Author Janine Baranski brought a unique narrative to a world of mythology-based fantasy novels with The Athanatoi and the Star of Inanna. Merging various mythos and pantheons from around the world into one explosive narrative, Baranski weaves together a new take on the history of mythology that will have any mythology or fantasy fan hooked – I would know, I’m a huge fan of both! I truly can’t recommend this enough.
In his dedication to this fifth book of the Ancestral Debt Anthology, A Debt Reforged, Bryan James Beck says, “No matter your inheritance, What you do from here… It’s always a choice.” That’s the lesson presented to the main character of the novel, Marie-Yvonne Rousseau. The book follows her struggle with the Debt of Time, showing how she approaches and resolves it, and how others who’ve also inherited the debt perceive it. In contrast, her adversaries exemplify those who never learn the lessons that are shown to them.
The Silver Knight is the fourth book in the A Tale of King Justice series by Evelyn M. Exley. Its description reads like that of a standard knights, dragons, and damsels fantasy, and it is indeed that type of novel. However, there’s much more going on in the book than is first apparent. As with the other parts of the series, this installment is a tale within a tale, with its own characters and parameters.
The story originates in the kingdom of Vilmos, which has come under siege from a would-be conqueror. The queen, Orla, sends her sister, Princess Arithne, to a neighboring ally for safekeeping, under the guard of her trusted Captain, Albion. The narrative begins with Arithne and Albion’s journey to the kingdom of Dungh Ga Da, under the rulership of King Justice, the central figure in the series. After that, the story relates the pair’s adventures as Justice’s guests, while Orla fights for the life of her kingdom.
