When the dead start to rise on the battlefield at Gettysburg, the American Civil War is taken in a whole new direction. This is the premise of Justina Ireland’s unique new zombie tale, Dread Nation. This book has been on my radar since the beginning of the year, so as soon as it came out last month, I hopped on the waiting list to get the audiobook from the library. I love the idea of combining zombie horror with alternative history. Add in a badass teenage heroine who takes on zombies and institutionalized racism alike with her sharp-edged sickles, and I’m 100% sold! Continue reading Review of Dread Nation–Civil War Zombies!
Category: Dark fantasy
The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart Review
The very first novel I ever reviewed on this blog was Leanna Renee Hieber’s Darker Still, book one in her YA fantasy Magic Most Foul series. Three years later, I’ve finally gotten around to reading its sequel. If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know that I love Leanna and everything she writes. Darker Still was actually one of my favorites, but I kept being distracted by all of her new releases instead of continuing the series. Recently, though, Leanna’s been dropping hints that a few of the Magic Most Foul characters will be appearing in her upcoming new book The Spectral City. Not wanting to be out of the loop, I decided that it was high time I got caught up. Continue reading The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart Review
Children of Blood and Bone Review
Zélie is a Reaper, the first one in eleven years. But with the power of death, can she really bring magic back to life? Find out in Tomi Adeyemi’s debut novel Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy. The buzz around this new African-inspired YA fantasy novel has been taking over Twitter since well before the book’s release last month—so much so that I already had it on my radar when writing my list of Books I’m Excited for in 2018 at the beginning of the year. I had the audiobook on hold from the library for almost a month before finally getting it in, but it was definitely worth the wait. Continue reading Children of Blood and Bone Review
Review of The Wolf Gift—Anne Rice’s Werewolves
Is there a supernatural creature Anne Rice hasn’t written about? Though she’s best known as the queen of the vampire genre, Anne Rice has written novels about witches, mummies, angels, and now werewolves. The Wolf Gift is the first book in one of Rice’s relatively newer series, having come out back in 2012. Somehow, I’d never heard of this series until I stumbled upon it in the library, but I decided to give her werewolves a shot.
Reuben Golding is an up-and-coming journalist who’s been assigned to do a story on a grand mansion in California that’s being put up for sale. When he visits with the mansion’s owner, Marchent Nideck, and tours the house, Reuben falls in love with the place, wishing he could buy it for himself. But the house has some dark secrets: Marchent’s uncle, the original owner, went missing many years ago, leaving behind strange manuscripts and ancient artifacts from his research. After Reuben survives a brutal attack, he discovers that he’s inherited not just the house, but a mysterious Gift, as well. By night, Reuben transforms into a wolf-like creature and feels compelled to hunt down evil-doers. Could this gift be related to the disappearance of Marchent’s uncle? Will he find answers about what he has become at the Nideck estate? Continue reading Review of The Wolf Gift—Anne Rice’s Werewolves
Beneath the Haunting Sea–A Mythic Debut
Talia doesn’t believe in the old gods and the legends that her mother used to tell her beside the fire. But just because she doesn’t believe, doesn’t mean they aren’t real.… Ancient curses and buried prophecies rise up from the depths in Joanna Ruth Meyer’s Beneath the Haunting Sea. What better way to start off the new year than with a brand new book from a debut author, right? It’s the perfect time for fresh voices and new perspectives. Beneath the Haunting Sea comes out tomorrow, January 9th. Find it at your local retailer, or scroll to the bottom of this post to buy it online and support the blog by using my Bookshop.org affiliate link. Continue reading Beneath the Haunting Sea–A Mythic Debut
Down Among the Sticks and Bones–A Gothic Tale of Twins
If you discovered a door to another world, would you go through it? What if it gave you the opportunity to change who you are, to escape the pressures of who you’re expected to be? Twelve-year-old twins Jack and Jill face these questions in Seanan McGuire’s Down Among the Sticks and Bones. This book, which came out back in June, is the second book in McGuire’s Wayward Children series. (You can read my review of the first book here.) Rather than being a sequel to Every Heart a Doorway, however, Down Among the Sticks and Bones is more of a prequel that can also be read entirely as a stand-alone. Ostensibly a fantasy story about discovering a dark world full of monsters, the book is really a deep dive into questions of identity and family relationships. Continue reading Down Among the Sticks and Bones–A Gothic Tale of Twins
Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra Review
Move over, vampires—it’s time for mummies to take the spotlight! This week, Anne Rice is back with the long-awaited sequel to her 1989 book The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned. Twenty-eight years is a long time to wait for a sequel, but was it worth it? I can’t speak to how the new book lives up to any expectations set up by the original, but as my first foray into mummy romance, I quite enjoyed it. Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra was co-written with her son, Christopher Rice, and comes out tomorrow, November 21. Continue reading Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra Review
Review of Perilous Prophecy—A Poignant Prequel
The re-release of Leanna Renee Hieber’s Strangely Beautiful Saga continues! Last year, Leanna revived her out-of-print debut series with the launch of Strangely Beautiful, published by Tor. This new, author-preferred edition contains her first two books, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker and The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker, in a single volume with some new scenes and edits. You can see my review of Strangely Beautiful here. Now she’s back at it with the relaunch of the series’ prequel, Perilous Prophecy, coming out tomorrow, June 20. Formerly called The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess, the book had only been out a short time before the original publisher went under, so you may have missed it the first time around. But now you’ve got a second chance! If you’re in New York, join me next week for the launch party at the Morris-Jumel Mansion. If you can’t make it out, you can pick up a copy of the book at your local independent bookstore, or buy it online using the IndieBound link at the bottom of this post. Continue reading Review of Perilous Prophecy—A Poignant Prequel
Stardust Review–A Neil Gaiman Fairytale
When I first started writing this blog, I had barely read any Neil Gaiman. Now, I am slowly making my way through his oeuvre. My latest read was Stardust, one of Gaiman’s earlier novels. I had heard about this story before, mostly in terms of the movie adaptation (which I still haven’t seen), but it’s not usually the first book that comes to mind when you think “Neil Gaiman.” I was pleasantly surprised, then, to find how much I enjoyed this book, especially compared to how disappointed I’ve been with some of his more celebrated works. Continue reading Stardust Review–A Neil Gaiman Fairytale
Good Omens Review
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is quite an interesting twist on the genre of devil and demon literature. Collaboratively written by two of the biggest names in fantasy, Good Omens is a humorous tale of the apocalypse starring an angel, a demon, a witch, a witchhunter, and the Antichrist. It’s been on my to-read list for quite a while, as I’ve long been a huge fan of Gaiman and have been meaning to read something by Pratchett. Once again, finding the audiobook in my library helped me to knock this one off my list.