Sword of Shadows

This is an epic quest fantasy series although the author does step a little outside some of the usual cliches giving us believable reasons for why the two main characters would need to step outside their status quo. I'm not sure that I particularly love either of the main characters, but they certainly have interesting stories and some of the other secondary characters are just as interesting.

We're eagerly awaiting the next in this series.

A Cavern of Black Ice

A Fortress of Grey Ice

A Sword from Red Ice

Watcher of the Dead

Cadfael Omnibus

Each of these books is a collection of 3 short murder mysteries set in and around the abbey of a Welsh benedictine monk. They are really clever little stories which stand alone, as well as follow along in sequence - ie the monk gets older and the town and outside political sitautions evolve and sometimes influence the stories.

The main character is very endearing and I loved everything about all of these little books. Some of the stories were better than others, but all were excellent. I indended to read them as betweeners, but couldn't get enough and ended up reading them one after the other.

I think my favourite of the collection was the stories from the Third Omnibus, but they are all fantastic. Pick one up and try not to become addicted!

The Fisrt Cadfael Omnibus

The Second Cadfael Omnibus

The Third Cadfael Omnibus

The Fourth Cadfael Omnibus

The Fifth Cadfael Omnibus

The Sixth Cadfael Omnibus

The Seventh Cadfael Omnibus

Otherland

This series, while sci-fi, manages to inject in a lot of fantasy through the interpretation of future internet use and virtual reality. Through book one I found myself wondering how this would manage to fill out a four book series, but it is doing it amicably. There are a number of strong main characters and several villains (one bent and one with a god complex) though the concepts within the books thus far are managing to creep me out a little by challenging my thoughts as to where our current tachnologies are headed.

I'm currently reading this series and will flesh this out futher in the future.

City of Golden Shadow

Book of Words

I really enjoyed these books and if you're starting out with JV Jones, begin with this series because it is interesting to know the history of at least one of these characters who features in the next set of novels.

While there is nothing groundbreakingly new in this series, the author created some really interesting characters, especially those with an "evil" bent. This has everything I wanted from a fantasy series, from the medieval feeling of the world, to the great balance of characters.

The Baker's Boy

A Man Betrayed

Master and Fool

The Night Angel Trilogy

If I was to judge these books by their covers I would never have picked these up. That said, while the first book was a little of a trial the series gets better and better as you progress. You can really see the author improving in his craft of story telling and I think the ending will surprise you. These are quite good, so stick with them.

The Way of Shadows

Shadow's Edge

Beyond the Shadows