The Knight / Haut-Royaume 1 (Pierre Pevel)

* * * *    4/5 10

The High Kingdom is facing its darkest hour. Its King has been weakened by illness and many are discontent with the Queen’s regency. As rebellion rumbles throughout the land, new threats are massing forces at the realm’s borders. Desperate, the King decides to free Lorn, who has spent the past 3 years locked away on trumped up charges in the citadel of Dalroth. Acting on the advice of a mysterious emissary of the Dragon, he dubs Lorn ‘Knight of the Onyx Throne’, making him the upholder of royal authority. Lorn accepts the King’s mission but also hunts those responsible for his imprisonment. Reinstating the Onyx Guard, a once powerful elite force, he becomes a new figure of hope for his people. But some take a dim view of his growing popularity and influence, and they are busy plotting his downfall. If he foils his enemies, will he assume the role of champion that the Dragon’s Council of Emissaries have been seeking, the one capable of facing the Black Dragon? He must first confront an evil that gnaws at him ever since he was exposed to the Dark at Dalroth, which now threatens to overwhelm him.


Books of Haut-Royaume series:

1 | 2

The Grim Company / Grim Company 1 (Luke Scull)

* * * *    4/5 10

The difference between a hero and a killer lies in the ability to justify dark deeds. But this is the Age of Ruin. And there are no heroes... Five hundred years ago, the world was destroyed in the celestial Godswar. Seeking to throw off the shackles of the deities who created them, a cabal of mages rose up and made war upon the Gods. Though they won out, it was at a great cost: the ensuing cataclysm brought forth the Age of Ruin to the world. Five hundred years later, the world limps on, seemingly winding down to an inevitable end. Dystopian city states have arisen, each presided over by one of the Magelords who first made war. Corrupted, near  immortal, and far too powerful, those wizards who once sought to free the world now make war upon each other, while the helpless populace limp on from day to day. Into this blighted world, steps Davarus Cole, a boy obsessed with notions of heroism and adventuring, who burns to do great deeds. One night, in a reckless act, Cole gets himself into a brawl with the authories. He quickly finds himself sent away from the city, where the world still groans from the ancient cataclysm, and the corpses of Gods lie deep beneath the bedrock, leaking wild, uncontrolled magic into the world.

Books of Grim Company series:

1 | 2

The Sorcerer’s Quest / The Sorcerer’s Saga 1 (Rain Oxford)

* * * *    4/5 10

It’s not easy being the youngest of seven sons in a family of notorious sorcerers, especially for Ayden Dracre. In a world where sorcerers only practice dark magic and wizards only practice light magic, Ayden has a problem; he is very bad at being bad. Try as he might, all of his spells to cause mayhem go awry. When he finds out that his family has had enough of his mistakes, he decides to take destiny into his own hands. He has one chance to prove to his family that he is worthy of the sorcerer name or he will find himself on the unfortunate end of his mother’s wrath; he must defeat the greatest wizard of all the lands. There are only two problems: he doesn’t know how to fight with magic, and he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. If he’s going to survive this quest, he will have to rely on the most unlikely allies.

Books of The Sorcerer’s Saga series:

1 | 2

Night Blade / Colbana Files 2 (J.C. Daniels)

* * *    4/5 10

Kit Colbana is always biting off more than she can chew. She has a knack for finding trouble. This time, though, trouble finds her. Someone from her past drops a case into her lap that she just can’t refuse...literally. People on the Council are dying left and right and she’s been requested to investigate the deaths. The number one suspect? Her lover, Damon. If she doesn't clear his name, he gets a death sentence. Even if she succeeds? They still might try to execute him. Oh, and she’s not allowed to tell him about the case, either. The
stakes are high this time around, higher than they've ever been. Kit may be forced to pay the ultimate price to save her lover’s life...a price that could destroy her and everything she loves.

Characters: Kit Colbana, Damon Lee, Goliath, Chang

Books of Colbana Files series:

1 | 2

Blade Song / Colbana Files 1 (J.C. Daniels)

* * * *    4/5 10

Kit Colbana - half breed, assassin, thief, jack of all trades - has a new job: track down the missing ward of one of the local alpha shapeshifters. It should be a piece of cake. So why is she so nervous? It probably has something to do with the insanity that happens when you deal with shifters - especially sexy ones who come bearing promises of easy jobs and easier money. Or maybe it’s all the other missing kids that Kit discovers while working the case, or the way her gut keeps screaming she’s gotten in over her head. Or maybe it’s because if she fails she’s dead. If she can stay just one step ahead, she should be okay. Maybe she’ll even live long enough to collect her fee...

Characters: Kit Colbana, Damon Lee, Goliath, Chang

Books of Colbana Files series:

1 | 2

A Local Habitation / October Daye 2 (Seanan McGuire)

******** 8/10 Review of book A Local Habitation / October Daye 2 (Seanan McGuire)

Medium rating of  A Local Habitation (Seanan McGuire) / October Daye 2 ( year 2010)  Rating :  8 Stars   Goodreads Rating: 3.9

Opinion of  A Local Habitation (Seanan McGuire) / October Daye 2: Good, reread, lower the level a bit with respect to the first, to buy, read and enjoy.. Urban fantasy, cait sidhe, changeling, court fae, diplomacy, fae, family problems, murder, private investigator, espionage, assassination attempt, heritage, blood magic, fae knight,.

Blogs reviews:

All in all I was a little disappointed with A Local Habitation. The book felt far more predictable, and despite the large body count, safe than Rosemary and rue did. October ..

https://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/Seanan-McGuire/A-Local-Habitation.html

I can’t knock McGuire’s writing style. These books are so readable, which is one of the things I l..

https://jessticulates.com/2019/09/02/review-a-local-habitation-by-seanan-mcguire/

 It surpasses my expectations and it is an even better book than the first one because it maintains the..

https://www.thebooksmugglers.com/2010/03/joint-review-a-local-habitation-by-seanan-mcguire.html

It celebrates a perfect balance between the modern technological world and the ancient world of mythology.  Add to t..

http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/review-a-local-habitation-by-seanan-mcguire/

Unfortunately, the book is pretty heavily erased with a very straight, white cast. There’s also so unpleasant hints towards the killer ..

http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2012/01/review-local-habitation-by-seanan.html

There were a few things that frustrated me while reading this book but most of them can be explained away by “it’s magi..

https://sffbookreview.wordpress.com/2020/04/30/the-faerie-pi-continued-seanan-mcguire-a-local-habitation/

BUT… I still don’t absolutely hate it. I like October’s general personality and am really interested in all of the side characters. I like t..

https://nikihawkes.com/2020/09/29/book-review-a-local-habitation-by-seanan-mcguire/

So while I had some issues with this one, it wasn’t all bad – far from it, in fact! While I may not have been invested in the new character..

http://fineprintblog.com/review-a-local-habitation-by-seanan-mcguire/

October "Toby" Daye is a changeling, the daughter of Amandine of the fae and a mortal man. Like her mother, she is gifted in blood magic, able to read what has happened to a person through a mere taste of blood. Toby is the only changeling who has earned knighthood, and she reearns that position every day, undertaking assignments for her liege, Sylvester, the Duke of the Shadowed Hills.Now Sylvester has asked her to go to the County of Tamed Lightning otherwise known as Fremont, CA to make sure that all is well with his niece, Countess January O'Leary, whom he has not been able to contact. It seems like a simple enough assignment but when dealing with the realm of Faerie nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Toby soon discovers that someone has begun murdering people close to January, whose domain is a buffer between Sylvester's realm and a scheming rival duchy. If Toby can't find the killer soon, she may well become the next victim.

Books of October Daye series:

1 | 2 | 3

First pages / excerpts and first chapters of  A Local Habitation (Seanan McGuire) / October Daye 2: