Genres: Fantasy
Elantris – Brandon Sanderson
by
Curtis McHale
This is the oldest book in Brandon Sanderson’s writing that I’ve read, being published first in 2005. As such I found a few parts of the writing clearly still in development. Unlike other more current books, I was easily able to guess where the author was going early in the book. This didn’t diminish my…
Gardens of the Moon – Steven Erikson
by
Curtis McHale
Welcome to a land of magic and gods that sometimes walk among humans, at the very least they spend a bunch of energy influencing human affairs to their liking. We start by joining the Malazan Empire’s forces as they are decimated in at the city of Pale by the Moon King, but we quickly learn…
Liberty’s Daughter – Naomi Kritzer
by
Curtis McHale
Liberty’s Daughter is about Beck Garrison, a teenager living on a libertarian seastead which is part of a collection of seasteads with varying rules. Some have no rules at all, so drugs are openly manufactured and children can buy them, or you can chain your workers to a table and force them to handle toxic…
The Sunlit Man – Brandon Sanderson
by
Curtis McHale
This is the final book in the 4 books Brandon Sanderson wrote in “secret” during the COVID 19 pandemic. In this one we follow Nomad who has skipped to a world that has such intense sun that it scorches the entire landscape on every rotation. Mountains form, and disappear. Plants grow in a matter of…
Beneath the God’s Tree – S Kaeth
by
Curtis McHale
This was me second visit to S Kaeth’s fantasy world, the first being Between Starfalls. I again found the world interesting and the story generally well written. If I have any critisim of the book it would be around some of the dialogue. Specifically some of the dialogue between Taunos and Amanah as they’re figuring…
The Alloy of Law – Brandon Sanderson
by
Curtis McHale
This is the first book in the Wax and Wayne saga, and starts 300 years after the events of the original Mistborn trilogy. After years spent in the Roughs, Wax has to head back because his sister is missing and being a detective he feels family duty calling to finally step into his role as…
The Book of Three – Lloyd Alexander
by
Curtis McHale
The Book of Three is a classic fantasy adventure where we follow Taran the assistant pig-keeper as he joins a party trying to stop the evil warlord. Taran ends up being far more valuable than first anticipated. This book may be best for younger readers, but I still enjoyed the story as the world is…
Between Starfalls – S Kaeth
by
Curtis McHale
Never leave the path, but if your son goes missing maybe all those dogmatic rules no longer make sense and you’re willing to risk everything to get him back. While I found the language a bit stilted sometimes, this was a great fantasy novel. I enjoyed the world building, and the world breaking as our…
Quill & Still
by
Curtis McHale
Like many books we start out with our main character getting whisked to a new world which they need to explore, but then Aaron takes a turn. Our main character is not the “hero of ages”, in fact they take up a regular job and we get to explore the world with them as they…
American Gods
by
Curtis McHale
We follow Shadow as he’s released from prison into a world where his wife is dead and an unknown stranger offers him a job out of the blue. Via Shadow we get a front row seat to the struggle of the New Gods of America versus the Gods that came across the ocean with immigrants.…