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The Echoes of Germania by H.B. Ashman | Review
Some things just damn well intrigue me. History being one of them. The Roman Empire was always a dynasty that just got those creative juices flowing. The riches, the military prowess and the fantastical world of Ancient Rome. Echoes of Germania is that perfect blend of fiction and history. This book blew every expectation or preconceived idea I had clean out the water. The prose and the dialogue were swift and laser precise, it didn’t take any time at all to fall hard for this superbly ambitious tale of love and mythology. The novel has the beating heart of a warrior. Picking up Echoes of Germania was a gamble as…
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The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne | ARC Review
JESUS CHRIST ON A BURNING BIKE!! Never has there been a more impossible review to write. The Shadow of the Gods, a book that has not only captured my imagination but stolen my heart with the range of differing but equally loveable characters. Some you love to hate and some that carve a big gash across your chest with glistening sharp axe. The storytelling is magical but brutally real, the atmospheric worldbuilding enraptures you, you can feel the raw and biting waves as you travel with these Norse folks on longships, you can feel the ground they trod upon and you can feel the pressure of being a part of…
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Never Ask The Dead by Gary Donnelly | Blog Tour Review
The past always has a way of catching up with us and Don’t Tell the Dead by Gary Donnelly epitomise that notion. Lace up those Nikes because you’re going to be doing some running! Writing is such a labour of love and writing a series is doubly true. The commitment, the research, and the psyche to get into the head of your characters time and time again requires a special kind of author. Gary Donnelly has consistently delivered a gritty, raw, and deeply compelling crime series set in the pulsing heart of Ireland. The atmosphere is catastrophically real, you can almost feel the elements battering you where you stand, the…
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The Night Silver River Run Red by Christine Morgan | Review
Oh, holy hell, The Night Silver River Run Red has been the cataclysmic explosion of me falling into a Western Splatter rabbit hole! I’ve written in a previous review that women authors are writing the gory and dark with abandon. It’s in your face, it’s messy and it is completely unapologetic. Surely some things are worth a whipping, right? The opportunity to see the marvels of a travelling show is too much to bypass. Is it worth much more? Being torn to shreds, witnessing bloodshed beyond all their worst nightmares, a sleepy hollow of a town, ran red the gore as much of their history as anything that came before.…
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These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong | Review
Apparently I’m the girl that just doesn’t get along with highly anticipated reads. I originally picked this book up because it sounded like an awesome premise. A romeo & Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shangai. I’m a massive fan of storytelling set in Asia but man alive, there is just no world building whatsoever. I didn’t feel transported to another time, I didn’t really get a feel for the culture or the way of life. I really needed more in that regard. The characterisation was weak. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. Juliet was written as a strong and independent woman but I just found her incredibly…
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The Hobgoblin of Little Minds by Mark Matthews | Review
The Hobgoblin of Little Minds…just how on earth do you review something of such important magnitude? The implications, the research, and the depth of such a poetic narrative…it blew my mind. This is the type of book that authors spend their entire careers trying to pen. The depth of feeling took it to a higher level, the bar being set with flair and empathy. This is the kind of horror that gets my gears churning, there is nothing more horrifying than the human condition and Matthews handed me a hand grenade. The Hobgoblin of Little Minds was a journey. Get that seatbelt locked in tight because you will suffer whiplash…
