OK, this entry in The Demon Cycle takes a decided turn for the smutty. I don’t have anything against smut, but it’s definitely a bit gratuitous. No reason to stop reading the series, though.
Books Tagged "fantasy"
Elder Race
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clarke
That’s the premise for this book in a nutshell. A brave princess from a medieval town travels to an ancient wizard’s tower for help stopping a demon that threatens her land. But it’s vastly advanced technology, not magic or monsters. Good read.
Gods of Jade and Shadow
If Cinderella were a Mexican teenager who discovered the Mayan god of death trapped in a chest in her grandfather’s room, which sent her on an epic quest to help him reclaim his throne. I love hidden-world fantasy, and this was super good. I already want to re-read it.
The Desert Spear
Solid sequel to The Warded Man. Moves the action to Fauxrabia where Arlen learns to fight demons with his new friends. Another good read that sets up the rest of the series.
(Also a re-read, for me, so that I could pick up the series with book 3 and then finish.)
The Warded Man
Demons rise from the Core every night to hunt humans. Humans are few and scattered, and survive only by warding their homes and villages. One boy figures out wards work if you draw them on your skin, and learns to fight back. It’s very magic-system-y, but it works—especially in this first book.
(I started this series in 2010 but I saw that all the books were out and I decided to finish it.)
A Dead Djinn in Cairo
Prequel to Master of Djinn, which I loved. Delivers. If only it weren’t so short.
Season of Storms
I’m a completionist, and this is a Witcher prequel of sorts, from when Geralt was just a Witcher, not the Witcher. Honestly I liked it better than anything after book 3 of the core series. It was just a good fantasy adventure.
A Thousand Ships
The Trojan War from the women’s point of view. I’m a sucker for anything related to ancient Greece, so I enjoyed this and appreciated the perspective. The tone was pretty homeric—i.e., not a light read. Recommended especially if you’re into ancient Greece.
Master of Djinn
Murder mystery set in a steampunk 1912 Cairo crowded with djinn. Fatma el-Sha’arawi, a dapper junior agent of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments & Supernatural Entities, is on the case.
The main character is fantastic, and the setting—Egypt is now a world superpower thanks to the strength of its supernatural allies—is great.
Super good. This set me off on a mission to read everything published by P. Djèlí Clark while he finishes the next book in this series.
The Lady of the Lake
I decided to finally finish the series after snoozing through The Tower of Swallows a couple of years ago. Somehow it turns out this has all been part of the Arthur saga, I guess? Anyway I’m glad I finished the series.