Name the last three books you have read...

I don't think that info has been put out as of yet. Belcher has quite a few other book irons in the fire. The Golgotha series, Nightwise series, The Brotherhood series and this new Queen's Road book, which if all these other books are any indication will also morph into a series, it's roll of the dice what's coming out next.

 

I'm in the middle of reading the Night Dahlia right now. I like all of them that I've read thus far. Yeah, Golgotha is the best (probably because it's got four books of character & world building under it's belt) with the Brotherhood in second.

 

Lieutenant James Shelley, who has an uncanny knack for premeditating danger, leads a squad of advanced US Army military tasked with enforcing the peace around a conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. The squad members are linked wirelessly 24/7 to themselves and a central intelligence that guides them via drone relay--and unbeknownst to Shelley and his team, they are being recorded for a reality TV show.

When an airstrike almost destroys their outpost, a plot begins to unravel that's worthy of Crichton and Clancy's best. The conflict soon involves rogue defense contractors, corrupt US politicians, and homegrown terrorists who possess nuclear bombs. Soon Shelley must accept that the helpful warnings in his head could be AI. But what is the cost of serving its agenda?

Interesting characters & concept but the story execution came across in a tepid way. There are 2 more books in "The Red" Trilogy but sadly I won't be checking them out due to this book's failure to completely hook me into the series.




Two thumbs & two big toes up for this. Looking forward to the next installment of the series.





Laytham Ballard once protected humanity as part of the Nightwise, a secret order of modern-day mages dedicating to holding hellish supernatural forces at bay, but that was before a string of sadistic ritual murders shook everything he believed in—and sent him down a much darker path. One that has already cost him most of his soul, as well as everything he once held dear.

Now a powerful faerie mob boss has hired Ballard to find his lost-lost daughter, who went missing several years ago. The long-cold trail leads him across the globe, from the luxurious playgrounds of the rich and famous to the seedy occult underbelly of Los Angeles, where creatures of myth and legend mingle with street gangs and sex clubs, and where Ballard finds his own guilty past waiting for him around every shadowy corner. To find Caern Ankou, he will have to confront old enemies, former friends and allies, and a grisly cold case that has haunted him for years.

But is Caern still alive? And, perhaps more importantly, does she even want to be found?

Set in the same universe as his Brotherhood of the Wheel series, this series shows yet another side of the secret & dark supernatural world that exists alongside our own. The first 3/4 of the novel I was wondering if Belcher had mistitled the first book & this one, as the actual Nightwise society that protagonist Laytham Ballard was once a part of plays a role in this story (revealing some of his history & backstory with the group that was glossed over in the first novel) but by the end I realized what Belcher may be planning on doing with the character & the Nightwise as the series progresses.


Bonus Novella Read:







Ray Lilly has been summoned to the headquarters of the Twenty Palace Society to answer one question: How has he managed to survive mission after mission fighting alongside his boss, Annalise? He doesn't have the power of a full peer of the society. He's a wooden man. An assistant. A diversion. The other peers want to know what's going on, so it's off to Europe for a trip to the First Palace. And no place in the world is safer than inside the headquarters of the Twenty Palace Society, right?

Right?

Author Harry Connolly finally succeeded in doing in a 64 page novella story what he failed to do in 3 full length Twenty Palaces novels & a prequel novel : actually fully explain the who & what of the Twenty Palaces society. If he had done this in the first official novel of the series, it probably would have succeeded as an ongoing series. If he finally decides to continue the series going forward it will definitely have staying power this go around compared to the last.

 

So did you get why I said I thought Belcher may have mistitiled the two books initially? The second book touched more on the Nightwise than the first book but as I said I think I know why the series as a whole is possibly going especially with the "badge" scene that played out towards the end of the story.

 

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.

For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.

However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand...

Had to do this one on audio book because while this is a very good read it is extremely character & prose heavy. I actually have a physical paperback copy of the book that I bought back in the early 2000s when it first came out but only read about the first 2 chapters of the book because of how prose & character heavy it is. Author Steven Erikson does no hand holding with this story forcing readers to figure out the what, where & why of the fantasy world the characters inhabit as they interact & events play out. Same with characters as he gives limited descriptions of characters' physical appearances upon their intitial appearances in the book, but you gain more details about them (both appearance & personality wise) through their interactions with other characters as the story progresses. And this is only the first book in a series of ten telling a long & complex story.



Half-human. Half-demon. All attitude.

Luther Cross here. Dangerously handsome, effortlessly stylish half-demon, at your service. As I have inherited certain...abilities with my odd genetics, I’ve put them to use as Chicago’s foremost paranormal investigator.

My current case? Well, I have to admit, it feels a little personal. I’m helping a mysterious girl who’s turned up on my doorstep, pregnant through mystic means. I can’t help but think of my own mother…and if I don’t help her, she’ll face the same fate.

Turns out, someone is trying to create an army of half-demons. While it might be a pleasant change to hang out with my own kind, I know most half-demons don’t have my sense of morality. If I don’t stop this evil plan, the armistice between Heaven and Hell will be broken and all of the Earth will pay… It will be the beginning of the end.


Good little supernatural detective adventure story. Already have the next 2 books in the series lined up to read.




BOOK ONE OF THE GREAT WAY: The city of Peradain is the heart of an empire built with steel, spears, and a monopoly on magic… until, in a single day, it falls, overthrown by a swarm of supernatural creatures of incredible power and ferocity. Neither soldier nor spell caster can stand against them.

The empire's armies are crushed, its people scattered, its king and queen killed. Freed for the first time in generations, city-states scramble to seize neighboring territories and capture imperial spell casters. But as the creatures spread across the land, these formerly conquered peoples discover they are not prepared to face the enemy that destroyed an empire.

Can the last Peradaini prince, pursued by the beasts that killed his parents, cross battle-torn lands to retrieve a spell that might—just might—turn the battle against this new enemy?

Author Harry Connolly takes the weird horror elements he played with in his Twenty Palaces series & introduces them to a sword & sorcery environment resulting in a for more engaging read than his Twenty Palaces novels. Another trilogy series where I already have the next 2 installments lined up for reading.

 

The Rebellion Chronicles ( E-Book Series)



He doesn’t need a weapon. He is the weapon.

After losing his powers in an epic battle between good and evil, former sorcerer Nate Garrett finds himself living as a humble human in Clockwork, Oregon. While the world thinks Nate is dead, his friends continue to fight against Avalon and the evil it’s intent on spreading.

Avalon’s forces turn up in Clockwork, and Nate’s frustration grows with every passing day his magic doesn’t return. He finds himself trying to stop Avalon’s plans while hiding from enemies who would destroy everything in their path to see him dead.

Avalon’s darkness begins to threaten the people Nate cares about, and an old nemesis returns; magic or no magic, he has no choice but to fight. But will Nate see his magical powers reborn before the entire town—and everyone he loves—is destroyed?




A DEADLY VENOM. A LOOMING REBELLION. A VICIOUS SIEGE. AND THE CLOCK IS TICKING.

For sorcerer Nate Garrett, the stakes have risen. If Asgard falls, he may lose much more than his home - he may lose the thing dearest to him. To stand a fighting chance against Avalon, he must be ready to go to war. But when his best friend and father are poisoned, Nate must race against the clock in a desperate quest to find a cure.

Layla Cassidy is tasked with gaining the aid of the Valkyrie in Valhalla, but once there, she finds herself involved in another rebellion and must pick a side before it's too late.

Meanwhile, Mordred finds himself on a hunt for Excalibur, a weapon of incredible power that would aid the rebellion in their fight against Arthur and his allies. But to retrieve it, Mordred must face the uncomfortable truths about himself.

War looms over the rebellion, and the battle for Asgard is at hand. Time is running out as Avalon's forces threaten total destruction. But Nate can't be in two places at once. Can he find the cure, and can he, Layla, and Mordred save the realms before it's too late?



It’s a dark day for the Earth realms. Will it be the last?

Sorcerer Nate Garrett lost much in the battle that devastated Asgard, but the war against darkness is far from over. He’s spent a year searching for Arthur, hell-bent on stopping the evil leader of Avalon and rescuing his friend Tommy from his clutches. Nate’s investigation brings him to Washington, DC, where he finds the city under siege. Just when all hope seems lost, Layla Cassidy and her team arrive to join the fight, but Avalon’s deadly plan to conquer the Earth realm is underway.

Meanwhile, Mordred is on a quest to find allies in the upcoming war against Avalon, hoping to find Arthur and stop him before it’s too late.

As the rebellion forces close in on Arthur, each of them know this could be their last fight. But with Arthur massing an unstoppable army of his own, will Nate’s fury be enough to defeat him once and for all? (less)


Very good action fantasy trilogy. It wasn't until after I had finished the first book that I learned that there where two "prequel" series that chronicle events that take place prior to this trilogy : the 6 book Hellequin Chronicles that introduce main protagonist Nate Garrett and tells his backstory & the Avalon Chronicles which introduces secondary protagonist Layla Cassidy and tells the story of the beginnings of the war with Avalon after Garrett temporarily loses his ability to use magic & is presumed to be dead by the majority of his foes & allies. (The first book of the Avalon Chronicles chronologically takes place prior to the last book of the Hellequin Chronicles as Layla Cassidy is introduced to Nate Garrett at the end of the book). There are also two spin off novels each telling the backstory of two of the supporting characters who appear in all 3 series.

 

Ramon “Ray” Cosa’s life is not what he expected it to be. Living in a small Texas town ravaged by Hurricane Harvey, Ray has suffered many losses in his young life, and he has little hope left that anything will ever change or get better.

That is, until the vintage Ford Galaxie and its strange, dying owner enters Ray’s life. Given a jeweled ring he cannot remove and a desperate mission, Ray is plunged into a universe of secrets, wonders, and terrors he never dreamed exists.

Now, he travels the Queen's Road - a hyper-space highway that connects all the planets and galaxies in creation - in search of one man, one of the Queen of the Universe's Rangers. That journey will put Ray on the front lines of an eons-old cosmic war between the primal forces of order and chaos.

And probably make him late for his next shift at the Chug-n-Lug.


Good read. Basically Belcher giving his weird horror tales a sci-fi Lensmen style spin. Looking forward to the next installment as I'm sure there will be one.



BOOK TWO OF THE GREAT WAY: Having lost the prince to the madness of The Blessing, Tejohn and Cazia are the only people who know of his plan to retrieve a secret spell that might, just might, turn the tide of battle against the grunts.

But Tejohn’s body is broken, and Cazia has been stripped of her magic. Worse, both are being held captive: Tejohn faces charges of treason in the lands where he was born. On the other side of the continent, Cazia is a prisoner of the Tilkilit queen, a creature with a desperate, deadly plan.

While they struggle for their freedom, The Blessing continues to spread across Kal-Maddum, their numbers growing more numerous as the human population shrinks. What had started as a race to restore an empire has quickly become a mission to save humanity from extinction.



BOOK THREE OF THE GREAT WAY: What was once the Peradaini Empire is now a wasted landscape of burned, empty cities and abandoned farmlands. The Blessing, now more numerous than ever, continues to spread across the continent, driving refugees to the dubious safety of the city walls. Unharvested crops mean that few strongholds have enough provisions to last the winter, although most know the grunts will take them before starvation will.

But hope survives. A piece of stolen magic just might halt the spread of The Blessing if Tejohn and Cazia can find a scholar with the skill to recreate the spell. If such a person still lives.

Unfortunately, they are nearly out of time. The few remaining human enclaves are isolated and under siege. Worse, The Blessing has spread to other sentient creatures. If Cazia and Tejohn are going to strike back at their monstrous enemy, they can not delay.

And there’s another, deeper question left unaddressed: where did The Blessing come from, and why have they invaded Kal-Maddum?

The Way Into Darkness is the final book in The Great Way, wrapping up the story begun in The Way Into Chaos and continued in The Way Into Magic.


As stated with the first book in the series that was posted awhile back, it is a good blend of standard Sword & Sorcery fantasy & horror. Book Two leans more towards standard fantasy tale compared to the first book & Book Three as with Book One returns to the mix of horror & fantasy elements to tell the story. A solid series overall.

 

Springtime in Styria. And that means war.

There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll, and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.

War may be hell, but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso’s employ, it’s a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular – a shade too popular for her employer’s taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto’s reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.

Her allies include Styria’s least reliable drunkard, Styria’s most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a barbarian who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that’s all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started…

Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.

Grim & bloody tale with sprinkles of dark humor in spots. A good read if you enjoy revenge stories with the protagonist being revealed as someone who is most definitely a heavy shade of gray.



Books 1 & 2 of The Burning Series




The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable war for almost two hundred years. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine.

Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war.

Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He's going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn't get the chance.

Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He'll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.





Tau and his Queen, desperate to delay the impending attack on the capital by the indigenous people of Xidda, craft a dangerous plan. If Tau succeeds, the Queen will have the time she needs to assemble her forces and launch an all out assault on her own capital city, where her sister is being propped up as the 'true' Queen of the Omehi.

If the city can be taken, if Tsiora can reclaim her throne, and if she can reunite her people then the Omehi have a chance to survive the onslaught.


Solid sword & sorcery series written by black author Evan Winter & set in an African–inspired fantasy world ( if Africa had dragons & demons as native creatures). Intriguing world & character building. The third book in the series, The Lord of Demons, is set to be published January 2022.

 

The Realm of Dreich is a getaway for the rich and powerful, a medieval-inspired town in the middle of a vast frozen wilderness. Now it’s the site of a wedding, intended to join two feuding families who have spent centuries in an uneasy truce with each other.

When Tommy Carpenter asks his best friend, Nate Garrett, to help him with the security of the wedding, Nate reluctantly agrees, knowing that it will be a long weekend of work and, in all probability, treachery.

It is only a matter of time before members of each family are found murdered and it is up to Nate and Tommy to find the killer before more bodies fall, potentially reigniting a war.


A standalone novella that falls between books 6 and 7 in Steve McHugh's Hellequin Chronicles series. Good action fantasy/mystery read.





In the final chapter of the Hellequin Chronicles, secrets will be revealed, friendships tested, and destinies fulfilled.

Avalon is under siege. A shadowy cabal, headed by a mysterious figure known only as “My Liege,” has launched a series of deadly attacks across the globe, catching innocent human bystanders in the crossfire.

Emerging from the debris of battle, Nate Garrett, the sixteen-hundred-year-old sorcerer also called Hellequin, and his friends must stop My Liege once and for all. But powerful forces stand in their way. To save Avalon, they will need to enlist the help of Mordred, once Nate’s greatest nemesis, now his most formidable ally. But Mordred is grappling with a dark prophecy that could spell Nate’s doom…

The fate of the world hangs in the balance. Even if Nate can halt the war, will there be anything left worth saving?


The book that sets up the events that occur in Steve McHugh's Avalon Chronicles Trilogy & Rebellion Chronicles Trilogy which continues the story of Nate Garrett & his rather large group of supporting characters. Tell's the story of how & why Nate Garrett is believed to be dead by the majority of his friends & enemies as well as being powerless at the start of the Rebellion Chronicles Trilogy.




Hunted is a new novella set in the universe of the bestselling Hellequin Chronicles and Avalon Chronicles series.

Cursed by witches centuries ago, Remy Roax was content with living his long life as a half-man/half-fox. But when he learned he had had undiscovered powers, he had no choice but to learn how to use them.

After relocating to North Dakota in order to practice his new found abilities, he soon finds himself in the targets of Louis Bonne, a man who wants to understand how the curse placed on Remy worked, so that he can use the souls of innocent people to make himself immortal.

Since Remy has no interest in helping, Louis sends a group of murderers intent on convincing him. But Remy isn’t some helpless bystander, and these people will soon discover that Remy isn’t the kind of fox who runs from a hunt.


This novella takes place a few months after the end of Scorched Shadows & basically spotlights one the many secondary characters that appear throughout Steve McHugh's Hellequin/Avalon/Rebellion series. A good read that answers some questions about the character's curse that have gone unanswered until now.