First a quick explanation!
Due to some severe health issues over the last few years, and a lingering chronic condition, my planned review schedule went right out of the window and I have been scrabbling ever since to get it back on track.
In an attempt to try to regain some lost ground, I have been scrunching some of my (overdue) reviews together into one or two posts each week: shorter reviews, but still covering all of the points I intended to.
That’s the plan anyway, so let’s unwrap these latest gifts and see what we got!
Title: The Seven Hungers: Crimson King
Author: Morgan Quaid
Publisher: Dark Ether Press
Blurb: All Ambrose Drake wants is to live out his days in peace and quiet.
Difficult to do when you’re the most notorious sorcerer in the Hallowed World and you’ve got a demon queen from the Seventh Hunger trapped in your head!
My name is Ambrose Drake, and I’m a third-generation sorcerer living in exile in London.
Oh, yeah and magic is real. Fae, demons, sorcery, the whole thing.
I used to be a corporate drone working for the Crown, the not-so-secret society that controls sorcery and protects our world from all the nastiness below.
Then I got myself hooked by a mesmer snare which dragged me all the way down to the Seventh Hunger, where I met a demon queen intent on hijacking my body and riding all the way up to our world.
But it turns out the demon queen got more than she bargained for. She can’t kill me, can’t take over the world, but I also can’t get rid of her.
Now I’m quite literally up to my elbows in trouble.
Working as a glorified supernatural pest inspector for the Crown (you know, the organization that banished me to London in disgrace) I’m currently wrestling with a house-bound entity that is seconds away from tearing me limb from limb.
And I haven’t even had my morning coffee!
Meet Ambrose Drake, the smart-mouthed, hapless sorcerer who attracts supernatural trouble like the proverbial flame draws a moth. If you like troublesome sorcerers with snarky attitudes like Harry Dresden or Nate Temple, you’ll love this hero!
Review: I do love a bit of snarky urban fantasy, and this one is slightly darker than other comparable series like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files or Josh Erikson’s Ethereal Earth series.
There is a horror streak added here, with the Seven Hungers portrayed as a series of linked unearthly dimensions which worsen as you move through them from the First Hunger to the Seventh, like the Circles of Hell. This is great worldbuilding already, and then you can add in concepts of fae bargaining and other cryptid and mythological creature mythologies which the author has neatly incorporated into his new construct.
On the horror side, there is lots of body horror, as the Crimson King – much like The Magnus Archives‘ ‘The Flesh’ – deals in flesh, blood, bones and body parts. The image of that group of young people, fresh from the carnival, will forever haunt me with its combination of disfigurement and obliviousness.
The main character, Ambrose Drake, is a likeable anti-hero with a dark past and present secrets, and he assembles a mis-matched and reluctant but highly effective team to stave off an imminent incursion from a powerful Hunger that would likely lead to the end of the human world as we know it. You know, standard urban fantasy action (although the Hungers are more stand-out than standard).
The whole book is great fun: high-stakes, action-packed and pretty disturbing (again, The Blood Carnival, urgh!), with some funny moments and a main storyline that resolves the imminent peril but neatly leads the reader towards more to follow… I can’t wait!
Purchase Link: Crimson King on Amazon
Title: Unbury the Bones
Author: Coyote JM Edwards
Publisher: Independently published
Blurb: Luck is NOT on their side.
When a series of bizarre coincidences leaves a man bleeding out in an alleyway, the Ember Guard call on their secret weapon: a takeout-fueled nonbinary vampire and their werewolf partner who’s more puppy than beast.
Grim knows Embervein like they know their own skeleton — a little too well. They may have a knack for sorting out the arcane, but their freak ability to see every body’s bony insides has left Grim hiding from the one thing they really crave. If they can’t learn to accept their unique talents — and the friendship of a good wolf — how will they be able solve this mystery before someone else gets hurt…or worse?
The Ember Bones novellas feature an honest depiction of platonic intimacy, thrilling mysteries, and happy endings galore. Sink your teeth into this cozy modern fantasy.
Review: This novella features everything that I love – fantasy worldbuilding with some fresh mythology, paranormal investigators, a murder mystery and some great non-binary and aromantic/asexual representation – and yet I struggled to shake off the feeling that I was missing some backstory that would give the characters and their relationships more context within the story. As if there was a previous book introducing them all that I had somehow missed.
There is loads of story potential here in the various paranormal races and the systems of magic – lizard people, winged people, luck magic, White sight, chimeras and more – but as nothing was explained fully, I kept stumbling over lack of detail that would make the story world live for me.
Still, I really did enjoy this short read and would love a longer novel that allows for a greater exploration and development of the world and the characters, so I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more from Coyote JM Edwards and the Ember Bones series.
Purchase Link: Unbury the Bones on Amazon
Title: Advocatus
Author: A.R. Turner
Publisher: Cloaked Press LLC
Blurb: It’s just another day in the courtroom right? Except the fate of humanity rests on the verdict this time.
Felix, a junior lawyer, has one last case before he can strike out on his own. His client? A terrifying magical warlord accused of, amongst other horrifying crimes, two counts of Attempted Genocide (and six counts of Theft). His plea? Innocent, of course! All in a day’s work for Felix.
Psychic frogs, downtrodden goblins, time-travelling wizards, and a whole host of other magical defendants become his caseload as Felix begins trying to make a name for himself as a successful lawyer in a world rife with sorcery.
The biggest case of his life: defending humanity in front of Habeus, the God of Justice himself.
Lose, and it’s all over. Not just for him, but for the whole of mankind.
Fans of Max Gladstone’s Craft Series and Discworld’s City Watch will enjoy “Advocatus”.
Review: This book starts out as a kind of fantasy-legal soap opera, giving us different cases tried by Felix and Lunchers but gradually those individual case anecdotes begin to tie together until it ultimately ended in a full-on, save-the-world trial of humanities continued existence. Quite high stakes for an anxious junior lawyer!
The whole story is fun, light-hearted and very easy to read, with some seriously deep underlying themes about morality and humanity snuck in under the jolly comedic fantasy shenanigans.
Main character Felix is a very likable, ‘everyman’ sort who is thrust into a Chosen One role due to his work and personal ethics and makes a great contrasting foil to all of the talking frogs, mythical beings and magic users.
Then, after a huge finale with a bit of a shocking resolution, it felt like the world setting was left open to future fantastical legal cases in the same vein and if so, I would definitely be here for it! Advocatus is different to other similar-genre books I have read, and well worth a read for fans of reluctant heroes and law-based mischief.
Purchase Link: Advocatus on Amazon
Title: Wagers of Fate
Author: Noureddine Hifad
Publisher: Independently published
Blurb: Amidst a millennium of harmony and affluence, the Vargassian dynasty’s reign was abruptly extinguished with the sudden demise of its last emperor. The realm was thrown into pandemonium, with factions battling each other for control, until General Casper Leonberg seized Soliris, the imperial capital. As the political turmoil escalated, the young heir to the throne, Prince Hector, made a daring escape, determined to gather 108 righteous heroes to free the land from the Northern-Tiger’s tyranny.
Review: I originally read and reviewed this story when it was just Part 1 and To Be Continued, and much of what I said in that review still applies to the now-finished book.
This is still a highly unusual novel stylistically, reading more like a historical account than a fantasy story. There is little focus on characters or setting, and very little dialogue, with all of the story centred around long-scale political and military actions. Whole battles pass by in mere sentences, and years skip on between isolated scenes of action, making parts of the story feel more like a summary of (fictional) world events than a fully fleshed-out story.
But, as I said previously, once you have adjusted to the abrupt tone and truncated style, this is a very enjoyable and relatively quick read that whisks you through decades of good vs evil power struggles to see whether the fated 108 heroes can overthrow tyrannies and dictators and restore peace to the land.
Purchase Link: Wagers of Fate on Amazon
Title: A Scrap of Silk
Author: Virginia King
Publisher: Celestial Hedgehog
Blurb: A surprise inheritance.
A locked cellar.
A shocking secret from her family’s past …
When 30-year-old mystery author Tiggy Jones inherits an old boathouse in England from the grandmother she never knew, her shock turns to excitement.
Until she stumbles upon the hidden cellar and can’t find the key.
Soon she’s tangled in a desperate search through mysteries past and present, threats, betrayals and misdirections to uncover a long-hidden secret.
All the time struggling against someone determined to stop her.
As her new life unravels, what horrors will Tiggy discover about her family history?
And will she survive them?
Review: This is the brilliant first book in a British mystery series that is currently up to Book 4. And as a long-time fan of the series, it was great fun revisiting this first instalment and remembering how main character Tiggy first met some series faves like Raider, Baxter and the highly suspicious Ladder Man!
There is plenty of action from the very start of the story and it doesn’t let up from there, with smashed windscreens, intruders, fire, poison and more – all under the ominous atmosphere of the ‘Goathouse’ and its mythical ‘Goatman’.
Delving into all sorts of cultural lore, from witchcraft to the history of gin-smuggling, this is a twisty mystery that immediately made me want to read (and re-read!) more.
Technically this does stand alone perfectly well, but once you’ve met Australian author Antigone Jones and her new Devonian friends, you will want to keep going anyway!
Purchase Link: A Scrap of Silk on Amazon
I’m finishing 2024 strongly here with a batch of some great indie authors in some of my favourite sub genres: horror-fantasy; urban fantasy-crime; speculative (legal) fantasy; epic historical fantasy; and British mystery with a folklorish flavour!
Thank you to everyone who has joined me on this bookish odyssey so far. I can’t wait to bring you more brilliant reads in 2025. I will be tackling my new advent reading challenge, attempting to finally get to the end of my backlog with some final batches of Catch-Up Quickies, and treating you to more fabulous Blog Tours along the way.
Grab your favourite books and join me in the New Year to share more book love. Until then, happy reading and keep shining! 🙂
