Posts labeled Fantasy
Review - The Pirate Witch by Damian Serbu
My rating: 
Alexander is born at the worst possible time and place for someone to be different, in early seventeenth century Salem, Massachusetts Colony, where the Puritans are still on the hunt for witches. Alexander’s mother is brutally murdered by the townspeople, who think she’s a witch, and his father dies of the shock of it. The thing is, she really was a witch, and so is Alexander. His mother’s dying wish is that Alexander survive, hiding his powers from prying eyes.
Tags: Historical Fantasy
Review - Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey
My rating:
This review was originally published in slightly different form at BDSM Book Reviews. Note: This book is a bit of a departure from the books I normally review. You have been warned! “Lost Boi” reimagines the classic tale of “Peter Pan” in kinky queer terms. Pan is a biological woman with a strong male identity - a boi. He is the unquestioned leader of the lost bois, a group of homeless youth Pan has found on the streets and brought to Neverland, which is really just an abandoned warehouse in which they are squatters.
Review - Bump in the Night
My rating:
This review originally appeared in slightly different form at BDSM Book Reviews. This collection of four previously published short stories features an entire panoply of things that go “bump in the night”, from ghosts to vampires to shape-shifting creatures. The stories are varied, but there is something of a common theme of finding love in unexpected places. In “Haunted” a ghost returns to a costume shop near where he died each year on the anniversary of his demise, on Halloween, to make love to the shop’s owner.
Review - Brimstone: Demon Owned and Operated
My rating:
Shax, the demon Prince of Thieves, had a bit of a falling out with Lucifer, so now he, along with his best friend and partner in crime Verrin, Lord of Impatience, have left earth to seek their fortunes among the stars. They’ve acquired a cargo ship, appropriately named Brimstone, which Shax captains and Verrin pilots. They’ll take almost any job, even, or perhaps especially, legally questionable ones. This omnibus edition of three stories recounts several of the pair’s escapades.
Tags: Fantasy Science Fiction
Review - Ask the Oracle
My rating:
This review originally appeared in another form on BDSM Book Reviews. Grayson Muir knows things. In fact, he knows just about everything. He is one of a handful of “oracles” in the world, and probably one of the best. Gray makes a good living off corporate clients, and helps out the police when he can. In fact, Gray likes helping people. Emphasis on people. When a demon from the underworld comes asking for Gray’s help to sort out a sticky situation, his first instinct is to refuse.
Tags: Fantasy Slightly Kinky
Review - Stasis
My rating:
The powerful city-state of Praesidium considers itself more civilized than its neighbors. Rather than kill their most dangerous criminals, the rulers and the wizards who serve them put the men in stasis, a sort of suspended animation, for decades or even centuries. Once they’re awakened, the convicted then serve out long terms as slaves. When his father the Chief takes Ennek’s older brother “Under” to see the prisoners in stasis, the young boy convinces them to let him come along.
Tags: Fantasy
Review - Rogue
My rating:
This review originally appeared on BDSM Book Reviews. He calls himself Rogue because that’s what he is, and he has known no other name. This vampire, young at only 100 years, was turned against his will, and the circumstances surrounding his transition were so traumatic that he’s blocked out all memory of his human existence, even his name. Given the circumstances of how he came to be a vampire, it’s somewhat understandable that he lives outside their society and the structured organization that rules them.
Review - Connection: Angel's Pet
My rating:
Camulus is an immortal being. Humans who have glimpsed his true form call beings like him angels, although given Camulus’ dark wings, perhaps he is a fallen angel. He has traveled from world to world, played the part of king and god, but now finds that a little boring. What he needs is a new pet, a devotee who will dedicate himself to serving the ‘angel’ in every way. Adam is a young man who knows his desires are on the wrong side of the dystopian society he lives in.
Review - Dark Waters
My rating:
Flein has an itch to travel, and he’s seen more of the world than just about any man alive. Then again, Flein is only half human. He is the offspring of one of the Norse gods who mated with a human, and staying on the move helps keep people from realizing that he doesn’t age and is in fact a thousand years old or more. His wanderings take him to a small village in the Scottish Highlands, where a series of rapes and murders have been blamed on a mysterious creature that inhabits the loch.
Review - Eternal Samurai
My rating:
In twelfth century Japan, Saito Arisada is a warrior monk in the temple of Mii-dera. The temple is caught up in the struggle between two powerful factions vying for the imperial throne. An overwhelming force is sent to attack the temple, which falls to the invaders with the help of Arisada’s lover, who betrays him and the temple. The handful of warriors, including Arisada, that survive the initial attack realize all is lost and commit the ritual suicide of the samurai.