Category Archives: Reviews

QUICK REVIEW: Nightshift Nineteen – Peter Fehervari

Released as part of Black Library’s 2024 Advent Calendar series of short stories, Nightshift Nineteen (appropriately, the 19th story in the Dark Coil) sees Peter Fehervari return to bleak, shadowed Sarastus and introduce us to the strange culture of the Canopic Congregation. Down in the bowels of Hive Carceri, young Izaq Sneddon is poised to take up his long-awaited position as a Lightkeeper, guiltily pleased to have escaped from the intimidating, overbearing presence of his mother and awestruck by the honour he’s receiving. In the darkness of his mind though, something old and sinister is lurking, stirring up painful memories and putting his ascension at risk. Meanwhile, higher up in the Hive, shift chief Bryn Bosch awaits the arrival of his new crewmate, painfully aware of his predecessor’s fate.

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The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands – Sarah Brooks

First things first, I’m unusually biased here, as the author of The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands – Sarah Brooks – is my sister. With that caveat in mind though, I want to talk a bit about this book, which I absolutely, unapologetically loved. Inspired by a real-life passage on the Trans-Siberian Express, The Cautious Traveller… is the story of a perilous journey from Beijing to Moscow on a grand and powerful train, heavily protected against the dangers of a vast, largely unknown expanse – the titular Wastelands. Among the crew and passengers on the train are a trio of viewpoint characters, each with secrets to hide and their own unique perspectives on the train and the Wastelands. As the journey progresses though, the strength and safety of the train are challenged, while passengers and crew alike are confronted with the Wastelands at its most dangerous.

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The Unmaking Of June Farrow – Adrienne Young (Fabienne Schwizer Guest Review)

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest review, where today my good friend and fellow reviewer Fabienne Schwizer is here to talk about The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young – out now from Quercus. An “atmospheric mystery” exploring themes of family, guilt, time travel and murder, this sounds great! Over to Fab to tell us more…

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Gundog by Gary Whitta – Jude Reid Guest Review

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Guest Review, in which the excellent Jude Reid (author of, among other things, the recent Black Library novel Creed: Ashes of Cadia) takes a look at Gundog by Gary Whitta – out now from Inkshares and also available in podcast form. I hadn’t come across this before, but I’m intrigued by the idea of a novel released as both a serialised podcast and a regular book – and it sounds fantastic! I’m delighted to feature Jude on the site, and hope you enjoy this guest review as much as I did.

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Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being A Witch – Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent

Eight years after the publication of Terry Pratchett’s final Discworld novel, Rhianna Pratchett (daughter of Sir Terry) and Gabrielle Kent bring us Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being A Witch, a brilliantly written and beautifully presented companion piece to not just the five Tiffany Aching novels but the Discworld series as a whole. Presented as an in-universe book written by Tiffany herself, it offers a wealth of advice and insight for anyone interested in the life of a witch, all based on Tiffany’s experience…along with some (mostly) useful comments from other notable witches (and Rob Anybody). Accompanying the text is a plethora of gorgeous illustrations from Paul Kidby, and the end result is a fabulous book that covers everything from what magic really is to the importance of not actually using it, and from witchy attire and abodes to some of the many and varied perils of being a witch.

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Short and Sweet – November 2023

Hello and welcome to my Short and Sweet review roundup for November 2023, where as usual I’ve picked out a trio of books that I’ve recently read to talk a little about, in lieu of my usual longer reviews. For this month’s roundup I’ve gone for books with quite a range of page counts, from a novella all the way up to a 750+ page doorstopper! Across these three books you’ve got magic, demons, demigods, transhuman soldiers, immortal hunters, wizarding bureaucracy, mystical prophecies and loads more. There’s plenty to enjoy in all of them, although if I’m honest none of them entirely worked for me, personally.

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The Wishing Game – Meg Shaffer

The debut novel from Meg Shaffer, The Wishing Game blends adult and children’s fiction in a warm, delightful tale of hope, heartache, family and the importance of remembering what it was like to be a child. When reclusive children’s author Jack Masterson resumes writing after years away, the eccentric writer announces an unusual competition, inviting four adults to return to his home on Clock Island, where they once visited as children. The prize? The one and only copy of his latest, long-awaited book, to do with as they please. For Lucy Hart, winning the competition would mean more than just the opportunity to read the new Clock Island book – it would give her the one thing she truly wants: a chance to adopt seven year-old orphan Christopher.

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Creed: Ashes of Cadia – Jude Reid

Jude Reid’s debut novel for Black Library, Creed: Ashes of Cadia introduces readers to the character of Lord Castellan Ursula Creed, in a story about the burden of legacy and questions of Cadian identity. Pulled away from her current campaign by the returned Primarch Guilliman himself, Ursula is entrusted with a daring mission to return to what’s left of her homeworld and retrieve a weapon purportedly left behind by her father, Ursarkar E. Creed, before the Fall of Cadia. She knows it’s a propaganda exercise as much as anything, but she has her reasons for accepting it. Far from a glorious return home though, this proves to be a clumsy, chaotic mission driven – to Ursula’s mind – by all the wrong reasons, and plagued by disaster right from the off.

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Short and Sweet – October 2023

Hello and welcome to my Short and Sweet review roundup for October 2023, here on Track of Words. As usual I’ve got another trio of brief reviews for you, this time looking at three horror-tinged titles – I didn’t do this consciously, but seeing as it’s October it’s actually quite appropriate to go down the spooky route! These include an Age of Sigmar novel from Black Library, a straight-up horror novella from Titan Books, and a darkly unsettling novella from Tordotcom, all of which I’d been meaning to read for ages. So read on to find out a bit more about these three books, and what I thought.

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