Reviewed: January 8th, 2026 Released: October 5th, 2017 Genre: Grimdark Fantasy
Sometimes, coin isn’t enough.
Sometimes, blood is the only payment worth taking.
The Downs, the poor district of the city of Avarest, is home to cutthroats and thieves, pickpockets and prostitutes, all of whom pay tribute to one of two powerful crime bosses. It is also home to Aaron Envelar, a disillusioned sellsword known as the Silent Blade, who cares nothing for the criminal overlords or their schemes, who only wants to survive and make a little coin in the process.
But when a group of unwitting thugs steal his mother’s necklace, the only link he has to his murdered parents, and leave him for dead, Aaron decides that sometimes, surviving isn’t enough. Sometimes, vengeance is the only answer.
After all, when you take everything from a man… What else does he have to lose?
Have you read Sentinals Origins Part Two yet? The eighth book in the award winning Sentinal Series.
The Wishing Shelf Book Awards has given it a Five Star review.
Birler, Tagerill and Serill have accepted the Lady’s invitation to become her personal guards, her Sentinals. They roam the territories of Remargaren in the name of the Lady, protecting those who can’t protect themselves.
But the threat against Lady Leyandrii is growing and Captain Guerlaire is in the Ascendants sights. He has been too successful in disrupting their plans and now time is running out, for him and the Sentinals. The Ascendants are determined to kill them all and show Leyandrii, once and for all, that they hold the power in Remargaren.
Birlerion’s discovery of his innate magic, offers Leyandrii an alternate path, but it’s a last resort and as Leyandrii teaches him how to control it, she is desperate to find another solution.
As the final confrontation looms and the natural world buckles under the backlash from the reckless use of magic, Leyandrii has one last throw to try and save their world from ruin and destruction, but will any of them live to tell the tale?
“A superbly plotted fantasy adventure with a strong cast of memorable characters. Highly recommended!” The Wishing Shelf www.thewsa.co.uk
REVIEW
A good book this! But I’m a fantasy fan ; ‘epic’ is my middle name, so a magical saga like this is perfect for me. It’s the second part of SENTINALS ORIGINS and I have to say, I was enjoying this book so much, I stopped reading it, grabbed a copy of the first, read that – also excellent – then went back to part two! My next job will be to start the other ‘Sentinals’ novels, six in all – I’m going to be busy!
So, why did I enjoy it so much? Well, to be perfectly honest, it’s the planning. You see, a lot of epic fantasy is badly planned and, as a result, it all gets very complicated and confusing, often in the last third of the book when the author can’t work out how to end things. But Helen Garraway hasn’t fallen into this trap. Using alternative POVs, she’s constructed a complex – but never too complex – fantasy adventure with a strong LOTR feel to it.
So, if you happen to be on the lookout for a smartly plotted, character-driven adventure with clever twists and populated with the sort of characters you can enjoy rooting for, then this book is for you. Saying that, I would recommend reading part one first. You don’t have to – part two works as a standalone – but why wouldn’t you? The first book’s a gem too!
Now, I need to go and buy a copy of Sentinals Awaken; let’s see if that’s just as good.
If you enjoy fantasy books then you will love my epic fantasy Sentinal series or the Romantic Fantasy SoulMist series. Sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and also Sentinals Discovery, the first few chapters of Sentinals Awaken from Birlerion’s POV and get notified when my next books are published.
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Reviewed: January 5th, 2026 Released: April 13th, 2021 Genre: YA/Epic Fantasy
Aletheia was born a heresy: a girl with a man’s magic, in a city where monks and witches are mortal enemies. Training in her powers only under her father’s protection, head of the monastery, she shocks everyone by becoming the best seer in generations.
Until her father is murdered. A suicide, they call it, but she knows the truth: he was murdered for his heresy. For her. Now she must make a harrowing choice: disown everything her father stood for to stay alive, or flee the temple and seek to expose his killers, even as they hunt her down.
Reviewed: December 12th, 2025 Released: June 5th, 2020 Genre: Urban Fantasy
The sword chooses its wielder.
I never asked to be Blade Mage. My fellow wizards weren’t thrilled, either. Unfortunately, those weird old druids have a strict no returns policy.
So I left, and for the past few years, I’ve hidden from my responsibilities. But I always knew one day the Cabal would come looking for its precious sword.
And so they have, but only because a heinous crime has occurred…
A sorcerer has used forbidden magic to slay a fellow wizard. It’s an open and shut case. The killer admitted it. He also stands accused of kidnapping a child, who is still missing, but they say that isn’t my problem. No, as Blade Mage, I’m not supposed to play paranormal detective. The Cabal only expects one thing of me—they want me to play executioner.
Problem is…
The accused is my best friend.
And before I chop off his head, I want to know the truth. But the path is filled with shifty wizards, fearsome witches, insidious demons, and supernatural conspirators at every turn.
Reviewed: November 27th, 2025 Released: September 4th, 2025 Genre: Fantasy
She survived witch hunts and world wars, but can love save her from time itself?
1612 – Born into a powerful line of witches, Gwen has always been a disappointment, a girl without magic in a community that reveres it. When news of the Pendle witch trials reaches Gwen’s coven, they cast a desperate spell to shelter orphaned magic. But a cruel twist of fate leaves Gwen to bear the burden alone, cursed to carry magic she cannot wield and hunted by those who would claim it.
1939 – For centuries, Gwen has been running. Always alone. Always afraid. Until she meets Walt, a world-weary spy who asks for nothing but her friendship. As war looms and shadows deepen, Gwen wonders if Walt’s secrets run even deeper than her own.
1976 – Haunted by his service in Vietnam, private investigator Dan is barely scraping by. When a wealthy client hires him to find a missing woman, he almost refuses – until he witnesses a murder that changes everything.
The deeper he digs, the more he realises that Gwen is the woman time forgot. And if his client finds her first, the magic she has guarded for centuries, and Gwen herself, may be lost forever.
A sweeping tale of love, friendship and the fragile threads that bind us across lifetimes.
Reviewed: Novemebr 23rd, 2025 Released: January 26th, 2026 Genre: Fantasy ARC
War has reached her doorstep. She will answer with a sword.
When her little sister dies during an enemy raid, Jenai prays to Holy Afallon seeking protection for her village. What she doesn’t expect is to hear a Voice telling her that she must personally lead the armies of Fraelin against the growing threat.
Joined by a gentle unicorn and a few brave allies, Jenai sets out to liberate Fraelin—even at the risk of her own freedom.
However, the road to war isn’t straightforward. Jenai must first gain the trust of the Crane Prince by convincing him she’s not a fraud. Will the Church of Afallon accept her calling or will they condemn her as a heretic?
Reviewed: November 15th, 2025 Released: September 2nd, 2025 Genre: Dark Fantasy
A captive healer and a mysterious prince are drawn to each other in the midst of war and magic in a beguiling dark fantasy by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg.
The kingdom of Cansere is on the brink of war. Young men are conscripted from their homes, and a royal decree from the queen has made healing the only legal form of craftlock. Nym, a healer and beekeeper, is the sole provider for her family of seven now that her younger brother has been sent to the war front. But when a letter comes from the queen, summoning Nym to the palace to heal Prince Renn, the kingdom’s ailing shut-in, Nym finds herself making the tumultuous journey from her family’s apiary to the capital city. Nym is determined to fail the queen’s mission and return to her younger siblings as soon as she can.
But escaping the castle’s hold isn’t as easy as failing a simple test. Prince Renn is cold and distant, and his illness is like nothing Nym has ever seen before, nothing she could ever imagine treating. In a moment of connection with Prince Renn, Nym manages to remedy the faintest symptom of his ailment—only to discover that no healer before has made such progress. Forced to become the prince’s official healer and a ward of the castle, and with her only hope of returning to her family hinging on the prince’s recovery, Nym must navigate the castle’s cruel and twisted court and uncover the haunting truth behind Prince Renn’s illness—even as she finds herself irrevocably drawn to him. Read My Thoughts…
Reviewed: November 9th, 2025 Released: September 1st, 2021 Genre: Urban Fantasy
I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time.
I’m Jinx. As a private investigator, being a walking, talking lie detector is a useful skill – but let’s face it, it’s not normal. You’d think it would make my job way too easy, but even with my weird skills, I still haven’t been able to track down my parent’s killers.
When I’m hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar – yet my gut tells me there’s more to this case than a party girl gone wild. Firstly, she’s a bookish soul who’s as likely to go off the rails as Mother Theresa. Secondly, I’m not the only one on her trail; she’s also being tracked by the implacable and oh-so-sexy Inspector Stone.
Stone and I team up, and he shoves me into a realm where magic is real – a place where there are vampyrs and werewolves, dragons and trolls. And where my skills are more than just detecting lies…
Oh, and my dog? He’s a freaking hellhound who can manipulate the magical realms themselves.
I need to find the girl. I need to discover who killed my parents. And I need to find out more about the attractive but mysterious Zachary Stone… Read My Thoughts…
Reviewed: November 7th, 2025 Released: October 1st, 2025 Genre: Fairy Tale retelling
Rumpelstiltskin meets The Serpent and the Wings of Night in this spicy, fairy tale retelling.
Never make a deal with a demon—especially the demon arch king.
Aryana, the vampire princess, has spent her life as a weapon in her uncle’s cruel kingdom. But when the demon arch king, Zarathos, steals her away, she is thrust into a world more treacherous than anything she could have imagined.
Zarathos’s presence is suffocating, his dark power intoxicating. He claims she has the ability to turn straw into gold—a lie. But the real truth is far more terrifying. He needs her for the deadly demon trials, and he’ll stop at nothing to bend her to his will.
Bound together by a bargain neither can escape, Aryana must fight for Zarathos in the trials, even while the magnetic pull between them grows with each passing moment. The more time they spend together, the deeper she’s pulled into a world of lust, power, and ruthless peril.
Zarathos will never let her survive the trials. She’s nothing more than a pawn in his plans. But as the fire between them burns hotter, Aryana wonders if the demon king has claimed more than her life—has he taken her heart as well? Read My Thoughts…
Reviewed: October 27th, 2025 Released: October 26th, 2025 Genre: Fantasy
What if you had to give up your divine powers—and no worthy goddess candidate to take them?
Tartie, the Goddess of Small Things, is stuck. To help a friend in need, she has to pawn off her Storms ability – the one that shorts out every electronic gadget in range. With no qualified candidates in sight, Tartie resorts to a temporary fix.
It backfires. Badly.
Now there’s a new God of Storms—unhappy, destructive, and definitely not Zeus material—running around London. One of Piccadilly Circus Tube entrances has already tasted his accidental wrath. Tartie’s left holding the thundercloud, wondering if this disaster was exactly what the ever-meddling Ancient Goddess of Fate planned all along. Read My Thoughts…
Helen Garraway 