Tag: fantasy fiction

Review:  Ravenwood (Tanyth Fairport Adventures Book 1) by Nathan Lowell

Rating: 4.5⭐️

“You’re never too old to make a bad decision.”

That was the line that hooked me. And one I may have printed out on a sweatshirt. 

From there I tumbled gently into the fantasy world of Tanyth Fairport, a older woman who’s been traveling around for 20 years, learning her craft, teaching others, and hoping for word of her son who got away from his abusive father as soon as possible. 

Her backstory is one that unfolds along with the other characters she encounters, as the situation develops.

She travels alone, dresses in clothing that could be either gender, disguising herself on the road from those who would victimize a woman. That’s a perfect representation of her on the cover, with her metal tipped staff. 

She has a goal to achieve. She wants to learn from one of the last Witches of the Woods before that woman dies. If Hermit of Lammas Wood will teach her.  And she must reach there before the winter comes. 

Of course, things will not go as planned. People will need help. And as Tanyth must decide whether to stay or go, we learn about the herbal remedies and medicines, communities, and religious rituals in a way that is real and meaningful. It’s built slowly and carefully grounded in these characters and their lives and beliefs. 

And then comes the magic, seeping into the world and storylines on the wings of a Raven. 

For a novel that was a slow start I was absolutely absorbed by the concept, characters and the journey that Tanyth was taking midway through. By the end I was sorry to see this stage end but excited for the next chapter to come. 

I’m late to the writing of Nathan Lowell but I’m so impressed by the stories and worlds I’ve encountered. 

Here’s one more recommendation I’m happy to share. 

Tanyth Fairport Adventures (3 book series) :

Ravenwood #1

Zypheria’s Call #2

The Hermit of Lammas Wood #3

I wish I knew who did that amazing cover and artwork. That’s a perfect illustration of Tanyth on the road right down to her staff. 

Buy link 

 Book 1 of 3: Tanyth Fairport Adventures 

Blurb 

You’re never too old to make a bad decision.

After twenty winters on the road, Tanyth Fairport makes one last pilgrimage in her quest to learn all she can about the herbs and medicinal plants of Korlay before settling down to write her magnum opus. Her journey is interrupted when she decides to help a small village and learns that much of what she knows of the world may not be quite as it seems. 

Nathan Lowell blends wiccan tradition and shamanistic lore into a fantasy quest for a new – if unlikely – heroine. She learns that the familiar sometimes hides the fantastic and that, even when you think you’ve made your decisions, life doesn’t always agree.

Publisher

Durandus

Publication date

October 26, 2011

Language

‎English

Print length

382 pages

Book 1 of 3

Tanyth Fairport Adventures

Review:   I Ran Away to Evil 3: A Cozy LitRPG Rom-Com by Mystic Neptune

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Well,   I Ran Away to Evil has reached the final level, the end of its journey and it’s been a great game.

Here all is revealed, there’s boss battles, deaths and revivals, ultimate victory and HEA’s. 

Now it’s Gerda Jones, fabulous bridge troll who’s got a ton of secrets, that will be the character to bring the series to a conclusion. Along with Duke Julian von Slyke, who’s recently retuned for the wedding of his sister to the necromancer of the Dark Lord. 

At over 400 pages, author Neptune has a lot of storytelling to do. And there’s more of the GameRPG elements here than in the previous books. 

I’ll be honest in saying that some of these got distracting when what I wanted to concentrate on was the main plot points and storylines. Having involved boxes of character traits and levels occasionally is great. But towards the end, I feel that it took over the narrative. 

What makes this is the character development, especially Gerda’s story. The slow reveal of her story is impactful as well as her relationships she has made with the other characters around her. They feel believable and credible in this setting. 

This has been the first series I have read by this author but won’t be the last. Highly entertaining and engaging. 

A definite winner. 

Love the covers. 

Cover design by MsArtsy and Jenny Zemanek 

Interior illustrations by Arturo Gómez Martínez and Leah Zink

I Ran Away to Evil: A Cozy LitRPG Rom-Com, books 1-3

Each with a different main couple and storyline that fits within the series arc

Buy Link:

        I Ran Away to Evil 3: A Cozy LitRPG Rom-Com

    

Blurb 

A mysterious soothsayer and a reluctant royal fend off spies, assassins, and unexpected attraction in the action-packed third book of this romantasy series.

Gerda Jones is no average bridge troll. Sure, she can create riddles like the best of them, but she has skills up her sleeve that no one would expect . . . and a backstory that no one would believe. She uses her fortune-telling talents to change the fate of everyone around her, but avoids getting too close the anyone herself. All of that changes when Gerda catches the eye of Duke Julian von Slyke at his sister’s wedding. The tall, dark, and handsome half-elf is making her let down her guard—and inviting a royal heap of trouble into her life.

Julian would do anything to escape courtly intrigue and endless parties, but he can’t miss his own sister’s nuptials. Good thing, too, because from day one of the celebration he’s called on to help deal with everything from poisoned arrows and amphibian curses, to a missing bride. And at the center of every mishap there’s an infuriatingly beguiling troll . . .

As Gerda’s hidden identity begins to unravel, her attraction to Duke Julian continues to grow. Together, saving Valaria seems easy . . . but after it’s all done, will the unlikely pair be able to leave behind their pasts and find a future together?

A whimsical and twisty take on isekai, romance, and LitRPG, I Ran Away to Evil 3 is the charming conclusion of the series that asks, “What if Bridgerton was filled with magical creatures?” and “Who is the elusive Madame Potts?”

The third volume of the hit LitRPG romantasy series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook!

August 19, 2025

Language

‎English

Print length

409 pages

Book 3 of 3

I Ran Away to Evil

Review:  Fourth Wing (The Empyrean Book 1) by Rebecca Yarros

Rating: 5🌈

“A dragon without its rider is a tragedy. 

A rider without their dragon is dead.”

—Article One, Section One The Dragon Rider’s Codex”

Ages ,decades ago, when I first read and fell deeply in love with Anne McCaffrey and her Dragonriders of Pern , there hasn’t been a book written about dragonriders and dragons that I’ve been able to pass on.  They call to me, with their dragon’s roar of a siren’s song. And read them I must. 

Completely by accident I came across this author and series, Fourth Wing (The Empyrean Book 1) by Rebecca Yarros, about another young woman who becomes a dragon rider. 

The world building and characters are incredible, and the writing passionately fraught with mystery and drama. Especially the circumstances under which a somewhat frail 22 year old Violet Sorrengail finds herself thrown into, not into her desired path of becoming a Scribe, but into the brutal world and journey towards the possibility of becoming a dragon rider. 

Yarros has surprises and twists around every narrative bend.  This is at its heart a gripping tale, a young woman who has to fight for her life, under conditions she never imagined she’d be in, learning about herself, and who she really is at her core.  Plus there’s these amazing sentient dragons with a governing power and outlook that’s framing part of the same world, a perspective that’s only revealed a bit at a time. 

This story is framed around Violet’s struggles to overcome her physical limitations while surviving everything, mentally, emotionally, and physically that the school and her fellow students are throwing at her. This includes attempts on her life, as the less candidates there are than those standing have the better chance of being successful in becoming a rider. 

The experiences and school itself are brutal in every sense of the word.  And it makes for such compelling moments that I couldn’t put the book down. 

The Basgiath War College is so well written, each aspect of it developed so that as the storylines expand and become more complex, so too do the different elements to the College, including the history.  

This attention to detail and the way it’s so beautifully woven into the story continues with the students and their teachers, the families, and right to the dragons, who are breathtaking in scope.

This isn’t a LGBT story. While sexuality is part of the story,  in terms of what gender riders are attracted to  plays no importance. Some have lovers of the same gender, here the main character has a hetero relationship. 

Yarrow is also developing political themes and conflicts, current and historical one that figure heavily into relationships and status struggles.  While densely packed with plots and characters, Fourth Wing never feels weighed down by the elements its characters have to endure and carry forward into the second book.

This is an extraordinary story and the characters grab on to the reader’s heart immediately. As do these events that are shaping up to become an exciting, emotional epic series.

If you love dragons, adventure, and epic fantasy, put this on your list of books to read. 

The Empyrean series is best enjoyed in order.

Reading Order:

Book #1 Fourth Wing

Book #2 Iron Flame

Book #3 Onyx Storm releasing Jan 21,2025

Buy link

        Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, 1)

    

Blurb 

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from #1 New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general―also known as her tough-as-talons mother―has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter―like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda―because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

The Empyrean series is best enjoyed in order.

Reading Order:

Book #1 Fourth Wing

Book #2 Iron Flame

— Fourth Wing (The Empyrean Book 1) by Rebecca Yarros

  • Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books (May 2, 2023)
  • Publication date: May 2, 2023
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 643 pages

Review: Hex and the City (Stolen Hearts Book 1) by Nazri Noor

Rating: 4.5 🌈

Hex and the City starts off a new series, Stolen Hearts, by Nazri Noor, and I’m happy to share that’s it’s a very exciting start indeed.

The beginning was a titch rocky for me as I’m not a fan of the insufferably vain ,so self-indulgently awesome as to be stupid , main character. Especially when that’s the first voice the reader “hears” as they drop into the narrative.

But that quickly turns into something else, a more layered reality when a second main character and different perspective is added. Then we see that the first character’s voice and projection isn’t exactly what the reality is.

And that changes everything.

Leon Alcantara or Witch Boy as he’s called, is a finder. He’s the last of his line. A bruho, a male witch. But he’s constantly on the run, barely making it, moving from place to place. Hardly the careless happy image he’s projecting at the beginning of the story. He may be good looking but he’s seriously not the strongest , successful player in town and he knows it. And we soon see exactly where Leon stands by looking at him through the eyes of another finder.

That’s Maximilian Drake. A mysterious man of wealth who still lives as a finder, he sees the ragged clothes Leon wears and will come to hear Leon’s history of subsistence and endurance.

Noor completely brings us into the universe he’s creating, slowly leaving us bits of knowledge about the world, its structure, and the struggles within. We get the criminal families, and the Masques, a strange enigmatic group of magical law enforcement agents wearing their own masks that cover magical crimes. One of which is the basis of the story here.

The author creates a fascinating story around a semi-lawful culture of Spiders, a group of beings that accumulate wealth of knowledge of ,well, everything, and the finders they send out for things. A hunt that brings Max and Leon together with huge complications. The more the hunt goes wrong, the more creative and layered the characters and plot becomes as the author expands on the history, relationships, and world building.

It goes on to explore what the characters relationship might turn into, what mysteries their backgrounds hold, and the layers Noor is still working into the series. All of which are very compelling.

The second book, Elixir of Strife, will be released soon. I can’t wait. I’m highly recommending you begin your Stolen Hearts journey with Hex and the City. It’s a great beginning to what looks to be a fabulous tale!

Stolen Hearts:

✓ Hex and the City #1

◦ Elixir of Strife #2 – July 28,2023

◦ All Out of Flux #3 -Sept 29,2023

Buy Link:

Hex and the City (Stolen Hearts Book 1)

Description:

Leon Alcantara is a real son of a witch.

The last in a proud line of witches, he’s come to test his small magic in the big city. Stealing enchanted artifacts pays the rent, but the competition is fierce. And handsome. And great at magic, too.

But Maximilian Drake and his dark, brooding glances are the least of Leon’s problems. A chain of anomalies surges through the city, strange distortions in reality that threaten both Dos Lunas and its people.

Suspected by the arcane authorities, Leon is forced to work with his nemesis to clear his name. But Max is so secretive over his shrouded past. Can he even be trusted? Leon must decide before the anomalies destroy the city — and his entire life.

A Julia Review: Realm of Passion (Sexy Snax #114) by Courtney Breazile

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Irresistible magic in a tempting body.

Callie’s body is the perfect hiding place for the magic of the fairy realm. Malia is the perfect guard for her body against the demons determined to have the magic for themselves. Malia can’t resist the magic—it calls to her—and Callie’s body is as close as she can get to it. Surprised to find the body so welcoming, Malia refuses to give it up once she has it.

What can I say about Realm of Passion by Courtney Breazile? First of all, I have never read anything that felt so rushed before – be it short story, novella or novel. The storyline has enough content that you could and should fill at least twice as many pages with it. It is basically a plot worthy of an entire novel pushed into the format of a novella. Scenes that feel like they should be important for character and plot development are only given a quick mention consisting of no more than a couple of sentences. The lore is hastily explained and very standard for a fantasy story. Even though the end takes place in a completely different realm than ours, there is only just the faintest trace of world building and we learn hardly anything about the fairy realm or its inhabitants.

The characters are of course majorly suffering from the hasty writing as well. We get to learn next to nothing but the most superficial information about their personalities, relationships and motivations. They cannot respond to events with the proper amount of emotions or opinions since there is almost no time before jumping to the next scene. In the beginning, for example, Callie loses a patient on the operating table, goes to puke in the bathroom and is already contemplating on treating herself to dinner two paragraphs later – seemingly without any repercussions of just watching a woman die under her hands a few hours earlier! The reader is not nearly given enough time and exposition to become involved with the characters and their actions in any shape or form. Therefore, the characters feel empty and impersonal. The person, who is supposed to be the main villain, receives probably one and a half pages of appearance time in the end and the two supporting characters are apparently killed but it is only mentioned briefly afterwards and no one seems to care anyway.

The worst example for this lack of proper character development is Callie, the main protagonist, whose feelings and decisions make almost no sense whatsoever. She lives a normal life until she finds out that magic is real and demons are coming to hunt her down because she carries magic within her that is needed to save the fairy realm. Oh, and she can now shoot beams of light from her hands that incinerate people. Basically, within a chapter of learning all of this and being kidnapped, she can only seem to think of one thing: hot sex with her fairy kidnapper who, of course, also immediately lusts after Callie in return! The sex scenes are described in greater detail than any other more plot-relevant scenes. That said, while the first sex scene might still be semi-entertaining, the ones that follow are mainly just the same over and over again. When the two protagonists profess their love for each other, you cannot help but cringe and shake your head, since they have barely gotten to know each other at this point nor spent more than maybe two days in each other’s company.

The only reason I gave this novel 1.5 stars is because at least the basic idea for the plot and characters seemed interesting enough which makes it just all the sadder that the material was treated this way. This felt like it should have been the plot outline for a story rather than the actual finished book.

I did like the cover art by Posh Gosh with its comic-like style. However, a pretty cover cannot redeem a story lacking so severely in execution.

Sales Links:   Pride Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 47 pages

Published April 9, 2012

by Pride Publishing

ISBN: 978-0-85715-938-0

Edition Language: English

Love Fantasy? Check out J. Scott Coatsworth’s ‘The Autumn Lands’, a new MM Romance/sci fi/fantasy (excerpt)

TheAutumnLands-Scott

The Autumn Lands by J. Scott Coatsworth
Publisher: Mischief Corner Books
Cover Artist: Freddy MacKay

Release Date: 1/27/16
Goodreads Link

Blurb

Jerrith is running. Kissed by an elf, he can’t remain in his hometown of Althos any more. Not that he wanted to stay.

Caspian still hasn’t figured out why he kissed Jerrith, but he’s running too. Since he was exiled from the Autumn Lands, his past has been hazy, and his future uncertain.

But when a stray memory brings things into focus, the two decide to run toward something together. What they uncover will change how they see the world, and themselves, forever.

Excerpt

Jerrith Ladner ran down Dyer’s Alley in Althos, winded but not daring to stop. He swung left down Chaplain’s Lane where the lanterns cast a crazy patchwork of light across cobbles, uneven enough to give even the Night Guard pause. His lungs hurt, but he didn’t slow down and didn’t dare glance back.

The occasional passerby stared at him as he flashed past, but he ignored them. Several times he stumbled and fell, and blood dripped down his bare leg from a skinned knee. The outskirts of town were silent, with almost everyone already indoors for the night.

His recent past was a blur, with snatches of it flitting by in his head like birds, flapping and confusing him with their unsteady rhythm:

The kiss.

The unexpected shock of it.

The glimpse of the Autumn Lands through the Nevris man’s golden eyes.

At last, exhausted, Jerrith ducked behind a low wall that ran along the fields just outside of town and looked back.

It was quiet. There was nothing but blackness crisscrossed by lamplight at even intervals.

Almost sobbing, he sat down with his back to the wall and curled up into himself, scarcely noticing the pain that traced the lines of his rib cage or even the bright line of red on his leg.

Ever so slowly, his heavy breathing eased and his jumbled mind began to sort things out.

He had been walking to the Smithy in the early morning when the Nevris caravan had passed him by, six wagons of merchandise from the Autumn Lands covered with heavy tarps, crossing through town on its way to the stables on the far side of the village. A stranger had drawn his attention—an outrider for the caravan.

Tall and slender where Jerrith was stocky and muscled, he was a young man, more or less Jerrith’s own age. His blond hair had been pulled back behind his pointed ears, the mark of the Nevris. He moved with a quiet and restrained grace.

His eyes were wide and golden, and they’d met his as Jerrith crossed the town square on the way to ‘prentice to the blacksmith. The man’s gaze had filled Jerrith with something hot and impulsive, a sense of anticipation. Something that he had no name for.

Then he’d been gone.

Jerrith had spent the long, dizzying hours of work in the Smithy, hammering out heated metal into a new plowshare for Farmer Angus, the hot breath of the bellows tempered only by the cool springtime air from outside. Trying to forget those eyes.

The heat of the oven only served to fuel the heat he felt inside, until he thought he might explode.

Sent home at last well after nightfall, he’d heard a whispered voice from the dark alleyway between the Alchemist’s shop and the Rutting Crow. Jerrith had looked around to see if anyone was watching, then slipped into the alley, his heart beating faster and the bulge in his pants stiffening.

The man had kissed him hard and rough, and he’d returned the kiss passionately as the Nevris man pulled him close.

Buy Links

Mischief Corner Books (info only) | Amazon  | Kobo | Bookstrand | ARe | iBooks

j-scott-coatsworth

Author Bio

Scott has been writing since elementary school, when he and won a University of Arizona writing contest in 4th grade for his first sci fi story (with illustrations!). He finished his first novel in his mid twenties, but after seeing it rejected by ten publishers, he gave up on writing for a while.

Over the ensuing years, he came back to it periodically, but it never stuck. Then one day, he was complaining to Mark, his husband, early last year about how he had been derailed yet again by the death of a family member, and Mark said to him “the only one stopping you from writing is you.”

Since then, Scott has gone back to writing in a big way, finishing more than a dozen short stories – some new, some that he had started years before – and seeing his first sale. He’s embarking on a new trilogy, and also runs the Queer Sci Fi (http://www.queerscifi.com) site, a support group for writers of gay sci fi, fantasy, and supernatural fiction.