- The Spear Cuts Through Water Review: A Captivating Example of Non-Western Storytellingby Ilana CContent/Trigger Warning: Serious gore at times A few mentions of rape and non-consensual body modification Cannibalism Jimenez does not pull any punches in this book. It tells the history of a people and that is often times violent and messy. If any of these make you uncomfortable then please put your mental health first and reconsider reading this novel. The…
- The Art of Prophecy Review: Magical Martial Arts and Fracturing Religionsby Ilana CThank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for letting me read an e-ARC of The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu. Based on the concept “What if the prophecy was wrong?”, The Art of Prophecy takes place on a constantly evolving political and physical landscape. The five Zhuun duchies live lives familiar to many readers, settled in communities…
- The Elric Saga Vol. 1 Review: A Modern Epicby Ilana CMelnibone is an empire that has dedicated itself to hedonism and sadism for centuries, dominating and subjugating the surrounding kingdoms. Over time their hold on the other lands failed and their own power diminished. Melnibone is now a shadow of what she once was. Emperor Elric is the rightful ruler but not the one that Melnibone wants. He does not…
- Saint Death’s Daughter Review: A Rambling Necromantic Fairytaleby Ilana CThank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for letting me read an e-ARC of Saint Death Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney. There is no way that I could write a blurb for a book whose events and plot twist and turn like Lanie’s hair on the front cover, so I’m just going to use the publisher’s: “Nothing complicates life…
- A Country of Ghosts Review: A Kind Anarchist Thought Experimentby Ilana CA Country of Ghosts by Margaret Killjoy is the second in the Black Dawn series and is the first anarchist utopian fantasy that I have read. AKC publishing was kind enough to send me this arc without expecting a review in return but the longer I sit with the concepts Killjoy describes, the more I want to talk about it.…