Author: The Unseen Library

The Unseen Librarian I have been reviewing since 2009. I previously reviewed for the Canberra Times. I am now a reviewer for the Canberra Weekly.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Comedy/Satire, Fantasy11 Comments

Publisher: Orbit (Trade Paperback – 6 August 2024)

Series: Dark Lord Davi – Book One

Length: 395 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Hilarious author Django Wexler presents one of the funniest and most memorable fantasy novels of 2024 with the deeply addictive How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying.  Serving as the first book in Wexler’s new Dark Lord Davi series, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying was an extremely amusing book that has been on my radar for a while due to its amazing-sounding plot.

It’s a tale as old as time.  An ordinary human becomes trapped in a mythical fantasy realm and is subsequently lauded as the prophesied hero of legend, destined to rule the kingdom and defeat the conquering Dark Lord.  But what happens when the human protagonist gets sick of living and dying as the hero?

That’s the question that falls to Davi, a young woman who has become trapped in a bloody and predictable time loop.  Constantly forced to become the leader of the soon-to-be-destroyed humans of The Kingdom, Davi has tried time and time again to organise an army capable of defeating the oncoming and everchanging Dark Lord, only to fail and die in agony in over 200 inventive ways.  After nearly a thousand years of playing the hero and losing in brutal fashion, Davi has had enough and decides that if you can’t beat them, become them.

Determined to take control of her destiny, Davi sets out to do the direct opposite of every other loop.  If the Dark Lord always wins, then this time Davi will take her place at the top of the winning side and become the new Dark Lord herself.  But first she must pull together a band of followers from the various non-human races of the realm and bring her loyal minions to the Convocation where the new Dark Lord is chosen, far away in lands she’s never even seen.  Standing between Davi and her destiny lie multitudes of deadly landscapes, brutal enemies, and all manner of unique obstacles that a Dark Lord in training needs to overcome.  Armed with her wits, her accumulated knowledge of the world, the ability to use her own death to her advantage, and an insane amount of humorous confidence, Davi may be able to do the impossible and finally win.  But Davi will soon learn that becoming the Dark Lord isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying was a highly entertaining and insanely captivating read that I honestly could not get enough off.  Featuring a brilliant scenario that Wexler plays to comedic perfection, combined with dark humour and a uniquely insane protagonist, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is an outstanding novel that I had so much fun reading.

I must admit that I instantly loved the very fun premise of this book which saw the protagonist decide to take on the role of the Dark Lord after hundreds of failed attempts to survive as the hero.  Wexler did an outstanding job setting this idea up in the first couple of chapters of How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, and you are quickly intrigued by the combination of a bloody time loop, a despondent, if hyper, protagonist, and the entire change of plan said protagonist embarks upon.  As such, you are completely onboard as soon as Davi starts to implement her plan, and the resulting carnage proves to be highly entertaining and fun.  After multiple bloody failed attempts to start her new turn to darkness, Davi soon begins to get into her groove as the next Dark Lord, recruiting a small band of minions, and taking the first steps to proving she has what it takes to rule.

Davi’s subsequent quest to become the Dark Lord involves an intense adventure arc, as she leads her army through various fun fantasy locations.  Along the way to her destination, Davi engages in different schemes to recruit new followers, especially when she encounters some chaotic communities whose internal strife she is able to exploit.  The story devolves into an awesome combination of intrigue, humorous encounters, fantasy action and personal character growth, as the protagonist becomes more comfortable with the Dark Lord lifestyle.  After several extended sequences at key locations, the protagonist eventually reaches her goal and begins her trials to become the new Dark Lord.  However, nothing at the trials is what it seems, and Davi is forced to deal with multiple enemies from her various pasts to survive.  There are some great moments in this final part of the book, including tragic betrayals, heart-felt romance, intriguing revelations, and some big fights, all of which leads to an interesting open-ended conclusion that will ensure readers come back for the next book in the series.

I had an exceptional amount of fun with How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, and Wexler had a fantastic style that really appealed to me.  Told exclusively from the slightly crazed first-person perspective of the protagonist, readers are treated to Davi’s highly excitable inner thoughts as she recounts her journey to becoming the Dark Lord.  This proved to be a great medium to explore the more complex elements of the plot, and I appreciated how Wexler was able to succinctly dive into time-loop and Davi’s place in it, while also moving the plot along.  The author also introduces a serviceable and intriguing fantasy world the plot of How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, which proved interesting to explore.  While a little basic in places, Wexler does feature some excellent concepts here, and readers will enjoy watching Davi explore it with her own unique perspective, especially as she forms new ideas about the supposedly evil wilders (non-human creatures) as she works with them.  While some of these concepts are a little complex at times, everything honestly works extremely well for the entertaining plot, and I really appreciated how effectively the author was able to explore and utilise his fantastic ideas.

While all these great concepts help to craft a unique book, what holds everything together and keeps the reader’s attention is the relentless comedy that Wexler injects into nearly every page of How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying.  I really connected to Wexler’s humour in this book, and I found myself chuckling away for large chunks of it.  Thanks to the slightly cracked protagonist, the reader is bombarded with a constant array of jokes, hilarious commentary, and over-the-top moments, as Davi combats the horrors both in front and behind her with humour.  A lot of this humour was driven by the protagonist having a modern, nerdish perspective in a crazy fantasy world, and her reactions ranged from sarcastic to goofy.  Wexler also makes great use of an array of continuous footnotes to tell additional jokes outside the flow of the narrative, or to really expand on an interesting or funny point.  I am a big fan of the use of footnotes for comedic purposes (blame my Terry Pratchett upbringing), and Wexler made it work really well here.  The author also relies on quite a lot of highly adult humour throughout the book, which helped to give How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying an interesting flair.  While I could see some readers not liking how continuously risqué the book got, or how over-the-top the humour is in general, I personally felt that it worked and allowed for quite an amusing, if slightly randy, experience.

Talking of crazy humour, I must highlight the fantastic central protagonist of How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, Davi.  A modern-day and highly nerdy woman who finds herself trapped in this recurring fantasy adventure without any idea of how she got there, Davi is an interesting figure, and you really connect with her as the plot continues, especially as a lot of hilarity is drawn from her outrageous behaviour and thoughts.  Davi is constantly cracking jokes, making sarcastic inner observations and meta commentary, often driven by her modern experiences, and it’s hard not to be amused by her antics.  She also has some great, often ridiculous interactions with the various fantasy creatures she encounters, and I liked seeing her unusual persona connect with these more serious creatures.

While it is easy to get lost in Davi’s comedic persona, the further you get into the book, the more apparent it is that her cracked behaviour has been brought on by the constant trauma from her hundreds of deaths and the accompanying thousand years of experience that she has lived through as part of her fantasy adventure.  The initial exposure to her early trauma and rage at the start of the book gives you enough of a glimpse of this that you appreciate her turn to the dark side, but you see even more of it as the story continues.  A lot of this is because, even after years of watching everyone die, she still cares about the people around her, and the impacts of her decisions start to wear on her.  While she maintains her zany persona for much of the book, a new romance and a dark change in her circumstances towards the end of the book nearly break her, and I felt that Wexler did an outstanding job of trying to humanise her there, especially as she sometimes gives off uncaring, immortal vibes.  Thanks to these deeper personality traits, as well as her comedic nature, I really grew to appreciate to Davi as main character, especially as she is a lot more capable and competent thanks to her experiences, although she still makes some interesting mistakes (never sleep with your minions, everyone knows that).  As such, I look forward to seeing how her story continues, especially as things are likely to get even more out of control for her.

Overall, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler was an awesome book that I honestly found to be quite addictive.  The fantastic central scenario is greatly enhanced by the author’s outrageous humour and clever storytelling, and it allows for quite an outstanding read.  Slick, unique and very, very funny, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying was one of the more unique fantasy novels of 2024, and if you are in the mood for a great laugh, then this is the book for you.  I personally am very excited to see how the Dark Lord Davi series continues in the future, and the second novel, Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me, is set for release in May 2025.

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Warhammer 40,000: Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge by Gary Kloster

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer1 Comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 9 March 2024)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 11 hours and 47 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Secrets, lies and devils from the past converge around the Dark Angels in this exceptional Warhammer 40,000 novel from Gary Kloster, Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge.

I have been on a real roll with Warhammer 40,000 fiction this year, as books like Da Big Dakka by Mike Brooks, Deathworlder by Victoria Hayward, Oaths of Damnation by Robbie MacNiven and Renegades: Lord of Excess by Rich McCormick have all proven to be exceptional additions the Warhammer canon.  But despite how awesome the above books and others have proven to be, I am still keen for more.  That is why I made sure to listen to a copy of the early 2024 novel, Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge by new-to-me author Gary Kloster.  An interesting entry that follows members of the iconic Dark Angels chapter, Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge was a book I nearly didn’t read this year, but I was sure glad that I did.

For over 10,000 years the Space Marines of the Dark Angels chapter have defended the Imperium of Man from all manner of insidious threats, all while keeping their own terrible secrets hidden.  Maintaining watch for fallen members of their order, the Dark Angels are forced to balance their Chapter’s need for secrecy and revenge with their solemn duty to keep humanity safe from the monsters and heretics stalking the stars.  But not every member of the Dark Angel’s inner circle believes that the battles of the past should impact the Chapter’s future.

Lazarus, Master of the Dark Angels Fifth Company, knows the burden that history can have on the soul.  The first Primaris Marine to hold rank within the chapter’s inner circle, Lazarus finds himself haunted by the battle that killed him and forced him to undergo the Rubicon surgery.  Determined to rid the universe of all psykers and the foul forces of Chaos behind them, Lazarus is a dedicated warrior, although one that questions the secrets that impact his ability to fulfill his duty.  That is why, when an ancient beacon located on the planet Reis is activated, the Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels, Azrael, summons Lazarus and his Fifth Company to fulfill an old debt of honour.

A thousand years before, the Imperial Knight world of Reis was nearly overwhelmed by a rampaging army of daemons, resulting in the destruction of the planet’s war machine guardians, and only through the intervention of the Dark Angels was Reis saved.  But now, after years of peace, Reis finds itself under attack from a new foe, one that may cause another daemonic incursion.  Determined to ensure the daemons stay in the warp, Lazarus arrives to assess the situation on Reis, but soon discover that not everything is as it seems.  The planet is a hotbed of sinister politics, ancient grudges, and long-buried secrets, all of which conspire to drag Reis closer to destruction.  Forced to navigate the planet’s complex history, Lazarus discovers a terrible enemy hiding deep within the planet’s jungles, one that, like Lazarus, refuses to die.  To save Reis and his brothers, Lazarus must uncover the true hidden past of the planet and understand the origin of the grudge that could turn the Dark Angels against the Imperium they are sworn to protect.

Wow, Warhammer 40,000 fiction is in peak form in 2024 as Gary Kloster deeply impressed me with Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge.  Featuring a particularly complex and captivating narrative that blended awesome action and great characters with a clever and well-written plot, Enmity’s Edge proved to be extremely addictive, and I found myself irreversibly hooked.  Exciting, intense and loaded with all manner of intrigue, Enmity’s Edge is one of the best Warhammer books of 2024 and gets a full five-star rating from me.

I must admit that when I first decided to check out Enmity’s Edge, I didn’t quite know what to expect.  Space Marine focused Warhammer 40,000 novels can sometimes be an overloaded, action slog colloquially known as “Bolter porn”, and I was initially slightly worried that was the direction Enmity’s Edge was going, especially as it started off with an intense war sequence against orks.  However, Kloster instead showcased a remarkably compelling and layered Warhammer 40,00 novel that made excellent use of its Dark Angel protagonists and a unique, secret-laden background setting.  The initial battle serves as a great introduction to the main protagonist, Lazarus, and his command staff, and you get a sense of his tactical skills, as well as his dislike of psykers and the secrets of his order.  This leads nicely to the more complex part of the book, as the reader is introduced to some interesting side characters, as well as the world of Reis, where Lazarus and his company are sent to.

Arriving on Reis, Lazarus discovers a unique world of secrets, lies and hidden history, with the populace attacked by a mysterious fungal infection that has taken over various host bodies.  Quickly diving into the fray to determine the full extent of the threat, the first half of the book sees the Dark Angels essentially taking on the zombies from The Last of Us with an intelligent malevolence behind them, and these unique antagonists prove an interesting alternative to the classic villains of the franchise.  From there the story devolves into an intriguing combination of sequences, as Lazarus attempts to uncover his true opponent, while also dealing with attacks on multiple fronts.  This leads to some compelling and occasionally brutal scenes, including a continued conflict inside an Adeptus Mechanicus base, as well as some other great sequences scattered throughout the planet.  The author spends some substantial time building up some impressive and moving character arcs, as various figures deal with the chaotic events in different ways.

The author does an excellent job building up a great hidden villain who the protagonist must uncover, and the secrets and mysterious surrounding the figure really adds to the intrigue of the story.  While the identity of some of the antagonists are a little predictable, the journey getting there is impressive, and I loved the setup to the answers that Kloster subtly hid through the earlier parts of the book, with the reliance on understanding the past to survive the future being a great recurring theme.  This leads up to a particularly intense and dark final third as the antagonist’s very long-term plot comes to dramatic fruition.  Kloster does a masterful job of building up tension and substantially upping the stakes in the leadup to this, and you find yourself deeply engaged as you wait to see how everything will unfold.  There are some brilliant moments here, including a ton of over-the-top action, some fantastic plot resolutions, and several particularly tragic moments as the protagonists face overwhelming foes.  The overall resolution is very clever and builds on some excellent prior story inclusions and character growth, that Kloster wraps up perfect.  The end result is an awesome, memorable and particularly enthralling standalone story, that really showcases just how cool and complex a Warhammer 40,000 story can be.

I really enjoyed how Enmity’s Edge came together, and I felt Kloster had a great writing style the ensured a powerful and intense story.  His entire complex narrative was a ton of fun from start to finish, and it proved to be well showcased through several compelling protagonist perspectives.  While there is a ton of awesome and intense action in this book, as is required for a Warhammer 40,000 novel (war is in the name for a reason), the focus on a more subtle threat ensured that Enmity’s Edge stood out from the pack.  I particularly appreciated how subtly Kloster set up a lot of key story elements early in the book and they all paid off extremely well, with a great theme on the lessons of the past recurring in an excellent way.  I also must highlight the great new setting of the planet Reis, which Kloster made fantastic use of.  The Warhammer 40,000 universe is home to a multitude of intriguing and unique worlds, but Reis really stood out to me thanks to Kloster’s vibrant descriptions and the clever way the planet’s complex history and disposition played into the narrative.  An Imperial Knight planet (a feudal world governed by mech pilots who take the whole knight thing way too seriously) that has fallen on hard times thanks to the destruction of the ruler’s battle suits, Reis is a hotbed of dark history, lingering secrets, and intense rivalries, covered with useful fungus.  Kloster perfectly introduces and then utilizes this planet throughout the narrative, and you find yourself getting really drawn into the revealed history, especially as it produces a particularly effective and dark antagonist.  These writing elements ensure that Kloster’s captivating narrative pops in the reader’s mind, and I was really impressed with how he presented this excellent Warhammer novel.

In addition to being an outstanding read, I also felt that Enmity’s Edge was an excellent piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and one that really emphasizes how clever and compelling a story in this canon can be.  Focusing on the Space Marine chapter, the Dark Angels, Kloster presents a gripping standalone narrative that makes great use of the franchise’s unique features and history without getting too bloated or lore heavy.  Thanks to how effectively the author covers these franchise inclusions, I felt that readers unfamiliar with Warhammer fiction could easily jump into Enmity’s Edge without too much pre-knowledge and still deeply enjoy the plot, especially as it really showcases how cool the iconic Space Marines can be.  More established Warhammer 40,000 fans will naturally get a lot more out of the story, especially as Kloster explored some particularly awesome aspects of the universe.  I personally loved how well he showcased the various squads featured within a specific Space Marines company, and it was fun to have a mixture of troop specializations and vehicles which reminded me of tabletop gameplay at times.  He also does an outstanding job showcasing the Dark Angels, who are one of the more popular Space Marine chapters for a reason.  This proved to be a very strong book for Dark Angels fans, and I appreciated how he veered away from the typical topics you’d expect for a Dark Angels novel (completely focused on the Fallen), and instead showed them facing a fresh foe with some excellent motivations to hate them.  As such, this is a highly recommend read for all Warhammer fans that might also attract a few new readers to the franchise.

One of Enmity’s Edge’s real strengths was the excellent batch of characters that Kloster set the narrative around.  This includes the titular protagonist, Lazarus, Master of the Dark Angels Fifth Company, who proves to be an intriguing central character.  A well-known tactician, secret holder, and one of the few commanding Primaris marines (an upgraded Space Marines) in the Chapter, Lazarus proves to be a great main figure for the plot.  While some Space Marine characters in fiction can be a little one-dimensional, I felt that Kloster did an excellent job turning Lazarus into a complex figure, haunted by his previous battles, concerned about the future of his chapter, and bitter about those friends he has lost to psykers.  There are some great scenes featuring Lazarus throughout Enmity’s Edge, especially as he showed a lot of humanity to a certain point-of-view character, and it was intriguing to see his tactical mind in action.  He also proves to be an excellent foil to the excellent main antagonist of the plot, and they had some compelling scenes together.

Aside from Lazarus, Enmity’s Edge featured a raft of notable support characters, including several major members of the Dark Angels Fifth Company.  I particularly enjoyed the imposing and unfailingly honorable figure of Ancient Jequn, the Fifth Company’s veteran standard bearer.  Jequn has a particularly tragic arc in this book, and I really grew attached to him and his resolve throughout the run of Enmity’s Edge.  Other enjoyable characters included members of Lazarus’s command squad, an Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priest whose technology reflects their obsession with birds, and the various key rulers of Reis.  The antagonists of Enmity’s Edge are also well set-up and utilized, and while I won’t got into too much detail of them here, they had some brilliant sequences, and really enhanced the overall narrative.

However, I felt that one of the best characters in Enmity’s Edge was Learned Ysentrud, an enhanced human of a type found only on Reis called a Wyrbuk, who finds themselves helping the Dark Angels.  Essentially a living repository of knowledge, Ysentrud becomes a key figure in the plot as she provides the Dark Angels with history and insights into Reis that allow them to uncover the plot’s big mystery.  Probably the book’s main point-of-view protagonist after Lazarus, Ysentrud had one of the more relatable character perspectives in Enmity’s Edge, as she finds herself surrounded by the demi-god figures of the Space Marines as they engage in combat.  Not only does Ysentrud’s perspective help to bring readers a little more into the plot, but I really enjoyed the compelling story arc Kloster wove around her as she attempted to find her courage and prove her worth to the Dark Angels.  Kloster’s entire arc around Ysentrud was really well written, and I felt that her complex personal narrative was a particularly strong part of the book.

Those familiar with this blog will be unsurprised that I chose to enjoy Enmity’s Edge on audiobook, which is how I primarily check out all my Warhammer content.  As with most Warhammer 40,000 books, Enmity’s Edge came across extremely well in this format, and you are in for a really good time listening to it.  Coming in with a runtime just short of 12 hours, listeners can get through Enmity’s Edge’s audiobook in no time at all, especially once you get caught up in its fantastic story.  The intense action, elaborate sequences and deep intrigue of the plot is perfectly enhanced by having it read out to you, and I loved hearing the elaborate descriptions of the setting and the unique characters within it.  I was also very impressed by narrator John Banks, who has lent his voice to several Warhammer audiobooks over the years.  Banks did a remarkable job diving into the various characters featured within Enmity’s Edge, and I also felt that his amazing voice lent a lot of gravitas to these figures.  While all the characters are given excellent and fitting voices, I particularly loved his take on the various Dark Angels characters featured throughout the plot.  He gives these genetically enhanced, ancient warriors the booming and commanding voices you would expect, and their emphatic declarations sound really cool here.  I absolutely powered through this excellent audiobook, and I would strongly recommend it as the very best way to enjoy Enmity’s Edge.

Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge by Gary Kloster was another excellent 2024 Warhammer 40,000 novel that I could not get enough of.  Featuring a complex and intense plot of betrayal, secrets and dark history, Enmity’s Edge grabs your attention early and ensures you can’t put it down as you rush towards the end.  One of the best Warhammer 40,000 novels of the year, Enmity’s Edge is a must read of all fans of the franchise, and I really loved its brilliant story.

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WWW Wednesday – 6 November 2024

On By The Unseen LibraryIn WWW Wednesday1 Comment

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words, where bloggers share the books that they’ve recently finished, what they are currently reading and what books they are planning to read next. Essentially you have to answer three questions (the Three Ws):

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

So, let’s get to it.

What are you currently reading:

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang (Trade Paperback)

I just started reading the intriguing fantasy novel, Blood Over Bright Haven.  The new book from acclaimed author M. L. Wang, Blood Over Bright Haven follows intrigue, politics and passionate research in a massive university with a very intriguing magical system.  I’ve only made a bit of progress on Blood Over Bright Haven but it is proving to be a pretty awesome read that I think has a ton of potential.

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Darkside by Michael Mammay (Audiobook)

I’ve also started listening to the epic science fiction thriller Darkside by Michael Mammay.  The fourth book in Mammay’s Planetside series (made up of Planetside, Spaceside and Colonyside), Darkside brings back the author’s controversial protagonist as he investigates a missing persons case on a moon-based mining colony, run by two companies who have both tried to kill him in the past.  I’ve made a bit of a dent in Darkside so far and I am getting pretty drawn into its compelling story.  I’m hoping to get through Darkside in the next week and I cannot wait to see how it unfolds.

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What did you recently finish reading?

The Heart of the World by Amie Kaufman (Trade Paperback)

I managed to finish off the excellent and fast-paced young adult fantasy novel The Heart of the World by Australian author Amie Kaufman.  The sequel to The Isles of the Gods, The Heart of the World was a great conclusion to this duology and I’m hoping to get a review up for it soon.

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The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne (Audiobook)

I also managed to finish off the epic new John Gwynne book, The Fury of the Gods.  The final entry in Gwynne’s Bloodsworn Saga (see my reviews for The Shadow of the Gods and The Hunger of the Gods), The Fury of the Gods was a particularly awesome book that I could not get enough of.  Loaded with action and elaborate characters, this was a very strong and impressive fantasy novel and one of my favourite books of 2024.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

I’ve got several awesome books to check out in the next few weeks, but I think I’ll start by diving into the awesome Australian murder mystery novel, Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret by Benjamin Stevenson.  The follow up to Stevenson’s previous books, Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone and Everyone on this Train is a Suspect, Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret is going to be an amazing read loaded with mystery, comedy and over-the-top characters.

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That’s it for this week, check back in next Wednesday to see what progress I’ve made on my reading and what books I’ll be looking at next.

Waiting on Wednesday – Four Ruined Realms by Mai Corland

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Waiting on Wednesday6 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I check out the awesome upcoming sequel to a great fantasy novel I read in 2024, with Four Ruined Realms by Mai Corland.

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Earlier this year I had the great pleasure of reading the fantasy debut, Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland.  An exciting, intense and clever character-driven fantasy novel with some strong romantasy elements, Five Broken Blades was a fantastic read that saw several of the biggest liars in a fantasy kingdom team up to take down their immortal king.  Essentially one big heist novel with over-the-top characters, excellent action, tons of intrigue and a whole lot of personal issues, Five Broken Blades was a deeply enjoyable book, and I had a brilliant time getting through it, especially in its audiobook format which featured multiple excellent narrators.

While I didn’t love absolutely everything about Five Broken Blades (I’m not a huge romantasy fan, although Corland kept these elements fairly subtle), I did get really caught up in the narrative and I am very curious to see how it is going to continue.  As such, I am eager to get my hands on the upcoming sequel, Four Ruined Realms, which looks set to send the protagonists on another deadly heist.  Set for release in early January 2025, Four Ruined Realms has a great plot behind it, and I’m looking forward to finding out how Corland builds on the clever twist and cliffhanger at the end of Five Broken Blades.

Plot Synopsis:

The lies are bigger and the plots more treacherous when your favourite backstabbers return in the mind-blowing sequel to instant Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller Mai Corland’s epic adventure fantasy Five Broken Blades.

The King of Yusan may be the greatest liar of them all.

His sister’s ring is in his sights, and he will do anything to get what he wants. Even manipulating the five blades to steal it…

Bonded by deceit, the blades must rely on their skills to pull off King Joon’s pursuit or risk his legendary wrath.

A foreign rule of law stands between them and Quilimar, the Queen of Khitan. Now they have one month to steal the powerful Golden Ring of the Dragon Lord. But that impossible task might be easier than trusting one another, even though their lives, their families, and the realms depend on it.

They can all agree on one thing: the king can’t win. But can they beat him at his own game?

Because for the blades, this time it’s not just personal, it’s revenge. Lies may have torn them apart, but now vengeance will bring them together.

The lies have only just begun…

Four Ruined Realms sounds like a very fun read, and I cannot wait to see how Corland’s protagonists fair during their next heist.  There are so many cool elements from the first book that need to be continued here, including the consequences of their various lies and manipulations, their own unique desires that often run counter to each other, and the fact that they now all want vengeance on King Joon, the man who brought them together in the first place.  I cannot wait to see how the characters interact in Four Ruined Realms, especially now that all their cards are on the table, and I am sure there will be even more backstabbing and betrayals along the way.  As such, I am imagining that Four Ruined Realms will be another intense, clever and captivating read, that continues to explore the excellent protagonists, while also presenting an exciting new target for them.

Due to how much I enjoyed the first book in this series, there is no way that I won’t be grabbing Four Ruined Realms when it comes out early next year.  I am very curious to see how Corland continues this story, and the author has really hooked me with her various cool characters.  This will probably be one of the first books of 2025 I read in the new year, and I am hoping to grab it on audiobook again after the great experiences I had with the format for Five Broken Blades.  No matter how I read it though, I have no doubt that Four Ruined Realms is going to be an outstanding and addictive fantasy read.

Top Ten Tuesday – Covers with Ships on the Cover

On By The Unseen LibraryIn List6 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics.  For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, participants are required to list their top ten favourite covers with an item of the blogger’s choice on them.  This is an interesting topic that I have done in the past, producing a striking list about book covers featuring dragons that I felt really popped.  However, I’ve been in a nautical mood lately, so I’m going to do a list focusing on book covers where ships are prominently featured.

For this list I am envisioning old, classic seafaring ships, or at least something that could be sailed in a terrestrial setting.  As such, I am excluding spaceships from this list, primarily because I think that is a separate list that I could do at some other point.  Even with this restriction I was able to come up with a fun collection of book covers where ships are featured prominently.  This list looks really awesome, and I had a fun time pulling it together.

Honourable Mentions:

The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepherd

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Black Leviathan (German Cover) by Bernd Perplies

I’m slightly cheating by featuring the German version of this cover, but as its cool, I’ll allow it.  I loved this whole book, and it was fun to follow an airship crew (technically a ship) as they hunt dragons.

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Seas of Swords by R. A. Salvatore

The use of the ship is subtle in this cover, but I just love seeing Drizzt framed by the rigging.

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Top Ten Tuesday:

The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne

I just had to feature the cover of the book I’m reading now, The Fury of the Gods, which looks so damn awesome.  Gwynne’s Bloodsworn trilogy has featured some brilliant covers the last couple of years, although this one might be my favourite.  The ship featured in this cover is really small, but it’s placement in front of the rampaging snake god ensures it has a lot more impact.  I love the contrast in sizes between the ship and the giant monster, and it helps to make this such an amazing cover.

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Jingo by Terry Pratchett

A cover that has long been stuck in my mind, as Jingo was one of the first Discworld novels I ever read.  The original cover art of Jingo featured two ships bordering the main battle on the weathercock, with various characters from the books dawn in Josh Kirby’s distinctive style.  Later versions of the cover removed the ships and only featured the central conflict.  This meant that I had a bit of a hard time finding a good picture of the cover that fully showcased the two ships in detail, so sorry if the full awesomeness doesn’t come across in the above shot.

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Heastward Ho! by Garry Kilworth

Few covers are as much fun as the one for Heastward Ho!.  The final book in Garry Kilworth’s Welkin Weasels series, which is set in a world with sentient rodents, Heastward Ho! featured a great adventure tale that I loved when I was younger.  The cover for Heastward Ho! is very distinctive, especially with the weasel crewed ship firing cannons, and I love the fantastic blend of colourful elements.  An overall excellent cover, although I must give a special mention to the other Welkin Weasels’ novel, Windjammer Run, which also featured a cool ship-focussed cover.

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Pieces of Eight by John Drake

An awesome historical fiction book that provided a new take on the Treasure Island characters, Pieces of Eight has a fantastic cover that not only shows a cool pirate ship in the background, but also had two of the character’s fighting in the ships rigging.

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Queen of Storms by Raymond E. Feist

The hardcover copy of Queen of Storms featured a great seascape shot with the titular ship, Queen of Storms, right in the middle.  An excellent cover that really captures the imagination.

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The Eagle’s Prophecy by Simon Scarrow

The sixth book in Simon Scarrow’s Eagles of the Empire series, The Eagle’s Prophecy, took the protagonists on a very different adventure, as they stopped fighting the British and took on pirates instead.  The have been a few different versions of the cover released over the years, although the one I originally got was the simple, but effective, cover with the ship’s sail above.  A great cover with some detailed art that immediately tells the reader that there is something nautically themed about this book.

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Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

The second Gentleman Bastards novel, Red Seas Under Red Skies, features quite a lot of nautical elements, including a good half of the book spent out at sea, so it’s inevitable that they would feature some fantastic ships on the cover.  There have been several different covers for Red Seas Under Red Skies released over the years, all of which look quite excellent and matched the themes of the book very well.  However, my favourite is the one above that really captures the chaotic nature of the plot.  The ship on fire references a key scene in the novel, and it blends beautifully with the titular red skies and red sea to create a striking image.  An awesome and memorable cover that I have a lot of love for.

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The Fathomless Caves by Kate Forsyth

Kate Forsyth’s brilliant Witches of Eileanan fantasy series featured some great covers throughout its run, although the best one with a ship is The Fathomless Caves, which was the last book in the original series.  Setting the ship in front of an erupting volcano, the original The Fathomless Caves cover has always stood out to me, and I love the contrasting colours and imagery.  There were actually a few books in this series I could have used, with The Forbidden Land and The Skull of the World also featuring distinctive original paperback covers that also made great use of ships, but I think the above cover for The Fathomless Caves is the only choice.

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The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

There is a lot of Viking imagery in the Last Kingdom books by Bernard Cornwell, and I love the various shots of longboats and other watercraft that are routinely featured on the cover.  One of the best can be found on the first book in the series, The Last Kingdom, which features two cool longships ploughing the waves to battle.  Viking/Danish ships are so damn awesome, and I think this is one of the better cover art versions of them in this series.

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Mossflower by Brian Jacques

The final book cover I want to feature on this the fantastic novel Mossflower by Brian Jacques.  Like many fantasy fans I spend my youth reading the fun and distinctive Redwall series by Brian Jacques that featured some brilliant art depicting the animal protagonists in action.  Quite a few of these covers features boats or ships to some degree, so I was spoiled for choice here.  Of them, I love the cover for Mossflower the most, as it really captures the magic of the plot and features outstanding artwork of the ship in question.  This was a great cover and an awesome final inclusion for this list.

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Well, that’s my list.  As you can see there are some incredible books out there that make great use of ships and boats on their cover.  All the above books are really awesome as well, and you can have an incredible time reading them while also appreciating their great covers.  I had a lot of fun coming up with this list, and I will have to think about replicating it with another item in the future.  In the meantime, let me know what your favourite books with ships on the cover are in the comments below.

WWW Wednesday – 30 October 2024

On By The Unseen LibraryIn WWW WednesdayLeave a comment

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words, where bloggers share the books that they’ve recently finished, what they are currently reading and what books they are planning to read next. Essentially you have to answer three questions (the Three Ws):

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

So, let’s get to it.

What are you currently reading:

The Heart of the World by Amie Kaufman (Trade Paperback)

I’ve just started to read the intriguing young adult fantasy novel The Heart of the World by Australian author Amie Kaufman.  The sequel to The Isles of the Gods, The Heart of the World takes Kaufman’s teenage protagonists on a dark and intense journey as they try to stop a destructive war while also dealing with two angry gods using them as vessels.  The Heart of the World is so far proving to be an intriguing and fast-paced book, and I cannot wait to see how it ends.

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The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne (Audiobook)

I also started listening to the new John Gwynne book, The Fury of the Gods.  The final entry in Gwynne’s epic and exceptional Bloodsworn Saga (see my reviews for The Shadow of the Gods and The Hunger of the Gods), The Fury of the Gods is a particularly awesome book that I am deeply enjoying.  Showcasing the final battle between wrathful gods and a small group of great characters, The Fury of the Gods is very addictive, and I have made a bit of progress on it so far.  I am hoping to finish this off in the next week, and while I’m only a few hours in, I am already confident that this will end up being one of my favourite books of 2024.

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What did you recently finish reading?

Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik (Trade Paperback)

A great collection of short stories from acclaimed fantasy author Naomi Novik, Buried Deep and Other Stories features an intriguing array of tales from Novik’s various fantasy worlds, including the setting of her next big series.  This was an excellent read, and I enjoyed seeing how imaginative Novik can get.

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Warhammer 40,000: Above and Beyond by Denny Flowers (Audiobook)

I absolutely powered through Above and Beyond by Denny Flowers this week, it was so damn good. The sequel to one of my favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels, Outgunned, Above and Beyond places the protagonists of the first book, a disgraced propaganda expert and a legendary, if exceedingly cynical, pilot, in a new dangerous situation.  A compelling mixture of action, intrigue, and eccentric characters, all while providing a particularly dark look at the Warhammer 40,000 universe, Above and Beyond is an exceptional read and one I will hopefully review soon.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

I’ve got a few books to check out in the coming weeks, but the one I think I’ll probably read next is Blood Over Bright Haven.  The new book from M. L. Wang, Blood Over Bright Haven will follow intrigue, politics and passionate research in a massive magical university.  I think that this book has a ton of potential, not only because I love books set in magical schools, but also because I have heard so much good stuff about Wang and her previous book, The Sword of Kaigen.

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That’s it for this week, check back in next Wednesday to see what progress I’ve made on my reading and what books I’ll be looking at next.

Waiting on Wednesday – Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Science Fiction, Waiting on Wednesday, Young Adult6 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I highlight an upcoming entry on a major series that I’m particularly excited for, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins.

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I know that many fiction fans, including myself, were very excited earlier this year when it was announced that Suzanne Collins had another entry in her iconic Hunger Games series on its way.  That book, Sunrise on the Reaping, looked set to be another intriguing entry in the series, and there are already plans for a new feature film based on the upcoming novel.  Well, the cover and plot synopsis for Sunrise on the Reaping has just been released, and I just had to feature it in a new Waiting on Wednesday post right away.

I feel that pretty much everyone reading this blog will be familiar with the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, either through the novels or the blockbuster films.  An intense and clever young adult dystopian series, the Hunger Games follow teenage protagonists as they attempt to survive brutal death tournaments and deadly political strife occurring outside the games.  The original Hunger Games trilogy is beloved for very good reason, and I personally enjoyed listening to the trilogy on audiobook after watching the first film.  Collins has already expanded the series once since the original books, with the awesome prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Serpents, which was also turned into another impressive film, and I think we all knew that additional books in this series were inevitable.

As such, I was both unsurprised, and extremely happy, when the next book in the series, Sunrise on the Reaping, was announced.  Currently set for release in March 2025, Sunrise on the Reaping will be another prequel novel and will provide a more detailed look at one of the more intriguing events mentioned in the original trilogy, the second Quarter Quell.  This event was already partially summarised in the second book, Catching Fire, but I am particularly keen to see it play out in full, especially as you will dive into the mind of one of the series’ more endearing and memorable characters.

Plot Synopsis:

When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town.

As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

Now this is a book with a lot of potential.  I have said a few times over the years that a novel focussed on Haymitch’s time in the second Quarter Quell would make for a great read/movie, and I still believe that to this day.  The already cool Hunger Games concept is doubled in insanity and intensity as they have twice as many participants trying to kill each other.  The scenes that show the games are always the most compelling parts of a Hunger Games book, and I’m hoping that having extra participants is going to result in a longer and more compelling book.  I am also intrigued to see the previously discussed events second Quarter Quell play out in more detail, especially as it sounded really cool in the quick summary Collins previously gave us.  Seeing it on the ground with the actual action and death is going to be pretty epic, and I can imagine that there are going to be so many over-the-top scenes.

Another reason why I am particularly looking forward to Sunrise on the Reaping is that it will finally show the series from Haymitch’s point of view.  A heavily traumatised individual who tries to cope through alcohol, Haymitch has always been a distinctive and complex character, whether its in the book or being played by Woody Harrelson, but you never gotten a full glimpse into his mind.  This new book will give a lot more context to Haymitch’s psyche, especially as you are going to witness all the trauma that turned him into the dark, cynical being we all know and love.  I am also keen to learn more about some of the other District 12 characters featured in Sunrise in the Reaping.  These characters were again only hinted at in the previous novels, so it will be interesting to see them as fully fleshed out protagonists, and I am curious to see what sort of relationship they have with Haymitch.  All of this, and more, is quite exciting to me as a pretty massive Hunger Games fan, and I know I am going to love getting all this additional detail about these iconic characters and events.

Between my existing love for the Hunger Games series, the potential content for this new book, and the intriguing synopsis above, there is no way in hell that I will not be reading Sunrise on the Reaping as soon as it comes out next year.  Sure to be loaded with some amazing sequences and a complete look at a complex protagonist, I feel that Sunrise on the Reaping is going to be particularly epic.  This is currently one of my most anticipated books of 2025, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

Top Ten Tuesday – My Favourite Horror Novels (Halloween 2024)

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Horror, List6 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics.  In this latest edition of Top Ten Tuesday, readers get a Halloween Freebie, meaning that they can list whatever topic they want, although a horror or Halloween them is encouraged.  So, with that in mind, I thought I would take this opportunity to update some previous lists where I highlighted my favourite horror novels.

Back in 2020 for Halloween, I came up with a list where I looked at my top ten favourite horror novels.  While horror is not my absolute favourite genre, I ended up producing a rather interesting list with some unique entries that I was very happy with.  I must admit that many of my entries are hybrid books which combine horror elements with other genres I prefer to read, however, I think they make for good Halloween fare.  This list got a bit of interest, and I decided I would make a bit of effort to come back to update this list every Halloween, especially if I had some new horror novels to add to it.  I produced some interesting updates to this list in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and I have once again decided to come back to it again this year, especially as I have had the opportunity to check out some excellent and intense horror reads.

To sort out this update, I took a critical look at the previous version of the list and made some hard decisions about whether any of the horror novels I read in the last year might fit in better.  I ended up making a few changes and while I was sad to see some of the previously featured novels removed, I honestly felt that the new entries are better overall horror novels.  This resulted in a fun new version of this list, and I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

Honourable Mentions:

You Like it Darker by Stephen King

The master of horror, Stephen King, is going to appear a few times on this list, primarily because I’ve been having an epic time reading more of his stuff lately.  One of the first books on this list is the recent short story collection, You Like it Darker, which gets an honourable mention here.  Featuring a range of compelling and powerful stories, including some very memorable dark reads and even a sequel to the classic novel Cujo, You Like it Darker is an amazing horror book for all fans of Stephen King.

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The Sandman by Neil Gaiman

While more of a fantasy/superhero story than a pure horror comic, The Sandman did have some amazing horror sequences in it, including the infamous diner scene.  These horror elements are greatly enhanced in the full-cast audiobook and you will end up cringing away from how dark this gothic comic gets.  I also must highlight the Act II and Act III audiobooks that were released in subsequent years, especially as they also featured great stories and terrifying scenes.

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Warhammer 40,000: The Bookkeeper’s Skull by Justin D. Hill

Fans of this blog will know I’m a big thing of all things Warhammer, and that includes the intriguing Warhammer Horror range.  I’ve only read a couple of these so far, but my favourite is The Bookkeeper’s Skull by Justin D. Hill.  A haunting and brilliant tale that makes full use of the grim Warhammer 40,000 setting, The Bookkeeper’s Skull was an amazing read, and I look forward to exploring more Warhammer Horror books in the future.

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Ink by Jonathan Maberry

I had to feature one of Maberry’s best pure horror reads, Ink in the honourable mentions. While most of the other Maberry novels with horror elements focus either on zombies or Lovecraftian monsters, Ink features a particularly horrendous tale of a depraved being who steals a person’s tattoos and the precious memories associated with them.  Set in one of Maberry’s most iconic settings, Ink had a very disturbing narrative, and I deeply appreciated this unique book.

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Top Ten List (unranked):

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

I think it says a lot about my horror choices that the first book on my list is about killer mermaids.  Into the Drowning Deep is exceptional book that actually turns a mermaid attack into a pretty terrifying experience.  Grant did an amazing job of this book and Into the Drowning Deep comes very highly recommended.

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Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

Patient Zero Cover

I had a ton of awesome Jonathan Maberry novels that I could have featured on this list, but the obvious choice was the fantastically dark thriller Patient Zero.  An epic book that features an elite counterterrorist unit as they attempt to stop terrorists spreading a deadly zombie virus across America, Patient Zero was the first book in a brilliant science fiction thriller series, all of which have a great horror edge to them.  I have a lot of love for the thriller aspects of Patient Zero, however, the highlights of this book are the gruesome and terrifying zombie sequences, which sees the protagonists get overwhelmed by hordes of the infected.  This results in some truly impressive horror scenes, and I had to include this book on my list as a result.

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Holly by Stephen King

Holly Cover

One of my favourite books from horror icon Stephen King, Holly, is primarily a thriller that sees the titular protagonist investigate a missing persons case.  However, there are some devastatingly insidious and horrifying elements loaded into the story, especially with how exceptionally evil the excellent antagonists were.  I found myself shuddering multiple times throughout the course of Holly and if that doesn’t make it a horror book, I don’t know what will.  This was easily one of the best books and audiobooks of 2023, and I had to feature it on this list as a result.

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The Dark by Jeremy Robinson

I had to add this brilliant and compelling horror/science fiction read onto this list.  The Dark is one of the best novels I have so far read from author Jeremy Robinson that focuses on an apparent demonic invasion of Earth.  Filled with gore, monsters and body mutations, The Dark gets pretty gruesome and scary in places, which blends perfectly with the intense action and Robinson’s quirky humour.  An outstanding read, this fantastic horror novel comes highly recommended and was one of my top novels and audiobooks of 2021.

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The Gathering by C. J. Tudor

One of the newer entries on this list is the impressive and memorable novel The Gathering by C. J. Tudor.  A complex murder mystery set in a remote Alaskan town, The Gathering follows a vampyr expert as they attempt to determine whether a teenage was killed by members of the local vampyr colony, or other outside forces.  Cleverly introducing a vampire focused alternate history and using it as a basis for a tense and fascinating mystery, The Gathering was an exceptional read that perfectly utilised its horror elements to enhance the entire thrilling narrative.

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The Anomaly by Michael Rutger

The Anomaly is an excellent horror novel from 2018 which follows an unfortunate film crew after they get trapped in a series of ancient caves and are forced to face the terrible horrors waiting for them inside.  There are a lot of amazing elements to this book, but I personally appreciated the intense and claustrophobic atmosphere that Rutger was able to produce, especially as most of the novel takes place in the dark.  Highly recommended, especially in its audiobook format that deeply enhances the claustrophobic nature of the story.

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World War Z by Max Brooks

One of the more unique zombie books out there, World War Z recounts the history a devastating, world-wide zombie apocalypse and the various people it impacts.  Told through a brilliant chronicle method where multiple interesting characters recount their distinctive personal stories, you get an impressive, multifaceted narrative that covers the beginning, middle and end of the zombie wars.  Epic in its scope and filled with some great stories and characters, it honestly does not take long to get extremely addicted to World War Z, especially on audiobook which features an extremely stacked cast.  While the focus is more on exploring the impacts a zombie apocalypse would have on the world, World War Z does have some pretty creepy moment.  The darker tales of underwater zombies, massacres of modern armies, and the mental turmoil suffered by zombie survivors, are excellent horror material that makes this an easy book to include here.  An epic and outstanding book that lived up to all the hype surrounding it.

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Star Wars: Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber

I am a big fan of Star Wars fiction, but I had never been scared while reading a Star Wars novel until I came across Death Troopers.  Death Troopers is part of the Star Wars Legends canon and features an Imperial prison ship, which of course contains Han and Chewie, encountering an abandoned Star Destroyer filled with a zombified crew.  Watching a bunch of Star Wars characters attempt to escape from zombies is really cool, and Schreiber comes up with a number of gruesome scenes that will definitely stick in your mind.  Also, if you really want to get a fright out of this book, make sure to check out the audiobook version of Death Troopers, as the various sound effects they include are extremely disturbing.

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Devolution by Max Brooks

In addition to World War Z, Max Brooks also gets featured on this list for the brilliant novel Devolution.  Expertly making use of a whole new horror monster when he explores the fate of an isolated community who are attacked by a tribe of sasquatches, Brooks really turns these creatures into a frightening and deadly force of nature, and readers are in for an exciting and well-written tale of survival and brutality.

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The Outsider by Stephen King

The final book I want to highlight is the incredible Stephen King book, The Outsider.  An extremely tense and disturbing thriller, The Outsider features a captivating narrative that sees local town hero charged with the gruesome murder of a child, with ironclad evidence indicating that he did it.  However, the suspect continues to plead his innocence and has an impossibly perfect alibi for the time of the murder.  While primarily a thriller, there is some brilliant initial personal horror as you witness a potentially innocent man and town hero so thoroughly painted as a monster before your eyes.  King pivots to more supernatural horror elements as the book progresses, which fits perfectly with the dark narrative already ongoing, and the result is an exceptional book that proves deeply disturbing on multiple levels.  An incredible read and a worthy final entry on this list.

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That’s the end of this latest Top Ten Tuesday list.  I think that the new horror novels were great additions to the list, and I think this new version of the list turned out really well.  Each of the above novels, both new inclusions and existing ones, are outstanding reads that come highly recommended to all horror fans.  I look forward to seeing how this list evolves once again this time next year, especially as I am sure some amazing and spinetingling horror books are likely to come out in the next 12 months.

Warhammer 40,000: Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives by Mike Brooks

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer1 Comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 27 July 2024)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 5 hours and 59 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of the rising stars of Warhammer fiction, Mike Brooks, presents another exciting, character-focused narrative within the grimdark Warhammer 40,000 universe with awesome novel, Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives.

Those familiar with the franchise will know that Warhammer 40,000 fiction is on fire at the moment.  There are some very talented authors out there writing exciting and compelling adventures based on the game’s various factions, and readers are finding out just how fun and complex stories written in this universe can be.  Out of all the fantastic authors writing Warhammer fiction in recent years, one of the most impressive is Mike Brooks, who is shaping up to be one of the franchise’s big writers.  A talented fantasy and science fiction author, Brooks has been producing some excellent books in recent years that either focus on unique Warhammer 40,000 characters or one of the game’s non-human factions.  Books like Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom, The Lion: Son of the Forest (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023), Brutal Kunnin, Warboss and Da Big Dakka (one of my favourite books and audiobooks from the first half of 2024), have been extremely epic, and I am always down for more stuff from Brooks as a result.  As such, I made sure to grab a copy of his other 2024 Warhammer 40,000 novel, Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives, which was another interesting and memorable addition to the canon.

In the far future, the fallen and capricious drukhari heal and hold back the grim prospect of death by inflicting pain on others.  The dark streets of their city, Commorragh, run red with blood as millions of prisoners are killed in their gladiatorial arenas to slake their citizens’ bloodlust and need for suffering.  To survive in this brutal city, a drukhari needs to be smart, deceitful or a natural killer, and no killer is more revered in Commorragh than Lelith Hesperax.

A legendary gladiator, Lelith Hesperax has long reigned as the Grand Succubus of the most powerful Wych Cult in Commorragh, her blades having carved through thousands of challengers, potential rivals and alien captives.  But after years of fighting for herself, Lelith has found a new cause to draw blood for.  Abandoning Commorragh, Lelith now fights against daemonic hordes alongside the nomadic cultists of the Ynnead, who seek a different way to survive as a species.  However, while she’s been away, new rivals strike at Lelith’s holdings back at Commorragh.

Warned by the mysterious Harlequins of a rising threat against her, Lelith returns to Commorragh to find that much has changed.  Her Cult of Strife is no longer feared or respected, and many of the city’s inhabitants openly plot against her and her followers.  Shocked at how far her status has fallen in her absence, Lelith knows that the only person capable of causing this much disruption to her empire is the undisputed ruler of Commorragh, Asdrubael Vect.  Forced to contend against the schemes of a master manipulator, Lelith believes that the only way to survive is to remind the city just how dangerous she is.  But with Vect’s web of manipulation surrounding her, can even Lelith cut herself free, especially when her opponent forces her to fight against the only person in Commorragh she doesn’t want to kill?

Mike Brooks continues to showcase just how good he is at bringing the various complex figures of the Warhammer 40,000 universe to life with this exciting new read.  Expertly capturing the legendary drukhari killer, Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives was an awesome and captivating read I had a lot of fun getting through.

This latest book from Brooks is a quick but very intense and well-written read that successfully gets into the head of an iconic drukhari character from the games.  Told exclusively from the perspective of the main character, Lelith Hesperax, Queen of Knives moves at an extremely fast pace; after a fast introduction to set up how much Lelith’s life has changed since leaving to work with the cultists of the Ynnead, you are thrust into the action when a bored Lelith is warned about a rising threat back in Commorragh.  This effectively brings the reader back to the main setting, which is for the best, as Commorragh is a particularly awesome location for any Warhammer 40,000 novel.  The protagonist is soon embroiled in a sinister array of intrigue, as it becomes clear that the undisputed leader of the drukhari, Asdrubael Vect, is working against her, and is using a figure from Lelith’s past, Morghana Nathrax, as his catspaw.

Forced on the backfoot in a fight for the first time in her life, Lelith attempts to find a way to counter the moves of her shadowy opponent, while also trying to avoid a fight with Morghana.  This results in some excellent action set pieces and moments of intrigue, as Lelith gets back to her dread drukhari roots.  The fight sequences surrounding the protagonists are sharp, exciting, and necessarily brutal, and I appreciated how well Brooks balanced the action with overlying intrigue and plotting.  The author also spends a good chunk of time diving into the protagonist’s personality and past, and a few well-placed flashbacks help to provide additional emotional attachment and show Lelith’s complicated relationship with Morghana.  Everything leads up to the inevitable confrontation, which goes in some very interesting and emotionally charged directions.  While I felt that Brooks could have added in another layer of intrigue to the protagonist’s final ploy to make the book really stand out, the conclusion of the book was generally pretty satisfying, and Queen of Knives turned out to be an excellent standalone read.

Due to the book being deliberately focused on one iconic protagonist, Queen of Knives does by necessity have a character-driven plot, which revolves around some fantastic figures.  Naturally the most prominent of these is the book’s sole perspective character, Lelith Hesperax, who proved to be quite an awesome protagonist to follow.  Brooks chooses to jump readers right into the midst of Lelith’s current adventure at the start of Queen of Knives rather than immediately focusing on her backstory, which I think worked from a narrative perspective, as it brought readers quickly into the plot.  There is a useful drip feed of information about her past and her nature as the book continues, enough that reader’s unfamiliar with the protagonist can easily enjoy Queen of Knives, while also allowing Brooks to control the audience’s understanding of the protagonist’s motivations and feelings.  Readers soon come to appreciate that Lelith is a complex figure, torn between her love of violence and glory and the new path of redemption she finds herself on with the cult of Ynnead.  As such, Queen of Knives proves to be a key chapter in Lelith’s story, as she returns to her old ways, only to discover a new side to her life and a potential romance.  I loved seeing Brooks’ examination of the protagonist’s various complex layers, and it made for quite a moving book as a result.

The main protagonist is well balanced by several great supporting characters, each of whom have their own unique impact on the narrative.  The two I really want to focus on include new character Morghana Nathrax, a figure from Lelith’s past who develops a real love-hate relationship with the protagonist.  Morghana’s well-balanced admiration and hatred of Lelith ensures that conflict is inevitable between them, even though Lelith wants to keep her alive, and Brooks writes quite a complex relationship between them.  However, my favourite supporting character is the main antagonist of Queen of Knives, the notorious ruler of Commorragh, Asdrubael Vect.  Vect is a particularly awesome figure in the Warhammer 40,000 canon, so it was cool to see him utilised here in Queen of Knives.  Even though Vect only appears in one sequence at the end of the novel, Brooks does an outstanding job building him up as a brilliantly devious figure, effortlessly manipulating all the drukhari in the city, including Lelith and her followers.  You really come to appreciate the fear that all Commorragh has for Vect as the book continues, and his one appearance ensures that you understand why he commands such fear.  I really loved how well Brooks built up these characters, and it made for some awesome reading as a result.

I felt that Queen of Knives was a great Warhammer 40,000 novel, especially as Brooks expertly explores and utilises so many cool lore elements throughout his story.  It proves to be a deeply compelling look at the iconic and always enticing drukhari faction.  The drukhari, or the dark eldar, as older fans may know them, are the Warhammer 40,000 universe’s resident space elf murder pirates, and have a long history in the game.  Despite that, there isn’t a lot of fiction out there about them, with Brooks’s other 2024 novel, Da Big Dakka, being the only recent book to strongly feature their perspective that I can recall, and even then, more focus was given to the ork characters in that book.  As such, it was a real pleasure to have a novel completely dedicated to the drukhari, and Brooks does an outstanding job diving into the faction’s culture, mentality and other vital lore elements.  This includes a fantastic look at the iconic dark city of Commorragh, one of the most dangerous places in the Warhammer 40,000 canon.  A noted seat of deceit, bloodshed and easy death, Commorragh did not disappoint as a background setting from Queen of Knives, and Brooks ensures it plays a key part in the story.  Throw in some other interesting, if relatively brief, looks at the other Aeldari sub-factions (particularly the Ynnari), and there is a lot of interesting lore here for Warhammer 40,000 fans to appreciate.  As such, Queen of Knives is probably best enjoyed by those who already have an established connection to the franchise, although thanks to Brooks’s excellent writing, a new reader could probably come in and enjoy Queen of Knives without too much context.

As with most things Warhammer that I enjoy, I made sure to grab a copy of Queen of Knives on audiobook, which proved to be as epic as always.  The fast-paced plot, intense action and unique characters of Queen of Knives unsurprisingly came across extremely well in the audiobook format, and I really got absorbed into the story as a result, especially when it came to the elaborate depictions of the sinister city of Commorragh.  Coming in with a runtime of six hours, Queen of Knives is a relatively short Warhammer audiobook to get through, and I managed to knock it off quickly once I got stuck into it.  I really enjoyed how Queen of Knives came together, and I particularly enjoyed the narrator Antonia Beamish.  Beamish, whose work I previously enjoyed on the Warhammer Horror audiobook Sepulturum, was really impressive with her narration of Queen of Knives, and I liked her take on the main protagonist.  You really get a sense of the predatory nature of the various drukhari characters that Beamish voices throughout this audiobook, and I felt that these figures were all given fitting and impressive voices.  This great voice work helped ensure that the audiobook was once again the best way to enjoy this excellent book, and you are guaranteed to have a lot of fun listening to Queen of Knives.

Overall, Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives was another amazing book from Mike Brooks, who once again showcases his ability to write complex Warhammer 40,000 fiction.  Combining a compelling and intrigue laden narrative with great character work and a particularly distinctive Warhammer 40,000 setting, Queen of Knives was so much fun, and I really powered through it.  A highly recommended read, I look forward to seeing what Brooks will write next.

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WWW Wednesday – 23 October 2024

On By The Unseen LibraryIn WWW Wednesday1 Comment

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words, where bloggers share the books that they’ve recently finished, what they are currently reading and what books they are planning to read next. Essentially you have to answer three questions (the Three Ws):

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

So, let’s get to it.

What are you currently reading:

Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik (Trade Paperback)

I just started reading the intriguing new Naomi Novik book, Buried Deep and Other Stories.  A collection of short stories from the acclaimed fantasy author, Buried Deep and Other Stories features an intriguing array of tales from Novik’s various fantasy worlds, including the setting of her next big series.  I have already gotten through the first story and it proved to be a lot of fun.  I will hopefully get through the rest of the book pretty quickly and I look forward to seeing what other great adventures it contains

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Warhammer 40,000: Above and Beyond by Denny Flowers (Audiobook)

I was still in a massive Warhammer 40,000 mood this week, so I started listening to Above and Beyond by Denny Flowers, which I had been really looking forward to.  The sequel to one of my favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels, Outgunned, Above and Beyond places the protagonists of the first book, a disgraced propaganda expert and a legendary, if exceedingly cynical, pilot, in a new dangerous situation.  A compelling mixture of action, intrigue, and eccentric characters, all while providing a particularly dark look at the Warhammer 40,000 universe, Above and Beyond is an exceptional read and one I will hopefully knock off very soon.

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What did you recently finish reading?

The Waiting by Michael Connelly (Trade Paperback)

Another outstanding novel from Connelly.  Featuring three fantastic major protagonists, The Waiting had some very clever mysteries in it, and this was one of the best crime fiction reads of 2024.

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Warhammer 40,000: Dominion Genesis by Jonathan D. Beer (Audiobook)

Another outstanding Warhammer 40,000 novel that focused on a unique faction in the game, Dominion Genesis by Jonathan D. Beer was a particularly intriguing and compelling novel that I could not get enough of.  Review to hopefully follow soon.

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How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler (Trade Paperback)

One of the funniest and most compelling fantasy novels of 2024.  I loved this comedic take on the classic heroic tale, especially as Wexler made it very over-the-top in all the right ways.

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Rebellion by Richard Cullen (ebook)

An excellent and exciting historical fiction novel that focused on an intriguing period of English history.  I had a lot of fun with Rebellion, especially as I was in the mood for a fun and entertaining historical adventure.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

The Heart of the World by Amie Kaufman

I’m planning to read the intriguing young adult fantasy novel The Heart of the World by Australian author Amie Kaufman next.  The sequel to The Isles of the Gods, The Heart of the World will take Kaufman’s teenage protagonists on a dark and intense journey as they try to stop a destructive war.

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The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne

I am also planning to start reading the new John Gwynne book, The Fury of the Gods, in the next week.  The final book in Gwynne’s epic and exceptional Bloodsworn Saga (see my reviews for The Shadow of the Gods and The Hunger of the Gods), The Fury of the Gods has so much awesome potential and it will probably end up being one of my favourite fantasy books of 2024.

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That’s it for this week, check back in next Wednesday to see what progress I’ve made on my reading and what books I’ll be looking at next.