Smorgasbord Fantasia

Godkiller  is  Hannah Kaner 's highly acclaimed debut, set in a richly realised brutal world, in the throes of a chaotic looming civil war. It is a world rife with with conflicts, between the Gods and humans sick of their tyrannical murdering world order, nobles scheming against royals, and the long-suffering citizens caught in the middle of all this, trying to flee from their own wretched destiny.  Hannah presents an interesting, refreshing take on the conflicts between Gods and humans, giving us a world that is teeming with strife, torn between half the populace on the side of the King, wanting to kill and eliminate the errant murderous Gods who are drunk on their concept of power derived from the desperate faith and the other half, clinging to hope that their prayers would still be heard by the Gods left. Cities are in ruins, where the shrines are destroyed and gangs of Godkillers, mercenaries who specialize in exactly what that name implies. The only city that still h...

I think I have zeroed in on my top fantasy debut of the year already :)   The Silver Blood Promise is James Logan 's debut - a masterfully crafted epic fantasy full of action, mayhem and magic that is right up your alley, falling somewhere between the Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and First Law books by Joe Abercrombie. Ed McDonald calls it post-grimdark and he wouldn't be wrong. Because the staples of that grimdark genre which we all love are all in there; the hero with his regretful choices of his past, who is content drowning his life in wine (Parvan Red, anyone?) and gambling his wealth away in decrepit smoky dens, picking fights with shady goons, characters drowning in their own guilt and making illogical choices, back-alley fights and a flighty convoluted dash through a seedy city of merchants, underground criminals and power hungry nobles conspiring against each other.  The story primary centers around the character of Lukan Gardova, a minor nobility, a failed ...