Short, sweet, and to the point: this is one of my favorite books I have ever read. It feels very odd to be reviewing the ninth book in a series, but Dead Hand Rule is a strong contender for my best book of 2025, and that is saying something in a year that is so…
Tag: Max Gladstone
QTL-Coded Books
Book recommendations can reveal a lot about a person and be extremely personal. Even though fantasy and sci-fi stories are set in other worlds, they have the uncanny ability to capture a reader’s real desires, fears, unique brand of humor, romantic types, taste for adventure, and so much more. The books we share with one…
Wicked Problems – Craftocalypse
2024 will always be the year I remember getting my dream Craft novel. For those unfamiliar, The Craft Sequence is a confusingly laid out set of books set in a modern fantasy setting about corporate employees using magic to fight gods and horrors in a terrifyingly broken world. It’s truly one of a kind. Gladstone…
Dead Country – A Fusion Of New And Old
It’s 2023 and we are finally getting another Craft novel by Max Gladstone. For those unfamiliar, The Craft Sequence is a confusingly laid out set of books set in a modern fantasy setting about corporate employees using magic to fight gods and horrors in a terrifyingly broken world. I feel comfortable saying the setting is…
Last Exit – A Scenic, But Bumpy, Road
Last Exit, by Max Gladstone, is a beautifully written character story that I had an extremely hard time connecting with. Many readers who pick up this standalone adventure will find a mesmerizing story about self-discovery, penance, and the nature of the world. Max Gladstone is a favorite author of mine for his work on The…
Hidden Gems Of Fantasy That You Should Be Reading
Recently I had a strange conversation with a gentleman on Twitter. We had posted an update about what our reviewers were reading, and one of the selections was The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. This gentleman got upset that we were giving attention to such a well-known series. What this random person didn’t realize…
Continue reading ➞ Hidden Gems Of Fantasy That You Should Be Reading
The Best Of Science Fantasy
I want to talk to you about one of my absolute favorite sub-genres: _________. You may have noticed a blank space there because the sub-genre I am talking about is more of a loose collection of books that share the theme of not belonging to any genre. I call them Science Fantasy, and while I…
This Is How You Lose The Time War – Long Title For A Short (Great) Book
I didn’t want to write this review. Strong start, right? I want to clarify that my reluctance to write critically about This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is not out of laziness or a lack of motivation. I loathe having to review writing I find profound in…
Continue reading ➞ This Is How You Lose The Time War – Long Title For A Short (Great) Book
The Dark Horse Initiative – 2019
Every year the Quill to Live sit down in December to plan our collective reading schedule for the next year. It's a long process, and it heavily involves combing through release dates of series we are following and, more importantly, digging into the hundreds of upcoming and highly anticipated book lists made by publishers, authors,…
Ruin of Angels – At The Edge Of Imagination And Fantasy
Max Gladstone's sixth Craft Sequence book, Ruin of Angels, is out and Will and I finally got a chance to finish it up over the weekend. If you are following this blog, you will know we are very partial to the Craft series around here and think everyone should pick it up. Ruin of Angels…
Continue reading ➞ Ruin of Angels – At The Edge Of Imagination And Fantasy






