Quick Book Reviews Blog

Ray Bradbury has forever cemented his legacy as one of the titans of literature, with many of his works considered essential classics today. As is the case with most authors of this calibre, some of his stories went more under the radar than other ones despite being no worse, and it feels to me Dandelion Wine is one of them, following the story of the twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding and his one magical summer of 1928.

Erin Morgenstern's imagination takes her to places many authors don't even know the existence of, her novels always brimming with originality. In The Starless Sea , she lets her talents shine bright once again, following the story of Zachary Ezra Rawlins, a graduate student in Vermont who discovers a mysterious book. Inside are numerous tales, and one of them has been ripped straight out of Zachary's childhood.

Alix Harrow had only published a few short stories in collaborative works and magazines until 2019, when she finally graced her readers with her debut novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January . In it, we follow the eponymous January Scaller as she tends to an old recluse in his mansion, and in the process finds a mysterious book which tells tales of danger, adventure, love, and perhaps most intriguingly, secret doors.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is quickly gaining a reputation in the literary world as an author who dares to explore the tragic chapters in American history, never wanting them to be left forgotten. In The Water Dancer , he takes us to the immensely bloody calamity which was the American Civil War as we follow a young man named Hiram in search of his long lost mother, as well as his own place in a world torn asunder by conflict.

Alice Hoffman has quite the unique flair in telling her stories, and The World That We Knew only further affirms this, taking us to an alternate view of Europe in 1941, colored heavily by the author's own brand of magical realism. The story follows a twelve-year-old girl, Lea, sent away by her mother to hide her from the Nazi regime. With the help of a Rabbi's daughter, Ettie, and a magical golem made specially for Lea, the trio set out on their own unforgettable adventures where evil waits at every corner.

The search for identity as a teenager is never easy for normal people, and S. S. Bazinet goes the extra mile to make it a million times more difficult for the sixteen-year-old Theodore in her novel My Brother's Keeper . Having been abducted and raised by a sinister organization known as the WKA, Theodore is quite surprised when his real family locates him, revealing he is in fact a werewolf... one who might be able to turn the tide in the war between his kind and the evil organization hell-bent on destroying them.

Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, two highly reputed authors in their own rights, have joined forces together for Blood of the Four and managed to come up with an original novel drawing on the best of what the two men have to offer. In this tour-de-force we are introduced to a kingdom where virtually every person is a slave, where the divide between the royals and the poor is as wide as it has ever been, and magic has been trampled into dust. We follow a young Princess Phela whose ambition for power leads her to shatter the careful balance established over innumerable years, leading to either her dominion or everyone's death.

Sebastien de Castell has set the stage in his first book of The Greatcoats series, Traitor's Blade , for adventures grandiose and innumerable in an epic and fantastic world complete with deadly swashbuckling and unforgiving politics. In the second book of the series, titled "Knight's Shadow" , we follow Falcio val Mond, First Cantor of the Greatcoats and master swordsman, as he investigates the murder of a duke in his family, all while the country is being plunged into civil war and chaos. To make matters even more interesting, Falcio has found out one of his oldest and most dangerous enemies has actually poisoned him, drastically shortening the time left on his clock.

Carmen Amato has published a large number of novels taking place in Central America, a place she is well-acquainted with from her time spent living there. However, for one of her latest novels, Awakening Macbeth , she decided to stray far from her comfort zone and go all the way to Scotland, telling us the story of professor Brodie Macbeth from the University of Virginia.

The Rosie Chapel History Tour Time travel is a concept that has been approached from many different angles by countless authors, each one trying to accomplish something specific, to materialize their concrete view of the concept's realization. While some like to get down into the details, there are others for whom it's really more of a way to transport the reader into an unfamiliar setting while sticking with a familiar type of character, sometimes even being a stand-in for the audience.

The Power of Desperation Most of us like to believe that we have enough integrity not to make any deals with the devil should the opportunity present itself, no matter what offers may be put on the table. Desperation, however, has the power to drastically change our minds and priorities, and it is quite likely that there is a right set of circumstances in which every single person on Earth would sell their soul to the devil.

Brent Weeks Powers On Brent Weeks brought us the Lightbringer series a few years ago, and at the start it was supposed to be a trilogy. However, as is likely to happen with successful science-fiction series, Weeks chose to extend the story beyond what he had originally planned, and at the moment there are supposed to be five books to it... until further notice, of course.

While life certainly likes to throw a few curve-balls at everyone at some point, it's undeniable that most of us have what we need not only to survive, but to actually enjoy life itself. As you well know, there is always the other side of the coin, the people whose survival on this planet has been challenged from the moment they set foot in it. Whether they end well or badly, there is something special about such people who defy all odds until the very end, as is the case of the titular Moojie in The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman by Robin Gregory.

Back in 1997 a certain author by the name of Neil Gaiman burst onto the literary scene and asserted himself as a talent to be reckoned with, publishing his first novel, Neverwhere . It rapidly became a major landmark (so to speak) in the genres of urban and young adult fantasy, to the point where numerous versions of it were produced over the years.

Since the moment we were born the quest to find our place in this world has been thrust upon us, and for many it is one that haunts them from beginning to end, never really finding the crevice they fit in perfectly. Nevertheless, we keep on living through life in hope of answers, understanding and meaning, many coming to the conclusion that we ought to carve our own places in this world, rather than search for them. In Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World , Haruki Murakami presents us with two parallel stories centred on that idea in their own ways.

Old fairy tale classics have been alive for so many years for a reason: the basic stories have stood the test of time and resonate with us as much as they did for the folks of the time. However, hearing them over and over again throughout the years does dull them a bit, stripping their inviting charm and replacing it with pure old boredom.

I'm certain that at this point, no matter what your system of belief and morality is, you've come to the great conclusion that this world is a strange one, and it feels as if there will never be an end to the bizarre phenomenons we are incapable of explaining. Most of us choose to press onwards and not pay too much attention to that, taking it one day at a time and trying to keep things as normal as possible, both inside and outside ourselves.

Family and freedom: if there were ever more righteous causes to raise arms and fight against some enemy, we certainly haven't heard of them. The desire to protect those we love and having the freedom to choose as we desire are very important motivators, ones that worked when it came time for citizens to rebel against their tyrants and to fearlessly charge against fate and its overwhelming odds. This is what we've been fighting for in both reality and fiction, as is precisely the case in Sabaa Tahir's first novel, An Ember in the Ashes .

We like to imagine the time of rapier duels and noble swashbucklers as being clean and orderly, with even the ugliest of court intrigues having a dose of class and finesse to them. Contrary to our rather idealistic imagination though, the people of those times were still just as prone to bigotry, violence, hatred, corruption, greed and everything that comes with those. It is in this, more accurate version of reality that Sebastien de Castell has chosen to set his first book, Traitor's Blade .

The hunt for power is one that has beckoned men since the dawn of time, and we've been seeking it through every method imaginable, from ritualistic incantations to overt to displays of power and violence. Many are seeking to transcend the human condition and elevate themselves above it, perhaps even becoming something akin to a god. So far though, it seems that most of our efforts have been in vain, something the realm of literature has sought to fix, as did Scott Hawkins in  The Library at Mount Char .