Tales from the Circle

I've been quite busy this year with writing and doing some re-reading/editing. I'm working on a series right now and this year I wrote books 4 and 5, re-read and edited the previous books in the series, and also re-read Children of the Dead City because it has a little bit crossover with book 6 which I've just started. This means that I only actually read 9 books this year, but they were all so great I couldn't choose which ones to put on this list and which ones to leave out! So I guess I should have called this post "the 9 great books I read in 2024" or something, but well... I wanted it to fit with all the other "top" posts from past years so...  Before we jump in, check out my past top books posts:  Top 6 Books I read in 2024   Top 5 Books I read in 2022 Top 8 Books I read in 2021 Top 5 Books I read in 2020 Top 3 Books I Read in 2019   Top 5 Books I Read in 2018   Top 3 Books I Read in 2017 A couple of these are books I discovered through judging...

    Miss Percy's Guide to the Restoration of Dragons is a wonderful conclusion to this trilogy. The ever-growing cast of excellent characters that feel so real continues to grow, bringing more great characters and also giving more depth to some of the characters that were already introduced in the previous two volumes. This book is full of adventure and difficult situations for Mildred and the others, so much so that I felt intense anger and stress for her future at times, but it's also full of that same cozy vibe that permeated the other two.  With this series the coziness stems from the character interactions and the fact that even though it's a book about dragons you can see similarities and connections to very real behaviours that a pet or child might display. The way Mildred cares for the dragons - and for everyone else around her, really - is so reminiscent of a mother or other caregiver worrying about and caring for their kids, which makes it all so believable in t...

  Kir's Fury is the second book in the Godeena Codex. I loved the first book, Godeena, which stood well enough on its own with a satisfying story that wrapped up nicely, but I was definitely thrilled when I found out the author had written a second book. Because I wanted to dive in right away, I decided not to re-read Godeena, and this showed me that Kir's Fury also works fairly well as a stand alone, though of course, I would still recommend reading Godeena first!  This book has a much wider focus, showing us many different planets, characters from various different civilizations, and all kinds of interesting tech levels and even some supernatural powers. It felt epic in scale, which I really loved. It starts on the planet Godeena, six years after the events of the first book, and starts with the archaeologist Diana and her team doing their explorations of that planet, trying to uncover the secrets of the lost civilization that once inhabited it. What they uncover exposes a t...

Firebrand Book 2: The Fire-Touched is an excellent follow-up to the first book. It continues the story of Martel as he completes his first year at the Lyceum, hoping that by the end of it, he'll finally pass the novice stage and become an acolyte like the others his age. As this is the second book Martel has become more comfortable at the school and with the surrounding city and I also enjoyed sinking comfortably back into this well-built world with Martel. I enjoyed this second installment almost more than I did the first.  Martel's characterization is consistent with the first one, and he continues to get himself into tough situations and put himself into danger to help others, but by now he has his feet under him a bit more and is better able to handle the situations he gets into - and pick out friends from foes from people who are trying to use him. There's lots of great character work not only for Martel, but also some of the side-characters.  In terms of his magical e...

  Outlaw Mage by K. S. Villoso follows the adventures of Rosha, a young woman with the ability to do magic living in an empire where she's an outsider. This book is full of what I love most about Villoso's work: those raw, deep observations about what it feels like to be an outsider trying to find or make a place for yourself in a society that doesn't have a place for you except on the sidelines. There's a fast-paced, action-packed story full of magic and secrets and even empire politics, but those few, scattered thoughts where Rosha is trying to come to terms with the way others see her, the way the empire treats her and her family, those are what raise this book above others of its kind and convince me that K. S. Villoso will one day be considered one of the greatest writers of this generation.  "The Empire of Dageis, mighty conqueror, the bastion of civilizations, envy of the world. And yet its people cannot grasp how a mere Gorenten child could make a pebble fl...

Judging the SPSFC3 has been an interesting experience for me. Previously, I had only participated in contests like SPFBO and SFINCs as an entrant - throwing my books in there and hoping to get at least a little visibility for my books out of my participation in these competitions. Hoping that the books would end up with a judge that liked them and would give them a good review and get the word out a little bit. This year, I had the opportunity to see the other side of the process as a judge for the science fiction competition SPSFC in it's third run. I was part of Team Peripheral Prospectors, which was a team composed of 6 judges. You can c heck out our team hub , where links to all our reviews and other SPSFC3 posts can be found, but I also thought I would look back at my year of being a judge and post a few thoughts here.  SPSFC3 - The Process and some of the Books  While I mostly read and write fantasy, I do love to read some science fiction from time to time and so I joine...

Never by Ashley Capes is a great prequel story. It's got elements of fantasy in a well-built world, but leans a bit more towards sword and sorcery as it focuses on thieves and mercenaries. I've wanted to read something by Ashley Capes for a while and I'm glad I started with this one. It was a nice fast well-written tale that makes me want to learn more about the world and the character. Never is not only the name of the story, it's also the name of the main character, which, along with his "curse," drives him to learn more about his past/identity. I don't want to spoil anything, but the curse subplot is intriguing, little hints of it sprinkled in expertly throughout the story, allowing us to get a feel for the character's motivation.  The story might be short, but it packs in a lot of action, world-building, and characterization. And it's not just the main character that gets fleshed out, the other characters are also developed with care.  Check it...

  A Necromancer Called Gam Gam is a wonderful novella that explores loss through the adventure of a young girl on the run. When I first saw this book getting praise on social media I thought from the black cover and the skeleton and the title that it would be a horror story or something and so I ignored it for a long time. Eventually, I actually began paying attention to what people were saying about it and realized that my first impression may not have been accurate. I'm so glad I eventually checked out this cozy story set in a dark world. It's excellent. Like many others, I've found myself searching out and enjoying cozier reads lately, but I sometimes find them lacking in depth or sometimes I'm annoyed by how they ignore certain important themes just to keep the vibe cozy. It really doesn't sit well with me when a book is set in a war zone or something and the characters have no sense of introspection on their surroundings and just ignore them - and unthinkingly ...

Time to Play (Apocalypse Parenting Book 1) is a LitRPG book about a mother thrust into an apocalyptic game-like situation with her three kids. One minute she's worrying about driving them to their sports lessons and the next minute the electricity stops working and an announcement informs her - and everyone else - that earth has just become the site of some alien game-show and they're now the unwilling contestants in this game. It's such an excellent premise with some great characterization that grounds it and makes it very, very real. I flew through this book in about two days because it was such a page-turner. One of the main draws that kept me turning the pages is the main character Meghan's realistic struggles and reactions as a mother of three. In a way, it's a book where monsters suddenly spawn and the characters can collect points and have to figure out how to survive, but it's also really just a book about the struggles of parenting, because it's not...

  Any Minor World by Craig Schaefer follows Roy - a sort of private detective/"hired muscle" who is approached by a bit of a suspicious client. Despite his misgivings, he takes the job and goes after a dead writer's unfinished manuscript and begins to unravel a mystery surrounding this author's books. The mystery brings him up against a legendary criminal network and introduces him to Lucy Langenkamp, an art restorer who once wrote a cancelled comic. As they struggle to survive the crazy adventure that springs up around them, Roy and Lucy slowly grapple with their own pasts as well. It's a well-written book with a very distinctive noir/pulp vibe to it.  Before I go on, I have to comment on the descriptions. I'm usually someone who doesn't enjoy/gets bored by descriptions, but I found the ones in this book to be well-written. They're interesting and paint some very vivid pictures that enabled me to imagine exactly what some of these characters and place...

It's a little later than I usually do this, but I've finally had a minute to look at the books I read in 2023 and choose the best ones to share with you. I may not have read that many books, but I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of them, so I get to share 5 truly amazing books with you all! Hopefully this will help you fill your TBRs and find some great reads! Before we jump in, check out my past top books posts:  Top 5 Books I read in 2022 Top 8 Books I read in 2021 Top 5 Books I read in 2020 Top 3 Books I Read in 2019   Top 5 Books I Read in 2018   Top 3 Books I Read in 2017 This year I read books from a wide variety of sub-genres! Without further ado, here are m top 6 in the order in which I read them:  Miss Percy's Travel Guide to Welsh Moors and Feral Dragons by Quenby Olson Genre: Historical Fantasy Miss Percy's Guide to Welsh Moors and Feral Dragons is the second in the Miss Percy Guide series and so I went into it for the comforting, but still adventurous ki...

The Prism Effect by J. Wint is set in a future post-apocalyptic Earth (or, rather, on some belt structures orbiting the now almost uninhabitable Earth) and it follows the main character Jet through the beginning of his university career. He's not a normal university student, though, he has a rare condition that makes his eyes glow and renders him an outcast - a condition about which not much is known, except that there is no cure. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially the first 2/3 of it when it focused on the mystery of the condition and Jet dealing with it and making connections with others on campus. The slow pursuit of more information about this condition and the way that's woven in with his university life (which is mostly sport-focused) is well done. I'm not the biggest sports fan or anything, but I found the way that was done realistic and I never felt it overwhelmed the story. It allowed us to see some aspects of Jet's day to day without having to go too d...

Pallas Lost by Jake Morrison is a space-heist sci-fi story with excellent world-building. The first few chapters introduce several characters that eventually come together around the mystery of a mythical lost spaceship - Pallas. The way their stories came together was excellent and made for some great, entertaining reading. The author also did a wonderful job at slowly revealing the history, myths, and current politics of the human colonies on the various planets. Everything was revealed smoothly at the right time and it made the world (galaxy, I guess!) seem very real while maintaining the fast pace of the storytelling.  I want to know more about Pallas and the AI that started it all and the politics of the corporations that rule these planets so the book definitely did the job of the first in series quite well, while still telling a complete enough story of this part of the adventure.  I only had a couple of very minor issues with the book. First of all, Eliot's intro scene...

Replacement follows the story of Jane, a forgotten clone in a factory-like facility where most of the others are part of larger "batches" who have been cloned/designed to take on specific roles in society. Jane is yearning and searching for "batchmates" and for answers. She wants to know who "sponsored" her to be cloned in the first place and why. To connect with her identity.  She thinks she might get answers when she is sent to replace/pretend to be Janie, one of these batchmates she has been yearning to find, but she find a whole bunch more questions!  This was a great, well-written read that had mystery and explored the ethical issues that arise from cloning in an entertaining way. Since Jane is a teenager there was a bit of school life/teen relationship stuff that was written in a realistic way that didn't overpower other aspects of the story. It all served to move the story along and help explore Jane's struggles, because on the one hand she ...

As you know, I mostly read and write epic fantasy, but I have a bit of a soft spot for science fiction as well. And I'm always on the lookout for good indie hidden gems . So when the amazing Athena @ OneReadingNurse gave me a chance to join her SPSFC3 judging team, I decided to give it a try!  As a part of Team 4: Peripheral Prospectors , I've already sampled many amazing Sci-Fi books. We had a lot of great books assigned to our team and deciding which ones to put forward in the competition was no easy task! So before I dive into reading some of the Quarterfinalists in full, I wanted to introduce you to some of these great books I sampled so you can check them out too.  Some of these books I enjoyed and will continue reading, whether they made it to the Quarterfinalists list or not, and others weren't my style, but they might be yours! The Books I've Sampled So Far:    After Moses by Michael F. Kane  This book starts off like a space-Western that takes place b...

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is not a new anime. It's been out for a while - since 2009! In fact, it's the second anime adaptation of the original manga series. So I'm sure what I say here is nothing new to a lot of people, but I just can't stop thinking about this amazing story so I guess I'll rant about it here for a bit.  Another note before I start. It took me a while to get into this anime. I actually started watching it and dropped it a couple of times. Even this time, it took me a few episodes to get invested/convinced as the story built up. I wasn't hooked as quickly as I am with some other anime/shows/fantasy works. But I stuck with it and I'm so glad I did. If you haven't watched it, you should definitely give it a chance.  Moving on, let's talk about the genius of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which I will from now on refer to as FMAB:  Everything Builds to a Well-Defined Ending  The manga that this show was based on was already fi...