by NRB | 26 Sep 2024 | Fiction, SFF |
Spies, magic, intrigue, and the human cost of an expanding empire all feature in Australian author Alina Bellchambers’ debut fantasy. Growing up on the run from mysterious criminals with her mother, Mira has always dreamed of having safety and stability; of being able...
by NRB | 11 Apr 2023 | Fiction, SFF |
The first of Brandon Sanderson’s ‘secret novels’ delivers a resourceful heroine on an epic quest. During the pandemic, prolific fantasy author Brandon Sanderson found he had more time on his hands and, as he puts it, ‘Brandon + Time = Stories‘. He...
by NRB | 6 Sep 2022 | Fiction, SFF |
Juliet Marillier’s Warrior Bards series is a joy to read and has a lot to say about tolerance. I remember the times when Brocc and I played and sang for weddings and festivals. That feels so long ago. Before Swan Island. Before I met Dau … A different world. But...
by NRB | 15 Jul 2021 | Fiction, SFF |
The bestselling author of the Witcher novels turns to history in The Tower of Fools, the first instalment of his latest epic series. Andrzej Sopkowski’s new historical fantasy trilogy is set in fifteenth-century Eastern Europe during the Hussite wars (the Hussites...
by NRB | 25 Feb 2021 | Fiction, SFF |
Brandon Sanderson’s epic fantasy series encompasses battles both mental and physical. A thousand quotes from noted scholars leapt to her mind. Accounts of what it was like to be in war. She’d read hundreds; some so detailed, she’d been able to smell the blood in...
by NRB | 21 Jul 2020 | Fiction, SFF |
Trudi Canavan provides a suitably epic final instalment to her Millennium’s Rule series with Maker’s Curse. ‘All you can do is make sure you only have enemies because you are a good person.’ The bestselling author of four previous series, including...
by NRB | 28 May 2013 | Fiction, SFF |
This fast-paced epic fantasy has plenty of Machiavellian twists and poses some deeper questions. Book Two of Duncan Lay’s Empire of Bones trilogy opens with an emotionally devastated Rhiannon trying to deal with a series of powerful shocks. She has found that the men...
by NRB | 17 Apr 2013 | Fiction, SFF |
Inscrutable dragons and a mysterious city: the final volume of Robin Hobb’s latest series ties up the loose ends and reveals a few surprises. Blood of Dragons is the fourth and final book in The Rain Wild Chronicles and follows seamlessly from City of Dragons,...
EVA MENASSE Darkenbloom. Reviewed by Ann Skea22 January 2025In Austrian writer Eva Menasse’s new novel, the residents of a small border [ … ]
MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ Annihilation. Reviewed by James Arbuthnott21 January 2025The controversial author of Atomised sets his new – and possibly last – novel [ … ]
CHER The Memoir Part 1. Reviewed by Naomi Manuell16 January 2025Cher is a genuine superstar who has had an extraordinary career across music, [ … ]
PETER GODWIN Exit Wounds. Reviewed by Ann Skea15 January 2025Peter Godwin’s memoir charts a life of exile, ranging from the horror of civil [ … ]