Genre: Folklore

The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by Sourcebooks Fire. The second half of Beth Revis and Sara Raasch’s Scottish-inspired historical romantasy duology, The Blood Queen is an intense assault of a YA fantasy novel. Picking up the story right where The Crimson Throne’s cliffhanger ending leaves off, this book is a fast-paced fantasy read packed with action, lore, and bringing the conflict of the invading red caps to a dramatic conclusion. Featuring likeable characters, snappy pacing, and strong Scottish folklore, The Blood Queen is a solid YA read only mildly hindered by uneven content between POV’s, pacing that can feel rushed, and a notable lack of historical fiction elements compared to its predecessor. After the dramatic cliffhanger ending of The Crimson Throne, this book resumes the story and rounds out the battle between the red cap forces and the Alyth’s fae connections with both the human and fae worlds at stake. The first book featured a wide array of narrative elements that covered fae and human portal-based worldbuilding, Scottish folklore, and historical fiction elements featuring real historical figures. Given that the villain is only just revealed at The Crimson Throne’s conclusion, this book has a lot…

Blending together Japanese samurai culture, time-travel speculative fiction, tense horror ambiance with mystery thriller intrigue, Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker is as ambitious of a novel as it is graphic and violent. One of the most anticipated horror releases of the year, like her inspirations and goals, this book crossovers between genres, storylines, and realities, telling a compelling and gripping story in just over three hundred pages. Steeped in Japanese folklore and culture but presented in a way that’s accessible, Japanese Gothic is an excellent mystery thriller/horror novel that’s powerfully written and creatively conceptualized. There’s a lot that could be said about Japanese Gothic’s story, but this is one book that’s best experienced on its own with minimal overview given the tension, mysterious intrigue, and unexpected narrative elements benefit from the reader being left in the dark. The book features a split POV and timeline perspective that’s similar to Lee’s presentation, a meeting of the East and West. In 2026, Lee Turner escapes to his father’s house in Japan following the murder of his college roommate that he can’t remember how or why he killed. Racked with anxiety and paranoia, his chapters follow his descent into borderline psychosis as…

What do a legendary cryptid, gods, angels and demons, the Hundred Year’s War, an immortal arcanist and his succubus housekeeper have in common? Ordinarily nothing at all unless it’s Cameron Sullivan’s novel The Red Winter. An ambitious book mixing together fantasy and historical fiction elements across the board heightened with touches of paranormal horror, the Red Winter is as entertaining as it is imaginative with a unique and quirky tongue in cheek tone. Unexpectedly humorous and endearing while describing French countrymen being viscously torn apart, Sullivan’s storytelling is an incredible vibe made all the more impressive as a debut novel. While its far-reaching story, slow pacing, and complex split timeline approach can make it a challenging read for some, this is otherwise a really fun and off-beat historical fantasy book. At its core, the story behind the Red Winter is one of French turmoil that cleverly provides plausible fantasy origins to mysterious historical events. Presented as a written recollection or memoir of the events by the immortal arcanist Sebastian Graves, the book follows Sebastian and his demon possession “guest” Sarmodel returning to impoverished province of Gévaudan after the deadly events around the famed beast nearly twenty years ago. In addition…

Steeped in Irish folklore and narratively inspired by Ireland’s oppression by England, Dave Rudden’s Sister Wake is an expansive high fantasy epic full of thematic and cultural content. The start of a planned trilogy, Sister Wake follows three individuals of different backgrounds and affiliations during a period of rising political conflict following the reappearance of monstrous gods causing unpredictable carnage across contested land. Ambitiously written and creatively inspired, Sister Wake is a novel full of big ideas that sometimes feels like it’s struggling with fitting together its individually strong pieces and balancing its complex plot. Usually, I try to avoid directly recapping what a book is about in my reviews but for Sister Wake, this book blurb is particularly vague; even with a 1st edition copy in hand, I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. Set on the fictional island of Croí and the neighboring continental peninsula controlled by the Answering, Sister Wake is a high fantasy adventure of colonial rebellion and political conflict. Previously taken over from across the strait, the Answering has ruled over the distant and wild Croí by instituting their hierarchy of leaders, schooling, culture, and hanging all those favoring traditional Croí culture and…

Swapping the streets of New Sinsi in the 90’s for a luxury cruise upon a crimson river in the underworld, the God and the Gwisin is part two of Sophie Kim’s Fate’s Thread duology. Serving as both the continuation and conclusion following the God and the Gumiho’s dramatic ending, like its reincarnated main character, this book is both similar yet notably different from its predecessor. Having prior knowledge that this book has a different focus and approach compared to the first book which I really enjoyed, this one unfortunately wasn’t quite my cup of tea despite having many positive highlights. Leaning heavier towards its fantasy romance elements, this book is a great followup for those who wanted more romance from the previous book albeit at the cost of its crossover appeal and blending of different genres. Note: As this is a review of a sequel book in a duology series, this review assumes prior reading or knowledge of the first book the God and the Gumiho. This review is only spoiler free for the God and the Gwisin, if you haven’t read the first book yet, please refer to my past review of it first. After the decisive and largely…