Tag: amreading

Blog Tour Review: The Atlantis Covenant- Rob Jones

Posted on September 4, 2025September 3, 2025 by fantasyst95

Hello readers! If you’re a huge fan of Indiana Jones, historical artefacts and high-stakes action, The Atlantis Covenant is the book I’d recommend for you! And good news – I’m reviewing it today as part of the ongoing blog tour with Rachel’s Random Resources. Buckle up and let’s get to it!

Before I give you the details, as always, a huge thank you to Rachel, Boldwood Books and the author, Rob Jones. It’s been a little while since I took part in a tour, but reading this fun, high-stakes book has inspired me to get back in the game.

Also, full disclosure here that I received a copy of the book in order to provide my review. However, this is an unbiased review and my views expressed are my own.

Now… let’s see more about the book!

The Atlantis Covenant – Rob Jones

Genre: Action/Thriller

Pages: 344

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Original Publication Date: 31 Aug 2025

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Goodreads – The Atlantis Covenant

The greatest mystery of all time is about to be revealed.

When world-famous archaeologist and ex-soldier Max Hunter finds a mysterious artifact in a tomb beneath the Gates of Nineveh, his lifelong dream of finding Atlantis comes one step closer.

But he’s not the only one looking for it…

His discovery unleashes a high-speed hunt for the lost civilization between a mysterious Swiss foundation, the FBI, and the world’s most secretive society.

From the dangers of the Iraqi desert to Cuba and the jungles of El Salvador to the enigmatic Valley of the Kings in Egypt, Hunter faces a race against time and murderous enemies who will stop at nothing to claim the greatest prize in history. As he fights for his life, it soon becomes apparent that his enemies are searching for something altogether more sinister than the lost city…

Hunter must use his unique ingenuity and knowledge to decipher the clues and find Atlantis – and its lethal treasures – before they fall into enemy hands.

Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/AtlantisCovenantbook

My Thoughts

Plot

If you are a fan of very fast-paced, action-driven books, The Atlantis Covenant is right up your alley! With danger lurking around every corner, Max Hunter and the FBI find their lives on the line as they look to uncover the truth of the lost city of Atlantis.

This is arguably a very plot-driven book. That’s not to say that aspects of world-building (history) and character development suffers, because they don’t. However, the motivation to read on each chapter is to uncover what happens next.

And there’s action in almost every chapter. Old rivalries and archaic, powerful forces come into play, and the secrets of Atlantis aren’t safe. With both sides racing to beat each other to discover the truth, everything is to play for…

Although this first book does naturally leave us on a bit of a cliffhanger into the next in the series, the action that takes place in The Atlantis Covenant is wrapped up in full. Looking at the synopsis for the next book, it doesn’t directly follow on from this first. I’m pretty confident that each of these could be read standalone. Whether you’re a fan of series or solo books, The Atlantis Covenant caters to all.

Setting

The Atlantis Covenant takes us across the globe. From the seas of Cuba to jungle rainforest, Egypt and The Valley of the Kings and to Arctic climes, the book features archaeological sites on every corner of the planet.

The jet-setting in this book is exciting to read about. As someone who really enjoyed history growing up, getting to hear about well-known sites such as the Valley of the Kings makes this thriller more interesting. I really enjoyed the archaeological aspects of this book and the emphasis this has on the storyline and places visited. It gives the book a lot of grounding, even when events carry us off rapidly to the next revelation (and inevitable gunfight).

I appreciate this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. If that’s you, that’s okay. The relevance to the storyline is explained but not explored in any great length of detail. It gives context to the plot and moves on.

Characters

Throughout The Atlantis Covenant, we meet a variety of characters. From military men to goth girl hackers, the group pull together to help in his quest discover Atlantis and its secrets. The characters draw upon a wide variety of experience and skills, and not all from altruistic origins.

Now, I do confess, I do have one niggle about how some characters are introduced in this book. Pretty early on, I recognised a pattern of male characters being introduced for the action they’re involved in and women being introduced by their appearance. I wasn’t a big fan of this double-standard, but credit where it’s due, this stops after the first few chapters.

I really enjoyed the diversity of the characters that made up the main group. However, I can’t dismiss the wider cast introduced in this book either. Over the course of the book, we are introduced to a significant number of characters. So maybe even still, I am no trouble keeping trying (or at least, on which side they are).

Narrative Style

The Atlantis Covenant is fast-paced. Punchy. Full of action and eager to get there. Chapters are nice and short and snappy to fit this pacing. It works very well with the narrative and is a big driver to encouraging you to read ‘just one more chapter’ over and over.

Even though I personally lean towards a preference for longer, more detailed chapters, this was perfect for the book. It didn’t detract from my personal experience in the slightest and complemented the narrative.

As a result, The Atlantis Covenant is a pretty quick read. Having struggled and DNF’d another book right before this one, it was the fast-paced and engaging remedy I didn’t know I needed!

Summary

The Atlantis Covenant is a high-action, fast-paced novel. If you are a huge fan of Indiana Jones films, this book is just like these. With a balanced blend of action intertwined with archaeology, history, and conspiracy, this book piques my interest in the best of ways!

The good news is, you can continue to read the series already. If you want to read on, The Revelation Relic is the next book to whet your appetite.

Author Bio

Rob Jones has published over forty books in the genres of action-adventure, action-thriller, and crime. Many of his chart-topping titles have enjoyed number-one rankings, and his Joe Hawke and Jed Mason series have been international bestsellers. Originally from England, today he lives in Australia with his wife and children.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @RobJonesNovels

Twitter: @AuthorRobJones

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/RobJonesNews

Monthly Wrap-Up – August 2025

Posted on September 1, 2025 by fantasyst95

Hot off the press, I’m here to share my reading progress in today’s monthly wrap-up! I hope you enjoy today’s catch up post and can take some book recommendations away.

In my August TBR I shared an extensive list of books I hoped to pick up. As usual I didn’t get around to it all. My plans also had to change a little as I agreed to take part in a blog tour later this week after sharing the TBR.

Shall we take a look at what I did get to?

Books Read

House of Frank

My first carryover from last month was the July Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club read, House of Frank. I only had a third of the book left and I was determined to finish it even after the readalong was officially finished.

It was a pretty decent read and I’m glad I got to see the final character progression. The book didn’t end entirely as I expected, so it did have a little twist. Whilst I did enjoy the book, it was a pretty average read.

In fairness, even at this state of affairs it fared better than the August book… but more on that below.

Stormdancer

Even closer to the finish line than I was with House of Frank, I completed the final two hours of audio for Stormdancer in early August.

I enjoyed this book a lot and I’m really interested to see where the rest of the series will take us. The good news is that I have the other two books in audio format so I can pick these up at my leisure. The steampunk and Asian fantasy mash-up is truly an interesting genre to read. Honestly, I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. Then again, so far Jay Kristoff hasn’t put a foot wrong and I’ve enjoyed all his books.

The first book ends on quite a cliffhanger. What happens next? I can’t wait to find out!

If We Were Villains

This book has been sat on my bookshelf for the longest time. I found out this month why I’d been holding out on myself!

If We Were Villains is a fantastic, suspenseful read. Although the book and narrative owes a lot of its influence to Shakespeare, you don’t need a wealth of knowledge on his plays to enjoy this book. Sure, I think there are probably smart references and Easter eggs fans could pick up on. From someone not well-versed though, it really doesn’t affect your overall enjoyment of the book.

This is quite an interesting one. Whilst from the beginning we think we know what happened (the tale is told by a single narrator after the event, after all), that turns out not to be the case at all really. It was an interesting way to play out the narrative. Fans of dark academia books will definitely love this one!

The House Witch

I have a DNF to share this month, which was August’s Cottagecore Fantasy Book club read.

In all, The House Witch was fine, but I lost steam with it. It’s quite long-winded and takes time to get going. A few of us in the group agreed that the book read like an indie, even though it has been traditionally published.

I was struggling with motivation to pick up the book. Eventually, I decided it wasn’t worth trying to force myself through it so took the decision to write-off the couple hundred pages I read. It’s a shame, as that’s effort that doesn’t count towards any of my stats. But, I made the right decision as reading progress picked back up again with a fresh read, and a very drastic change of pace…

The Atlantis Covenant

The final book I picked up physically at the end of August is The Atlantis Covenant. As I mentioned near the top of this post, I signed up for this blog tour at quite short notice, well, at least for me. Rachel dropped me an email asking for help with the tour and I did like the sound of it. So, I agreed to read it for the tour! That tour date is in just a few days time. In the spirit of not leaving things too late, I picked this up with a few days left in August.

As of drafting this monthly wrap-up post, it is still a current read but I am 60% through and the reading time estimate puts me at less than two hours to complete the book. It’s significantly faster paced and action-packed, which is a direct contrast with The House Witch. Think if Indiana Jones was a book, that’s the kind of experience I’m having right now. It’s fun and there are some interesting theories coming up in the narrative. Will they be true, or is there another twist yet? I suspect there is! I’ll be reading this in the next day or so in order than my blog tour post is ready to go live early on Thursday.

Stay tuned!

Tyrant’s Throne

This monthly wrap-up includes updates on two more audiobooks yet, so don’t be too hasty with scanning down the post!

In August I listened to Tyrant’s Throne in its entirety. It feels like it’s been a while since I completed an audiobook within a calendar month. However, this was the final book of its series and after listening to Saint’s Blood pretty recently, I was keen to get to the end of this book!

Often when I’m finishing a good series, I get sad towards the conclusion and start putting up resistance to actually finishing the last book. However, as I shared in my Sunday Summary yesterday, I didn’t get to that point with this book for the best of reasons! I’m so glad I finished the book and I hope to see more stories from Falcio, Kest and Brasti in future.

Sensitive

The final audiobook and book to feature in this monthly wrap-up post is Sensitive by Jenn Granneman and Andre Solo.

I started this relatively short audio with jut a couple of days left in the month. The other intended reads on my August TBR are owned in other formats already, so I didn’t start audiobooks of those deliberately. Instead, I turned to my 20 Books of Summer Challenge for inspiration and chose Sensitive.

As of this monthly wrap-up I’ve already listened to a healthy chunk of this audiobook. As at the end of the month, I officially carried over just under five hours of the audiobook to listen to. In practice, I’ve listened to a couple of hours today, so I have a little under three hours. I expect I’ll make light work of it so I’ll be starting a new audiobook soon!

Summary

So, I picked up no less than seven titles at some point over the course of August. In terms of my 20 Books of Summer Challenge, I finished the season having read seven of the original books in total, as well as DNFing and subbing out another. I had hoped for more progress, but then again, I couldn’t always allow for book club or blog tour commitments in my reading list. I’ve still read a decent amount over the last three months. The unread books on this list aren’t going away. I’m putting them on a ‘priority’ list and I want them all finished before the end of the year.

That’s everything to catch you up on in this monthly wrap-up update!

Have you read any of the books in today’s post?

Sunday Summary – 31st August 2025

Posted on August 31, 2025 by fantasyst95

Happy Sunday friends! I hope you are as excited for today’s Sunday summary as I am. I have some great book updates to share with you, and as always, to catch you up on the content I’ve shared earlier in the week.

First, let’s catch you up on the blog content I’ve shared so far this week. My first post of the week was a book review for The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty. If you are looking for a swashbuckling feminist eastern fantasy, look no further! Take a look at my thoughts and what I make of this book in my review.

On Friday I break from my usual scheduling to bring you another First Lines Friday. In that post, I featured another upcoming fantasy novel I’ll read as part of a ChatGPT recommendations challenge.

On Patreon, I shared my audiobook review of Saint’s Blood by Sebastien de Castell. As you’ll see, this isn’t the last you’ll hear of Sebastien de Castell in this post. If you want to read my thoughts of the series up until the third book of the series, subscribe to my Patreon account to read my detailed review!

Books Read

Tyrant’s Throne

As of my last Sunday Summary, I only had around two hours of audio left of Tyrant’s Throne.

I’ve been listening to this audio whilst commuting to and from work this week. I loved this book so much and I was excited to see how the story ended. Sometimes with a great series, I get to a point where I don’t want to finish it and I start slowing down with reading progress out of fear of getting to the end.

That wasn’t the case here, but for the best of reasons! I was so captivated by the storyline as it went down a completely different avenue than I expected. I’m also glad to hear that the author Sebastien de Castell has plans to revisit the characters Falcio, Kest and Brasti again.

The Atlantis Covenant

I’ve got an upcoming blog tour commitment for The Atlantis Covenant by Rob Jones. With that in mind, I’ve been blitzing this book this week.

It’s full of action and a very quick, easy read. Over the course of today along I’ve read over 25% of the book. I’m enjoying this busy novel. It’s very reminiscent of Indiana Jones so if that’s your bag. There’s action, danger and intrigue in every chapter. I’m looking forward to finishing the book and sharing my review with you next week!

Sensitive

Late this week, I started listening to Sensitive. With no more audiobooks on my August TBR, I turned to my 20 Books of Summer Challenge list for another book.

So far I’ve listened to an hour of this audiobook. It’s not a long audiobook, so I’ve only got 5 hours left to listen to at 1.2x speed.

It’s been an informative read so far. I’m also glad I picked this up on audio format. As books go, it’s an easy listen and my go-to kind of book for audio format. Whilst I’m not going to complete this book on time for the 20 Books of Summer challenge, I’m glad I’ve made a solid start and I’m looking forward to listening on in the coming days!

Books Discovered

It’s been another quiet week in terms of book acquisitions. There’s nothing to let you know about in terms of books added to the reading list.

Coming Up…

Early next week, I’m sharing my monthly Wrap-Up for August 2025. Find out just how much progress I’ve made in my 20 Books of Summer challenge and my August monthly TBR.

On Thursday, I’ll be back with my review of The Atlantis Covenant as part of the upcoming blog tour. I hope you can join me to see what I make of this high-action book.

Finally, I’m back with another Sunday Summary this time next week. I’ve got some time off work later next week, so I’m hoping I’ll have some time to enjoy my current reads after finishing The Atlantis Covenant.

What are you reading this week?

Book Review: The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi – Shannon Chakraborty

Posted on August 27, 2025 by fantasyst95

Hello reading friends! Today I’m excited to bring you a long-overdue review for The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty. I read this book in April/May 2023, so a little while ago!

This book fell in the middle-of-the-road for me. There were some aspects I loved, but others that introduced resistance to my reading experience. Read on to find out more!

The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi – Shannon Chakraborty

Genre: Non-fiction

Pages: 492

Audience: Adult

Publisher: HarperVoyager

Publication Date: 02 Mar 2023

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

Goodreads – The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi

A pirate of infamy and one of the most storied and scandalous captains to sail the seven seas.

Amina al-Sirafi has survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse, she jumps at the chance for one final adventure with her old crew that will make her a legend and offers a fortune that will secure her and her family’s future forever.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the higher the stakes. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savour just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.

My Thoughts

Plot

The plot of The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi manages to be whimsical with a high page count. For some, this fun and lightheartedness may suit. It’s an aspect of the story I was less keen on, if I’m honest.

It was a perfectly acceptable read, but not a book I rushed back to in order to finish it quickly. Perhaps the whimsy wasn’t quite what I was expecting, and therefore I didn’t enjoy this quote so much.

Otherwise, as plot goes, I enjoyed the sea-faring, derring-do action of the narrative.

Setting

The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi is an eastern fantasy. It’s always refreshing to read fantasy with these inspirations, especially as someone who has read a lot of, and grown up with, westernised fantasy novels on tap.

I loved the focus on non-western religious cultures. It was a new take for me and not what I expected from this fantasy novel. Its ties to well-known religions in real life helped give the book some grounding — much needed if you ask me. It also gave me an opportunity to get insight into Muslim religion and culture in a place I didn’t expect. Every day is a school day… and I felt this was a great touch for this book.

Characters

I love that the narrative is led by a strong woman. Piracy was typically a man’s game. Flying in the face of patriarchy, this spin on events is quite unexpected (especially considering some of the cultures featured in the book), but welcome.

Even in fairly modern fantasies, female narrative voices are only just starting to take centre stage. The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi does this – and does it well!

Narrative Style

Considering the whimsical nature of this narrative, the book took me longer to read than anticipated. It’s about a 500-page book, so not exactly small. Even so, I found the fanciful plot line at odds with some of the other elements in this book. Although this book is marketed at adults, I would argue some of the plot devices smack more of a young adult target audience.

Summary

The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi is a fun, adventurous and light-hearted read.

Whilst I wasn’t captivated enough by the book to motivate me to continue on with the series, I had fun at the time.

If you are looking for fantasy with positive multicultural and female rep, this book will still be up your alley.

Sunday Summary – 24th August 2025

Posted on August 24, 2025 by fantasyst95

Good evening friends and welcome back to another Sunday Summary update post. I hope you’ve had a fabulous week and weekend? If you’re living in the UK, your weekend isn’t over! I can’t believe we’re already at the final bank holiday of the year before Christmas. Did I just say the C-word? Apparently, I did!

Swiftly moving on to another topic, let’s get into the blog post I shared so far this week. The first post that went live on my post was a Top Ten Tuesday instalment. If I want to do two of these in a row, but I was really excited for this week’s topic. This week, I shared some of my favourite reads with a high page count. If you’re looking for an epic fantasy chunky book rec, that Top Ten Tuesday would be the ideal place to start.

On Friday, I shared a teaser of a book I am reading as part of our upcoming reading challenge. It’s in really well with my Top Ten Tuesday post, as it happens. This week’s featured book is also a chunky epic fantasy read that I’m looking forward to reading in the next month or so. This is the first book of the series I’m yet to read, but I’m looking forward to trying it.

Books Read

The House Witch

This week I’ve continued with The House Witch, our monthly pick over in the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club. As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I’d gotten to chapter 17, which was only a week behind schedule.

I have lost steam with this book. I’ve picked this book up and only read a handful of pages multiple times this week. Whilst I have made more of a solid effort and spent over 40 minutes reading the book today, I’ve subsequently decided to DNF this one. Now, there is nothing wrong with the book, but this traditionally published book feels like an indie book. It lacks polish and, if I’m entirely honest with you, I think it could be a lot shorter than it is.

I DNF’d this book at just under 50%, but it feels like events were only just starting to take shape. This book has a lot of potential, and I haven’t disliked what I’ve read so far. However, my lack of motivation to pick this book up is at risk of putting me into a book slump. Whilst I have plenty of other books I want to pick up this month, I’ve decided I’m going to put this one down.

Tyrant’s Throne

As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I was 45% into Tyrant’s Throne by Sebastien de Castell. Audiobook progress has been significantly better this week than my ‘traditional’ reading. I have really enjoyed this audio and the turn the story has taken. If you ask me whether I’d anticipated the book would go down this route, the answer would’ve been absolutely not! However, I love the way it’s turned out and it’s explored a new facet of narrative that I didn’t think I could expect from this book.

Over the course of this week, I have listened to nearly seven hours of audio. As of this Sunday Summary post, that puts me at around two and a half hours left before I finish this book. I can’t wait to finish it! Whereas last week I said I hadn’t gotten to a point yet where I was both excited and lamenting finishing this book, that is starting to creep in. However, my drive to see through this narrative and see where events take us far outweighs any reservations I have about finishing the series.

The Atlantis Covenant

A last-minute addition to the reading list, I’m picking up The Atlantis Covenant by Rob Jones.

If you’ve read my blog for some time, you’ll know I’ve taken part in a number of blog tours for books published with Boldwood Books. In short, I agreed at lesser notice than usual to help with the blog tour for this book. I’ve only just started it, but I’m hoping the change of genre and pace will be a welcome one!

Books Discovered

It’s fair to say I’ve added more than enough to my reading list in recent weeks. With this in mind, I’ve been good and not added or purchased anything you need to know about.

Coming Up…

So, the last section of this post is all about what’s coming up soon! The answer is a lot, but not all of it blog-related.

I’m sticking to my usual schedule and kicking off with my first blog post on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Given I’m due a book review here, I’ll share my thoughts on The Adventures of Amina-al-Sirafi.

In a break from tradition, I’m sharing another First Lines Friday post next week, teasing the second book I’m reading in my ChatGPT book recommendations challenge.

Finally, this time next week I’m back with another Sunday Summary update! It’ll officially be the end of the month and the final week of 20 Books of Summer. I hope you can join me to see where I get to in that challenge!

Until next time, happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday – Books with a High Page Count

Posted on August 19, 2025 by fantasyst95

If you’re looking for a chunky book recommendation, then today’s Top Ten Tuesday post is for you! This week’s featured topic is Books with a High Page Count. Given I read a lot of fantasy, I knew I wouldn’t struggle with the topic.

However, in the spirit of appealing to a wider reading audience, I feature books from the following genres in today’s post: –

Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Classics
Horror
Non-fiction

If you’re a fan of any of these genres, take a look below for some of my recommendations that have a high page count.

Half of this list tops 1,000 pages – have you read any of these? Are you brave enough to give them a go?

Books with a High Page Count

Classics

War and Peace

1,024 pages

Rating: – 🌟🌟🌟🌟

My review: – Review – War & Peace

Lord of the Rings (bind up edition)

1,209 pages

Rating: – Book 1 🌟🌟🌟🌟/ Book 2 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/ Book 3 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My reviews: –

Review: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – J.R.R Tolkien

Review: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King – J. R. R. Tolkien

Horror

IT

1,376 pages

Rating: – 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My review: – Review: IT – Stephen King

The Stand

1,348 pages

Rating: – 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My review: – Audiobook Review: The Stand – Stephen King

Imaginary Friend

720 pages

Rating: – 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My review: – Book Review: Imaginary Friend – Stephen Chbosky

Fantasy

The Way of Kings

1,007 pages

Rating: – 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My review: – Review: The Way of Kings – Brandon Sanderson

The Mad Ship

906 pages

Rating: – 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My review: – Book Review: The Mad Ship – Robin Hobb

Non-fiction

A Promised Land

768 pages

Rating: – 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My review: – To follow

Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World

720 pages

Rating: – 🌟🌟🌟🌟

My review: – Patreon

Historical fiction

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

639 pages

Rating: – 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My review: – Book Review: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay – Michael Chabon

Summary

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday post hopefully features a book that appeals to everyone, regardless of the genres you read. If you are looking for your next read with a high page account, this Top Ten Tuesday can scratch the itch.

Have you read any of the books on today’s list? Are any of them on your reading list?

Sunday Summary – 17th August 2025

Posted on August 17, 2025 by fantasyst95

Hello friends! It’s the end of another week (and weekend… again 🙄), so I’m back with today’s Sunday Summary catch-up. I have some fun books I’ve been reading, and I can’t wait to share those with you! As always though, before we get that far, let’s recap what posts I’ve shared with you in the last seven days.

The first post of the week was a Top Ten Tuesday instalment. This week, the topic was Books Guaranteed to Put an End to Your Book Slump. In this post, I feature some firm favourites I turn to when I’m in a slump and need a pick-me-up. If you ever find yourself in this position, maybe one of these books can drag you from the abyss?

On Friday, I shared an interesting dystopian novel with an extreme take on diet culture. It’s an odd topic for a dystopian to lean into, but I love the sound of it. I reckon this could make for good discussion in the context of diet culture too. As and when I get to reading it, I’ll let you know if that is truly the case!

On Patreon, I shared my review of Samantha Shannon’s A Day of Fallen Night. As prequels go, I think A Day of Fallen Night ticked all the right boxes. I also love that you can read the books pretty much standalone, or in any order. If you want to find out more of my thoughts of this book, consider subscribing to me on Patreon for early access to my reviews of recent reads!

Books Read

If We Were Villains

As planned, I finished If We Were Villains early this week. It wasn’t quite Monday – it ended up being Tuesday.

I really enjoyed how the events of the book played out and the narrative style. My only regret is that I left it so long to pick up this book! Even if you aren’t a big fan of Shakespeare (and I’m not overly – it’s hard to understand!), that doesn’t especially matter. It contributes to the narrative, but doesn’t dominate it. It can be read without understanding the full context of the plays, characters and lines. I have a suspicion those more in-the-know on Shakespeare probably got more in the way of foreshadowing and ‘easter eggs’ from the plays and characters portrayed. Even without that level of appreciation myself – I had a great time!

The House Witch

This week I’ve made a real effort to catch up on the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club read, The House Witch. As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I’d only just started the book. This week, I’ve made an effort to catch up on where I *should* be with it. I set the schedule and yet I’m not quite keeping up with it 😅

As of this Sunday Summary, I’m nearly on track! I’ve got to chapter 17, which is only a week behind schedule. I’ve already read 120 pages or so in the last few days and I plan to read more tonight as I wind down for the evening.

So far I’m enjoying the book. I hope we get to see more of the character dynamic between Fin and his father. I feel like that’s what the book is building up to and it’ll make for an interesting dynamic.

Tyrant’s Throne

As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I’ve come on leaps and bounds from the 1.5 hours of Tyrant’s Throne I’d listened to. Over the last seven days, I’ve listened to a further 5 and a half hours. In terms of overall progress, that puts me at around 45% progress.

I’m intrigued as to where this book is going to go to round up the series. Already, the events of the book have taken a turn I didn’t expect. We’re at what I suspect to be a pivotal point in the story right now – and it could go one of two ways. As final books in a series go, this one of up there for unpredictability and for having me hooked to get to the end. I’m not even lamenting the fact that I only have 9 hours of audio of the book/series yet! Usually, I find myself in a mixture of eagerness to get to the end, but also sadness it’s about to end. For this one through, I’m that gripped my events I want to listen on!

Whilst I may not finish this audiobook next week, I hope to get as close as I can!

Books Discovered

Whilst my wallet hasn’t suffered this week, I have added a few books to my TBR. I’m lining myself up to start a new challenge after 20 Books of Summer is over. I’m not going to spoil anything on that too early, but in short, I’ll be picking up three reads that weren’t on my TBR from ChatGPT recommendations. More on that challenge to follow.

On Facebook this week, I read about a book called I Know I’m in There Somewhere: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Her Inner Voice and Living a Life of Authenticity. It’s not a super-long read, but I think it could be an interesting one to pick up.

Coming Up…

Last week I kicked off my blog content with a Top Ten Tuesday, and the same applies this week! However, this week’s topic is books with a high page count. As you know, an epic fantasy lover like me will have plenty of those to share. Tune in on Tuesday for a list of chunky book recommendations! I promise to feature more than just fantasy books 😊

On Friday I’ll return with a First Lines Friday feature. In that post, I’ll tease one of the three books I’m reading for my aforementioned upcoming reading challenge. I hope you can take a look at what’s coming up for that reading list.

Last of all, I’ll return with another Sunday Summary post this time next week How many books will I finish next week? Hopefully a few more than this week!

What are you reading?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books Guaranteed to Put an End to Your Book Slump

Posted on August 12, 2025 by fantasyst95

We all go through reading slumps. Even us voracious readers find ourselves unable to pick up a book now and then. Whether it’s due to a bad run killing our reading vibe, to the complete opposite – a book so good nothing can live up to it, we’ve all been there. That’s where my Books Guaranteed to Put an End to Your Book Slump can help!

Personally, when I’m struggling I tend to seek out the familiar, or favourites. Let’s take a look at some of mine ☺️

Books Guaranteed to Put an End to Your Book Slump

A Game of Thrones

If there was only one series I could read for the rest of my life, I’d choose this one! I love getting immersed in the details of the story. There are characters I love and some I love to hate. It has so much to give! I’ve reviewed this first book which you can check out if you haven’t already.

I’ve already re-read this series once and I don’t doubt I’ll do it again. Certainly I will be if we get word on the next book…

The Hunger Games

I keep threatening to re-read this series!

Having enjoyed reading A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping in more recent history, I want to return to the main trilogy. I read these books as a teenager and I’m keen to see how they stand the test of time now I am an adult.

I love the world. These books are set in a dystopian world. Fiction is always something I look forward to. For that reason, The Hunger Games series is always a safe bet if I’m looking for books guaranteed to put an end to my book slump.

Mistborn

Brandon Sanderson and his Mistborn series were very highly rated by me the first time I read them. Again, the immersive world and strong characters are easy to love and fall in with.

Honestly, I could have featured any number of Brandon Sanderson books on this list. I have yet to find one I haven’t loved. I have a particular fondness for Mistborn, however, as it is one of the first books I ever read. It’s also a substantial series of seven books across two timelines. The time difference between these two settings also makes a very different world. Whether I’m looking for something of a traditional fantasy, or something a little bit more western, the books in the series can appeal to either of those wants.

Harry Potter

Regardless of the controversy surrounding the author, I really enjoyed the Harry Potter books both as a child growing up, and again more recently as an adult. The latest books in the series are my favourite by far, and I find them very easy to dive back into.

The earlier books are lighter and shorter. If I’m looking for a quicker, lighter fantasy read, these are ideal. But, as I said, I love the latter books. The darkest storyline and more sinister aspects of the plot are really enjoyable to me. Even if the page count is heavier, the content is what I love, and I can devour it!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

I really loved this trilogy by Laini Taylor. The main character, Karou, was one of the reasons why I experimented with dyeing my hair blue 😂

If there was one thing Laini is good at, it’s encompassing an engaging storyline with a lyrical narrative. Her books are very easy to read, and it’s for that reason I’m confident the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy makes my ‘books guaranteed to put an end to your book slump’ list.

Strange the Dreamer

It’s for the exact same reason above that I’ve got Laini Taylor‘s Strange the Dreamer duology on this list!

An added bonus is that the series is only made up of two books, so it’s not too much of a commitment to read, and I can get through it quickly!

Lord of the Rings

Although not the easiest to read, due to the long-winded and complex sentence structures, I love Lord of the Rings. For that reason, this trilogy also makes the cut.

It’s a series I couldn’t get tired of, even if I tried. Plus, it’s a classic!

The Handmaid’s Tale

I’ve already mentioned in this ‘books guaranteed to put an end to your book slump’ that dystopian fiction is a safe genre.

Another dystopian novel I could read over and over is The Handmaid’s Tale. I do enjoy feminist fiction as well as dystopia. The Handmaid’s Tale is also a book I’ve read multiple times already and no doubt will again in the future!

The Midnight Library

In the last two years, I have read this book twice. Both occasions, the experience was different.

The Midnight Library is an interesting and quite short book to read. The subject matter isn’t the easiest, but it’s engaging and thought-provoking. I strongly believe I can take away more from this book the more I read it.

Babel

Combine magic, language, and historical fiction, and you get Babel! I loved this book so much that I plan to read it again.

Babel has a number of elements I love in a book. This will be a great read to pick up if I’m in a slump and don’t know what to pick up next!

Summary

Thanks for taking the time to read my ‘books guaranteed to put an end to your book slump’ Top Ten Tuesday.

Have you read any of the books on this list? What is your go-to book when you’re in a reading slump?

Sunday Summary – 10th August 2025

Posted on August 10, 2025 by fantasyst95

Another Sunday Summary graces your screens on account of the fact that another week is over. Aren’t they flying by? In today’s post I have a great line up of current reads to update you on, as well as a couple of new books purchased.

Before that though, the first port of call is always to catch up on the content I’ve shared so far this week. That way, if you missed anything, you have a chance to catch up!

The first post of the week was my August TBR. Naturally the books I’ve been reading derive from this list and it’s been a great start to the month. I’ve made a good start so far this month, so I’m optimistic 🤞🏻 let’s hope that’s not famous last words…

On Friday I published a First Lines Friday post featuring an author I’m listening to currently. If you read my August TBR you’ll have a better chance of guessing the author. However, when it comes to books, he’s written several. Take a look and see if you can guess which it is.

I’ve reviewed another recent read on Patreon this week. If you are curious about Little Fires Everywhere – maybe to decide whether to read it for yourself, or to compare notes, please consider subscribing to gain early access to reviews for all the books I’m reading!

Books Read

Stormdancer

Stormdancer was always going to be a pretty quick finish this week. As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I only had a couple of hours of the audiobook left.

Naturally, being this close to the conclusion I rapidly picked this up at every opportunity to get to the end. I really enjoyed the book and I’m curious about how the story will continue. The good news is I already have the audiobooks!

If We Were Villains

As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I’d started the first 40 pages of If We Were Villains and was already intrigued.

It’s fair to say that sentiment has held! I’ve been reading If We Were Villains throughout the week. Admittedly, I held off posting tonight to try and get the book finished this evening before this Sunday Summary went live. I’ve fallen a little short, but I only have 60 pages left!

The story is really compelling and I’m looking forward to finishing this book. Fingers crossed I can finish it tomorrow! I really need to know how it all ends!

The House Witch

As part of the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club, I’m reading along with The House Witch. Admittedly I’ve only just started this book. Currently, my plan is to read this little by little throughout the month. The chat is set up with a rough timeline week on week to discuss, so at least I have some benchmarks to aim for.

At the end of this week, in theory, I should have read up to and including chapter 17. I haven’t, my next priority will be catching up on this book before picking up another read!

Tyrant’s Throne

Finally, the last book I’ve started this week is Tyrant’s Throne by Sebastien de Castell.

This is the fourth and final book in his The Greatcoats series. With finishing series being a priority in this year‘s resolutions, you can see why I’m excited to read and finish this book. I’m glad that I picked this up so soon after finishing Saint’s Blood. It had been some time since I picked up this third book in the series. Not wanting to end up in the same position as last time, I’m keen to finish the series whilst events are straight in my head.

As of this Sunday Summary I’ve listened to one and a half hours. It made a good introduction. I’m looking forward to listening more over the next week!

Books Discovered

I popped into town yesterday and a window-shop turned into a couple of purchases.

The God of the Woods, Waterstones current book of the month, caught my attention. As well, Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT and the Race That Will Change the World also appealed to me.

Both these books were part of Waterstones ‘but one get one half price’ offer, so it would have been rude not to, right?

Coming Up…

Next week I plan to start the week with a Top Ten Tuesday post. The subject of next week’s feature is ‘books guaranteed to put an end to you book slump’. It’s an interesting topic. It happens to all of us, and I’m glad to share my guaranteed books to pull me out of it. Hopefully they can help anyone else in the same situation.

On Friday, I’ll be back with a Shelf Control post. In this week’s instalment of the feature, I share a dystopian novel that caught my eye and I’m interested to try!

Finally, next Sunday I’ll update you on my reading progress over the next seven days in my Sunday Summary regular feature. I hope you’re looking forward to this next one already!

On Patreon, I’m planning to share my review of Samantha Shannon’s A Day of Fallen Night. If you’re interested in my thoughts on this prequel, make sure you’re following me on Patreon.

Until then, happy reading and I’ll see you around!

Monthly TBR – August 2025

Posted on August 5, 2025 by fantasyst95

It’s the beginning of August and I’m with you today to share my monthly TBR. It’s the final month of the 20 Books of Summer Challenge. Whilst I fully expected to be a little behind with this challenge as it was a stretch goal, I’m hoping to read as much as I can from that list before the end of the month.

When I shared my monthly wrap-up post just a few days ago, I was very close to completion with both of my current reads. It feels like great progress to share in this post that I have finished both of those books. They won’t feature in this TBR, but mentally it helped set me up for what I can only hope to be success with this monthly TBR.

So, shall we actually get round to talking about the books on the list?

Fixed Reads

The Giver

Starting off with my book club commitments, the first book I need to read is The Giver by Lois Lowry. Following on from The Measure, The Giver is also set in a dystopian world and was very clearly one of the inspiring stories behind this book. When talking about it in our book club discussion last week, Meg recommended picking up The Giver as it’s a great book itself. However, we also decided it would be interesting to see how this book influenced The Measure.

The good news is The Giver is quite a short read. This book is actually aimed at a middle grade or young adult audience. As a result, its page count only sits at around 240. That should be plenty easy to get through!

The House Witch

Next, I am picking up The House Witch with the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club, over the course of this month. I came to the party late last month. Consequently, I ended up bingeing House of Frank in order to catch up. Instead, I’ll be picking up The House Witch incrementally so I can contribute to the discussion on a weekly basis.

As a result, you’ll see me chipping away at this slowly over the course of the month. That is, unless I get carried away and binge the whole lot early on. We’ll see how my experience goes of the book 😌

If We Were Villains

The next book I’m including in this early section is If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio. I’m including this as a fixed read on this monthly TBR because I have started already. As of this monthly TBR post, I have read around 100 pages so far. Although I can be very hit and miss with Shakespeare, its influence on the narrative isn’t putting me off. In fact, it’s been nice to read a book that dabbles with Shakespeare but isn’t so heavily that I’m put off.

If you are unfamiliar with the premise of the book, If We Were Villains is about a group of theatre students in their final year of education. The school of arts they attend specialises in Shakespeare. Now, I haven’t got to the juicy bit where someone gets murdered. Not yet. However, the parallels of tragedy between Shakespeare’s writing and what inevitably comes to pass are starting to weave their way into the narrative. I’m excited to see what happens and so I imagine this book will be read pretty quickly!

HR Disrupted

I often talk books at work, and a conversation with our HR lady has resulted in my borrowing HR Disrupted from her. She started explaining to me what an HR Disruptor is and what it means in terms of breaking the traditional moulds and practices of HR. I was intrigued, and you know me 😉 I’ll read books on pretty much any subject!

This is a fixed read this monthly TBR as naturally I want to return the book to its rightful owner ASAP ☺️

Mood Reads

The Pagan Lord

Regretfully, I didn’t get to The Pagan Lord, which was on my monthly TBR for July. This is a carry forward, and I’m still looking forward to continuing with this series.

This TBR is a little on the long side, and I will admit that it is ambitious. However, with some shorter books on the list, The Pagan Lord among one of those, I’m hopeful I can catch up with my Goodreads reading challenge. I’m looking forward to reading this 300-page book to get myself back into the Last Kingdom, also known as the Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell.

The Dragon Republic

Another carryover from my July TBR is The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang. I’m looking forward to this second instalment in The Poppy War series.

I’m planning to pick this one up later in the month. Whilst momentum is strong, I want to try and blitz my shorter reads. The Dragon Republic is about 650 pages – it’s not short by any means. If my experience of the first book is anything to go by, it’ll be a slower and more detailed read.

Tyrant’s Throne

A final book of a series I’m looking forward to listening to this month is Tyrant’s Throne by Sebastien de Castell.

It’s also my main audiobook of the month! Naturally, I hope I can finish this in good time and squeeze in another 20 Books of Summer entry before the end of August. The audiobook is 16 and a half hours at x1.2 speed, so not unachievable…

Having just listened to Saint’s Blood, I’m eager to finish the series whilst events are fresh in my mind.

Summary

With a total of seven books, 2200 pages, and 16 and a half hours of audio on this month’s TBR, I’m optimistic for a productive month of reading.

I’ve already made a great start finishing two carryovers from July that aren’t featured in today’s monthly TBR; I’ve wrapped them up already! Let’s hope we can keep the momentum going!

What are you reading this summer?