I found myself delightfully surprised while reviewing the list of notable Fantasy and Science Fiction releases of 2025 to see a book by Louis Sachar, of Holes fame, on the list. The Magician of Tiger Castle is an adult standalone historical fantasy (Sachar’s first) about a recalcitrant alchemist trying to potion his way out of…
Continue reading ➞ The Magician of Tiger Castle – A Potion Of Many Stripes
V.E. Schwab, we meet again! My first-ever QTL review covered Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic. The intervening years have not seen us cross paths until now. A book club friend selected Bury Our Bones In The Midnight Soil, marking my return to the author’s pantheon. It was a nice return full of pleasant thoughts…
Continue reading ➞ Bury Our Bones In The Midnight Soil – It’s Got Fangs
After discovering Caitlin Rozakis last year and finding her fantasy satire, Dreadful, utterly delightful, I immediately set my sights on her new book for 2025. In The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, Rozakis takes us into an urban fantasy of sorts to tell a story of a mundane family suddenly thrust into the magical…
Continue reading ➞ The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association – C+
Howdy, everyone! We're back with QTL's eighth crossword! IT's a nod to one of our long-time site favorites. Solve away! QTL Crossword: The Gentlemen! Puzzle Spoilers Below! Nothing like cramming a super lengthy answer into a vertical grid! It seems only fitting for the larger-than-life presence of Locke Lamora and his Gentlemen Bastards. For more…
Continue reading ➞ Quill To Live Crossword 8: The Gentlemen!
I have a small book club with two of my friends from guitar class. We don’t meet to discuss the books. We just read them at similar times and discuss them in class or over text. It’s just a trio-buddy read, really. The books up to this point have all been great—This Is How You…
Here at The Quill To Live, we use our words to paint a picture of the stories we read. But as a visual person, I wondered, could I also capture your interest and inspire you to read a book based solely on fan art? Fan art is my end-of-book treat. As soon as the back…
I am taking a bit of a detour today. Among my reading goals for 2025, I had planned to try to read all the volumes of Vagabond (by Takehiko Inoue). Instead, I got distracted and did a full reread of Trigun by Yasuhiro Nightow instead. Trigun was one of the pivotal science fiction stories of…
Welcome, solvers! Today's puzzle has a three-answer theme. Ooooooh, ahhhhhh! Hop to it! QTL Crossword: City of Words Puzzle Spoilers Below! Robert Jackson Bennett is behind some of The Quill To Live's all-time favorite books! Here are some of our top RJB reviews: The Tainted Cup A Drop of Corruption The Troupe/American Elsewhere City…
The man cannot be stopped! Brandon Sanderson released Isles of the Emberdark, his fifth secret project, as part of the Words of Radiance leatherbound crowdfunding campaign. It will also be in bookstores and online very soon (as of this writing), so the latest Cosmere book will be in the hands of the masses swiftly! Note:…
Continue reading ➞ Isles of the Emberdark – The Cosmere Expands
The Art of Legend by Wesley Chu delivers the fate of the Enlightened States and Katuia in a legendary conclusion. The prophecy set in motion three books ago will see itself through, and we must follow powerful war artists on all sides of the conflict to see how their legacy is made on the world.…
