I’ve always loved reading but really fell in love with fantasy in my mid teens when I discovered the Lord of the Rings and Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s Fighting Fantasy gamebook series. I haven’t looked back since. My love of fantasy literature and games led me into a degree in English Lit and writing. My first novel, Demonheart, dark fantasy, was published in 2017. As a fantasy writer, I have to fuel up on a steady diet of fantasy novels and I hope you enjoy my recommended list!
I loved the characterisation of all the players in the novel, especially the protagonist, Rin, who had a sarky wit. The writing was full of action and humour but also somber when it needed to be such as the scenes of massacre and war crimes.
The book taught me a lot about the Sino-Japanese war which appeals to me as I am fascinated by oriental history especially China and Japan. I was born in Singapore of mixed race – Indian, Iranian and Chinese heritage, raised by a Chinese grandmother and mother. The book helped me connect to my Chinese roots.
Winner of the Reddit Fantasy Award for Best Debut 2018
'The best fantasy debut of 2018' - WIRED
A brilliantly imaginative epic fantasy debut, inspired by the bloody history of China's twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic.
When Rin aced the Keju - the test to find the most talented students in the Empire - it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn't believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin's guardians, who had hoped to get rich by marrying her off; and to Rin herself, who realized she…
The first big draw of this novel is the characterisation.
The protagonists and antagonists are all wonderfully sketched, giving them depth and life, especially Tormalin the Oathless, of a vampire-like race, and Lady Vincenza de Grazon – eccentric old scholar and wine fiend. The book is full of humour and the plot is well drawn with perfect pacing.
At the heart of the novel is a mystery – where are the Jurelia – the fearsome race that invaded millennia ago, and are they going to return? What will happen when they do?
Finally, Williams has created an intriguing world full of powerful oppressed witches alongside steam trains and the remnants of the previous Jurelia invasion.
**Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel**
The first book in the award-winning Winnowing Flame trilogy. Epic fantasy for fans of Robin Hobb and Jay Kristoff.
'Fantasy adventure at its very best' Starburst
'Williams excels at eldritch world-building' Guardian
'An original new voice in heroic fantasy' Adrian Tchaikovsky
The great city of Ebora once glittered with gold. Now its streets are stalked by wolves. Tormalin the Oathless has no taste for sitting around waiting to die while the realm of his storied ancestors falls to pieces - talk about a guilt trip. Better to be amongst the…
I love that this book is set in an alternative Victorian-era Britain where vampires are citizens rubbing shoulders with humankind. At the heart of the book is the Jack the Ripper mystery with vampire, rather than human, prostitutes.
The crimes are investigated by Charles Beauregard, assisted by one of Newman’s original creations – a 400-year-old female vampire, Geneviève Dieudonné.
Along the way, the pair encounter other monsters – with humans as monstrous as the undead – as well as popular 19th-century literary figures and political events like the growth of communism/socialism.
I loved the main characters and unique mystery but also the fascinating cast Newman spiced and seasoned the story with – figures taken from the literature of Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, and Alexander Dumas among others.
It is 1888 and Queen Victoria has remarried, taking as her new consort Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian Prince infamously known as Count Dracula. Peppered with familiar characters from Victorian history and fiction, the novel follows vampire Genevieve Dieudonne and Charles Beauregard of the Diogenes Club as they strive to solve the mystery of the Ripper murders.
Anno Dracula is a rich and panoramic tale, combining horror, politics, mystery and romance to create a unique and compelling alternate history. Acclaimed novelist Kim Newman explores the darkest depths of a reinvented Victorian London.
I loved a number of things about Pennyblade. For starters, the main character’s (Kyra’s) race, the Commrach, who are like elves, are ruthless libertines and hedonists.
The Pennyblade world is a fascinating and grim place where same sex relationships are punishable by death and the action, which is visceral and very explicit, just keeps coming.
I really liked that this is a novel about prejudices, it appealed to me as someone from an ethnic minority group who grew up in London in the late 1970s / early 80s and experienced racism.
Fortunately, Pennyblade has plenty of humour which makes the grimdark nature of the book more palatable.
A sharp-tongued disgraced-noble-turned-mercenary has to stop the world collapsing into chaos in this gripping, savagely funny epic fantasy packed with unforgettable characters, for fans of Joe Abercrombie.
Exile. Mercenary. Lover. Monster. Pennyblade.
Kyra Cal'Adra has spent the last four years on the Main, living in exile from her home, her people, her lover and her past. A highblood commrach - the ancient race of the Isle, dedicated to tradition and the perfection of the blood - she's welcome among the humans of the Main only for the skill of her rapier, her preternatural bladework. They don't care which of the…
Lada is the daughter of Vlad Tepes (the inspiration for Stoker’s Dracula), Vovoide of Wallachia who, along with her brother, Radu, are sent as hostages to the Ottoman court of Sultan Murad II.
I loved the protagonist, Lada, who preferred war and combat to being a traditional ‘lady’ of the court.
Through Lada’s eyes, I got to witness her life as a noble in Wallachia and then, as a fish out of water, in the eastern world of the Muslim Ottomans which was opulent and exotic.
And I Darken appealed to me as I could relate to Lada, having to live in a foreign culture. As an Asian growing up in London, I lived in two worlds – my family’s and the UK's.
“Absolutely riveting.” —Alexandra Bracken, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Darkest Minds
This vividly rendered novel reads like HBO’s Game of Thrones . . . if it were set in the Ottoman Empire. Ambitious in scope and intimate in execution, the story’s atmospheric setting is rife with political intrigue, with a deftly plotted narrative driven by fiercely passionate characters and a fearsome heroine. Fans of Victoria Aveyard’s THE RED QUEEN and Sabaa Tahir’s AN EMBER IN THE ASHES won’t want to miss this visceral, immersive, and mesmerizing novel, the first in the And…
Vogel is a spy with the gift of supernatural hearing who chases down villains on behalf of the Teutonic Knights Order, rulers of the city of Rittershafen.
Life is uncomplicated until he’s dragged before the Bishop of Rittershafen and Grand Master of the Teutonic Order and tasked with hunting down the murderer of two of the Church’s priests. But the supernatural may be involved, so the clergy provide him with the necessary muscle to deal with it. Enter Stefan von Stern, a Teutonic Knight and divinely-aided arsekicker, built like a brick cowshed. He’s Vogel’s babysitter on this job. Together, they storm through the city of Rittershafen rubbing shoulders with vicious villains, deadly monks, and insane sorcerers in their quest for the supernatural killer.
A human child raised by the fae is an uncommon thing. But Rafi was such a child.
Now grown, half-fae but mortal, he lingers on the edge of human society in Miryoku, a nearby town sharing a border with fae territory. He doesn’t want to join the human world properly; he just wants to play music with a local cover band and avoid the cruelest members of his fae family.
Then, he meets Roxana, and his world shifts. She’s a human metalworking witch, up for a friendly fling with Rafi before she and her twelve-year-old daughter move away from Miryoku…
A law-abiding metalworking witch and a form-shifting half-fae musician embark on a secret romance, but soon become caught in escalating tensions between fae and humans that threaten their hometown. The second story after the popular Lava Red Feather Blue comes alive in Ballad for Jasmine Town.
The town of Miryoku has ocean views, fragrant jasmine vines, and a thriving arts scene, including a popular nineties cover band. It also sits on the verge, sharing a border with fae territory, a realm of both enchantments and dangers.
Rafi has been unusual all his life: a human born to a fae mother,…