Jasper de Joode profile
Place of birth: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Now living: Zevenbergen, The Netherlands
3 favourite authors
- Stephen King
- Steven Erikson
- David B Coe
- Brandon Sanderson
- Scott Lynch
3 favourite books
- The Dark Tower Book 3: The Waste Lands by Stephen King
- Malazan Empire of the Fallen Book 4 House of Chains by Stephen Erikson
- The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
- Children of Amarid by David B. Coe
- Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
3 favourite films
- Reign over Me
- The Matrix
- The Bucket List
Jasper de Joode's 135 reviews
The Place of Dead Kings by Geoffrey Wilson (The Land of Hope and Glory series)
The Place of Dead Kings is the second book in the Jack Casey series written by Geoffrey Wilson. Its predecessor Land of Hope and Glory was published last year (2012) by Hodder and Stoughton. The series so far is simply marvellous.The year is 1855. The English revolt has failed, and brutal General Vadula governs England now. Only a few sma...
8.9/10
The Rook by Daniel OMalley (The Checquy Files)
There has been a lot of noise around ‘The Rook’ by Daniel O’Malley, and it has sat on my shelf for a little too long before I finally got around to reading it. Award-noise from the Sword and Laser podcast finally pushed me over the edge, and I pulled it from its place on the shelf and ploughed through it in about two days. It t...
8.5/10
Rogue by Steven L Kent (The Clone Rebellion)
Earth, 2512 A.D. Humans populate the six arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. The oppressive Unified Authority controls Earth’s colonies with an iron fist, stamping out revolt with a powerful military made up almost entirely of expendable, mass-produced clones.Lt. Wayson Harris is one of thousands of clones born and bred to be the ultimate...
8.6/10
Dangerous Gifts by Gaie Sebold (A Babylon Steel Novel)
Babylon Steel, former avatar of the goddess of sex and war, currently owner of the Scarlet Lantern, the best brothel on Scalentine, city of portals, has been offered a job; as bodyguard to Enthemmerlee, the latest candidate for the Council of Incandress; and as spy for the Diplomatic Section, the barely-acknowledged government of Scalentine. She...
8.6/10
Homunculus by James P Blaylock (A Tale of Langdon St. Ives)
A mysterious airship orbits through the foggy skies above Victorian London. It’s terrible secrets are sought by many, including: The Royal Society, a fraudulent evangelist, a fiendish vivisectionist, an evil millionaire and an assorted group led by the scientist and explorer Professor Langdon St. Ives. Can St. Ives keep the alien homunculu...
8.8/10
Truancy City by Isamu Fukui
As a new threat arises from outside the walls of the City, the warring Truants and Educators must join forces or be destroyed. The fate of the City is determined at last in this long-awaited conclusion to the Truancy trilogy.The concluding book of the Truancy trilogy! Now first of all I just want to mention that I am writing this review w...
9.0/10
After America by John Birmingham
The world changed forever when a massive wave of energy slammed into North America and wiped out 99 percent of the population. As the United States lay in ruins, chaos erupted across the globe. Now, while a skeleton American government tries to reconstruct the nation, swarms of pirates and foreign militias plunder the lawless wasteland where eve...
9.3/10
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
The kingdom of Goredd is populated by humans and by dragons who fold themselves into a human form. Though they live alongside each other, the peace between them is uneasy. But when a member of the royal family is murdered, and the crime appears to have been committed by a dragon the peace and treaty between both worlds is seriously threatened&he...
8.4/10
Sword of Fire and Sea by Erin Hoffman (The Chaos Knight)
Three generations ago Captain Vidarian Rulorat’s great-grandfather gave up an imperial commission to commit social catastrophe by marrying a fire priestess. For love, he unwittingly doomed his family to generations of a rare genetic disease that follows families who cross elemental boundaries. Now Vidarian, the last surviving member of the...
7.9/10
The Last Minute by Eleanor Updale
9.21am: business as usual on a high street in England.9.22am: the explosions are heard for miles around, and in the early confusion there is talk of a gas leak, a plane crash, and even terrorism…The people of Heathwick had been preparing for Christmas unaware that many would die, and the rest would be transformed for ever. T...
8.2/10
Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L Powell
In 1944, as waves of German ninjas parachute into Kent, Britain's best hopes for victory lie with a Spitfire pilot codenamed 'Ack-Ack Macaque'. The trouble is, Ack-Ack Macaque is a cynical, one-eyed, cigar-chomping monkey, and he's starting to doubt everything, including his own existence.A century later, in a world where ...
9.5/10
Wingheart: Luminous Rock by Benjamin Gabbay (Wingheart Trilogy)
Magnus Wingheart never knew about the world of Arkane. He never knew about the past his older brother, Drake, had kept hidden from him, nor that his parents had died at the hands of an inhuman enemy in a city he had never known to exist. When that enemy resurfaces, sixteen-year-old Magnus, Drake, and their former guardian, Cecil Handel, become e...
8.0/10
Republic by Steven L Kent (The Clone Rebellion)
Earth, 2508 A.D.. Humans populate the six arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. The oppressive Unified Authority controls Earth’s colonies with an iron first, stamping out revolt with a powerful military made up almost entirely of expendable, mass-produced clones.Private First-class Wayson Harris was raised in a Unified Authority orphanage ...
8.9/10
Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards
Many tales are told of the Syldoon Empire and its fearsome soldiers, who are known throughout the world for their treachery and atrocities. Some say that the Syldoon eat virgins and babies - or perhaps their own mothers. Arkamondos, a bookish young scribe, suspects that the Syldoon’s dire reputation may have grown in the retelling, but he&...
8.8/10
Truancy Origins by Isamu Fukui
Fifteen years ago, the Mayor of the Education City was presented with an unwelcome surprise by his superiors: twin six-month-old boys. As the Mayor reluctantly accepted the two babies, he had no way of knowing that they would change the city forever… Raised in the comfort of the Mayoral mansion, Umasi and Zen are as different as two broth...
8.4/10
Black Feathers by Joseph DLacey
Angry Robot Books have a knack of finding some of the most different and bizarre fantasy books, and with Black Feathers by Joseph D'Lacey they continue to push the boundaries of what we expect fantasy to be. Described by some as an eco-horror story with mythological and fantasy elements, Black Feathers is a pre and post apocalyptic story tha...
8.5/10
The Doctor and the Roughrider by Mike Resnick (A Weird West Tale)
It’s August 19, 1884. The consumptive Doc Holliday is preparing to await his end in a sanatorium in Leadville, Colorado, when the medicine man Geronimo enlists him on a mission. The time the great chief has predicted has come, the one white man he’s willing to treat with has crossed the Mississippi and is heading to Tombstone - a you...
8.8/10
The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan
Every year at an exclusive private boarding school in New York state, the graduating students uphold an old tradition - they must swear an oath of secrecy and leave behind a "treasure" for each incoming senior. When Duncan Meade inherits the room and secrets of Tim Macbeth, he uncovers evidence of a clandestine romance, and unravels th...
9.1/10
The Grim Company by Luke Scull
Set years after mages stormed the heavens and brought down the gods, casting their bodies to the world below where the corpses now leak wild, unpredictable and extremely dangerous magic, The Grim Company focuses on the aftermath of this feat, where three cities ruled by three immortal mages struggle for control over finite sources of magic. The ...
8.0/10
SEAL Team 666 by Weston Ochse
One man down after they lost a sniper on a certain mission in Abbottabad, Pakistan, NAVY SEAL Cadet Jack Walker is chosen to join the US’s only supernatural unconventional-warfare special-mission unit - SEAL Team 666.Battling demons, possessed humans and mass murdering cults and evil in its most dark an ancient form, SEAL Team 666 h...
8.2/10
Seizure by Kathy Reichs (Tory Brennan series)
The Virals' home on Loggerhead Island is under threat, and only one thing can save it: a lot of money. A 300-year-old legend. Rumour has it that notorious pirate Anne Bonny hid her treasure somewhere in Charleston in 1720. No-one knows where, but Tory Brennan - great-niece of famous forensic anthropologist Dr Tempe Brennan - is certain that ...
9.0/10
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
In a land where magic has been forgotten and peace has reigned for centuries, unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms battle for power… A princess must journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long-thought extinct. A rebel becomes the leader of a bloody revolution. A Sorceress discovers the truth about the supernatural legacy she is ...
9.0/10
Without Warning by John Birmingham
March 14, 2003. In Kuwait, American forces are lock and loaded for the invasion of Iraq. In Paris, a cover agent is close to cracking a terrorist cell. And just north of the equator, a sailboat manned by a drug runner and a pirate is witness to the unspeakable. In one instant, all around the world, everything will change. A wave of inexplicable ...
8.9/10
The Age of Ra by James Lovegrove
The Ancient Egyptian gods have defeated all the other pantheons and claimed dominion over the earth, dividing it into warring factions. Lt. David Westwynter, a British soldier, stumbles into Freegypt, the only place to have remained independent of the gods’ influence. There, he encounters the followers of a humanist leader known as the Lig...
8.3/10
Blood of Ambrose by James Enge (Morlock the Maker)
Behind the king's life stands the menacing Protector, and beyond him lies the Protector's Shadow...Centuries after the death of Uthar the Great, the throne of the Ontilian Empire lies vacant. The late emperor's brother-in-law and murderer, Lord Urdhven, appoints himself Protector to his nephew, young King Lathmar VII and sets out to ...
8.3/10
The Noise Within by Ian Whates
On the brink of perfecting the long sought-after human/ AI interface, Philip Kaufman finds his world thrown into turmoil as a scandal from the past returns to haunt him and dangerous information falls into his hands. Pursued by assassins and attacked in his own home, he flees. Leyton, a government black-ops specialist, is diverted from his usual...
8.0/10
The Aylesford Skull by James P Blaylock (A Tale of Langdon St. Ives)
It is the summer of 1883 and Professor Langdon St. Ives - brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer - is at home in Aylesford with his family. However, a few miles to the north a steam launch has been taken by pirates above Egypt Bay; the crew murdered and pitched overboard. In Aylesford itself a grave is opened and possibly robbed of the s...
9.8/10
Truancy by Isamu Fukui
In an alternate world, in a nameless totalitarian city, the autocratic Mayor rules the school system with an iron fist, with the help of his Educators. Fighting against the Mayor and his repressive Educators is a group of former students called the Truancy, whose goal is to take down the system by any means possible - at any cost.Against ...
8.2/10
Into the Nightside by Simon R Green (Nightside series)
It’s always night in the Nightside. It’s always three o’clock in the morning, and the dawn never comes. People are always coming and going, drawn by need, searching for pleasures and services unforgivable in the sane, daylight world. You can buy or sell anything in the Nightside, and no-one asks questions. No-one cares.J...
8.2/10
Flash by Sean C Sousa (The Forever Saga)
Long ago, the first reign of Grigori Geist nearly destroyed the Earth.Returned from exile, Geist is secretly rebuilding his kingdom beneath Antarctica, assembling his robotic Vaucan race to war against mankind. Only one obstacle remains: the war hero known as Brian Renney.Yet Brian is losing a battle against his fears. Scars of hea...
7.8/10
The Uncrowned King by Rowena Cory Daniells (King Rolen's Kin Series)
Thirteen year old Pro watches powerless as her father’s enemies march on his castle. A traitor whispers poison in the King’s ear, undermining his trust in her brother, Byren.Determined to prove his loyalty, Byren races across the path of the advancing army, towards the Abbey. Somehow, he must get there in time to convince the ...
9.0/10
Virals by Kathy Reichs (Tory Brennan series)
Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experi...
9.0/10
Redeye by James Lovegrove (Redlaw series)
The eastern seaboard of the USA is experiencing the worst winter weather in living memory, and John Redlaw is in the cold white thick of it. He’s come to America to investigate a series of vicious attacks on vampire immigrants – targeted kills that can’t simply be the work of amateur vigilantes. Dogging his footsteps is Tina &l...
9.0/10
The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris (A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences)
Evildoers beware! Retribution is at hand, thanks to Britain's best-kept secret agents.Certainly no strangers to peculiar occurrences, agents Wellington Books and Eliza Braun are nonetheless stunned to observe a fellow passenger aboard Britain's latest hypersteam train suddenly vanish in a dazzling bolt of lightning. They soon disc...
8.9/10
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments)
To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters - never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunte...
8.0/10
Halo: Glasslands by Karen Traviss
The Covenant has collapsed after a long, brutal war that saw billions slaughtered on Earth and her colonies. For the first time in decades, however, peace finally seems possible. But though the fighting's stopped, the war is far from over: it's just gone underground. The UNSC's feared and secretive Office of Naval Intelligence recrui...
8.5/10
Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis
The year is 1939. Raybould Marsh and other members of British Intelligence have gathered to watch a damaged reel of film in a darkened room. It appears to show German troops walking through walls, bursting into flames and hurling tanks into the air from afar.If the British are to believe their eyes, a twisted Nazi scientist has been endow...
9.8/10
MetaWars: The Dead are Rising by Jeff Norton (MetaWars)
In an unforgiving future, two warring factions - the Millennials and the Guardians - are locked in a brutal battle over control of an online virtual world called the Metasphere. Jonah Delacroix has always known which side he’s on - the same side as his dead father. But when he assumes his father’s avatar, he learns that things aren&#...
8.5/10
The Doctor and the Kid by Mike Resnick (A Weird West Tale)
The time is 1882. With the Gunfight at the O. K. Corral and the battle with the thing that used to be Johnny Ringo behind him (see The Buntline Special), the consumptive Doc Holliday makes his way to Deadwood, Colorado, with Kate Elder, where he plans to spend the rest of his brief life, finally moving into the luxurious facility that specialize...
8.8/10
Blood and Feathers by Lou Morgan
Alice isn’t having the best of days: she got rained on, missed her bus, was late for work. When two angels arrive, claiming her life so far is a lie, it turns epic, grand scale worse.The war between the angels and the Fallen is escalating; an age-old balance is tipping, and innocent civilians are getting caught in the cross-fire. Th...
9.3/10
Hazardous Goods by John A Mackie (Arcane Transport series)
Donnie Elder never imagined himself in the delivery business. But he’s been out of work and his mother is calling twice a day, so he’ll try anything. On his first day at work, Donnie gets robbed at gunpoint, and his boss has a heart attack. Now Donnie is running Arcane Transport all by himself, and problems are popping out of the woo...
7.5/10
Spectyr by Philippa Ballantine (Book of the Order)
Though one of the most powerful Deacons, Sorcha Faris has a tarnished reputation to overcome. She and her partner, Deacon Merrick Chambers, find themselves chasing down rumours of geists, but long for a return to real action. So they jump at the chance to escort a delegation sent to negotiate the terms of the Emperor's engagement. Their dest...
8.4/10
The Falling Machine by Andrew P Mayer (Society of Steam)
In 1880 women aren’t allowed to vote, much less dress up in a costume and fight crime… But twenty-year-old socialite Sarah Stanton still dreams of becoming a hero. Her opportunity arrives in tragedy when the leader of the Society of Paragons, New York’s greatest team of gentlemen adventurers, is murdered right before her eyes....
8.8/10
Gridlinked by Neal Asher (Agent Cormac series)
In outer space you can never feel sure that your adversary is altogether human. The runcible buffers on Samarkand have been mysteriously sabotaged, killing many thousands and destroying a terraforming project. Agent Cormac must reach it by ship to begin an investigation. But Cormac has incurred the wrath of a vicious psychopath called Pelter, wh...
8.5/10
Crusher by Niall Leonard
To catch a killer, Finn Maguire may have to become one....Everything changed the day Finn found his father in a pool of blood, bludgeoned to death. His dull, dreary life is turned upside down as he becomes the prime suspect. How can he clear his name and find out who hated his dad enough to kill him?Facing danger at every turn, unc...
7.6/10
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments)
Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best frie...
8.5/10
Redlaw by James Lovegrove (Redlaw series)
They live among us, abhorred, marginalised, despised. They are vampires, known politely as Sunless. The job of policing their community falls to the men and women of the Sunless Housing and Disclosure Executive - SHADE. Captain John Redlaw is London's most feared and respected SHADE officer. But when the vampires start rioting in their ghett...
9.0/10
Babylon Steel by Gaie Sebold (A Babylon Steel Novel)
Babylon Steel, ex-sword-for-hire, ex-other things, runs the best brothel in Scalentine; city of many portals, two moons, and a wide variety of races, were-creatures, and religions, not to mention the occasional insane warlock. She’s not having a good week. The Vessels of Purity are protesting against brothels, women in the trade are being ...
8.8/10
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments)
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to ...
8.2/10
Phoenix Rising by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris (A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences)
These are dark days indeed in Victoria’s England. Londoners are vanishing, then reappearing washed up as corpses on the banks of the Thames, drained of blood and bone. Yet the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences - the Crown’s clandestine organization whose bailiwick is the strange and the unsettling will not allow its agents to investig...
8.3/10
The Siege by Nick Brown (Agent of Rome)
270 AD. Rome has ruled Syria for over three centuries. But now the weakened empire faces a desperate threat: Queen Zenobia of Palmyra has turned her Roman-trained army against her former masters and the once invincible legions have been crushed. Arabia, Palestine and Egypt have fallen and now Antioch, Syria's capital, stands exposed.C...
8.0/10
Dodger by Terry Pratchett
Come one come all to greatest city in the world.In London, all men are free, the streets are lined with gold and the naughty ladies are friendly to all.In London there are geezers on ever street corner and every urchin and tosher is an angel with a dirty face. Home to Her Majesty, Fleet Street, the Square Mile and Dodger - known to...
9.3/10
Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch (Alien Novels)
How can a sexy marketing manager join forces with an Alpha Centauri male in Armani to save the planet-using hairspray, a Mont Blanc pen, and rock n' roll?Easy...She's Touched by an Alien.Marketing manager Katherine "Kitty" Katt steps into the middle of what appears to be a domestic dispute turned ugly. And ...
8.4/10
Tomorrow the Killing by Daniel Polansky (Low Town)
Once he was a hero of the Great War, and then a member of the dreaded Black House. Now he is the criminal linchpin of Low Town.His name is Warden.He thought he had left the war behind him, but a summons from up above brings the past sharply, uncomfortably, back into focus. General Montgomery's daughter is missing somewhere in L...
9.0/10
The Dead of Winter by Lee Collins
Cora Ogelsby and her husband, Ben, hunt things - things that shouldn't exist.When the marshal of Leadville, Colorado, comes across a pair of mysterious, bloody deaths out in the badlands, he turns to Cora to find the creature responsible. But if she is to overcome the unnatural tide threatening to consume the small town, Cora must fir...
8.3/10
Insurrection by Robyn Young
The King of Scotland is dead. The nobles fight over the succession, unaware that King Edward of England has plans of his own. For years, Edward has nurtured a fierce vision of conquest, inspired by the worlds of an ancient prophecy, that will change the face of Britain forever.In this divided land, a boy grows to manhood, his family torn ...
9.3/10
Breed by Chase Novak
Alex and Leslie Twisden told each other they would do anything to have children. The price didn't matter. But the experimental procedure they found had costs they couldn't foresee.Adam and Alice Twisden’s lives seem perfectly normal. Except that, every night, without fail, their parents lock them into their roomsAnd t...
8.0/10
The Adventures of Nana Barb by John Auckland (Lost in Time)
The Universe is dangerously close to collapsing. With a shady authority known as the Time Police on their tail, will the Timeseekers be able to save us all? Their only hopes rest with the prophesied 'chosen one' who - rather unexpectedly - turns out to be a kind old lady called Barbara. However, Nana Barb, as she is affectionately known ...
8.8/10
The Wolf Age by James Enge (Morlock the Maker)
Wuruyaaria: city of werewolves, whose raiders range over the dying northlands, capturing human beings for slaves or meat. Wuruyaaria: where a lone immortal maker wages a secret war against the Strange Gods of the Coranians. Wuruyaaria: a democracy where some are more equal than others, and a faction of outcast werewolves is determined to change ...
8.7/10
Maria and the Devil by Graham Thomas
The Devil has ridden out. Montana’s most feared outlaw has left his secret lover, Maria, alone in their secluded house deep in the wilds. If he had known that she was pregnant the Devil might have stayed. That was almost nine months ago and Maria is still awaiting her lover’s return. But while Maria waits for the Devil, a vengeful ba...
8.8/10
God's Eye by AJ Scudiere
Katharine Geryon is living the life her family name has dictated, and why not? After all, it has given her a good job in the family company and a fine life with all the things she should want. But all that changes as increasingly disturbing events begin to occur: soot stains on the carpet, glimpses of strange black animals, and cryptic messages ...
8.7/10
The Buntline Special by Mike Resnick (A Weird West Tale)
The year is 1881. The United States of America ends at the Mississippi River. Beyond lies the Indian nations, where the magic of powerful Medicine Men has halted the advance of the Americans east of the river.An American government desperate to expand its territory sends Thomas Alva Edison out West to the town of Tombstone, Arizona, on a ...
8.8/10
Besieged by Rowena Cory Daniells (Outcast Chronicles)
Sorne, the estranged son of a King on the verge of madness, is being raised as a weapon to wield against the mystical Wyrds. Half a continent away, his father is planning to lay siege to the Celestial City, the home of the T’En, whose wyrd blood the mundane population have come to despise. Within the City, Imoshen, the only mystic to be ra...
8.9/10
Zak Corbin: Master of Machines by Tony Russo
All young Zak Corbin wants is a robot - in a time when nearly everyone has one. But there is great fear of the Corbin name. Doctor Elias Corbin was regarded as a famous builder of robots until he unleashed an attack on a military factory. Branded a madman and a traitor, Zak's uncle was sentenced to spend the rest of his days on Penitentiary ...
8.8/10
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next)
There is another 1985, where London’s criminal gangs have moved into the lucrative literary market, and Thursday Next is on the trail of a new crime wave’s Mr Big. Acheron Hades has been kidnapping characters from works of fiction and holding them ransom. Jane Eyre is gone. Missing. Thursday sets out to find a way into the book to re...
9.5/10
Alexander Outland: Space Pirate by GJ Koch
Captain Alexander Outland of the Sixty-Nine (short for Space vessel 3369, of course) is the best pilot in the galaxy. He’s also a pirate, smuggler, and loved and loathed by women in umpteen solar systems. His crew of strays and misfits includes and engineer of dubious sanity, a deposed planetary governor, an annoyingly unflappable Sexb...
8.5/10
Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling by Michael Boccacino
When the nanny to the young Darrow boys is found murdered on the outskirts of Blackfield, Charlotte Markham, the recently hired governess, steps in to take over their care. During an outing in the forest, they find themselves crossing over into The Ending, the place for the Things That Cannot Die, where Lily Darrow, the late mistress of Everton,...
8.1/10
Blood Zero Sky by J Gabriel Gates
Unprofitables are banished to work camps to pay off their credit. Other tie-men and women look on apathetically. Fair is fair. Everyone knows you shouldn't use more credit than you are worth to the Company. They turn their attention to the next repackaged but highly coveted N-Corp product on the market, creatively advertised on the imager sc...
8.1/10
The King's Bastard by Rowena Cory Daniells (King Rolen's Kin Series)
Only seven minutes younger than Rolencia’s heir, Byren has never hungered for the throne. He laughs when a seer predicts that he will kill his twin. But the royal heir resents Byren’s growing popularity. Across the land the untamed magic of the gods wells up out of the earth’s heart. It sends exotic creatures to stalk the wintr...
9.2/10
The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore (Lorien Legacies)
Until the day I met John Smith, Number Four, I'd been on the run alone, hiding and fighting to stay alive. Together, we are much more powerful. But it could only last so long before we had to separate to find the others. I went to Spain to find Seven, and I found even more, including a tenth member of the Garde who escaped from Lorien alive....
8.2/10
The Sundering by Ruthanne Reid
Harry Iskinder knows the rules. Don't touch the water, or it will pull you under. Conserve food, because there’s no arable land. Use Sundered slaves gently, or they die too quickly to be worthwhile. With extinction on the horizon and a world lost to deadly flood, Harry searches for a cure: the Hope of Humanity, the mysterious artefact ...
7.7/10
Breaking the Devil’s Heart by HA Goodman (Login of Demons)
When Stewart and Layla recruit a demon to spy on the Devil, their decision takes them on whirlwind ride through the afterlife.Breaking the Devil's Heart is part of the Logic of Demons series but can also be read as a stand-alone book. It will linger long in your thoughts and force you to look at life (and the afterlife) from a differe...
8.2/10
Temptress of the Flame by Wade Kakoschke
Halius is a Plainsward, a simple man tasked with a grave responsibility. Leaving his home behind in search of a cure to a disease that threatens to destroy his village, he soon learns that saving his people will be even harder than he feared. Zebala, a skilled Firemage, takes Halius under her wing - giving him no say in the matter. Through her h...
8.3/10
The Power Of Six by Pittacus Lore (Lorien Legacies)
The sequel to the critically acclaimed I Am Number Four, The Power of Six shifts into a completely different dimension that may puzzle and confuse some readers, but does what any sequel should do in a series, move the story along and change things up so it is virtually unrecognisable from its prior instalment.The Power Of Six is told from...
8.9/10
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (Lorien Legacies)
In 2010 I went through an odd phase whereby any movie being released based on a book I would read before it came out and sit there and judge it with intense scrutiny. Having seen the trailer for I Am Number Four I then rushing out to grab the book before the impending movie release date.Normally I am not into alien battle type-novels, yet...
8.4/10
A Quarter of Magic by Zoe Tyson
In a World born out of magic lives 14 year old Miloney Merren. In his World humans are ruled by an immortal species of creature. And the creatures have one major rule. A human must never have magic. Unfortunately for Milo, he does... And it’s getting out of control. Will he be able to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to help his family...
7.8/10
The Haunting Duet by James Stills
A tenuous pact between two rival organizations - a guild of powerful and ambitious wizards called the Prismatic Brotherhood and a reclusive dragon-worshipping cult of clerics known as the Order of the Silver Talon - is all that stands in the way of the Gobra’s conquest of Reaping Tides. However, the discovery of a powerful tome trapped wit...
7.2/10
The Bane of Yoto by Joshua Viola
Some say the Arbitrators existed long before the world was born. Others believe their dark powers spun the fabric of time itself. They are mystery. But here is truth: After ages of formless existence, the Arbitrators craved physicality once more. In their search for a worthy body to inhabit, they destroyed the world Ajyin – home of the gen...
8.2/10
The Enlightenment of Abigail Brown by Mark Waters (Nousidian Chronicles)
Thrown into a world of magic, myth and dragons, Abigail has discovered her true self and now relishes her new existence as Princess of Nousidia. This life, however, is to be short lived, as the arrival of a dark visitor plunges her into new and perilous depths, her world threatened once again by agents of evil. In her quest for discovery, Abby u...
7.6/10
Runelight by Joanne Harris
Six hundred miles apart, two girls each bear on their skin a runemark: a symbol of the Old Days when the known Worlds were ruled by the gods from their sky citadel, Asgard. Now Asgard lies in ruins, and the power of the gods has long since been destroyed. Or so everyone thinks. But nothing is lost for ever, and the gods haven't given up yet ...
9.4/10
The Enchantment of Abigail Brown by Mark Waters (Nousidian Chronicles)
Abigail is a smart girl, her gangly figure and flame red hair making her a target for taunts and trouble, but she’s a tough nut with an inner strength that will mould her destiny. A chance discovery propels Abby into a world of adventure, a parallel world of magic and dragons, a world where she belongs – the world of Nousidia. Embark...
7.6/10
Runemarks by Joanne Harris
Maddy Smith has always been an outsider. Born with a rusty-coloured rune on her hand - what the villagers call a ruinmark - she is scarred by this symbol of the old gods, a sign of magic.And everyone known that magic is dangerous. Except for Maddy who thinks it’s rather fun. Until now. For suddenly her friend One-Eye, a rascally Out...
9.0/10
Fire City by Bali Rai
Twenty-five years ago the world changed forever. A great war, which had raged for three years ended, and the reign of the Demons began... Within the crumbling walls of Fire City, fifteen-year-old Martha is a member of the resistance, a small band of humans fighting for freedom in a lawless and horrifying new world. Amidst the chaos of battle arr...
8.6/10
Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs
Sweet Venom, first published in September 2012, is a tale of urban/paranormal fantasy from award-winning author Tera Lynn Childs. Using a cool, fresh concept it brings Greek mythology and monster-slaying to life in present day San Francisco.As the book begins we meet Grace, who has just moved to San Francisco. When two girls, looking eeri...
8.0/10
The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next)
The Woman Who Died a Lot was first published in July 2012, author Jasper Fforde's seventh book in his Thursday Next series. A blend of alternate history and comic fantasy it is grand reading material, combining excellent writing and great inventiveness with more great jokes and groan-worthy puns than you could shake a stick at.We find...
9.6/10
The Last Death of Tev Chrisini by Jennifer Bresnick
Tev Chrisini is a soldier who can't die, caught in the middle of a war that won't end. Unable to discover the cause of his unique and puzzling condition, Tev has spent the last five hundred years living in the shadows, trying to avoid the notice of the two rival powers that dominate the bitterly divided political landscape, which would d...
7.2/10
Straight Razor Cure by Daniel Polansky (Low Town)
Welcome to Low Town. Here, the criminal is king. The streets are filled with the screeching of fish hags, the cries of swindled merchants, the inviting murmurs of working girls. Here, people can disappear, and the lacklustre efforts of the guard ensure they are never found. Warden is an ex-soldier who has seen the worst men have to offer; now a ...
8.3/10
Circus Maximus by Damian Dibben (The History Keepers)
The History Keepers are in terrible danger once more. Stocks of Atomium - the crucial ingredient which allows them to travel through time - are perilously low, and the agents must embark on a risky mission to find more. And now a new and even more evil member of the Zeldt family is planning a hideous take-over of the Ancient world, and they are ...
8.6/10
Wreckers Gate by Eric T Knight
A small band of soldiers is ambushed by raiders and forced to flee into the towering sand dunes of the Gur al Krin desert. The raiders let them go, knowing that none survive the desert and its firestorms. The small band seeks shelter in a cave, but their shelter turns deadly when a monstrous creature, fueled by an ago-old hatred of mankind, burs...
6.0/10
Blood of the Revenant by NR Allen
Something strange is happening in Returning City, something dangerous. Gabriel has never questioned things before. He knows that because he is a revenant like everyone else, he has to fight the not-family and hurt them to keep his own family safe. He has never questioned that the sky is always dark or that hungry things watch him fro...
5.5/10
Blood's Pride by Evie Manieri (Shattered Kingdoms)
A generation has passed since the Norlanders' great ships bore down on Shadar, and the Dead Ones slashed and burned the city into submission, enslaving the Shadari people. Now the Norlander governor is dying and, as his three alienated children struggle against the crushing isolation of their lives, the Shadari rebels spot their opening and ...
8.0/10
Geist by Philippa Ballantine (Book of the Order)
Between the living and the dead is the Order of the Deacons, protectors of the Empire, guardians against possession, sentinels enlisted to ward off malevolent hauntings by the geists. Sorcha, among the most powerful of the Order, is called to a small settlement, But more is occuring than just geist activity. It's a conspiracy of evil that re...
7.5/10
The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams (Bobby Dollar)
To be honest, before beginning this book I was unsure of the story and concept Williams was portraying. However, I have always enjoyed Tad Williams books and I know he does like to mix up his writing style so thankfully I was pleasantly surprised in The Dirty Streets of Heaven. I found the main characters and view to be engaging. The principle c...
9.1/10
The Storm Begins by Damian Dibben (The History Keepers)
Imagine if you lost your parents - not just in place, but in time.Jake Djones' mum and dad have gone missing and they could be anywhere in the world - at any time in history. Because the Djones family have an astonishing secret, which for years they've managed to keep - even from each other. They belong to the History Keepers: a s...
8.2/10
The Army of Doctor Moreau by Guy Adams (The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
Following the trail of several corpses seemingly killed by wild animals, Holmes and Watson stumble upon the experiments of Doctor Moreau. Moreau through vivisection and crude genetic engineering is creating animal hybrids, determined to prove the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin.In his laboratory, hidden among the opium dens of Rot...
8.8/10
Avalonia: The Three Realms by Ashley Kate Simmons
Lily is an average teenage girl who finds herself drawn into a world filled with beings only heard of in myths and legends. Faeries, Vampires and Werewolves both good and bad, successively living (or un-living) by day and night. Working as only they know. A prophecy is to be fulfilled a prophecy from old, a prophecy for only one girl. But, in th...
5.0/10
Hats off to Brandenburg by Graham Thomas
London, 1815 - The Roxy Playhouse is in trouble!The Roxy Playhouse Irregulars, those libertine artists and dreamers, are up to their necks in debt - “Pay up in one month or its curtains for you all.” Dark times lead to drastic schemes and so the Irregulars decide to reinvent themselves as ‘performance thieves’, inf...
9.6/10
Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth
There are worse things in this world than al-Qaeda and North Korea, Zach. And they are just waiting for their chance at us. Sharp and ambitious, Zach Barrows is on his way up. But when he gets a call from the White House, it's not quite the promotion he expected. Zach is to be the new political liaison officer to America's best kept secr...
9.4/10
Land of Hope and Glory by Geoffrey Wilson (The Land of Hope and Glory series)
It is 1852. The Indian empire of Rajthana has ruled Europe for more than a hundred years. With their vast armies, steam-and-sorcery technology and mastery of the mysterious power of sattva, the Rajthanans appear invincible. But a bloody rebellion has broken out in a remote corner of the empire, in a poor and backward region known as England. At ...
9.0/10
Seasons of War by Daniel Abraham (The Long Price Quartet)
The poets and their magical andat have protected the cities of the Khaiem against their rivals in Galt for generations. Otah, Khai of the Winter City of Machi, has tried for years to prepare his people for a future in which the andat can no longer be safely harnessed. But his warnings have been ignored, and now it's too late. A ruthless, cha...
8.8/10
Forging of a Knight by Hugo V Negron
A battle against the forces of Those That Stand in Shadow brings an end to an old hero and a beginning for a new one. Together with a half-orc thief named Glaive, a young warrior named Qualtan must battle through undead hordes, evil druids, shape-shifting Maugs, hungry trolls and more on his journey to become a knight, learning in the process th...
8.6/10
Shadow and Betrayal by Daniel Abraham (The Long Price Quartet)
In a remote mountain academy, the politically expendable younger sons of the Great Houses study for an extraordinary task. Most will fail, some will die, but the reward for the dedicated few is great: mastery of the andat, and the rank of Poet. Thanks to these men - part sorcerers, part scholars - the great city-states of the Khaiem enjoy wealth...
8.4/10
Inside Straight by George RR Martin (Wild Cards)
In the six decades since the alien plague known as the “Wild Card virus” spread a wave of mutations across the globe, humanity has begun to come to terms with its consequences. Grotesque half-human creatures known as “jokers” inhabit an underworld of their own, while legendary prodigies known as “aces” have be...
9.0/10
Seven Princes by John R Fultz (Book of the Shaper)
Seven Princes. A Sorcerer slaughters the King and his entire court in front of the disbelieving eyes of young Prince D’zan. From that moment D’zan is driven by one thought - the need to regain his father’s stolen throne.Seven Destinies. The lives of six foreign Princes are tied to D’zan’s fate, a...
7.9/10
The Time Weaver by Thomas A Knight
Thirty-year-old Seth was an ordinary programmer before the car accident. Now he's been attacked and kidnapped, and wakes up in the strange new world of Galadir with no memory of how he got there. While being chased across a kingdom by an evil wizard, he discovers an ancient dragon, witnesses powerful magic, and falls in love. Why has all...
7.0/10
Dragonforge by James Maxey (Dragon Age Trilogy)
After the death of King Albekizan, Shandrazel and his allies struggle to keep the kingdom intact as the radical human prophet, Ragnar gathers forces to launch a full scale rebellion against the dragons. When all out war erupts, legendary dragon hunter, Bitterwood, must face his own personal daemons and choose where his loyalty really lies....
7.5/10
Bitterwood by James Maxey (Dragon Age Trilogy)
Bitterwood has spent the past twenty years hunting down dragons, one at a time. But he is getting old and the hate that he has carried in his heart since a group of dragon-soldiers killed his family is beginning to fade. When he kills the royal prince dragon, the king decides the only retribution is genocide of the human race. Bitterwood is ...
7.7/10
The Spirit Eater by Rachel Aaron (The Legend of Eli Monpress)
With the pressure on after his success in Gaol, Eli Monpress, professional thief and degenerate, decides it's time to lie low for a bit. Taking up residence in a tiny seaside village, Eli and his companions seize the chance for some fun and relaxation. Nico, however, is finding it a bit hard. Plagued by a demon's voice in her head an...
9.5/10
The Spirit Rebellion by Rachel Aaron (The Legend of Eli Monpress)
Eli Monpress is brilliant. He's incorrigible. And he's a thief. He's also still at large, which drives Miranda Lyonette crazy. While she's been kicked out of the Spirit Court, Eli's had plenty of time to plan his next adventure. But now the tables have turned, because Miranda has a new job - and an opportunity to capture ...
9.2/10
The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron (The Legend of Eli Monpress)
Eli Monpress is talented. He's charming. And he's a thief. But not just any thief. He's the greatest thief of the age - and he's also a wizard. And with the help of his partners - a swordsman with the most powerful magic sword in the world but no magical ability of his own, and a demonseed who can step through shadows and pun...
9.0/10
The Men of the Sea by Seymour Hamilton (The Astreya Trilogy)
Trying to purge a nagging guilt, Roaring Jack sails the Mollie south again, and this time Astreya’s friend Cam is a stowaway. Adramin does everything he can to make Astreya fail. At the City of the Sea, the lawful meeting place of the great ships, family politics turn violent, with tragic consequences. Astreya must hurry to protect Lindey ...
8.8/10
The Voyage South by Seymour Hamilton (The Astreya Trilogy)
Astreya isn’t like the other boys in his remote fishing village. When Astreya leaves home, his widowed mother gives him his father’s knife, a riddling notebook, and a bracelet with a mysterious and powerful green stone. He sails south with an adventurous fishing boat skipper, hoping that in the world beyond, he can find out who his f...
8.2/10
The Griffin Mage Trilogy by Rachel Neumeier
The desert winds have come to the village of Minas Ford. Griffins, creatures of fire, have appeared in a burning haze - searing the sky a blinding white and scorching the earth to parched, barren sand. These majestic beasts, half-lion, half-eagle, spread the arid desert wherever they roam. Iaor, the King of Feierabiand, will not tolerate the des...
7.5/10
The Sounding by Carrie Salo
The Sounding, a supernatural and apocalyptic-themed story, is the debut novel of Carrie Salo.In the Book of Revelation, a man named John has a prophetic dream. He dreams of the final prophecies that will come to pass – and the seven archangels that guard them. Each angel waits to sound their trumpet at God’s appointed time, pr...
8.3/10
Michael Belmont and the Tomb of Anubis by Ethan Russell Erway
Michael Belmont and the Tomb of Anubis is the debut novel of Ethan Russell Erway. It follows the adventures of three children from America to Scotland to Egypt. It is a fictional children's book for ages 8-10 and upwards (even adults will enjoy it, I know I did!).Michael Belmont has always dreamed of leading a more adventurous life, b...
8.7/10
The Dark-Eyes' War by David B Coe (Blood of the Southlands)
A bitter old woman’s curse has set in motion events that have felled innocent lives across an already war-weary land. She has paid the ultimate price, and an end to the curse is at hand, but her evil has created chaos and destruction.Qirsi all across the Southlands are dying from a plague that turns their own magic against them, all...
8.5/10
The Horsemen's Gambit by David B Coe (Blood of the Southlands)
Tirnya, an accomplished swordswoman and military leader, burns with her people's shame. A century past, the magical Qirsi drove them from Deraqor, forcing them to resettle in Qalsyn. Her father, though a prominent lord, can never rule their adopted land and refuses to even speak of what they have lost. Yet she knows that given a chance, he w...
8.5/10
The Sorcerers' Plague by David B Coe (Blood of the Southlands)
Grinsa, who nearly single-handedly won the war of the Forelands, has been banished because he is a Weaver, a Qirsi who can wield many magics. He and his family seek only peace and a place to settle down. But even on the distant southern continent, they can't escape the tension between his magical folk and the non-magical Eandi. Instead of pe...
8.2/10
Galaxy Trotters by Marie C Lukic
Galaxy Trotters is a humorous science fiction fantasy quest about two inquisitive children who adventure in a space craft to a number of bedazzling planets. They learn about space travel, greening planets, deception and betrayal.When I asked to review Galaxy Trotters I had a good feeling that it was going to be a funny book and an enjoyab...
8.4/10
The Lord-Protector's Daughter by LE Modesitt Jr (Corean Chronicles)
The Lord-Protector's Daughter is the seventh novel in the Corean Chronicles by L.E. Modesitt and is a standalone novel as compared to the two trilogies that Modesitt has written in the world of Corus. The Lord-Protector's Daughter takes places several hundred years after the events of Soarer’s Choice.Mykella, the eldest daug...
5.0/10
The Scar by China Mieville (New Crobuzon)
A colossal fantasy of incredible diversity and spellbinding imagination. A human cargo bound for servitude in exile... A pirate city hauled across the oceans... A hidden miracle about be revealed... These are the ingredients of an astonishing story. It is the story of a prisoner's journey. Of the search for the island of a forgotten people, ...
9.2/10
Honor Among Thieves by David Chandler (The Ancient Blades Trilogy)
Honor Among Thieves is the last book of the epic/high fantasy Ancient Blades Trilogy, and is preceded by Den of Thieves and A Thief in the Night.When allies become enemies, to whom can a clever thief turn? Armed with one of seven Ancient Blades, Malden was chosen by Fate to act as savior… and failed dismally. And now there is no st...
8.2/10
Escapement by Jay Lake (Mainspring Universe)
Her Imperial Majesty Queen Victoria still rules New England and her American Possessions; The Royal Navy rules the skies with their mighty airships; and earth still turns on God’s great brass gears of Heaven.Paolina Barthes has grown up in a tiny village on Wall inhabited by the descendants of shipwrecked Portuguese sailors, isolate...
8.8/10
Mainspring by Jay Lake (Mainspring Universe)
Jay Lake is the winner of the 2004 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He is the author of more than 100 short stories and has been nominated for the Hugo Award and the World Fantasy Award. He lives in Portland, Oregon.“Her Imperial Majesty Queen Victoria still rules New England and her American Possessions; the Royal Navy r...
8.6/10
The White Fox by James Bartholomeusz (The Seven Stars Trilogy)
James Bartholomeusz lives in Hertfordshire, England and is currently studying English Literature at the University of Exeter. His first young-adult novel, The White Fox, will be published in December 2011 by Medallion Press, with two more in the same series to follow. James is the first author of the YA-YA (Young Adults writing for Young Adults)...
6.5/10
Tancredi by James Palumbo
“Tancredi is born on the same day that the scientists discover a new planet. They call it Surprise.It is indeed a Surprise!This small planet, so insignificant that it went unnoticed for millennia, soon reveals that one day it will develop into a supernova and is destined to be the instrument of Armageddo...
8.5/10
A Thief in the Night by David Chandler (The Ancient Blades Trilogy)
As a thief, Malden is unparalleled in the Free City of Ness. But he has no desire to take up arms against the forces of horrific evil. Yet by saving the life of the knight Croy, Malden has bound himself to an ancient, noble brotherhood and he now possesses a magical weapon forged at the dawn of time, one of only seven swords with incredible powe...
7.8/10
Den of Thieves by David Chandler (The Ancient Blades Trilogy)
Den of Thieves is the first instalment of an high epic fantasy trilogy called The Ancient Blades. David Chandler has previously written several horror books under the pseudonym of David Wellington but Den of Thieves is his first fantasy novel.“Born and raised in the squalid depths of the Free City of Ness, Malden becomes a thief by ...
8.3/10
The Saviour by DC Wood
Once upon a time, there were two orphans. Both suffered unimaginable tragedy. Tragedy that not only affected them, but the entire world as well. Eight years later, they have returned…Enter Adam Soranatos, a teenage celebrity martial artist, and a young man who is unaware of his true destiny. And enter Jaron Mahanah… who you ...
6.2/10
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy)
Frankly, after the Twilight bomb, I have tried my best to steer clear of ‘Young Adult Fantasy,’ which has become another term for ‘Sappy Supernatural Hokum.’Despite all the hype that surrounded Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone, I studiously avoided it, kept my eyes lowered, even though the blue and g...
9.0/10
Dawn of War by Tim Marquitz (Blood War Trilogy)
For hundreds of years, the bestial Grol have clawed at the walls of Lathah without success. Now armed with O'hra, mystical weapons of great power, they have returned, to conquer.Witness to the Grol advance, Arrin can abide his exile no longer. He returns to Lathah, in defiance of death, with hopes to save his beloved princess and the ...
7.5/10
Watchers by Essi Tolling (Tilly Greenway and the Secrets of the Ancient Keys)
Watchers, Tilly Greenway and the Secrets of the Ancient Keys, Book 1 is the debut novel written by Essi Tolling and the first instalment in a new fantasy series.“What if magic and myth are true and all that we have been told about the history of the earth is false? What if there is a sinister shadow government creating war and chaos...
7.8/10
The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King (The Dark Tower series)
King takes the great promise built in The Gunslinger and provides a second book that is even better, further fleshing out the characters and the places while providing an even more tantalising insight into their lives and the worlds they inhabit. If the first book peaked your interest then the seco...
9.9/10
The Alchemyst by Michael Scott (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
He holds the secret that can end the worldThe truth: Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on 28 September 1330. Nearly seven hundred years later, he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life.The records show that he died in 1418....
7.8/10
The Gunslinger by Stephen King (The Dark Tower series)
In his first step towards the powerful and mysterious Dark Tower, Roland Encounters an alluring woman names Alice, begins a friendship with Jake, a kid from New York, and faces an agonizing choice between damnation and salvation as he pursues the Man in Black.Few books can grab you and draw you into them quite as quickly and comp...
9.6/10