The Blade Itselfby Joe Abercrombie531pp (Paperback)My Rating: 8.5/10Amazon Rating: 4/5LibraryThing Rating: 4.14/5Goodreads Rating: 4.15/5 The Blade Itself, Joe Abercrombie’s debut novel, is the first book in The First Law trilogy. The final book in the trilogy (The Last Argument of Kings) will be released in the UK in March 2008, and the second book in the trilogy (Before They Are Hanged) will be released in the U.S. in March 2008. According to Abercrombie’s blog, The Last Argument of Kings will […]

In Conquest Bornby C.S. Friedman560pp (Paperback)My Rating: 7.5/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 3.76/5Goodreads Rating: 3.68/5 In Conquest Born, published in 1986, is the first published novel by C.S. Friedman, who is now known primarily as the author of the Coldfire trilogy. This space opera was originally written as a stand-alone novel, but a sequel called The Wilding was released in 2004. The second novel takes place approximately 200 years after the events of In Conquest Born and features completely different characters […]

The Winter Kingby Bernard Cornwell433pp (Paperback)My Rating: 8/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 4.02/5Goodreads Rating: 4.2/5 The Winter King, the first book in the Warlord Chronicles trilogy by Bernard Cornwell, is usually referred to as a fantasy book since it is about the legend of King Arthur but leans more toward the category of historical fiction. Merlin, Lancelot, Guinevere, and, of course, Arthur, are still featured characters, but the story is not full of magic and is a realistic retelling of the […]

Dragon’s Bloodby Jane Yolen320pp (Paperback)My Rating: 7/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 4.15/5Goodreads Rating: 3.9/5 Dragon’s Blood, which first came out in the 1980s, is the first book in the Pit Dragon Chronicles trilogy by Jane Yolen. Although it is the first book in a series, there are no cliffhanger endings and the book stands quite well on its own. This is tagged as a young adult book and the main story is very reminiscent of books I read as a child; […]

The Princes of the Golden Cageby Nathalie Mallet320pp (Paperback)My Rating: 5/10Amazon Rating: 4/5LibraryThing Rating: 3.25/5Goodreads Rating: 2.5/5 The Princes of the Golden Cage is Nathalie Mallet’s debut novel and the first book in the Prince Amir series. I was fortunate enough to receive a copy from a book giveaway on Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ Book Reviews last month, so I recently read it to review here. This mystery story is not one I would recommend, but it is good if […]

Lords of Rainbowby Vera Nazarian424pp (Paperback)My Rating: 9/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 3.33/5Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Lords of Rainbow by Vera Nazarian is the first book in a duology, although it is a complete story that works perfectly well as a stand alone novel. (I actually thought it was a stand alone book until I looked at the works in progress on Nazarian’s site and saw that she was working on a “standalone sequel” called Lady of Monochrome.) This fantasy story was […]