Anyone who wants to put out any short-form content should be taking notes from Nghi Vo—her ability to put out consistently well-written and captivating stories at around the two-hundred-page mark. You might naively think that shorter books are easier to write than longer books, and I would think you are wrong. It takes extreme focus…
Continue reading ➞ The City In Glass – Break For A Good Time
Martha Wells, of All Systems Red fame, is putting out a new stand-alone book about witches, kings, and murder. Everything in that sentence excited me, and I could not wait to get my hands on this new story about an amnesia-riddled demon on a quest for truth. The book turned out to be very different…
Self-published books are a really interesting conundrum. On one hand, they represent some of the best finds and recommendations a reviewer can make due to their unknown nature. On the other hand, while there are some very good self-published books, there are a lot of really bad ones. What is particularly exciting is when other…
Continue reading ➞ We Ride The Storm – All Prosed Up And Nowhere To Go
Our second-place book in The Quill To Live best-of-2019 list was The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern. However, given that the book was released about a week before we had to make the list, we unfortunately did not have a chance to review it yet. Now, we are remedying that and are here to give…
Continue reading ➞ The Starless Sea – Beauty And Dreams Personified In A Body Of Water
Everyone should read this book. Last year I decided to watch the movie Arrival on a whim. It was already late, I just wanted something on in the background while I did work in bed, and I thought it looked like a fun movie I might enjoy half watching. Two hours later, I woke my…
Continue reading ➞ Exhalation – Brilliance With Every Breath It Takes
Originally I wasn’t going to review this book because it is by Guy Gavriel Kay, and here at The Quill to Live we basically have a blanket recommendation for anything he has ever written. His ability to churn out a powerful novel that is equal parts historical fiction, fantasy, and love note to history is…
Continue reading ➞ A Brightness Long Ago – Cherished Memories And Lessons Learned
What an absolutely weird and charming book. Gods of Jade and Shadow, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, is equal parts Mayan epic fantasy, Mexican historical fiction, jazz love letter, quest fantasy, and Cinderella fairy tale. I am not sure who the target audience is, but it is such a unique and interesting book that it is sure…
Continue reading ➞ Gods Of Jade And Shadow – A Walk Through Old Maya
I am playing a little bit of catch up this week and knocked out some books from last year I was unable to get around to reading. One of these books was Cold Iron, by Miles Cameron. Many of you likely haven’t heard of Cameron, but he is a bit of an underground superstar. While…
Continue reading ➞ Cold Iron – Not My Speed, But A Great Book
As I continue to dig through my older to-read pile, I have been hitting a lot of books that my opinions of could be charitably described as “late to the party”. One exception to this case might be a lesser known classic that I would love to draw your attention to: The Curse of Chalion,…
Continue reading ➞ The Curse Of Chalion – Undeserving Of Obscurity
