Upon reading Fate Lashed I can say that whether Josh Erikson is a talented writer is not a question anymore (if it ever was). Hero Forged was a strong debut and he was able to raise the bar with the second book. Fate Lashed has everything we loved before and then some more: action, intrigue, sarcasm, blood and death. Sprinkled with tiny bit of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and other references for good measure. The Ethereal Earth series is something every urban fantasy lover should read.
The final book in the Wardens of Issalia series, jumps right back into the action following An Imperial Gambit, where unfortunately, not everyone will make it to the end. But don’t worry, the author isn’t cruel enough to take our favorites out of the running (depending on who your favorites were that is).
A fellow blogger was reading this book and seemed to like it. It was right up my alley with it being historical fiction, set in Granada, 1492, so I went and requested a copy on Netgalley. I don’t know if I had too high hopes for this one or expected something different, but reading The Bird King I found myself having pretty mixed feelings.
This book was a real mixed bag for me, as a whole I liked it – it’s quick, very readable and fun but there were also things that maybe didn’t work as well for me, as they may for others.
I did enjoy the journey and I quite liked a lot of the ideas in this story. And the fights. I really enjoyed the fights, and after my recent binge of fight movies, I felt I knew some of the moves they were pulling off, which is always cool. I will be curious to see where things go in later books, if there are any.
And They Were Never Heard From Again is the perfect entry into the Yarnsworld created by the brilliant Benedict Patrick. If this little dark gem can’t convince you to read any of his other books, then I don’t know what will. It has everything that makes Patrick’s works so charmingly unique and irresistible. And him one of my favorite authors to date.
All things said, there is a lot to like about The Woven Ring. It’s an imaginative flintlock fantasy with the potential of growing into a fantastic series. Maybe it’s a bit rough around the edges, but no one can say The Woven Ring doesn’t set a pretty solid foundation for the future for when Sol finally comes to harvest.
Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You is a quick paced read, perfect for a road trip or just a quiet afternoon with a book. If you look for something different, it has a strange mix of music, humor, horror, sci-fi, maybe a tinge of Cthulhu mythos. If you liked We Sould Our Souls, you might like Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You as well.
Overall, Out of Nowhere is an enjoyable urban fantasy, which brings nothing new to the genre, but has some interesting ideas and a potential to build on as the series continues.
Some books just click and this was one of those times. It wasn’t even that there is much in the way of my bullet-proof likes either – Angels are not an auto buy for me, and historical fantasy is probably closer to an auto-skip. But there was something about this story that resonated (a little pun intended) and part way through I knew I was going to have to go back and read the rest of the series, as soon as my schedule allowed.