I really like Rotherweird, so I knew I wanted to get the sequel Wyntertide. The problem was that I had purchased Rotherweird in Edinburgh, Scotland last summer and hadn’t ever seen it here in the US. So how to get the newly released sequel which was only available online and included international shipping? I call Mother who lives about 2 hours from Glasgow (Scotland still) to see if she would have time to check a bookstore or two next time she was in the city, […]
A Tamer Lucifer than Tom Ellis
Given the intricacy and violence of the other two books in the series I’ve read, I was a little surprised at how tame Lucifer actually was in Kill the Dead. I was all ready for some kind of intricate, elaborate super-scheme when the devil hires Stark at the end of Sandman Slim for bodyguard duty. The only thing for most of the novel that Lucifer seemed to be up to was actually supervising his biopic and using that as an excuse to stay away from […]
Sex and skullduggery
The Queen’s Bastard is set in an extremely thinly veiled alternate Elizabethan era Europe, where Queen Lorraine has sat on the throne of Aulun for years, keeping a firm grip throughout the machinations of her rivals, Sandalia and Irina (Lorraine’s name kept making me snigger, sounding as it does far more like the name of your nan’s bingo friend than a queen) Lorraine has never married, instead dangling her virginity and hand in marriage as prospective cards for an alliance. She has, however, had a […]
What happens when you let the monster in?
Duana Taha (Canadian writer and producer) often says variations of, “Give them what they need, not what they want”. Our Dark Duet, sequel to This Savage Song, seems like it was a case of Victoria Schwab following that advice. I wanted this book to be something else, instead it was the story that needed to be told because of the setting and characters. In my review of This Savage Song I said it, “is an urban fantasy inspired by the classic two houses divided shtick of Romeo and Juliet.” […]