Karen Fishwick
Karen likes to read, she has no particular qualification in this area, but has had a lot of practice. She loves to read character driven plot and is not so fussed about the genre. She feels that the imaginative genres allow an author to put characters in incredible positions and that the strength of the story is the ability of that character to remain recognisably human even if they happen to be an alien or a vampire.
Books reviewed by Karen Fishwick (17)
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![Blade BoundChloe Neill]()
FantasyBlade Bound is the final instalment of Chloe Neill’s urban fantasy Chicagoland Vampire series. It can be read as a standalone novel, but I recommend you start earlier in the series to get full enjoyment, reading them in reverse order will result in significant plot spoilers. The protagonist, Merit...
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![Zoe's TaleJohn Scalzi]()
Science FictionZoe’s Tale is one of the Old Man War series of books by John Scalzi and covers the same time period and events as The Last Colony , (the previous book in the series) but from a different character’s perspective. Despite this, it can be read as a standalone novel. Zoe is moving to a new colony with...
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![Children of Earth and SkyGuy Gavriel Kay]()
FantasyIn short, this is a story set in a fantasy version of European renaissance including trade, religion and politics. You can draw parallels between different countries and religions in the book to real world versions of the same. But simply describing a book in this way is somewhat lazy and misses th...
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![And I DarkenKiersten White]()
FantasyThis book, by Kiersten White, is a gender flipped historically based story of the early life of Vlad the Impaler or in this case, Lada Dracul. White takes the bones of the historical accounts and layers it with a rich imaginings of characters and quirks, to give the reader some insight into a beliv...
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![The Bastard LegionGavin Smith]()
Science FictionThe Bastard Legion is the latest Military Science Fiction from Gavin Smith, very much in the style of his earlier book Veteran and its sequel War in Heaven , although not connected in terms of plot or characters. Smith’s hard hitting protagonist is Miska Corbin, a thief and hacker who steals a pris...
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![The Ion RaiderIan Whates]()
Science FictionThe Ion Raiders is book two of Ian Whate’s Dark Angels series, however despite featuring some if the same characters as book one, Pelquin’s Comet , it is not a direct continuation of the same story so can be read without knowledge of the first. Not to give to many spoilers, but the story does conti...
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![A Time for GriefAdrian Tchaikovsky]()
FantasyThis is the second in the series of books of short stories in the shadows of the apt world from Newcon Press written by Adrian Tchaikovsky. You don't need to have read Tales of the Apt book 1, Spoils of War, to appreciate this one, but it would probably help if you were familiar with the world as a...
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![Touch of IronTimandra Whitecastle]()
FantasyTouch of Iron is not, as the Amazon blurb suggests, a tale of an epic quest of a Prince for a magic sword, although there is a Prince and he is on a quest for a magic sword. Neither is it is a story about Fae, as evoked by the title in the trend of supernatural fantasy. It is instead, the story of...
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![First MagycNicole Dragonbeck]()
FantasyFirst Magyc , by Nicole Dragonbeck, the first book in the Guardians of the Path series is essentially a Young Adult portal fantasy where a girl, Ria, gets drawn into a magical land and it turns out she might be the subject of an ancient prophecy where only she can save the magic. While the premise...
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![Spoils of WarAdrian Tchaikovsky]()
FantasySpoils of War , by Adrian Tchaikovsky, is a volume of short stories set in the Tales of the Apt world and takes place (in the chronology of the world) before Empire in Black and Gold which is the first novel in that series. It tells stories of some of the minor characters from the main book series,...
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![Medusa's WebTim Powers]()
FantasyMedusa’s Web by Tim Powers follows the story of siblings, Scott and Madeline, required to stay for a week in their aunt’s house by her recently amended will. Their cousins Claimayne and Ariel, who live in the house are less than pleased by this requirement. The story has a creepy atmosphere, Scott...
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![The Vanishing ThroneElizabeth May]()
FantasyThe Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May is the second in a series of books following the adventures of Lady Aileana Kameron (or Kam) and the action follow on directly from the first book. If you haven’t read The Falconer I suggest you do, as this review definitely contains spoilers for the ending of t...
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![The FalconerElizabeth May]()
FantasyThe Falconer by Elizabeth May is the first in what appears to be a series of books following the adventures of Lady Aileana Kameron (or Kam) as she lives the double life of daughter of the Marquess of Douglas on one hand and the life of a fairy hunter (or aforementioned Falconer) on the other. The...
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![Closer to the HeartMercedes Lackey]()
FantasyCloser to the Heart is listed as The Herald Spy book 2, it is worth noting, however , that while the characters do appear in Closer to Home (The Herald Spy book 1) the book is itself a complete story, rather than a continuation of the existing story arc. In fact, the characters life before these boo...
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![RoboteerAlex Lamb]()
Science FictionAlex Lamb's Roboteer paints a picture of a future, that in the political climate of today, feels far too possible. In this book, a war rages between two sides of humanity, two different and opposing ideologies and lifestyles. One side, combining genetic and induced mutation with advanced technolog...
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![The Cathedral of Known ThingsEdward Cox]()
FantasyThe Cathedral of Known Things is the sequel to the fantasy novel The Relic Guild by Edward Cox. The ongoing story of the agents of The Relic Guild as they seek to oppose their enemies, the Genii. The Guild is trying to prevent them from achieving what they started in the previous war, the destructio...
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![The Mage of StormsMercedes Lackey]()
FantasyThe Mage Storms by Mercedes Lackey is the bringing together of three previously released books ( Storm Warning , Storm Rising and Storm Breaking ) into one volume. This makes a lot of sense as while the books form part of the Valdemar series they are a complete story in themselves. No previous knowl...
