fantasy Archives

Crown of Wishes, A

Be Careful What You Dream Author: Roshani Chokshi While A Crown of Wishes is ostensibly the sequel to The Star-Touched Queen, it is truly a separate tale. Maya and Amar and their deadly kingdom with its interwoven threads of fate; its sardonic, flesh-eating horses; and its tree of deception, are a backdrop, and their roles here are minimal. Instead, this is Maya’s sister’s, Gauri’s, story about her hard-won journey to freedom. While Maya’s prophecy leads her into the underworld, Gauri’s story takes her from princess to prisoner, awaiting her death sentence. Like her sister, though, Gauri has a certain toughness. When [...]

Frances Carden2025-02-15T14:48:39-07:00February 15th, 2025|Tags: book review, fantasy, magic, myth, read, reading, romance|

I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire

"I Am the Land." Author: P.N. Elrod In Vampire of the Mists, we gained a brief glimpse into the brutal history of Barovia’s vampire overlord, a history coated in carnage and torn by betrayal and perverted love. Following this history, P.N. Elrod gives the master of the land a chance to speak for himself, to tell the story of his fall from grace and the creation of the dark plane where demonic-demigods rule, distributing abyssal punishments to doomed peoples, and where the mists keep the trapped forever entombed. It all starts with Strahd, an aging warrior who is increasingly dissatisfied with [...]

Frances Carden2025-01-20T18:43:42-07:00January 20th, 2025|Tags: book review, D&D, dark fantasy, fantasy, horror, Ravenloft, read, reading|

Star-Touched Queen, The

Fate, Love, and Demon Horses Author: Roshani Chokshi Maya’s horoscope has kept her sequestered. She is hated in the harem. Outcast by the other women. After all, her doomed future could spill over onto them, onto their children. She is destined to bring death and destruction, and many think that the kingdom would be better without her presence. Her mother is already dead. Who else is next? The weird thing about prophecy, however, is the twists and turns you take to arrive at a final destiny. On the eve of the destruction of her empire, as Maya prepares to end her [...]

Frances Carden2024-10-27T09:27:27-07:00October 27th, 2024|Tags: book review, fantasy, fate, legend, read, reading, romance, young adult|