Book #176 of 2024: Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive #5) [Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with this author.] Another 1300-page epic fantasy tome that very nearly justifies its massive length. (I listened to the audiobook on 2.5x speed, which still took literally 24 hours to complete.) The extended climax of this …
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Book #170 of 2024: Issola by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #9) The back half of this novel is rather good, representing an important step forward for former assassin and current fugitive Vlad Taltos, who’s come out of hiding to help a few friends who’ve been kidnapped by some sort of demigods. It also hinges on …
Book #168 of 2024: Clary Sage by Victoria Goddard Morrowlea University is an important part of the backstory of author Victoria Goddard’s Greenwing & Dart series, which begins soon after its protagonist Jemis Greenwing graduates and returns home from there. As we learn as those stories unfold, the institution is alone among its peers in …
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Book #166 of 2024: Voyage of the Damned by Frances White I’ve heard this book described as a fantasy-genre version of an Agatha Christie story like And Then There Were None, but I think The Hunger Games might be an even more apt comparison for the steadily-rising body count. While the identity of the murderer(s) …
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Book #163 of 2024: In the Shadow of the Fall by Tobi Ogundiran (Guardian of the Gods #1) An exhilarating new fantasy series debut that pits a novitiate orisha priestess against body-snatching heretics like Doro from Octavia E. Butler’s Wild Seed seeking to destroy her order. I wish the plot structure deviated more from the …
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Book #162 of 2024: After the Forest by Kell Woods I like the idea of following up with Hansel and Gretel (sorry, “Hans” and “Greta”) as young adults, haunted by the trauma of what they experienced as children, but this fantasy novel spends a bit too long getting to the point, which then winds up …
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Book #160 of 2024: The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid I might have liked this novel better if I hadn’t first heard about it on a list of #ownvoices Jewish-inspired fantasy works, which definitely set me up for disappointed expectations. Debut author Ava Reid does draw on some folkloric elements from her religious …
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Book #159 of 2024: Dragon by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #8) This 1998 title is a bit of an odd installment in the Vlad Taltos fantasy series. It’s not the first volume to take place earlier in the protagonist’s career, back when he was a low-level boss for the Jhereg criminal organization, but it’s unusual …
Book #157 of 2024: Plum Duff by Victoria Goddard (Greenwing & Dart #6) This series had been steadily improving, but this sixth volume — the latest so far, barring a few spinoff short stories I haven’t read yet — feels like a step backwards for me. It is big on atmospheric winter comfort and overall …
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Book #154 of 2024: The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor (Welcome to Night Vale #3) This is not a very Night Vale-centric novel. I mean that both in the literal sense — it’s an origin story for the titular character, most of which isn’t even …
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