Top Reads of 2016! 4.5 Star Books

Throughout the month of February, I will posting various “best of” lists, ranging from  my top 5, 4.5 and 4 star reads of 2016!

Today, I am happy to announce my…

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 4. In the Shadow of the Gods (Bound Gods #1) by Rachel Dunne

About the Book:

A breathtaking talent makes her debut with this first book in a dark epic fantasy trilogy, in which a mismatched band of mortals, led by violent, secretive man, must stand against a pair of resentful gods to save their world.

Eons ago, a pair of gods known as the “Twins” grew powerful in the world of Fiatera, until the Divine Mother and Almighty Father exiled them, binding them deep in the earth. But the price of keeping the fire-lands safe is steep. To prevent these young gods from rising again, all twins in the land must be killed at birth, a safeguard that has worked, until now.

Trapped for centuries, the Twins are gathering their latent powers to break free and destroy the Parents for their tyranny—a fight between two generations of gods for control of the world and the mortals who dwell in it.

When the gods make war, only one side can be victorious. Joros, a mysterious and cunning priest, has devised a dangerous plan to win. Over eight years, he gathers a team of disparate fighters—Scal, a lost and damaged swordsman from the North; Vatri, a scarred priestess who claims to see the future in her fires; Anddyr, a drug-addled mage wandering between sanity and madness; and Rora and Aro, a pair of twins who have secretly survived beyond the reach of the law.

These warriors must learn to stand together against the unfathomable power of vengeful gods, to stop them from tearing down the sun . . . and plunging their world into darkness.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Why You Should Read It: Multiple POVs and compelling characters; intertwining plots, story with a large scope; great prose, and a vast world with wonderful and creative world building. All the ingredient you need to make a epic fantasy trilogy that fans will devour.

Read My Review

The Bastard Read-Along: The Republic of Thieves (Gentlemen Bastard Sequence #3) by Scott Lynch

The Bastard Read-Along is being hosted by Kaja @ OfDragonsAndHearts and myself. If you are interested please comment down below with your name or like to your review if you have written one, and we will add your name to the list of bastards. We would love for you to join us and read along! 🙂 However, you don’t have write a review to participate. Fell free to just read the the books, and then comeback and read everyone’s review and join in on the discussions 🙂

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The Republic of Thieves (Gentlemen Bastard Sequence #3) by Scott Lynch

Publisher: Dey Rey

Publication Date: October 8, 2013

Edition: Hardcover, 650 pages

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Rating: 4.5/5 Rating

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Long story short: go read the Gentlemen Bastard Sequence.

There are many great fantasy series out there (too many to list) that I am yet to read and desperately want to. One of those series would be the Gentlemen Bastard series by Scott Lynch.

I hadn’t read anything by Scott until earlier this year, when I read his short story, A Year and a Day In Old Theradane, in Uncanny Magazine. Did I like it? Well, I started off my review by saying, “HOW HAVE I NEVER READ SCOTT LYNCH BEFORE!?!?!?!?!?” Yep, it is easily the best short story I’ve read this year.

One of my fellow bloggers read that review and was in total shock that this was first time I’d read Scott before; Scott Lynch was  one of her all-time favorite authors!

This blogger was Kaja from OfDragonsAndHearts. She also told me that she really wanted to translate his work someday. That “someday” was apparently very close, because she is now going to be translating The Lies of Locke Lamora into Slovenian! (Yay, Kaja!) 🙂

To prepare for that, Kaja is going to be rereading Lies of Locke Lamora, and invited me to join her in a read-along of the entire Gentlemen Bastard series.