As a Bookshop affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. When I first heard about The River Has Roots, I was simultaneously intrigued by it and hesitant to read it. The idea of a story about Faerie and sisters based on a murder ballad appealed to me, but my only previous experience with Amal El-Mohtar’s work was a sample from the novella she co-authored, This Is How You Lose the Time War—a book that for all its awards and accolades has […]

As an Amazon Associate and Bookshop affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Note: You may want to read this review on the website (instead of by email or feed reader). There are spoiler tags following the fourth paragraph that should be hidden on the website but may be visible elsewhere. Kate Elliott’s latest book, the standalone epic fantasy novella Servant Mage, tells the story of a commoner swept into an overthrown monarchy’s struggle against the new regime. Fellian, like all […]

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Stephanie Burgis’ The Harwood Spellbook series thus far follows women scandalously refusing to conform to the traditions of Angland, an alternate version of nineteenth-century England with magic and mythical beings like elves and fey. In this world, the Celtic queen Boudicca successfully defeated the Romans, leading to the establishment of a group of ruling women known as the Boudiccate—and a strict gender divide between political and magical careers. After all, it’s known […]

Stephanie Burgis’ recent novella Snowspelled, the first installment in The Harwood Spellbook series, is a delightful romantic fantasy book set in an alternate version of nineteenth-century England with magic. In this world, Celtic Queen Boudicca’s rebellion against the Romans succeeded, and since then, the country of Angland has been a matriarchy ruled by a group known as the Boudiccate. Though it is always women who handle political issues such as maintaining the peace between their nation and the elves with whom […]