Category: Book Reviews

Here you will find quick and easy to understand fantasy, dark fantasy, and grimdark reviews to give you insights into the stories and their authors.

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Book Review: The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King.

The Bazaar of Bad DreamsThe Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King is a compilation of short horror stories.

The Cover: There are a couple of different covers for this book; a black one with a hollow face and a white one with an array of colour. I have a copy of the white cover version, and while I do like this cover, it is not a good fit for the genre. It is a crisp well-presented cover, but this is a book of horror stories! The bright, cheery image does little to convey that. The font works for me, but the impact is totally diminished by the kaleidoscope of colour behind it. I feel the other version of the cover is a far superior one for this genre.

The Good Stuff: I’m probably going to upset a few Stephen King fans here, but I didn’t find much to talk about here. It is a professionally presented book, but for me, the stories are slow, they are not very interesting, and the ones that did tweak my interest fell short of the mark at the end.

The Bad Stuff: I have tried to read King before, and never been able to get into his stories. I do enjoy the movie adaptations of his books, yet I’m not a big fan of his writing style. But there are thousands who rave about his writing and hail him as the king of horror, so it would seem he just doesn’t work for me. I wasn’t hooked into any the stories I read in this book. I must admit that this one is going onto my DNF list (only the second book to land on this list to date). I got to page 189 and that is enough for me. That covers 8 of the 21 short stories within the book, and only 2 of those I read caught my interest, yet turned out to be disappointing in the end for me.

Overall, I found it a labour to read as much of this book as I managed to get through. I kept going for as long as I did in the hope that I would connect with one of the stories and really start to enjoy it. But this just wasn’t meant to be. I’m comparing this to an old horror movie where the ghosts are just actors wearing sheets with eye holes cut out, this one gets an unexciting, fright-fizzling 1 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review: Become An Amazon Keyword Master by Peter MacDonald

Become an Amazon Keyword Master - Maximize your Amazon Book SalesBecome an Amazon Keyword Master – Maximize your Amazon Book Sales by Peter MacDonald

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Become an Amazon Keyword Master by Peter MacDonald claims to show you how to increase your sales by using more effective keywords.

The Cover: This is a typical non-fiction cover and fits the title well, the yellow text on blue background works, but the red text is hard to see/read on smaller images of the book cover. The font choice works for me, but I would change the red text to white or a similar light colour that works with the blue background.

The Good Stuff: This book is well presented and does provide some useful information. It will give you a better understanding of search engine optimization (SEO), and the differences between Amazon and Google. While I believe the author is incorrect on the issue noted in ‘The Bad Stuff’, he still has a good grasp on maximising your keyword efficiency and there is merit in the method he uses.

The Bad Stuff: I’m no expert on this topic, but I believe the author may be mis-informed on identifying keywords other people are searching on. The method described to find Amazon’s most popular keywords is, in my opinion, incorrect. I believe that when you search on Amazon, they provide you with search options tailored to your own interests and search history – Not the most popular searches by other people as suggested. This is an older title from 2014 and I can’t see that there is an updated version. It could be that the keyword issue noted was correct at time of publication, but with Amazon continually evolving and changing their algorhythm, some of the information in this book is likely to be inaccurate.

Overall, I found this to be of some use and believe the methods described will be of benefit, even if I do disagree with the authors understanding of how to find optimal search words. I’m giving this one 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review: Art & Craft of Writing – Secret Advice for Writers by Victoria Mixon.

Art & Craft of Writing Fiction: Secret Advice for WritersArt & Craft of Writing: Secret Advice for Writers by Victoria Mixon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As you can guess from the title, Art & Craft of Writing: Secret Advice for Writers by Victoria Mixon is a non-fiction title providing insights into the craft of writing.

The Cover: This cover has a warm feel to it and it works for the non-fiction genre. I’m not a huge fan of the font used, but the black band with white writing makes the text clearly visible.

The Good Stuff: I have been writing for some time now and I’m always looking for new information. There were one or two nuggets in this book for me, but mainly it was that Victoria looks at things from a slightly different angle and explains them in a slightly different way. This resonated with me and I will keep this book on hand for reference in the future.

The Bad Stuff: It’s a pretty short book and a lot of the information has been covered before.

Overall this book is put together from the authors most popular blog posts. In my opinion it is worth a read, you may not get new information from it, but you may look at things with a new found appreciation and understanding. This one gets an ink splattered 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – The Grim Company by Luke Scull.

The Grim Company (The Grim Company, #1)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Grim Company by Luke Scull is a grimdark fantasy set in a world where the gods have been slain by wizards. We follow the stories of several characters who’s fates seem intertwined. Characters such as Davarus Cole, an orphan who wants to be a hero; Brodar Kayne and his companion Jerek, a pair Northmen on the run; Eremul, a paraplegic mage seeking revenge; Sasha a rebel with troubles of her own; and Yllandris a sorceress with ambitions.

The Cover: This is a simple cover showing a helm sitting on a white background that fades to a golden brown. The image itself represents the fantasy genre well, the fonts are clear and I like the title. All up a suitable cover for the genre.

The Good Stuff: This is a solid fantasy world that is dark, dangerous, and full of magic. The characters are well developed with their own goals and desires. The plot is sound and brings everything together at the end, yet still leaves enough story questions to make you want to read the next book in the series. Some of the characters reminded me of Joe Abercrombie’s First Law Trilogy, but hey, who doesn’t love Joe and his characters.

The Bad Stuff: There are some over-packed sentences at the beginning of the book as the author tries to build the world. I found some characters focused on in the beginning of the book disappeared quite quickly, leaving me to wonder why they were highlighted in the first place. The character descriptions are also dropped in through small info dumps, which I think could have been written in more seamlessly. There was a point where soldiers in chainmail climb down a rope ladder while each holds a longsword in one hand leaving me wondering how that is even possible.

Overall, initially I had my doubts about this story, but the more I read, the more I got into it, and by the end I found I thoroughly enjoyed the book, even with the few points I mentioned in the bad stuff. I think this is because I am a little cautious when reading a new author and I tend to notice things in their writing, at least until I get drawn into the story. I would recommend this book to fans of dark fantasy/grimdark. It is getting a blood staining, bone breaking 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – Blood Song by Anthony Ryan.

Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1)Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan follows the story of Vaelin Al Sorna as he is given to the Sixth Order by his family. The Order are protectors of both the realm and the faith, the Sixth is their martial arm where the brothers are trained from childhood for one purpose – to become deadly weapons.

The Cover: This is a solid fantasy cover. The image, the fonts, the title, and the colours all complement each other, yelling ‘I am dark fantasy’ from the bookstore rafters.

The Good Stuff: Wow! I absolutely loved this novel. There is fighting, magic, magical weapons, politics, scheming, love, betrayal, and so much more. There were actually 728 pages in this book, around 200 more than I thought I was getting. The more the merrier I say. In a way it reminded me of ‘The Name of the Wind’ with the scribe taking down the story as it unfolds, only this is done so much better, placing you firmly in the world among the action. The author, Anthony Ryan, effortlessly feeds so many little details into the prose that the world feels so authentic. So real. And what a dark, tough, and gritty world he has created. The characters are true to themselves, well developed, each with their own personality, but dare not to become attached to them, there will be sadness. In this world there is plenty of death.

The Bad Stuff: What can I say here? I got so involved in this book that nothing really bothered me. The things I remember are the author’s tendency to use a phrase like ‘it could have been a minute or an hour’ where the character gets so absorbed in a task. This stood out to me, but by no means detracted from the story. I also saw a character name spelt incorrectly once – but shit happens! You can’t catch every typo even if you send a book to 3 different editors.

Overall, this is an excellent book. I loved every page of it. For me, this is what fantasy is meant to be and I would highly recommend it to any fantasy fan. This one is getting a dark encompassing, knuckle cracking 5 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – Book Reviews by Alex Foster.

Book Reviews: How to get reviews quickly with the methods used by publishers and professional writersBook Reviews by Alex Foster

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book comes with the tag line: How to get reviews quickly with the methods used by publishers and professional writers. It provides advice on how to gain reviews that comply with Amazon’s guidelines.

The Cover: I don’t mind this cover. It is clearly a non-fiction title, the image of the book lends itself to the craft of writing, and the title tells the reader what it is about.

The Good Stuff: This is an informative book and will help you gain reviews if you follow some of the advice. There are definitely some good tips and ideas here, some you can use straight off the cuff, but others you will need to adapt or dismiss to comply with Amazon’s rules.

The Bad Stuff: Some of the techniques listed here may have complied with Amazon’s guidelines when the book was written, but Amazon’s policies continually change and I do not believe all methods are acceptable any longer. So take extra care to ensure you are not breaching the terms and conditions on Amazon or any other platform you are selling your books through, before applying these techniques.

Personally, I did not find this book particularly useful. However, if you are just starting out and trying to gain some reviews, there is some good information in here that may give you some ideas. You will need to be careful that you do not apply outdated techniques though, as it notes in this book, Amazon can be quite strict on authors that do not follow their guidelines. I’m giving this one a 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks based on its limited usefulness to those that are not very well informed on this topic.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham.

The Dragon's Path (The Dagger and the Coin, #1)The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Dragon’s path follows four different characters along their journeys as war threatens to grip the land.

The Cover: This is a classic fantasy cover with a good clear font selection for the title and author name. The image presents a sword in the foreground and a landscape with silhouettes of riders on horseback in the background. The colours work together too. Overall it is a solid fantasy cover.

The Good Stuff: The story was well written and I found most of the characters interesting. Marcus and Cithrin held my attention, but Cithrin was by far my favourite and I wanted to see more of her in this book. I think a lot of people will love this novel, but I think I had my grumpy pants on when I read this one and as I reflect on the content I find I remember more than I thought I would.

The Bad Stuff: Maybe I’m becoming a grumpy old codger, but I struggled to get through this book as the story switched between the four characters, again and again. While the characters were well developed, I wanted something more from the storyline and less head hopping would have made this a more enjoyable read for me.

I really enjoyed the prologue to this book and was expecting to enjoy the rest of the content just as much. Unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. I think that if the prologue had not been there, I wouldn’t have built up a preconception about what I was going to get from this book and I probably would have enjoyed it more. I’m only giving it 2 out of 5 golden bookmarks, at least until I take my grumpy pants off.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – Creating Character Arcs by K.M.Weiland.

Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author's Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development (Helping Writers Become Authors Book 7)Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author’s Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development by K.M. Weiland

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Creating Character Arcs by K.M.Weiland is a guide for authors to help them improve the writing of their character arcs.

The Cover: I think this cover is a fairly good fit. The image shows  a persons journey across a mountain range that peaks in the middle, symbolic of the character arc. The colours work well and the title defines the books content. The fonts are clear too. It is clearly a non-fiction title covering character arcs.

The Good Stuff: I read this all the way through and at the start I was thinking ‘this is all pretty obvious’… and it is, but this book spells it out and makes you aware of the process and methods. It really opened my eyes to how little consideration I have put into planning my character arcs in the past. I will certainly be more aware of this in future and I think I will be inclined to give it greater consideration when I put pen to paper. Hopefully I will see further improvement in my own writing from reading this title.

The Bad Stuff: There were a lot of examples in the book and I know they may be useful to some, especially as the examples cover different genres, but it felt like filler to me. I know that what clicks with one person may not click with another, so having more examples can be beneficial. For me, it seemed like padding out the pages with unrequired wordage.

Overall it was a good read, easy to understand and informative and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a better understanding of character arcs. I’m giving this one a character changing 4 out of 5 Golden Bookmarks!

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – Irradiated by S. Elliot Brandis.

Irradiated (The Tunnel Trilogy, #1)Irradiated by S. Elliot Brandis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Irradiated is about Jade and Pearl. Two sisters fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Pearl is different, she has a mutation. When Jade comes home to find Pearl missing one day, she sets out to find her.

The Cover: The cover has a good clean font, but I’m not overly fond of the image. While it may give some readers the idea of a post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel, It doesn’t really work for me other than to provoke a feeling of the tone of the book.

The Good Stuff: The book is well written and has some great characters. The world is dark and gritty and S.Elliot Brandis sure knows how to create a mean antagonist! I thought the story had an original element to it that I personally haven’t seen in post apocalyptic stories before.

The Bad Stuff: This is a dark world with some mean characters and yet for some reason I felt it was more suited to a YA audience.

This is an original story with some great characters. The author has created a savage world and he has a way with words that makes it a thoroughly enjoyable read. Some readers will absolutely love this book, but as it felt like it was for a younger audience and Post-apocalyptic Dystopian stories are not my favourite Genre, I’m giving it a sun-scorched 3 out of 5 Golden bookmarks.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – Zen of eBook Formatting by Guido Henkel.

Zen of eBook Formatting: A Step-by-step Guide To Format eBooks for Kindle and EPUBZen of eBook Formatting: A Step-by-step Guide To Format eBooks for Kindle and EPUB by Guido Henkel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Zen of eBook Formatting is a book for writers who want to know how to format and create eBooks. Written by Guido Henkel, a writer and an experienced programmer, for writers. This book provides a step by step guide on how to correctly format and produce your own eBooks.

The Cover: This is a clean and simple cover that matches the branding of Guido Henkel’s other non-fiction title Zen of eBook Marketing. It is evident from the cover that this is non-fiction and clearly states the topic covered. I like it.

The Good Stuff: This book gives you a great insight into how to format and create an eBook, from cleaning up your manuscript to adding the cover. Guido provides all the code and links to the tools you will need within the pages, making the process as simple as possible. I certainly recommend you read this book if you are looking at publishing your own eBooks online. I have definitely gained some knowledge in the process that I will be putting into practice in the future.

The Bad Stuff: If you are just looking for a book that says do this, then do that, this book may frustrate you a little. There is a lot of explaining, but to be fair, it is of value to know ‘the why’ behind what you are doing. I think the book would benefit from a summary at the end, that details what you have learned in the book without all the explaining in between, and can be used as a quick reference guide.

There is a bit of a learning curve required for this book, so don’t expect it to be really easy. It isn’t hard, but you will need to put a little effort into learning. I constantly refer back the book when I code my stories for publishing, but the more I do it, the easier it gets. This is certainly considered a great addition to my toolbox as an Indie writer. It will save you time and effort, and could even prevent you damaging your brand name as an author by giving you the advice you need to produce quality eBooks. I’m giving it a code dropping 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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