Fantasy Friday – Page 3 – Baskerville Book Reviews

Review: Bloom of Blood and Bone

Murder. Betrayal. Magic? One knight takes up his hammer to hunt a killer concealed. When dark arts and faith face off, will sorcery or swordsmanship win out? What chance can a mere mortal have against vampires and demonic forces? Is King’s Inquisitor Dunewell prepared to break the laws he has sworn to serve to discover and defeat a master of shrouded evil? Where is the line between hero and villain, saint and sinner?

Kingdom of Lethanor, 1648. Inquisitor Dunewell stands strong in a city scarred by corruption. A true warrior for justice, the newly assigned investigator jumps into the fray when a close physician friend is accused of murder. Vowing to find the real monster, he enters a deadly race against time and the tip of the executioner’s blade.

Ordered by superiors to wrap up the case quickly, the honorable man-at-arms digs deeply into clues pointing to demons and forbidden powers. But as more aristocrats are found brutally slain and vampire attacks foment mayhem, Dunewell must hunt down a magical foe before his city falls into violent madness.

Fires that Forge is the first book in the gripping Lords of Order & Chaos epic fantasy series, one of four series in the Bloodlines Reforged Saga. If you like thrilling mysteries, hidden enemies, and fast-paced action, then you’ll love R. J. Hanson’s sword and sorcery tale.

Buy Fires That Forge and dispel the darkness today!

Review: Fires That Forge

Buy Fires That Forge and dispel the darkness today!

Review: Og-Grim-Dog: The Three-Headed Ogre

Three can be a real pain in the arse

Everyone knows ogres can’t be heroes. But Og-Grim-Dog is no ordinary ogre.

Recruited by a team of eccentric dungeon crawlers, all three heads are determined to prove their worth. Will their new crewmates accept them? Will the pencil pushers at the Bureau of Dungeoneering be able to stop them? Will Gal’azu become a more tolerant society…and will Og-Grim-Dog solve the dark mystery that drew them into this new world in the first place?

Reader reviews:

“a marathon of craziness that will tickle your sense of humor. Loved all the gritty characters and enjoyed the fast paced action plot.”
“If you’ve ever played D&D, you’ll enjoy this tale of orcs, and dwarves and ogres. There’s good silliness and a serious theme.”
“The characters are fun and diverse. The jokes are funny and adult without being lewd or gross. The plot is fun, engaging, and well timed.”
“This book sets up an awesome character, some great side characters, and an interesting world filled with surprisingly similar issues that we have in our own. I wasn’t expecting to love this book, but I did.”
“This little book was SO MUCH FUN! There were plenty of in-jokes that, as a fantasy fan, I loved and the characters were extremely likable. The whole thing just makes me want to go on an adventure.”

If you’re looking for something lighthearted, with some cleverness, silliness, and a little grit, start this fun, feelgood adventure today!

Review: The Priestess and the Dragon

The Cruel Prince meets Inuyasha in this slow-burn romantic fantasy. You won’t be able to put down this action-packed fantasy adventure!

Exiled to a mountain shrine, Suzume trains to become a priestess serving the god of the mountain. As she toils at the temple, she longs for a life beyond its walls. Until she awakens the slumbering god and unmasks the temple’s centuries-old secret.

The god is a fake. Five hundred years ago, the shrine’s founder sealed a dragon in a stone. And now that he’s free, he wants revenge. Unleashing the dragon wasn’t an accident. As Suzume learns, she’s the first priestess’ reincarnation.

He spirits her away and Suzume plots to kill him before he kills her. But the more time they spend together, she starts to question her feelings for him. Tangled threads of fate bind them together and Suzume must decide: will she follow her heart or will history repeat itself?

Start the adventure today with this epic romantic fantasy sure to please listeners who enjoy aching slow-burn romance, twists and turns, complex characters, and villains you love to hate!

Review: Crystal Queen

Devotion. Duty. Power. Deceit.

Princess Lilia Talendor of the Graven Kingdom finds herself promised to marry a foreign king to secure her father’s release. She will do her duty, but even the plans forced upon her suffer as slavers take advantage of chaos in the kingdom during the king’s absence.

King Gavin Stoutheart wants desperately to meet and impress Princess Lilia, even if she is the daughter of his enemy. He hopes to bring peace to all of the Crystal Kingdoms, but traitors, spies, and uncertain advisors challenge his plans as he seeks to discover why the princess has been delayed.

Crystal magic and animal avatars join the intrigue as challenges come from all quarters. War looms on the horizon, and one thread runs through it all. Gavin needs allies, and Lilia could be the key to saving or destroying both their kingdoms.

Review: The Awakening

In L. A. Banks’ The Awakening there is a vampire war brewing in the underworld and at the center of it all is Damali Richards, spoken word artist and Vampire Huntress. But she is not just any Vampire Huntress, she is the millennium Neteru. A woman so potentially powerful that the vampire world is about to invoke a bloody battle that threatens to spill over onto her streets in order to possess her. It’s just a matter of who will get to her first.

Fallon Nuit, a rogue vampire, is one of the most powerful Damali has ever encountered and he has allied himself with the deadly Amanrath demons in order to claim her. But the Vampire Council has plans for her as well. And now an unlikely variable has entered into the equation, an ex-lover now turned vampire with an agenda of his own. And she must risk trusting him once more if they are to survive.

Review: The Red Scowl

The Black Death is approaching…but is there something more fearful in the forest outside the village?

Outside an isolated forest community, by the forbidden cursed “Red Scowl”, tracks are discovered that resemble no known animal. Fearful of getting in trouble with the village leader, Mor and Beathan keep this discovery to themselves.

Soon, however, Mor grows more alarmed as news of a great pestilence arrives, and he wonders if these two things are somehow linked. He wants to speak up—just as he wanted to speak up when a woman he loved from afar was burned as a witch—but Mor is a simple man, and the more cunning Beathan keeps him quiet.

Storms, murder, a witch hunt, old secrets, and something monstrous in the mist follow before a stranger comes to the village. Is he is the devil? Does he carry the plague? Is he responsible for all the ills that have befallen them? Most important of all—did he come from within the Red Scowl?

Review: The Tracker’s Secret

Everything has changed. I’m a Skew, a supernatural, but what type?

Ten days ago, Jacob Knight waltzed back into my life and screwed it all up. Still, I helped him track the heir of a powerful werewolf family, and that was a win, but now I don’t know which way is up.

My reality has shifted, pun intended. I’m not who I thought I was, and the changes are more than I can handle. As if that wasn’t enough, a new drug is ravaging my city, including the customers at my mate tracking agency. What gives?

So as I try to come to terms with my new identity and I hide my new secret from the man I love, the world around me bursts into chaos, and I find myself in the middle of a wide conspiracy where alliances are broken and the things I hold dear and true to my heart turn out to be nothing but lies.

Will my secret destroy my change of normalcy and happiness with Jake?

If you enjoy K.F. Breene, Shannon Mayer, Annette Marie, and CN Crawford, then prepare to enjoy a witty heroine and her rekindling romance with a hot werewolf. And if you shed a few tears, maybe you’ll even get a potion to help track your soul mate.

Review: Kitsune: A Little Mermaid Retelling

Rin is an immortal kitsune, or at least she was until a witch’s curse turned her human. To regain her yokai powers and avoid being turned into a fox, she must make the lord’s son fall in love with her before the next full moon. Her kind has been seducing humans for centuries, and it should be easy, as long as he doesn’t find out she’s a kitsune…except the curse also took her voice.

Hikaru is betrothed to the daughter of a rival lord, and he will fulfill his duty, protecting his clan from others and from the yokai. But when he’s saved by a mysterious red-haired woman, he can’t forget her, try as he might. Then she turns up at his door….

Only it can’t be his savior, since this woman has ebony hair, but there’s something inexplicably bewitching about her. Yet his father’s treaty depends on his marriage to another, and even an innocent dalliance could ruin everything.

Falling in love is dangerous for them both. Not only are they from different worlds, but their time together can only end in heartache. Hikaru’s marriage means security for his clan, and Rin must destroy it or be turned into a fox. And truly loving Hikaru means revealing she’s one of the hated yokai and an immortal. Will they risk it all for love? Or will their two worlds rip them apart for good?

Fans of fairy tale retellings, anime, and manga love Kitsune: A Little Mermaid Retelling, an old tale retold from a fresh perspective.

Dive into a rich world of intrigue and adventure, spirits and humans – get your copy of this heartfelt fantasy romance today!

Review: What’s Your Story? Postcard Collection

To celebrate the National Year of Reading Waterstone’s asked 13 world-class authors to tell us their story. We extended this invitation to our customers, in the form of a nationwide competition to win the opportunity to be published in this limited edition postcard book, alongside the original works from Doris Lessing, Neil Gaiman, Michael Rosen, Nick Hornby, Sebastian Faulks, Lauren Child, Tom Stoppard, Irvine Welsh, Axel Scheffler, Margaret Atwood, Richard Ford and Lisa Appignanesi.

Please note that because the postcard book contains a mixture of authors, some stories are not suitable for children.