the newest addition to Garth Nix’s Abhorsen series, which also contains Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, and several novellas and short stories. It’s one of my favorite series, full stop. I’ve never been particularly into zombie stories, but the world of the Abhorsen is captivating. Necromancers, Charter mages, and free magic users all exist behind […]
New Michael J. Sullivan series!
Whilst Fantasy-Faction works on its Most Anticipated Fantasy Novels of 2015 list (due up this Friday / Saturday – PROMISE!), we were brought news of yet another of Fantasy-Faction’s favourite authors who has just signed a new book deal. This adds to the exciting news we brought you yesterday that Sam Sykes has announced a collaboration with […]
February 11, 2015
Sam Sykes lands new novel deal…
Fantasy-Faction are big fans of Sam Sykes. His books are like playing video games: non-stop, chaotic and oh so fun. Fantasy is a genre where an author should feel free to let their imagination run wild, disembark from real-life and – from time to time – give the reader something that isn’t simply history re-written. […]
Jim Butcher Announces New Fantasy Series
Jim Butcher’s Dresden books are some of the highest selling, most highly regarded novels in the fantasy genre. With a narrative style reminiscent of Raymond Chandler’s, the protagonist of the novels – Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard – makes a living as a Private Detective. The stories are popular for their consistent humour and […]
February 10, 2015
Subgenre Bingo – Sword and Sorcery
This shall be the first of a series of subgenre bingo cards for everyone’s amusement. Myself and a few of my friends have a running joke that some genres can so overwork certain tropes that we could almost play bingo with books that fall into that particular subgenre. It should be noted, that this is […]
February 9, 2015
Magically Systematic
One of the keystones of the fantasy genre is magic. Whether it be dark and mysterious, lost and forgotten, or as common as forks and spoons, it is an ever-present theme in our favourite fantasy books. There doesn’t seem to be anything magic can’t do. When our heroes are in trouble, a well placed spell […]
February 8, 2015
Marvel finally get their hands on Spiderman
We’d all heard of Marvel’s plans for the next ‘phase’ of the Avengers franchise… plenty of new characters that would expand the Universe, freshen the franchise up and take the focus off the current ageing / increasingly in demand cast. We’d even heard rumours of a certain web-slinging, wall-climbing superhero being a big part of […]
February 7, 2015
The League of Princes by Christopher Healy – Series Review
Ever wondered what Prince Charming’s real name is? Meet Frederick. And Gustav. And Liam and Duncan. They are the Prince Charmings (or Princes Charming, as Frederick insists), and they’re determined to prove that they are more than just those princes from the songs. So when they stumble across a dark plot forming against all their […]
