Happy March Madness, everyone! Every year in March, I find myself roped into all sorts of fantasy and sci-fi fight conversations. “Who would win in a fight between X and Y” is a constant topic among fans as everyone wants to make an inane argument about who would win in fisticuffs. Boring. This year I…
I find myself in a very strange position when it comes to The Bitter Crown, by Justin Lee Anderson. It’s the second book in the Eidyn series and I struggled heavily with book one: The Lost War (I highly recommend you read my review for context). I found that my difficulties with book one were greatly…
I have quick-talking smart-asses on the brain and in my heart, and I have been feeding that fire with KJ Parker’s massive catalog of books. Parker continues to add to this large body of work by doing stuff like releasing entire trilogies at once at alarming speed. Today's subject is the first book in the…
Continue reading ➞ Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead – Instead Of His Intrusive Thoughts
It took me about ten years of reading Science Fiction and Fantasy novels as an adult before I started to venture into the novella space. Since the short-form stories often don’t flow through traditional big publishers in the same way, most readers tend to move through the SFF genres without engaging with them much, which…
2024 is starting really strong for me, with back to back to back great books right out of the gate. Today’s contestant is Crucible of Chaos, a semi-stand-alone Greatcoats adventure from the incredible Sebastien de Castell. Crucible is a bridge book that spans the gap between his last Greatcoats quartet and his new series (also…
Robert Jackson Bennett, Quill to Live favorite, is back with a brand new series about a pair of detectives in a world threatened by enormous sea monsters. The Tainted Cup is the first book of the Shadow of the Leviathan series and it is overflowing with dark, damp, leafy mysteries. These shadowy secrets contrast perfectly…
Let's talk about one of my favorite lesser-known subgenres, Eco-Fantasy (short for ecology fantasy). Right off the bat, I want to mention I am playing hard and loose with genre definitions here, and Eco-Fantasy in my mind is less strict definitions and more vibes. Generally, Eco-Fantasy is about fantasy worlds with strong scientific foundations and,…
Continue reading ➞ Eco-Fantasy – Magic Can’t Solve Everything
Welcome to 2024 everyone, and I wish you a year of excellent reads for all of you. In pursuit of that goal, we have a hot new book right off the press that is a lot of fun. The Dragons of Deepwood Fen is the first book in a new series by Bradley Beaulieu of…
Continue reading ➞ The Dragons Of Deepwood Fen – Every Dragon Has Its Day
Traitor of Redwinter, by Ed McDonald, easily wins my pick for best book cover of the year, but the contents of its pages are more contested. The sequel to a standout first book, Daughter of Redwinter, Traitor picks up our story after all the kerfuffle in book one with Raine now accepted at the pseudo-magical…
Every year the members of The Quill to Live gather together to plan out our reads for the next year and flag the books we are most looking forward to in order to ‘claim’ reviewer status among ourselves. We figured it might be fun to share our list of choices in case you were curious…
Continue reading ➞ The Quill To Live Most Anticipated Watchlist: 2024
