fantasy – Page 2 – The Warbler Books

Wrath of the Orphans – Chris Philbrook

September 7, 2016 No Comments

A book that lives up to its name, Wrath of the Orphans is intense, gruesome—wrathful, even—and it stars a pair of orphans. Snark aside, It’s an intense ride. The pair endure the unthinkable: losing family, loved ones, home, and future in a single night. Truth be told, it was a bit cliché. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. I’ll admit to a bit of groaning when the first act of the story took me down such a familiar path; I was ready to be bored by the story at that point. But given that this was an audiobook (from the kind folks at Audible) and that I had many a chore to complete, I kept listening. And I’m glad I did. After the methodical destruction of their entire lives, the orphans don’t go down the path of traditional heroes. Rather, they go pretty much berserk and vote violent revenge

Spell/Sword – G. Derek Adams

July 30, 2016 No Comments

Asteroid Made of Dragons was G. Derek Adams’s first (semi-)traditionally published work, but the man was no stranger to releasing books. As you may (or may not) recall from my review of AMoD, Adams had self-published two prequels prior to winning the Sword and Laser contest on Inkshares. The first of those books is Spell/Sword, wherein we meet the protagonist duo of Rime and Jonas and go careening through glowing canyons and flying on wyverns with them on their first adventure. Adams was kind enough to provide me with a copy of Spell/Sword in audiobook form, which is currently available on Audible, and is wonderfully narrated by Rachel Ahrens, who brings a voice and character to Rime so close to what my mind created when I read AMoD that I was a bit surprised, to be honest. She really did a fantastic job. The thing about Adams’s writing is that,

Featured Author: Rebekka S. Leber

July 12, 2016 No Comments

As one of the hosts of Drinkshares: Last Call, Rebekka Leber (Facebook, Twitter) has cemented herself as an influential member of the Inkshares community. Her book, Proxy, is available for preorder now and if what I’ve read of it is any indication, it’s going to be gritty and dark, witty with snark, and … I can’t exactly think of a third pair rhyme that works. Long story short: it’s going to be a fantastic book. Learn more about Proxy and Rebekka below. About Proxy: Max Lucas only ever worried about one thing: how she was going to score her next bottle. She’s not proud, but it’s the only thing that ever gets the voices to shut up. When a horrific murder lifts the veil on her mysterious ancestry, she finally learns the reason why she can hear the thoughts of an entire city and why she can move objects with her mind. She’s

Featured Author: Kelsey Rae Barthel

July 6, 2016 No Comments

Note: at the time this interview was conducted, Beyond the Code was not yet published. The book is now available on Amazon. After an unplanned hiatus, we’re back with another featured author! Kelsey Rae Barthel’s book Beyond the Code caught my attention long before we’d been put in touch by a mutual contact. Her book will be published by Quill, Inkshares’s light-publishing imprint. Follow along with Beyond the Code on Twitter and Facebook. About Beyond the Code: As a Knight, Luna had always believed in the Knights code of honour and the Hand Council that governed them. That believe costs her dearly when Damon Lexus orders the death of Luna’s master to cover up her strong arming other Knights into her service through black mail and murder. In her search for justice for her fallen master she discovers that the Hand Council had been corrupted. That they were allowing masters like Lexus to steal

Draftshares: Fantasy & Historical

June 3, 2016 No Comments

Today’s the last day of The Warbler’s Draftshares coverage, after which we’ll be back to our scheduled programming. For now, these great Fantasy and Historical Fiction drafts ought to sate your thirst for book reviews. Makhaira: (Fantasy) Once a generation, a dragon slayer is sent off to save his people. None have returned. Now it’s Balfour’s turn. The Edge of the World: (Fantasy) A pirate captain abandons his crew to explore the edge of the world. Clockwork Charlie: (Dark Fantasy) Charlie just wants to work on cars in peace. Until a stranger arrives with news about her father’s death. He says she has a Gift, and she’s needed in a war that’s been hidden from the world for ages. Charlene has to find the truth-and make a choice. Electric Messiah – Lore of the Aos Sí: (Historical Fantasy) We were told it was man that was cast out of the garden of Eden. As mankind hurtles into the

Asteroid Made of Dragons – G. Derek Adams

April 20, 2016 3 Comments

It is obvious that G. Derek Adams, author of Asteroid Made of Dragons, understands the trappings and tropes of fantasy backwards and forwards. It is also obvious that he has tremendous love for the genre because (and in spite) of its cheesier clichés and frequent absurdities. I’m not getting down on fantasy here. Long time readers of the Warbler know that I, too, love fantasy well, even if my interest waned of late. Adams’s book was the perfect supplement to A Crucible of Souls—a book that took itself very seriously—in reinvigorating my love of fantasy. Asteroid Made of Dragons is a self-aware, funny, and action-packed novel that is basically a Dungeons and Dragons adventure in delicious prose. It is absurd and delightful, with a great cast of characters, fun set pieces, and suffused with a larger-than-fantasy-life essence that punctuates every page of the book. It also happens to be the third book

Updraft – Fran Wilde

September 15, 2015 No Comments

Well, this book was absolutely wonderful. It also happens to be the first “galley” I received from Tor/Forge (which is unbelievable, and feels like the greatest achievement of this website) through NetGalley. So, thanks NetGalley and Tor! If Fran Wilde’s debut novel is any indication of what’s to come from her, she’s going to have a prominent space on the bookshelves in my home. Updraft is fantastic. The setting is rich, interesting, and mysterious, and is as much a character as the (well-written) characters in Updraft, the unfolding mystery of which plays a pivotal role in the story, though much is left to the imagination,. Updraft takes place in a city the sky, built of impossibly large towers, grown of living bone. The humans living there have long forgotten — or perhaps never even knew — the world beneath the clouds. Their society is governed by a complex set of

The Broken Empire – Mark Lawrence

April 21, 2014 1 Comment

I had a blank post ready for a review of Prince of Thorns a short while ago, and before I started writing that review of the first book of The Broken Empire, I found myself voraciously gobbbling up King of Thorns, and ultimately couldn’t stay away from Emperor of Thorns long enough to pen any thoughts about the spectacular books that make up Mark Lawrence’s incredible first offering to the fantasy genre. And they are truly wonderful. They had come highly recommended by several friends, who stated time and again that these books were “badass,” “brutal,” “hardcore,” and the highest praise of all: “dude…” By day, Mark Lawrence is a research scientist in the field of artificial intelligence. By night, he writes some of the best fantasy fiction I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Caution, dear reader. There be spoilers ahead. The Broken Empire takes place in a world

The Next Thousand

May 16, 2012 2 Comments

Hello, friends. I thought it might be nice to share with you the next thousand-word submission for the online group. I won’t bury the blog under weekly submissions for the writing project, but I have a feeling it will crop up occasionally. Enjoy!

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