Review: Ithaca by Claire North

There's lots to love about this addition to the Greek myths retelling canon. Lots of familiar places and faces but still told in a fresh way.

Review: The Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater

Well, I am loving this series. It is the perfect combination of light, fun romance with a sprinkling of fantasy and a little nod towards Regency society.

Review: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

To be honest, I thought I was going to get slightly more out of this one. The story twines together that of an American Muslim who adores art history and is on a quest to find a missing Delacroix painting. This leads her to Alexandre Dumas and to a mysterious woman with raven tresses. Alongside this is Leila's story, whose identity has been both lost and immortalised in a poem by Byron two hundred years previously. I just feel I should have liked it more than I did ...

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Review: Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta

This was a really beautiful and intense set of short stories that all focus on a ten year period in the life of Kara Davis, a young girl born in Canada with Jamaican heritage. In many ways it's a series of coming of age stories, that all run on from each other, but before when you would typically think of 'coming of age' taking place. Alongside the experience of belonging to two cultures, of particular importance is the spoken and unspoken relationship between generations of women in this novel.

Review: The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso

The Tethered Mage has been sitting on my shelf for a while (I just haven't got round to it, ok!) but from reading The Obsidian Tower, I can really see why Melissa Caruso deserves to be a well-known and enjoyed author.

Review: Mary Toft; or The Rabbit Queen by Dexter Palmer

This is a bit of a strange one. I enjoy a retelling of a folk tale/a bit of history, and the elements of the original story, alongside the actual historical setting, were really well-weaved together. There's a bibliography at the end, and I really appreciate that in historical fiction. However, the story itself is quite simple ...

Review: The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

The Rage of Dragons is a fast-paced solid fantasy novel and I really enjoyed powering through it. It offered a lot of the things that I really enjoy about fantasy - strong world-building, magic, something to really drive the characters, an outside threat and excellent fight scenes. That doesn't stop me from finding a few criticisms of my own, however.