Pile By the Bed’s Top five fantasy books for 2023 including Bad Cree, The Saint of Bright Doors, Gods of the Wyrdwood, The City of Last Chances and The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky, follow up to City of Last Chances but a very different book with mostly new characters set in a military field hospital that riffs heavily on MASH.
Pile by the Bed reviews Dreambound by Dan Frey a fantasy novel that uses a fantasy standard to explore and critique the fantasy industry.
Pile by the Bed reviews Starling House by Alix E Harrow, a modern fantasy with classic underpinnings set in rural Kentucky.
Pile by the Bed reviews Gods of the Wyrdwood by RJ Barker (Forsaken #1), a ferocious piece of world building and a great set up for the rest of his third fantasy trilogy.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Wonder State by Sarah Flannery Murphy, her third book in which she uses a supernatural premise to explore and expose the lives of her very real protagonists.
Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera, a fascinating debut urban fantasy that explores issues of belonging, revolution, power, religion, class and race.
Pile by the Bed reviews and recommends He Who Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan, the final book in her Radiant Emperor Duology a historical fantasy set in fourteenth century China, Mongolia and Korea.
Pile by the Bed reviews Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia a horror story based around B-Grade horror films involving cults and magic set in Mexico City in the early 1990s.
Pile by the Bed reviews Blade of Dream by Danila Abraham, the second book in a trilogy set during an evetful year in the history of the city of Kithamar.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Traitor by Anthony Ryan – the final book in his medieval fantasy-style Covenant of Steel trilogy
Pile by the Bed reviews The Ghost Theatre by Mat Osman an Elizabethan fantasy in the tragedian tradition but with a punk sensibiity
Pile by the Bed reviews And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the third in his Terrible Worlds: Destinations series, this one dealing with English mid-century fantasy worlds.
Pile by the Bed reviews Witch King by Martha Wells a complex piece of fantasy world building with a charismatic and grey central character.
Pile by the Bed reviews Perilous Times by Thomas D Lee an ejoyable and satirical mashup of Arthurian legend and day-after-tomorrow dystopia.
Pile by the Bed reviews Winter’s Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch an American-based novella with a new protagonist set in the Rivers of London universe.
Pile by the Bed reviews Ada’s Realm by Sharon Dodua Otoo, a historical fantasy exploring the lives of four women connected through history.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Curator by Owen King a historical urban fantasy exploring the aftermath of a popular revolt set in an alternate Europe
Pile by the Bed reviews Jennifer Saint’s third retelling of Greek Mythology – Atalanta, adopted daughter of Artemis and member of the crew of the Argo.
Pile by the Bed reviews A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon an epic standalone fantasy set five hundred years before the events of The Priory of the Orange Tree.
