2020-2021 Rainbow Awards: Gay Fantasy
And the Rainbow Award goes to:
King of the Dark (Prince’s Assassin #1) by Ariana Nash:
- This was an exceptional book. So good, in fact, that just had to go and buy Volumes two and three right after finishing it. So thank you for the pleasure of getting to read it! Composition of the arc of tension was incredibly well done. Just enough information to keep the reader invested in the proceedings of the story, always with hints thrown in of more to come, but not too sparsely, so I never got confused as to what was going on. A compelling, fascinating, totally absorbing story. Classic high fantasy setting in a vaguely medieval, magic-infused social system.The worldbuilding was subtle, giving a certain sense of place, but only just. I could've done with a map. Introduction and development of the main characters was another highlight of this book. With one exception, however, the side characters remained flat and sketchy. Said exception, though? Scarily brilliant. He almost stole the show from the leads. This would've been yet another ten if not for some editing glitches, like missing half sentences and such. In a book of that high caliber, these oversights stood out.
- This book was a refreshing read compared to the majority of the books I read in the last two years awards.
- Wow. This is a new author to me, and I’ll be buying the rest of the series as I need to know what happens next. The story and characters pulled me in and kept me hooked until the end. I didn’t see the character twist coming, especially about a character I got very invested in. I thought this was a well written, wonderfully executed, dark fantasy. I need to check out the other series by this author now too.
Runners Up:
The First Age (The Secret Histories #1) by Arshad Ahsanuddin
The Midnight Man by Kevin Klehr
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King of the Dark (Prince’s Assassin #1) by Ariana Nash:
- This was an exceptional book. So good, in fact, that just had to go and buy Volumes two and three right after finishing it. So thank you for the pleasure of getting to read it! Composition of the arc of tension was incredibly well done. Just enough information to keep the reader invested in the proceedings of the story, always with hints thrown in of more to come, but not too sparsely, so I never got confused as to what was going on. A compelling, fascinating, totally absorbing story. Classic high fantasy setting in a vaguely medieval, magic-infused social system.The worldbuilding was subtle, giving a certain sense of place, but only just. I could've done with a map. Introduction and development of the main characters was another highlight of this book. With one exception, however, the side characters remained flat and sketchy. Said exception, though? Scarily brilliant. He almost stole the show from the leads. This would've been yet another ten if not for some editing glitches, like missing half sentences and such. In a book of that high caliber, these oversights stood out.
- This book was a refreshing read compared to the majority of the books I read in the last two years awards.
- Wow. This is a new author to me, and I’ll be buying the rest of the series as I need to know what happens next. The story and characters pulled me in and kept me hooked until the end. I didn’t see the character twist coming, especially about a character I got very invested in. I thought this was a well written, wonderfully executed, dark fantasy. I need to check out the other series by this author now too.
Runners Up:
The First Age (The Secret Histories #1) by Arshad Ahsanuddin
The Midnight Man by Kevin Klehr
This journal is friends only. This entry was originally posted at https://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/5427333.html. If you are not friends on this journal, Please comment there using OpenID.