Category Archives: Book Review

Book Review

Review: The Shadow of What Was Lost (The Licanius Trilogy 1)

Leave a comment

The Shadow of What Was Lost (The Licanius Trilogy 1)

by James Islington

Reviewed by JMD Reid

Two decades after the social fabric has been overturn. Once, the Augurs and the other Gifted controlled the world. But now the survivors of the war are chained to their nation, bound by oaths sworn on their behalves. Hated and feared, there are those who plot to restore their power to what it once was.

And to the north, an ancient evil lurks beyond the boundary.

Davian is in a panic. The testing is coming up. He is one of the Gifted, but he can’t access his magic. If he can’t learn to control it, they will strip it from him and make him one of the Shadows, forever marked. Without even his magic, he will be loathed by all. However, there are those in power who know what he truly is.

And they wish to see his destiny met. He can rise to meet it or he can gamble on gaining his power in time.

The Shadow of What Was Lost is an intriguing fantasy book. The world building is deep and the story flows fast. The plot twists and turns, with new revelations peeling back every few chapters. Islington builds up his story through his three storylines, dropping hints here, clues there as he builds towards the ending of the first book in his fantasy series.

An engrossing book that keeps you reading, wandering what happens next. With foreshadowing hinting at character’s fates via prophetic visions and time travel, these tantalizing clues keep you wondering what will happen to the characters to lead to these fates.

The plot turns can be shocking, but the story holds together well. It doesn’t feel haphazard but planned. Islington is in control, important when dealing with his themes of time travel and prophetic visions. The characters are heroic and villainous, cryptic and intriguing. I’m intrigued to where this story goes and glad book 2 is coming out next.

You can purchase The Shadow of What Was Lost from Amazon!

Book Review

Review: Magician’s Gambit (The Belgariad 3)

Leave a comment

Magician’s Gambit (The Belgariad 3)

by David Eddings

Reviewed by JMD Reid

As ash falls on Nyssa, Garion grapples with his sorcerous powers. Wracked with guilt for what he did to the man who killed his parents, Garion needs to understand his new abilities. How he can live with the consequences.

As Garion deals with what type of man he will become, Ce’Nedra can’t help the burgeoning attraction swelling in her heart for the young man. She knows nothing can come of it, as a Tolnedran Princess, she’ll marry a man to enhance the empire and her family’s goals. How can she love a peasant? What future can they have?

As the company heads north into the haunted lands of Maragor, Garion and Ce’Nedra must both come to terms with adult responsibilities. All while dealing with mad gods, dangerous assassins, and bloodthirsty monsters.

The Magician’s Gambit continues the growth of Garion. Adult responsibilities, represented by sorcery, are thrust upon him. And now he has to figure out what to do with them. The decisions he makes will shape the sort of man he’ll become. Eddings weaves these themes into his story with skill, tying the coming of age plots into the fantasy quest adventure narrative he is weaving.

The characters continue to be delightful. As always, Eddings can straddle that line between the humors and the serious, between the dark and the bright. The Belgariad series is one that both young people can read and enjoy but has more mature themes for us older folks to enjoy.

This is a fantasy series for all ages to enjoy, but it will especially resonate with young boys!

You can purchase Magician’s Gambit from Amazon!

Book Review

Review: Queen of Prophecy (The Belgariad 2)

Leave a comment

Queen of Prophecy (The Belgariad 2)

by David Eddings

Reviewed by JMD Reid

The quest to recover the Orb of Aldur continues. Garion, once a simple farm boy, finds himself thrust into the company of sorcerers, warriors, and conniving princes on a journey to save the world. As he struggles to find his place in the world, his true destiny begins rearing its head.

While traveling south through new lands, new members join Garion’s party. From the resolute Mandrollan to the flighty princess Ce’Nedra, the company continues following the thief into the dangerous lands of the serpent queen.

Those who know Garion’s destiny seek to seize him. He will have to grow into a man if he wishes to survive!

Queen of Sorcery picks up a few weeks after Pawn of Prophecy. Eddings skips us a farther south, not treading over familiar ground of Sendaria and setting us into a new country. His world building expands even more as he takes us into cultures new and varied from the solid lands Garion grew up in. Edding’s sardonic humor can tread into the macabre from time to time, but the series continues to be fun and adventurous.

Garion continues growing up, on the verge of true adulthood on this book. He’s in the last stages of that rebellious teenage phase as responsibilities of the world began to weigh on his shoulders. This series continues to be a fun romp and a great series for young boys to read as well as older fans. Eddings dialogue continues to be some of my favorite in Fantasy.

You can purchase Queen of Sorcery from Amazon!

Book Review

Review: Pawn of Prophecy (The Belgariad 1)

2 Comments

Pawn of Prophecy (The Belgariad 1)

by David Eddings

Reviewed by JMD Reid

On a remote farm in the back end of nowhere, Garion grows up under the watch of his Aunt Pol. He has no idea of his true heritage or his true destiny. Nor does he know of the great adventure about to be thrust upon him when the traveling storyteller he’s nicknamed Mr. Wolf shows up with urgent news for his Aunt.

News that sees Garion setting off from the farm he grew up on and out into the world. Confused by events and realizing his Aunt Pol is more than a simple cook at a farm, Garion will have to grapple with a world of magic as he comes of age!

Pawn of Prophecy is a book I first read in the sixth grade. It was the perfect book to read. I was only a few years younger than Garion, just moved and had no friends, and was in need of escape. Garion’s quest resonated with me. Even now, twenty years later, the book retains all its charm.

Is the story of the farm boy with a secret destiny played out? It is now. But when David Eddings penned this story, he was creating something special. Drawing on the grand romances of the Middle Ages, he pens a Fantasy quest with skill few other authors lack. His world is rich, full of colorful characters that Eddings quickly endears you to. He straddles the line between the dark and the light-hearted.

Pawn of Prophecy is a wonderful escapist fantasy, particularly for a young boy. If you’re looking for a fantasy novel for a preteen or teenage boy, this is a book I’d recommend! Action, adventure, magic, danger, and a flight princess with a temper!

You can purchase Pawn of Prophecy from Amazon!

Book Review

Review: Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive 3)

Leave a comment

Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive 3)

by Brandon Sanderson

Reviewed by JMD Reid

Oathbringer starts up right where Words of Radiance left off. The Everstorm ravages across Roshar. The Knights Radiance need to unite the nations of the world the face this new threat. But Dalinar, the new leader of the Knights Radiance, has a dark and troubled past. In his youth, fighting to help his brother conquer the nation of Alethkar, he committed many acts of wanton destruction.

How can the peoples of the world trust a man with such a bloodied past?

As Dalinar seeks to unite, Shalan has to deal with her fractured psyche. As she delves into her illusionary powers, and creates new identities with which to spy, who she truly is becomes harder and harder for her to recognize. But Shalan cannot afford to fall apart. Not when the world itself is at stake. And Kaladin will have to learn a valuable lesson of his own, that tries he might he cannot protect everyone.

Sanderson has delivered another epic door stopper to enthrall fans of epic fantasy. Oathbringer brings to life the characters of the world of Roshar telling us into the past of Dalinar. The characters are tested like never before as a struggle against the ultimate enemy of their world, a being of immense power and malevolent designs.

For fans of epic fantasy, Sanderson once again shows why he is one of the modern masters of the genre. Oathbringer is a book that gripped you from beginning to end, letting you live in the characters heads, and bring them to life. This is a must-read book for all fans of fantasy. I can’t wait for the next exciting volume of the series.

You can buy Snapshot from Amazon!

Book Review

Review: Snapshot

Leave a comment

Snapshot

by Brandon Sanderson

Reviewed by JMD Reid

Davis and Chaz are two detectives assigned to a very unusual division: the Snapshot division. Thanks to some sort of flobltinum, a psychic being can accurately recreate any day in the past. Davis and Chaz’s jobs are simple: to enter the snapshot and confirm details of crimes that have already happened to ensure the bad guys are caught.

Only catch, they have to keep their actions from altering the recreation. Everything they do has consequences, creates divergences. If they do too much, they might never figure out what happened. And today, the stakes have never been higher.

They have a chance to catch a serial killer who’s doing all he can to evade the Snapshot program.

This short story is why I love Brandon Sanderson. He is always coming up with new and exciting stories to read. He’s not locked into one fantasy universe or even one genre. He’ll write in them all to share his imagination with us.

And Snapshot is no different. This time, he delves into the murder mystery with his own style. He’s put that Brandon Sanderson spin on this tale and makes it wonderful. This is a great one that will keep you reading through its various twist and turns.

For fans of speculative fiction, this novella is a must read!

You can buy Snapshot from Amazon!

Book Review

Review: Words of Radiance

2 Comments

Words of Radiance

by Brandon Sanderson

Reviewed by JMD Reid

Sanderson picks up the story where Way of Kings left off. Shallan, now awakened to her powers as a prospective Knight Radiant, must remember the truth of her broken family and tear away the lies she tells herself to keep her mind sane.

On the Shattered Plains, Kaladin has to adjust to his new life. No longer a slave, he’s now an officer in Dalinar’s army, charged with protecting the Highlord and his family. But his old wounds suffered at the hands of the nobility threaten to destroy his soul and shatter his bond with the spren Slyphrenia.

And Dalinar himself needs to unite his people because the Everstorm approaches. Time is running out. The warrior must become the statesmen and overcome the plotitng of his once friend now turned bitter rival, Sadeas.

If you thought Way of Kings was an amazing book, then prepare yourself for Words of Radiance. From the abusive past that has shaped Shallan into the damaged, young woman to Kaladin’s struggle to understand what it means to be a Windrunner and the power that is found in oaths he has sworn. The characters struggle against the circumstances of the world as day-by-day a disaster looms, a growing dread swells over the narrative.

Sanderson brings us back to Roshar, expanding the world even more and peeling back more of the layers. His writing is dense and packed with character growth. Ups and downs befall our characters as they all struggle against the world. This is epic fantasy at its best. This is the sort of fiction that can ignite the imagination.

The Stormlight Archive only gets better.

You can buy Words of Radiance from Amazon!

Book Review

Review: The Way of Kings

Leave a comment

The Way of Kings

by Brandon Sanderson

Reviewed by JMD Reid

On the world of Roshar, the Heralds sent by the Almighty to guide mankind in their war against a great enemy have survived the war. Most of them. For the first time ever, they don’t have to return to Hell to be tortured. They could give it all up. They could life to mankind and tell them they won. The evil has been defeated.

4500 years later, the Heralds are myths. Their great lie has become a religion. Their magic lost to time, their followers reviled as traitors who failed to live up to the Herald’s name. But those followers, the Knights Radiant, are needed once more. For the great enemy stirs once again.

I know, it sounds like your typical epic Fantasy setup. But this one is so different. Brandon Sanderson has created a wealth of characters, all broken in someway, all needing something to change int hier lives. From Kaladin, the son of a doctor and once a highly respected soldier now sold into slavery and contemplating suicide, to Shallan, the daughter of a minor noble house plotting to steal from one of the most powerful women in the world to save her family. On the Shattered Plains, Dalinar receives cryptic visions as he struggles how to hold his dead brother’s fractious kingdom while feeling guilt for the crimes he committed in the past.

For letting his brother be murdered while he lay passed out drunk at a feast.

Sanderson brings to life the alien world of Roshar. A world where humans are interlopers, struggling to survive in a world wracked by storms that make our worst hurricanes look like spring squalls. Sanderson’s growth as a writer is on full display in this epic series as he writes something to rival the greats in this genre.

If you’re a fan of epic fantasy, this is a series you have to read. It is creative, full of believable characters who struggle and suffer and fight for a better life. You’ll find yourself rooting for them as Sanderson unveils his complex story layer by layer, peeling it back as he slowly guides you deeper and deeper into the mystery of his universe.

You can buy The Way of Kings from Amazon!

Book Review

Review: The Witchwood Crown

Leave a comment

The Witchwood Crown

by Tad Williams

Reviewed by JMD Reid

Once again, Tad Williams brings us back into Osten Ard. Over three decades have passed since the climatic battle at Green Angel Tower and the defeat of the Storm King. King Simon and Queen Miriamele have ruled the High King’s Ward to the best of their abilities. In their fifties now, they face the greatest challenge to their rule as slowly, bit by bit, a new darkness creeps in, subtle, stealing away their allies, and making new enemies beneath their very noses.

Their heir and grandson, Prince Morgan, would rather drink in taverns and bed whatever accommodating girl he can than learn statescraft. Unable to please his grandparents and haunted by memories of his own dead father, he will have to find himself if he has any chance of facing the growing darkness that seeks to engulf Osten Ard once again.

Because Uttuku, Queen of the Norns, has emerged from her decades long coma. And she hasn’t forgotten her hatred of mortals.

The Witchwood Crown is a dense story, with dozens of characters spanning across the world. From familiar characters grown old like Simon and Miriamele, to new characters, Tad Williams breathes new life into his world, building on the fallout of the last trilogy to set the stage for this new one. From politics to action, he weaves it all together wonderfully.

And it is both a treat and a sadness to revisit the world, seeing our characters grown older, some who’ve died over the years, or vanished without a trace. Other times it’s a wonderful reunion, like meeting old friends you haven’t seen in so long, catching up with them, seeing how they’ve changed in someways and how they’ve stayed the same in others. If you’re a fan of Tad Williams work, then you have to read this series.

And if you’ve never read any one of his books, he provides enough background information for you to understand this series and enjoy it. His prose flows, his characters are entertaining, and the tension that courses through the books, simmering in the background, keeps you going as it builds and builds towards its finish!

You can buy The Witchwood Crown from Amazon!

Book Review

Review: The Heart of What Was Lost

Leave a comment

The Heart of What Was Lost

by Tad Williams

Reviewed by JMD Reid

The Storm King has fallen. The Norns have been defeated. And now Duke Isgrimnur, under the commands of the newly crowned King Seomon and Queen Miramele, seeks to end the threat of the dark and immortal race of fairies once and for all. After the misery they and their Queen caused to Osten Ard in the events of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy. With them travels two Predurinese mercenaries, men far from home and thrust back into another war.

Viyeki is a Norn builder, fleeing north with the remnant of his people who survived the battle at the Hayholt. Hunted by Duke Isgrimnur’s army, seeing little hope for survival, they prepare to defend their people’s mountain fastness against the mortals. But the Norns stand at a crossroads: do they die in a hopeless standa against the mortals, or do they find a way to survive?

And will the mortals even let them?

The fate of an immortal race hangs in the balance as they pay the price for the crimes of their Queen. The Heart of What Was Lost is a fascinating story, diving into the culture of the “evil” race from the original trilogy, showing their character, the arrogance that has led to their disdain of humans, the scores of vengeance they remember inflicted upon them by men long dead, and their obsession with the past. With what was lost.

Like most fantasy series, Tad Williams ended his with the Norns defeated and assumed by the readers to be finished. But by returning to them, he has a chance of showing us a side to his enemies, to give them a chance to grow and change and learn from their mistakes. Or to cling to the past and fall into extinction.

Fans of Williams work, especially his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy, need to read this book. I have a feeling it sets up his new sequel series just debuting wonderfully. It is a great Fantasy read about the clash of cultures and the weariness of war upon the soul.

You can buy The Heart of What Was Lost from Amazon!