Fantasy on the bookish wolfe

In Shadows We Fall by Devin Madson

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 10:30:38 -0400

This novella may only be 102 pages long, but each and ever page of In Shadows We Fall drips with palace politics, intrigue, and deception. Madson’s Aurealis award-winning prequel to the Vengeance trilogy, rips along at a blistering pace leaving the reader no time to pause and catch their breath. Let alone stop to reflect as, in a pitched battle of wits, the Empress Li plots the downfall of her God-Emperor husband, the Emperor Lan.

Madson literally drops us straight into the heart of this story from the outset, with the Empress plotting against her cheating husband with two of her trusted guards, Cheng and Koto. And before we know what’s really happening, Li has murder two people in the dead of night. I mean, come on, this woman really wants revenge.

“My knife failed to glint dramatically in the light, but it did not fail to pierce the soft skin of the man’s neck. His throat offered resistance like aged meat, but I had no time for finesse. I ripped the blade through it, spraying blood. His eyes opened. He wheezed. Bubbled. Failed. Crimson spilled upon the page before I could snatch it away, though snatch it away I did. Just as wide, fearful eyes found me they began to roll back, though whether he recognised my face I would never know.”

Just as quickly, we begin to understand why—not only has the Emperor found a replacement for his wife in the form of a younger more amenable paramour, one he even flouts in open court to humiliate her. He’s plotting to betray his own country, using mercenaries, thereby plunging Kisia into a prolonged war with their northern neighbour, Chiltae. A war Li knows her country can ill afford to wage, let alone its people.

In Shadows We Fall delivers brilliantly on both world building and plot, and while others have said the weak link is characterisation. I beg to differ. I think the whole concept is one long character study, done at its best, I might add. In which we get to grips with Empress Li, her motives, her pain, the turmoil, and more to the point, just what she’s willing to do and sacrifice in order to bring down Lan. And if that means using her 3 year-old son as an assassin, then so be it.

The writing is effortless and at all times we are fully engaged in events as they move at a brisk pace. Everything unfolds in Li’s last few days in the palace, to quite the unexpected, explosive end, in which fate has the final word.

For me, this novel is a masterful exposition of a moment in time, encapsulated in blood-dripping violence and intrigue that will leave you breathless at the end.

The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 10:08:18 -0400

The Last Smile in Sunder City is a dark urban fantasy and the first book in a planned series, the Fetch Phillips Archives, which promises a great deal more in depth world building and character development. And, even for a debut, Arnold packs it in—for a world that once ran on magic nothing will ever be the same. Every conceivable magical creature, and there are some that even defy imagination, the loss of magic has been devastating. Some died instantly, age catching up with them, while others linger, clinging to the vestiges of their past lives, caught in something of a twilight world.

Enter Fetch Phillips, a man for hire, and a habitual drunk, with a mysterious past that haunts him.

At the beginning, Fetch is hired to find a missing professor, an ageing vampire, who has suddenly vanished. And, as he begins to investigate this seemingly benign case of a missing person, we’re treated to a great deal of delicious world building, intriguing back story, and the current lay of the land. Including introductions to some of what, I assume, will be supporting characters in subsequent instalments to come.

Arnold unravels the story through two timelines, the first of which focuses in on Fetch locating the missing professor. And, the more he stumbles around Sunder City hoping to come across clues, the more we get to know Fetch, the city, and those who are left clinging to life. Told in the first person POV—in an almost noir detective style—Fetch Phillips is imbued with a great deal of disparaging observational wit.

What’s also obvious from the get go is, Fetch Phillips is a broken man.

Just how he got there is explained in the second thread, set in the past—in flashback—giving us glimpses of what led up to his participation in the loss of magic—and the tragic events that brought about the downfall of magical creatures and, of course, Fetch Phillips himself.

Full of intriguing world building, and a number of interesting characters, The Last Smile in Sunder City is a thoroughly engrossing read. And while there is little to no action, that in and of itself is not a bad thing. I only noticed near the end when we did have a flurry of activity, that little had gone on beforehand. But, going out in a blaze of glory or is that, gore? Fetch learns the hard way what happens when hope rears its ugly head and offers a chance at redemption.

Not to spoil things, Fetch finds his man, or is that, vampire, and the truth about the young woman the professor was tutoring. And thus, we know from events set in motion, that there is a lot more yet to come, both from the past and in the future.

My only complaint is that I would have liked to have seen a little more depth to the supporting characters. But, as it is, I’m sure we’re going to get more as the series progresses. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Fetch Phillips, Sunder City, and the denizens of this lost world.

Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 10:20:00 -0400

The world building in Race the Sands treads familiar ground and gives us an Egyptian style setting and culture, living along a great river—the Aur—surrounded by desert. A fabulous dressed fantasy city, the Heart of Becar, and the usual slew of towns and villages with people focused with making a living off the land.

Where Race The Sands differs from the standard tropes, is two-fold. The spiritual needs of the population are administered to by Augurs, and not priest. Only the purest of the pure can become augurs. Gifted with the ability to read people’s auras and determine their future fate, after death. Individuals with flawed auras are not reborn as birds, or as higher animals, but bugs, rats, and insects. Or worse, those with the darkest of souls are reborn as chimeric monsters known as, Kehoks.

It’s these monsters, or kehoks, that are central to the story. The Becarians love to race and, what do they race? Why, of course, kehoks. Impossible to tame, and nearly as impossible to train, nonetheless, monsters are corralled and trainers are engaged by the wealthy to teach riders how to—at the bare minimum—control these monsters, long enough to race them. Race them and become champions and never want for anything else in life. Making this a dream for some as a way to escape poverty and misfortune.

Which brings us to our two main characters: Tamra, a trainer with a storied past. Once upon a time champion rider who, after injury, becomes a trainer. But, after a disaster on the race track the previous year, where both her kehok and rider died. She’s fallen from grace and favour and desperate to find a championship winning combo of kehok and rider.

As chance would have it, Tamra finds Raia, a runaway, who likewise down on her luck is desperate to earn enough money to buy off her parents and win her freedom. Raia’s backstory sets her up perfectly. Used and abused by those who should have given her love. Raia is willing to do what ever it takes to be free.

The story has a number of interesting layer that, personally, I just wished had been given as much depth and background as both Tamra and Raia’s backstories. As it is, there are a number of other intriguing threads woven into the plot, which is, in general, narrated from Tamra and Raia’s POV. Joining Tamra and Raia is Dar, a prince who is thrust into the position of Emperor in waiting when his brother Zarin, the Emperor, dies. Leaving the realm open to invasion and war due to a weird set of politics and law. Laws that say Dar cannot be crowned the next Emperor till the vessel for his brother’s soul is found. Giving us a another series of plot threads involving palace intrigue, backstabbing, a lot of gossip, and espionage.

Then we have Augur Yorbel, a kindly scholar with a gentle nature who has—in a way—befriended the young Prince Dar, and goes on his own quest to help discover Zarin’s vessel when the Augurs who have been set the task, fail. And what he discovers is the surprise twist for the entire story.

The last character in this mix I want to talk about is Tamra’s patron, the very eccentric Lady Evara, who, it can be said, adds some comic relief while also being something of a surprise. Her backstory was as intriguing and as complex as Tamra’s and the reasoning behind her motivation. I found her to be a fun addition to the disparate troupe thrown together by circumstances.

What Durst has done is bring together a number of intriguing elements through these characters giving us plenty of action and adventure, drama, and plot twists. The story is—in part—a coming of age story. A story about family, bonding, and what makes family well, family, whether you’re a high-born prince, a lowly kehok rider, or a monster. And with Tamra, there is no distinction. She is the glue that holds them, and the story, all together.

I will say, apart from a few annoying dips and being a little long-winded, this is a rollicking good fantasy romp out in the desert. Climb on board your chosen kehok and just enjoy the ride, and let the wind whip through your hair!

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 10:04:39 -0400

Nahri is a young woman living by her wits on the streets of Cairo, running lucrative cons and healing rituals and staying one step ahead of being caught. She knows nothing about who she is or where she came from, but knows she has a gift for languages, and can heal herself from just about anything.

It’s while she’s conducting an elaborate con of a young woman possessed by a daemon spirit, that Nahri’s story takes a turn when she accidentally summons a fiery, good looking djinn warrior. Furious at being summoned by a mere mortal, Dara soon realizes that the young woman who summoned him is being chased by flesh-eating ghouls, who in turn are being controlled by an ancient foe: the Ifrit.

Fleeing the Ifrit and ghouls on an enchanted carpet, Dara kidnaps Nahri wondering why the Ifrit are so interested in this nondescript human. He soon realizes there is more to Nahri than meets the eye, and takes her out in the deep desert, to meet a friend he thinks might have the answers. But Dara has little time to find out more as the Ifrit—hellbent on capturing not only Nahri, but also in killing him—chase them further and further into the unforgiving desert.

Knowing what it might cost him and, as a result, Nahri, Dara decides the only safe place for them both is the legendary city of brass: Daevabad. A city hidden behind a magical veil, ruled by the Djinn or, to be exact, the Daeva. But there’s no guarantees they will be welcomed, even if they do live long enough to outrun the Ifrit. There are warring factions and mistrust raging through the city, where the six tribes of djinn live side by side with the Shafit—the mixed-blood human underclass—who are viciously mistreated by the magical Daeva.

The first third of The City of Brass is taken up with Nahri and Dara fleeing through the desert, a fast-paced beginning that I read on one sitting, I was that captivated from the get go. Not only do we get to know more about both Nahri and Dara, and his tragic history (seen in clever moments of flashback) but the snappy banter between the two characters flips between sarky jibes and irritation, but also shows a grudging friendship begin to form between them.

It’s when they finally reach Daevabad that the story takes a slower pace, but, nonetheless, an interesting one as new characters and situations present themselves. Where the initial conflict, such as it was, was between Dara and Nahri, now Nahri is thrown in the deep end of Daeva politics and the machinations of the ruling Qahtani family. And more specifically, we find out more about Prince Alizayd, the youngest son of the Qahtani ruler.

This second third and more of the story, is more politics and conflict, as each character struggles with their own personal plight. Dara, whose violent past still haunts him, might also be his undoing and the death of him. While Nahri finds she is less of a guest of the King, and more of a pawn and prisoner. As she slowly learns more about the city, its inhabitants, politics, and life of the Shafit. Everyone around her seems to have an agenda and hidden motives, as Nahri finds to her cost, when she is befriended by Ali. He may be a second son, and a prince and warrior, but he too has his own agenda and hidden secrets.

All of which makes for a lot of palace intrigue and political turmoil. And, while you think this all sounds rather dull and boring, I found it quite the opposite. Chakraborty has, through a lot of research, added a great deal of depth, as well as many layers to the story itself, never mind the characters. Each of whom are imbued with faults and flaws, and personal tics that really bring them all to life. This really is a conflict-driven plot with plenty of physical and more subtle violence, that never overwhelms the emotional side and turmoil of the character’s stories. All of which are richly detailed.

The City of Brass is like nothing I’ve read in a very long time. The world building is exceptional, helped in part by a very long history to the Middle East and beyond. A history and its myths Chakraborty happily mines to its depths, and adds so much more to this story with her own vivid imagination. She leaves no stone unturned to create a world which lives and breathes, and whose pulse you feel as you turn and read each and every page.

Death, loss, betrayal, and yes, love, The City of Brass has its fair share of emotion amid the confusion and turbulence of a city on the verge of exploding: Daevabad and the Daeva are about to take sides … as the limits to truth, trust, and loyalties are pushed to the extreme. The explosive ending resonates long after the last page is read.

If you haven’t read this one yet, you’re missing out on one of the best epic fantasies written in decades.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 10:47:00 -0400

Let me just say up front, this is not a book for the faint of heart, and would definitely be PG-13 if not higher given some of the content, themes and descriptions. Including some grisly deaths. But that said, all of it is within context to the world in which this story is set. It’s a dark, definitely bleak story, and yet?

And yet, the author, Robert Jackson Bennett, does something unique amid all the darkness he gives us hope, he gives us humour and plenty of courage, as his characters fight through the harsh realities of their lives and situations. In the end, despite the tragedies and hardship, friendship, commitment, strength and courage bring a disparate band of diverse characters together to overcome a great deal.

I was blown away with the world building in this one, which was beautifully wrought in all it’s grim darkness. The characters themselves range from the well written protagonist, Sancia Grado, a small time thief, to several secondary characters that support and surround her story and journey, to some wonderfully sketched foes who just wreak of evil intent.

Our heroes hardships unite them in going up against a terrifying foe the likes of which they (and us) have yet to fully understand.

Throughout Bennett teases us with Sancia’s past, and events that formed and shaped her childhood and life. Taking us on a wild ride of revelation after revelation, as he spins us a marvellous fantasy hideous in places, but hopeful in others. And gives us just enough humour, levity, and light to lessen the bleak situation our erstwhile heroine finds herself in when, as a petty thief tasked with stealing what, at first glimpse, is a simple wooden box, turns out to be so much more. Giving us, the reader, one hell of a ride along with Sancia, as she tries to figure it all out without getting herself killed in the process.

This intricate, complex, well defined, tightly woven story is dense, ambitious and, in the end, delivers on a grand scale. Thoughtful, and hopeful, it’s devastating but it’s also a book you won’t be able to put down till you’ve finished and then, you’ll be left wanting more. I know I was.

I can’t wait for book two, Shorefall, to see what happens next.

Bring on the Fantasy

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:26:00 -0400

Not all fantasy has to be grim.

After having a back and forth chat with an online friend about fantasy reads, I admitted I had never read GRRM and was not likely too, ever. The truth is I’ve not read a great deal of fantasy over the last 4-5 years and it took the likes of the masterful SA Chakraborty and her Daevabad trilogy to rekindle my love of the genre before Covid hit us hard.

Well, not all aspects of the genre, which has, in the intervening years since I started, spawned as many sub genre as science fiction has. Including the one I dislike the most and the one that seems to be a fantasy fan’s favourite these days if BookTok is anything to go by. I’m talking about grimdark. The very same genre that GRRM seems to be like writing. The kind that is extra violent. The kind wikipedia says of:

“Grimdark is a subgenre of speculative fiction with a tone, style, or setting that is particularly dystopian, amoral, and violent.”

My fantasy reading preference lean more towards the stories of Chakraborty and Bennett and a clutch of other new and emergent authors. Writers adding a fresh new slant to some familiar tropes and making them their own. Check out these authors if you haven’t already done so:

Luke Arnold — The Last Smile in Sunder City
Devon Madson — We Ride The Storm, In Shadows We Fall
SA Chakraborty — City of Brass
Sarah Beth Durst — Race the Sands
Dan Hanks — Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire
Malinda Lo — Ash
Jim C. Hines — The Stepsister Scheme, The Mermaid’s Madness
Robert Jackson Bennett — Tainted Cup, Foundryside

And you, what new fantasy authors have you discovered lately, if any?

Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire by Dan Hanks

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 09:44:00 -0400

From the minute I saw the cover for Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire by Dan Hanks, I fell in love with it and knew I had to get my hands on a copy. Well, the cover conveyed everything this brilliant piece of escapist fun promised, and then some. A blisteringly fast-paced archaeological adventure populated with a number of dynamic characters, hell bent of either saving the world, or destroying it. In what is an imaginative and fresh take on a much loved trope.

This pulp-fiction fantasy is part Indiana Jones inspired, with a good measure of The Mummy movies thrown in, topped off with plenty of Tomb Raider action. You should know that from the get go, you are in for one hell of a roller coaster ride into the unknown. Chasing down legend and myth, along side a cracking character that had me cheering every time she punched the lights out of a Nazi bad guy!

Captain Samantha Moxley is a take no nonsense hero that even when bloody nosed and bleeding, struggles on because she knows it’s the right thing to do. And when it’s about saving family? You never give up, and you never give in. Having fought in, and lived through the war, Sam has seen enough for one lifetime, but when recruited by a shadowy US Government Agency, sees more than her fair share of the weird, macabre, and down right scary other worldly creatures.

And just when she thinks it’s time to hang up her gloves, she hears of a plot to kidnap her sister—a ruse possibly—to drag her back into the fray. And so, in battling monster in order to save her sister, once more gets dragged into the thick of the action. And finds herself, with her sister Jess, Jess’s archaeologist boyfriend, Will, chasing down fabled artefacts that will unlock a mythical and priceless treasure trove: the Hall of Records.

This is everything you could wish for in a pulpy action-filled fantasy, great characters—like Agent Taylor (lots of great shading) and the scary otherworldly Agent Smith (shivers), Teddy, an old friend of Sam’s from the war and fellow fighter pilot. Who, along with Sam, does most of the sleuthing to solve the various puzzles and riddles they come up against during the hunt.

Along with some really snappy dialogue, and crisp snarky banter between the feuding sisters, we are treated to a number of lighter moments that break up on the adrenaline pumping action. As Hanks show us he knows how to handle both character, dialogue, and pacing. Giving us well-balanced counter reasoning for Taylor’s motives and thus, showing us both sides of the argument to who is right. But is anyone every right?

When it comes down to it, Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire, is pure adrenaline-fuelled escapist fun. And if you’ve watched any of the Mummy or Indiana Jones movies, you know exactly what kind of ride you’re in for. From puzzles to boobytraps in the labyrinthine depths below Paris, to the dead rising, to bus chases across the Egyptian desert, with guns blazing. To painful choices, sacrifice, bloody scrapes, and near-death escapes, you certainly won’t have time to catch your breath. Believe me, I didn’t.

With an ending that said there was more to come, I can’t wait to see what Dan Hanks come up with next for both Sam, and maybe, Jess as well.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 11:47:00 -0400

The premise for SCYTHE by Neal Shusterman is a really good one. It comes across as being unusual—here we have people who train to deal death as a means of culling the growing population in a world were everyone is, technically, immortal. This is a story that should have everything going for it. Sadly, however, the author fails to deliver on a rich promise in a satisfying or fulfilling way and the awful black and white view on morality is absurd for a so-called utopia.

Which brings me to the utter lack of world building. There is none!

The author has decided his audience is savvy enough to know when he says death has been conquered through technology, he doesn’t then have to explain how, he just mentions everyone has ‘Nanites’ in their system that takes care of everything … including death. But there is no science to back this up, nor how the ‘Cloud’ now called the Thunderhead, became self-aware after amassing the sum of all human knowledge.

Why, for example, are the Scythes allowed to ‘glean’ at random, with any weapon they choose? And by what mechanism did the Scythes come into being to begin with?

Let’s take about the main characters of Citra and Rowan. Here we have two stand-ins that could have been lifted from the pages of either DIVERGENT or THE HUNGER GAMES. Neither of whom stand out in any way. Lacklustre at best, paper-thin at worst, they are a vapid means to an end when it comes to storytelling.

Oh, and don’t get me started on one of my pet-peeves: insta-love. The pair are devoid of any chemistry, but that’s okay, they still ‘fall’ in love anyway. This is just sloppy, lazy writing.

Then there are the secondary characters, who come across as animated caricatures. Take the buffoon High Scythe who, despite programable nanites to take care of his health, decides he wants to be middle aged and overweight. Then there is the ~~psychopathic serial killer~~ bad guy, Scythe Goddard, whose Harry Potter blue robe glittering with diamonds, goes around ~~murdering~~ gleaning at will—en-masse—with impunity. Because these people have no depth of character, no background, or emotive context, their actions come across as simply crude and shocking.

Like the teens who think it’s funny to leap out of tall buildings to ‘splatt’ on the pavement below, because they’ll get great ice cream at the revival centre. And besides, they’re not really dead, just almost dead. You know, because of the nanites. Seriously, this is just ridiculous.

Who in their right mind thinks this is okay? What’s also sad is that this kind of senseless writing is gifted praise and garners prizes.

In the end this came across as a pointless, overly long story, full of plot holes, aided and abetted by a lack of characterisation, with dull plodding prose, and utterly no world building whatsoever. While the best parts of Scythe—the journal entries and the two scythes, Faraday and Curie—to my mind, were never fully-realised, which is a shame because I think I would have liked their story better.

This is one weird-assed dystopian-utopia that went ‘splatt’ on the pavement from utter ennui!

We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson

Tue, 26 May 2026 15:43:00 -0400

WE RIDE THE STORM by Devin Madson has definitely been a wild ride of murder, mayhem, and enough twists and turns to make a reader dizzy! Madson is not averse to throwing in a good blindside. So that, just when you think you know what’s going on, she sucker punches you in the gut with a twist you never saw coming.

Well, for me at least, there were some really delicious twists I never saw coming. And let me tell you, that’s a rare achievement in and of itself.

It is this gift, along with the narrative and telling the story through the eyes of not one, but three main protagonist, and, in the first person no less, that seals the deal. Making WE RIDE THE STORM one of the best reads I’ve had, well, since Chakraborty’s DAEVABAD series of books. Madson has created three outstanding threads and then, has woven them into a fast emotional cohesive roller coaster read that meant I was page turning at a faster rate than I’m normally use to.

The choice of showing us this world through three sets of eyes is, for me, a clever way to tell a story that is much larger in scope than just a single individual protagonist might show us. Thus giving us a better foundation of the factions and players involved in an escalating war between nations.

I really enjoyed how Madson approached this aspect of her world building, in creating the set up, the battles, the politics and the repercussions of decisions and actions taken. It makes for a rich, satisfying read without the usual info dumps fantasy is want to throw at us. The author gives us just enough to make up our own minds about the central factions involved: the Roman-inspired Chiltae in the north, the horse-loving Levanti of the dry plains, and, in the southern region, the Japanese-styled Kisia Empire where politics and protocol rule the day.

This sets us up to enjoy three very different styled cultures, their politics, religion, and daily lives, which are all in stark contrast to one another.

The other aspect of reading three individual threads, and in the first person, gives us a chance to really connect with the characters on different level and see not only their thoughts, but feel the depth of their emotions too. How they react to difficult event and respond to the drama forced upon them makes it gut-wrenching and painfully personal. The pain and the brutality they suffer, the confusion, the doubt, plus the small moments of triumph mixed in with the dreadful realisation that despite their best efforts to the contrary, they might not change the course of the war, survive unscathed, or even come out of the war alive.

All makes for a compelling, page turning read.

Of the three characters, while I thoroughly enjoyed Miko’s personal war in her fight to save Kisia from an invading Chiltae army, it was Cassandra who captured my attention the most.

Here is a woman forced by strange circumstances into a life where she’s not only become a whore, in order to live, but one of the best, and highest paid assassins Chiltae has ever known. But that’s not all. Cassandra has a whole other set of daemons. Real or imagined? You’ll find out. From the strange voice in her head: Her. Who is also able—in times of great stress—to take over Cassandra’s body. To the the fact she hears the dead singing and calling out where ever she goes, you wonder how this woman has not only managed to survive, but hasn’t gone quite mad in the meantime. I am so looking forward to learning more about her as this series progresses.

The least exciting of the three, for me personally, was the straight arrow, Rah e’Torin, of the Levanti. While it was interesting to learn more about him, his people, and his battle of wits and strength against not only his Chiltae capturers, but one of his own, Herd Master Gideon. I felt he never really had as much of an impact as did Miko or Cassandra. Others may say differently. That’s the delight of a book like WE RIDE THE STORM. There’s something for everyone in here. Oh, and did I mention, ritual beheading? Yeah … that’s what I thought too.

From some deliciously witty dialogue, to political intrigue at its best, to devious machinations and betrayal on a brutal scale, we are delivered a thoroughly immersive read where the action is visceral, the characters compelling, and an over-arching story that will leave you, I hope, like me, wanting more!

The Phlebotomist by Chris Panatier

Mon, 25 May 2026 15:44:00 -0400

In THE PHLEBOTOMIST, Chris Panatier takes us into the heart of an almost Orwellian dystopian future set in 2067 (so not a too far distant future) where a mega corporation, PATRIOT, controls everything. From what people eat, to how people live after an apparent nuclear disaster starts a chain of events, allowing the corporation greater, and greater control under the guise of helping others survive after the first and subsequent nuclear strikes, and the devastation that followed.

In this future the corporation collects blood donations from the populace in order to help survivors in the Grey Zones. In return for their blood, collected every 45 days, people are given a monthly food box with rations enough to survive along with the basics. But people are also encouraged to give more blood in order to earn extra credits. And some, we learn, give more than they should.

But here’s the catch, the more generic your blood type, O pos or O neg, the more you can earn. So those with universal blood are earning more than those with rarer blood groups, AB pos and AB neg and the like—who are considered lowbloods.

Thus, the city has become a series of annexed ghettos of varying degrees, others worse off by simply being born with the wrong blood type and consigned to poor areas, and barely surviving.

Enter the unlikeliest protagonist in the guise of Willa Wallace, a grandmother, a survivor and more importantly, an old fashioned phlebotomist—an expert and specialist in the collection of blood and blood products. Willa works for Patriot—now the de-facto government—at a blood collection bank convinced she’s doing her part for saving lives.

It’s not long after the author has established the hierarchy, background, and what everyone’s everyday lives are like, that things start to go wrong … wrong that is, for Willa. It starts with a blood-hacker and known criminal trying to force her hand to pass off bad blood. But Willa is having none of it. However, the confrontation disturbs her and, when her cooler loaded with blood meant for Central Collections breaks down, Willa is forced to rush the defective cooler to the depot herself.

What happens next are a string of events that force Willa to reevaluate everything she think she knows, and everything she’s ever been told since the first nuke hit. Because, the truth is far more frightening when she realises who and more importantly, what Patriot are!

This revelation totally blindsided me in the best way possible, so that I was well and truly invested from that point on in finding out—along with Willa—what the hell was going on. And, along with a wily ex-marine and hacker, the Locksmith, falls in with Locks team in uncovering the truth and exposing Patriot for who they really are.

The characters are well delineated, and next to Willa, I loved Lock for her fierce loyalty and inability to give up. I especially enjoyed the evolution of Everard—who was a great character sketch in and of himself. Along with this great bunch of characters, the pacing is none-stop and relentless, in this 310 page novel, as it gallops to a very satisfying ending along with a handful more smaller revelations.

A fast, absorbing read, almost cerebral at times with themes that are current and spot on for events unfolding today, The Phlebotomist is a fresh take on an old tried and tested trope, given it a unique twist of its own that, in the end, was bloody good!

Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets (Anthology)

Sun, 24 May 2026 15:47:00 -0400

This was Abaddon Books first anthology which features fourteen very assorted stories in which the invited authors were given carte blanche by editor, David Thomas Moore, to put Holmes, Watson, Mrs. Hudson and yes, even Inspector Lestrade, anytime and anywhere they want. And, as a result, we are presented with a varied and eclectic mix that include a female Holmes, a gay Holmes, a couple of classic Holmes, a Holmes who owns a travelling circus and, just as much fun, a Holmes who is a summoned demon; but more on that later.

Anthologies are, for me at least, something akin to a divining rod; they can be a hit or miss. Among this collection, however, there are some truly outstanding stories. A couple come with really cool settings, others neat twists, many with clever banter between the characters, but what all these ‘stand-out’ stories share is excellent story-telling by their respective authors.

Authors such as Jamie Wyman who takes Holmes and Watson and drops them into Mid-West America in a travelling carnival. A killer story which gave me a truly memorable opening act to the anthology. I sucked up A Scandal In Hobohemia so quickly I arrived at the end with the equivalent of ice-cream brain-freeze. What a neat re-casting of our favourite characters, I mean, Holmes reborn as the Master of Ceremonies, Sanford Haus, Irene Adler as Adele Trent a Pinkerton investigator, with her colleague Jim Walker taking on the Watson role. Never mind the recasting of Mrs. Hudson as … no, I better not!

Fun, fast-paced, richly detailed and immensely readable. As was A Woman’s Place by Emma Newman gifting us a look into a possible future Britain where a dubiously benign DotGov watches everyone but Holmes. A Holmes who, as it turns out …what? Oh, I can’t tell you that either without spoiling the fun. Needless to say the unflappable Mrs. Hudson steals the whole show at the end, when all is revealed.

Following on from Newman comes A Study In Scarborough from the cleverly cunning mind of Guy Adams, whose writing I love. This seemingly innocuous tale of journalist Arthur Doyle interviewing the retired actor, John Watson, was so delicious that I had to go back and read it a second time. The inter-cut of the BBC radio play dialogue add a touch of the 50s to a story that unfolds like an origami crane, never quite as you think it might.

Not to be outdone, in The Small World of 221B Ian Edginton gives us, what at first read seems like a classic Doylesque-written Watson and Holmes tale, but one that turns out to have another rather clever twist at curtain-close. I loved the premise and execution. And, again, like A Study In Scarborough by Adams, this was deftly written.

Whatever the time or place, none went quite as far afield—or is that beyond time and space itself?—as did Adrian Tchaikovsky in his, The Final Conjuration, in which minor magician and one of the 7 great wizard Lord’s apprentice, Wu Tsen, must once again recruit the aid of his pet demon, the Sherlock …

What, pet demon? Yes, that’s exactly what I thought. Tchaikovsky takes Holmes out of his usual setting, and throws him headlong into a fantastical world of magic. One in which magic is unable to deduce let alone ‘see’ truth—a world in which only the Sherlock can. By the end of this I felt almost sorry for poor Wu Tsen having to deal with the foibles and quirks of the Sherlock. Great fun!

Just when I thought the writing couldn’t get any better. When I’m still smiling to myself over the fate of Wu Tsen. I started reading another superbly written magical fantasy set in a world that, I have to admit, I’ve kind of fallen in love with. Well, at least the idea of it.

In The Innocent Icarus by James Lovegrove everyone has an ability. Everyone is gifted with a unique talent. For our fine fellow Dr. Watson, it is super strength and the ability to withstand pain. But, in this world populated by people who can fly, run fast, distinguish unique smells, or swim under water, we discover that Holmes is nothing more than an ‘Ordinary’ …

And yet, not so ordinary, when he uses his unique talents and skills of deduction to solve the murder of one Sir Hugh Lancaster. With its alternate Victorian-era setting, straight-laced manners, and almost steampunk-feel, The Innocent Icarus really delivers what I hoped all the stories in the anthology might, a thoroughly engrossing, richly detailed, well-delineated character story to read.

It’s the sheer quality of storytelling by this handful of authors that makes Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets a cut-above the rest, and well worth buying to read for those stories alone.

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

Thu, 21 May 2026 10:53:00 -0400

As with book one in this series from Robert Jackson Bennett, A Drop Of Corruption is an action-packed adventure come murder mystery, and fantastical exploration of a magical world that sees our erstwhile heroes, Dinios Kol and brilliantly eccentric Ana Dolabra, doing what they do best. Sifting through the clues however confounding and tedious a job, to catch a brilliantly clever killer.

This time around, Din and Ana are far away from all they know in Yarrowdale, a territory outside of the Empire. But one on the cusp of joining the Empire. That is, till a high ranking officer of the Treasury delegation leading the negotiations with the King is murdered. A murder that necessitates Ana’s sharp mind and Din’s formidable skill, as an engraver, at committing every last detail to memory.

Untangling a plot that has lies and corruption at every twisted turn, Ana and Din are in a race to find a killer and get to the heart of a mystery with so many layers and misdirects, you may be forgiven for feeling bewildered. But thankfully we have Din and Ana, the Empire, and all the checks and balances we wish existed in our own world.

“This work can never satisfy, Din, for it can never finish. The dead cannot be restored. Vice and bribery will never be totally banished from the cantons. And the drop of corruption that lies within every society shall always persist. The duty of the Iudex is not to boldly vanquish it but to manage it. We keep the stain from spreading, yes, but it is never gone. Yet this job is perhaps the most important in all the Iyalets, for without it, well … The Empire would come to look much like Yarrow, where the powerful and the cruel prevail without check. And tell me—does that realm look capable of fighting off a leviathan?”

A wonderfully complex murder and political mystery that flies along through a few hundred pages without ever missing a beat, without ever dragging or rushing, paced perfectly and with constant tension and high stakes and the satisfying feeling you get when you read a story that’s plotted and executed with confident mastery.

Bravo Mister Bennett, I cannot wait for book three, A Trade of Blood, coming out in June, to see where you take us next.