The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly - Hodder & Stoughton 2022 - Not to be confused with the 2005 horror film of the same name, Erin Kelly’s inspiration for ‘The Skeleton Key’ was drawn from a unique book called ‘Masquerade’ by Kit Williams, published in Britain in 1979. The book was a collection of pictures …
Category: Books
MONKEY BEACH BY EDEN ROBINSON
MONKEY BEACH BY EDEN ROBINSON - Knopf, 2000 - Eden Robinson is a First Nations’ writer whose work explores fiction through the lens of her culture and lived experience. My wife’s book club had this on their reading list and there were a few readers that didn’t like the ‘non-lineal’ style of the narrative. …
AKIN BY EMMA DONAGHUE
AKIN BY EMMA DONAGHUE, HarperCollins 2019 - Noah Selvaggio, a widower living in New York, is within days of turning eighty. Noah’s father was a famous photographer whose work is now valuable and often found in museums. Noah’s sister Fernande, mother of Victor, died recently, leaving Noah an envelope with some photos taken in …
DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL BY MATT DINNIMAN
DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL BY MATT DINNIMAN, ACE 2020 - I’d have to guess that Matt Dinniman spent a good part of his spare time playing video games and ‘Dungeons and Dragons’. Aside from the gaming world, Dungeon Crawler Carl seems to draw a little inspiration from Bancroft’s ‘Senlin Ascends’, Collins ‘Hunger Games’, television’s ‘Survivor’ or …
SERAPHINA BY RACHEL HARTMAN
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman 2012 Doubleday In Hartman’s fantasy world, there have been forty years of an uneasy peace between human people and their traditional enemy, the dragons. While in their natural state, the dragons have all the traditional trappings: wings, scales, massive bodies and the ability to breathe fire. The new twist in this …
NETTLE & BONE BY KINGFISHER
NETTLE & BONE BY T. KINGFISHER - Tor publishing 2022 - Here’s the second of my Dearest Darling Daughter’s (DDD) Christmas offerings. It’s a fantasy with a first chapter that makes you feel like you’ve fallen from a great height into some kind of landscape shaped by Salvador Dali. It begins with the main …
IMPOSSIBLE CREATURES BY KATHERINE RUNDELL
IMPOSSIBLE CREATURES BY KATHERINE RUNDELL, Bloomsbury, 2023 This is the first of my Christmas book gifts courtesy of my dearest darling daughter (DDD). It’s a fantasy book that has garnered a lot of attention, with copies of first prints already being offered at silly prices. An inventive tale and quite engaging, it has elements of …
THE YGGDRASIL CHRONICLES BY RICHARD WALKER
After unveiling my first book, ‘Punto and Me’ last week, I’m sure you all spent the week on the edges of your seats, wondering if my second book would appear this week. The answer is a resounding YES! Here it is, ‘The Yggdrasil Chronicles’, a fantasy story based on Norse mythology. In this novel you …
PUNTO AND ME BY RICHARD WALKER
In a departure from my usual reviews and satire, this blog is to introduce my readers with one of the two novels that I’ve written and recently published on the Kobo.ca e-reader site. ‘Punto and Me’ is a mix of genres that includes: ‘coming of age’, historical fiction, ghost story and romance. If you’re willing …
THE ILLEGAL BY LAWRENCE HILL
As this will be my last post until the new year, I wish all those who enjoy the blog a wonderful holiday and, if those in power don't wipe out the planet in the meantime, a new year full of mirth and merriment. So, my last blog of the year is the book 'THE ILLEGAL' …
Richard's Left Bank 