Books tagged with: empire

A Crown of Swords is the seventh volume in Robert Jordans epic fantasy series, the Wheel of Time. Following on from the events in The Lord of Chaos, the book begins with the aftermath of the battle at Dumai's Wells. Elayne, Nyneave and Mat manage to finally locate the legendary "Bowl of the Winds" t...

Blood of the Mantis is the third volume in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt sequence, published in August 2009 and following directly on from Dragonfly Falling. At three hundred and twenty pages, it is also half the length of either of its predecessors, which is the first interesting decision...

Bloodsworn follows on from the events in the previous volumes Bloodborn and Bloodforged as Ulrika the Vampire returns to Nuln, finding her former Lahmian sisters preparing for war. Their arch rivals, the deleterious Von Carsteins meanwhile have begun to attack their strongholds and lead the despised...

A weighty tome that dramatises the historical events of the Huari Empire in the Andes, mixing in a fantasy plot, Dark Sun, Bright Moon is difficult to categorise. On one hand we have a meticulously researched historical context with pictures and appendices to explain terms and illustrate scenes, on...

Dead Winter is the first novel in a new series that's set within the "Time of Legends" collection, itself set within Warhammer Fantasy with the aim to tell the stories of some of the greatest heroes of the Warhammer world. A thousand years have passed since the Age of Sigmar and the Empire he creat...

Deadhouse Gates is the second book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. Picking up where Gardens of the Moon left off, Deadhouse Gates reunites a host of old characters and throws some new ones into the fray. This time the action is focused not on Genabackis, but on the continent of...

The fifth book in the dragon series by Stephen Deas, Dragon Queen is certainly value by weight of pages. The previous tale, The Black Mausoleum weighed in at just over three hundred in the mass market paperback, whereas Dragon Queen is twice that and a little more. The first trilogy of Deas’ story...

Dragonfly Falling is the second book in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt sequence, published in 2009 and following directly on from Empire in Black and Gold. The premise of the whole series, just to get this out of the way early, is insect people. Tchaikovsky has built a secondary world in wh...

Empire in Black and Gold is the first novel in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt sequence, published in July 2008, and the book that gets the whole insect-people experiment off the ground. It is also, for the record, Tchaikovsky's debut. There is something faintly unfair about a writer arrivin...

Gideon's Wall is a fantasy novel by Gideon's Wall. After being promised that there would be no dwarfs, elves or wizards in this fantasy book, I decided to give it a chance. Not that I've anything against dwarfs, elves or wizards but most fantasy authors seem to be going round and round without gett...

For those who have never met them, Gotrek and Felix are unsung heroes of the Warhammer fantasy Empire, the dwarven slayer* Gotrek Gurnisson and his human rememberer Felix Jaeger are the stuff of legend and have been featured in 13 novels, numerous short stories, the Warhammer fantasy Battle game and...

Harbinger of the Storm is the second volume in the Obsidian and Blood series of novels by Aliette de Bodard, and follows on from the events in Servant of the Underworld, both published by Angry Robot Books. One and a half years have passed since the events in Servant of the Underworld and the Emper...

Knife of Dreams is the eleventh volume in the epic Wheel of Time series and is the last full volume written by Robert Jordan. If you have like me arrived here after reading the first 10 volumes then you will appreciate this moment, a long journey, hugely rewarding and it is with a sense of trepidat...

Red Smoke Rising is a fantasy novel and the debut of Rick Anthony. Over a centrury has passed since the Mia's homeland was occupied and the drug stolen. Once the secrets of Ku became clear, the Nor army was unstoppable and Mia’s people were completely overwhelmed and enslaved. Over time a resistanc...

Return to Canifis is the sequel to Betrayal at Falador, set within the Runescape Universe and written by T S Church. Varrock is considered to be one of the greatest cities in the known world, but even here danger lurks - people have been dissapearing, or their bodies discovered ripped apart. Some a...

Swords of the Emperor combines the two Warhammer fantasy novels Swords of Vengeance and Sword of Justice along with the short stories Feast of Horrors and Duty and Honour. Each of these tales have been brought to life from the pen of Chris Wraight who creates a sense of maturity and depth to the War...

The Boy who wept blood is the sequel to Den Patrick's impressive novel, The Boy with the Porcelain Blade. Set some time after the events of the first book, the Queen Anea now rules Demense. A fairer society is being built on the ashes of the old regime however many of the old players are reluctant t...

The Bullet Catcher's Daughter is set in a world that is steeped in steampunk style. Not only full of arcane machines but with a clear nod to the Victorian society and strict sexist views. This style is perfectly captured by the series name "The Gas-Lit Empire". In this tightly controlled Empire it...

The Crown of the Blood is the first volume in the series of the same name, written by Gav Thorpe and published by Angry Robot Books. Ullsaard is a warrior and General of the fierce and deadly Askhor troops. All have fallen beneath his mighty army, helping to create the greatest empire the land has...

The Incorruptibles is a tightly paced novel that feels fresh, leaving behind characters to be pondered long after the story ends. Synopsis: On the edge of the Empire, a motley group of mercenaries protect a gluttonous governor and his family from the twisted evil that exists beyond the safety of th...

The Lord of Chaos is the sixth novel in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, following on from the events in the Fires of heaven. On the slopes of Shayol Ghul, the Myrddraal swords are forged, while in the mountain itself, the Dark one waits patiently in his ever weakening prison. Now Rand h...

This book, by Kiersten White, is a gender flipped historically based story of the early life of Vlad the Impaler or in this case, Lada  Dracul. White takes the bones of the historical accounts and layers it with a rich imaginings of characters and quirks, to give the reader some insight into a be...

It’s a bleak start to Den Patrick’s latest fantasy adventure and the first instalment of his Ashen Torment trilogy. It’s been a tough year in the village of Cinderfell and Blacksmith Marek is struggling to make ends meet for him and his two children. But feeding his family isn’t his only problem. Hi...

There is a surprising amount of Fantasy that is essentially an epic game of magical rock, paper, scissors. Various mages, witches and Gods all fighting each other with differing powers. They are strong against one power, but weak against another. The balance of the world rests on all these powers ca...

A Question. If something hurts, does that make it true? With this intriguing opener of a question begins Seth Dickinson’s The Monster Baru Cormorant, the first of three planned sequels to 2015’s The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Dickinson burst onto the fantasy scene with Traitor, a geopolitical epic whic...

Fantasy is known as an epic genre; stories can span generations and civilisations rise and fall. As a fan of the genre, you also notice some regular tropes that occur, similar races and similar storylines. Within the pages of Brian McClellan’s Powder Mage&nbs...

People moan about the rain, but I don’t always mind it. Many of my best memories of childhood are of sleeping under canvas and listening to the patter of rain, safe in the knowledge that I am all snuggly in my sleeping bag and close to loved ones. These fond memories would have quick...

How do you like your fantasy? It comes in so many flavours now that you can pick and choose what type you like. Dragons, magic, and high fantasy – tasty. Violence, political intrigue, low fantasy – a guilty treat. Stephen Aryan has chosen a different route, a book that has its heart in l...

Fantasy is a wonderful genre, and it has become more so in recent years as it has grown in diversity. It felt for a while that fantasy was always epic and set in some sort of alternative Europe. There were plenty of alternatives to find if you looked, but today theses are abundant and that is fantas...

Epic fantasy novels are filled with fellowships from the OG to the 700-page opuses of today. What differs across all these books is how close the fellows are. Multiple character perspectives do not a fellowship make if they never meet each other, you want a close group of people all setting out on t...

I love Fantasy and read enough to know that there are so many layers to the genre; from high to low, from Tolkien, through the Golden Age to modern darker fantasy. The genre twists and turns through the ages. A lot of modern Fantasy is shorter and darker, and I miss a stonking big slice of High Fant...

There are ways of writing a historic epic. The current trend is more towards long drawn-out sagas over several books, sometimes up to twenty or more. This allows you to really get to know the characters and read about them for decades, keeping you and the author busy for years. They are great but ca...

I have read a lot of epic fantasy, and it comes in many flavours, but it does not always feel like it. Often, it feels like an alternative Medieval Europe with a few elves thrown in. This is less so today as innovative ideas and visions come to the genre, taking a typical fantasy novel and givi...

We only have so many books in us, and an author may just not have the time to experiment with different formats or genres, unless they are very prolific. They do not come much more prolific than Adrian Tchaikovsky, a writer who dabbles in various types of genre fiction, always bringing high quality....

Naming your book The Last Phi Hunter comes with some idea that this will be the last of their kind, but Salinee Goldenberg proves this is not the case with a sequel, Way of the Walker. But is this Walker an actual Phi Hunter? If your job is to find and kill the undead (Phi), befriending them and hel...