Reading Fantasy / Horror in June 2026

[Hobbit]

Welcome to June!

(Cover of "The Magazine of Fantasy & SF", June 1981)

(Last month's discussion of Fantasy/Horror books is HERE. )

It is the usual message here - this thread is where you tell us about what you've been reading in Fantasy/Horror this month.

Remember, good or bad, we still want to know what you think.

Hobbit/Mark

 

[suciul]

Finished Guardian's Journey by R Savarovsky and it was excellent -
non-stop action, a great twist at the end (with the usual cliffhanger ending of course) and more coherent than book 1; darker and grimmer than the Paladin series, but quite compelling in its own way.

Finally starting to make sense and orient himself in the new world, where Mark Zhukov now aged 18 as opposed to his orginal 30, is from an outcast family, barely protected from the aristocracy's wrath and with few powers as he is under a magic seal, the hero manages to escape the boyars trap, get allies and a rank and eventually be recruited for a crucial mission to London where he hopes to get answers to all the strangeness of the alternate world in which he found himself after being mortally wounded by a strange human who in this world 12 years in the past seems to be a very elusive and much hunted terrorist-

But of course things still go sideways...

 

[Randy M.]

Still working away at Black Water 2 ed. Alberto Manguel, one story per week with a GoodReads group. We're a little over 80% through the book.

Also, I'm better than half-way through Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man, which I should have read years ago.

Next up, probably, The Shoemaker's Magician by Cynthia Pelayo. I was interested in her by reading a few (very) short stories in Loteria and moved by her essay in Why I Love Horror (ed. Becky Spiegel Spratford), so I want to read something more substantial by her. And it employs one of my favorite tropes, tying into old movies and movie-making.

 

[blailock]

I finished Brother by Ania Ahlborn. Oh boy! If you are squeamish, don't read this one.
I could not stop reading it! It was so dark and has trigger warnings galore. I loved it!

 

[suciul]

Finished listening to Last Paladin 6 by R Savarovsky - sadly the last series audiobook for a while; supreme fun and this series has become a huge favorite so books 7/8 (read only for now) will be next ; my Goodreads review:

Another best of the series to date - the same template, action, snappy lines, great characters, universe expansion, new characters in, some villains out. The only niggle is that this is the last audiobook for a while - and the narration is just awesome adding a lot - so the next installments will be first read and then audio.

The storyline continues the internal power struggles in the Council of Princes, while Marcus evolves as a teacher too and is finally recognized by someone, though not quite whom one would expect - that is one of the cool twists.

We also are getting more glimpses of the past - especially of how the Empire got to this point with the Council/Governor rule and the empty throne held for a future emperor when the world will be at peace and the monsters from the portals will be defeated (hint never if the aristocracy have their way as the Council suits them just fine), not to speak of the first truly serious antagonists who are likely to be at the root of all the changes in the past 700 years from the fall and almost erasure from history of the Order, to the fall of the Imperial line, to the current power struggles as the Light Prince who seemingly was the supreme manipulator/antagonist, turns out to be, well read to find out...

And of course, the expansion to the western kingdom and the Von Grave's father-daughter adventurers/conquerors to be pair, and their mortal antagonists, the Eastern clans japanese style samurai only adds to the fun

One thing is for sure, Beeky will have quite an enlarged role in the future, as to Marcus' dismay, the worst heretics of his former time (human sacrifices and much worse under the guise of populism) about whom he was convinced he actually exterminated them 700 years ago, seem to still be around like cockroaches that are truly hard to be eradicated.

A few more quotes that had me laughing out loud:

"I was just starting to form a plan when two figures appeared on the porch: a tall, aristocratic man with a neatly trimmed beard and a collection of bone rings, and beside him, a smiling girl I’d never seen fully dressed before. Gotta admit, black suited Octavia.
“S-s-soulmate!” Beeky crooned, instantly dropping his bloodthirsty act. That was the other reason I’d brought him. I wanted to see if her charm still worked on him. Unfortunately, it did. She wasn’t even using any imitation techniques or activating her Element. Beeky’s weakness for small, dangerously charming women was getting ridiculous. Maybe I should find him a proper perch partner someday.
A refined voice broke through my thoughts, smooth and commanding, laced with power. “You seem remarkably calm, given the circumstances.”
One simple phrase—and it wasn’t just sound. It was a strike. My elemental armor rippled from the impact.
“You’re mistaken if you think I brought them for help,” I said with a smirk. “They just came to watch.”
“You’re overconfident,” the Duke said evenly.
“So are you.”"

"Unlike familiars, embodiments were limited echoes of creatures I’d absorbed. They didn’t think; the most they had was a scatter of leftover instincts from their former lives.
In this one’s case, that instinct was… mischief.
The bug liked to watch. The lizards liked to run. Fluffy liked to hunt. Obby liked to chew through anything he could reach. Over the years, I’d learned to weaponize each quirk and accepted that embodiments couldn’t learn or evolve. They simply were what they were.
That was before Roe.
In a handful of weeks, she’d taught Fluffy to use a Shadow Pocket, turned touch-averse Obby into a teleporting cuddlemagnet who hit like a wrecking ball, and even got Tyranix, who wasn’t an embodiment at all, to use Shadow. And that wasn’t counting whatever strange influence she had over my true familiars. The Cat adored her. Beeky would probably keep rhyming till the day he died.
Her Gift had no clear ceiling. And now that she’d managed to fold Craggy into her squad, she was ready for something harder.
The shadow monkey had a potentially devastating matter-substitution trick, but it was so chronically mischievous that controlling it was a lost cause. I’d never figured out how to harness its full potential, and now I was curious whether Roe could change my mind. The monkey appeared, blinked at me, scratched its butt, and vanished into the Shadows. Giving direct orders was pointless. All it could do was stir up chaos, and it got right to work.
A dark blur zipped past the guards. Fluffy caught the scent and lunged. But before he reached the intruder, the monkey swiped Craggy’s bone, and Craggy erupted with an outraged roar. His eyes flashed with fury, and after scanning the Shadows, he charged straight at the only visible suspect: Fluffy."

 

[Westy]

I read Moon Over Brendle by Jeff Noon - this was a weird one - 12 year old Joe Sutter is one of the 10% of people who can see Greot, the strange multicoloured dust that is littered throughout the sky and congregates in certain places. When he meets an elusive old writer who lives in a dilapitated house, he begins to understand more about Greot, but also how to write powerful SF novels.

This was very well written and had me engaged throughout; with the mysterious Greot, the unique and interesting characters Joe meets, the anticipation on how it will come together. It was also very effective at showing the wonder and ethusiasm for learning young teenagers can have.

In the afterword I learned it's actually semi-autobiographical, which puts a lot of it in better persective knowing that. A great coming of age read from the author.

 

[suciul]

Read the first two volumes (The Living Stone and Eye of the Basislisk) in another Portal/all hist/Russian inspired series, namely The Artificer by M Cass and I quite liked them - gentler and more limited than Last Paladin say, but interesting so far and will start the audio of book 1 next - knew about the books but never really looked carefully until I saw that the audio narrator is someone whom I really enjoyed recently in Guardian's Journey - very young and eenergetic voice, not unlike the narrator of RJ Bennett Ana and Din series whom I also like a lot, so I listened to the sample and decided to try the novels and got really immersed in them...

My Goodreads reviews:

The Living Stone:

Fun but less expansive - at least so far - than similar series so will see if it can last the distance, as I tend to like continual universe and character expansion in long series since same setting, same characters generally get stale soon.

While taking place in an alternate St Petersburg (modern - cars, phones, some diversity as an Indian taxi driver comic relief appears among others) but also aristocratic tsarist and with magic though less in your face, the book is written in English and not translated and the attitude is also less Russian gung ho than in similar series.

Another distinction is that each volume so far is structured partially like a mystery - in the first volume, the narrator, an experienced master artificer from the 1600-1700's is re-born in a 22 year old apprentice artificer and bon vivant aristocrat who had more ambition than talent and got too ambitious - missing for two years, his grandfather and only relative bankrupted himself in trying find him and entered into a disastrous contract which actually is even worse than it seems as someone important seems set on acquiring his estate and especially his lab.

So when Alexander (now mixing the unnamed powerful artificer from the past and the young man's surviving memories) returns, he has to figure out quickly how to save his estate, cheer up his grandfather and start building a new life and redevelop his magic and artificer skills and the first volume is about the mystery of who wants so much that lab as he soon finds out death magic (strictly forbidden) is involved. Not to speak of a few duels and other unpleasantness. Luckily, Alexander still has some friends and protectors and so it goes until an excellent ending point solving the storyline here and starting the new mystery storyline of the second book.

Lots of fun, a nicer and less dark (still some body count and lots of - understated but still - magic) tone, cool characters - love the narration too (while I saw the book around, only when I discovered the narrator is same from another favorite series, I first listened a little and then got involved into it) so will start listening to this soon.

Eye of the Basilisk:

This continues the storyline of Alexander the young/old artificer - in this one he expands his powers, his estate, creates more artifacts, makes more connections, embodies some ghosts, and of course helps solve the main mystery of the novel, a string of robberies against a merchant guild. Still fun, entertaining, optimistic and not that dark, but a bit too repetitive and less universe expansion than I generally prefer so hopefully volume 3 will be better - this being said, I plan to listen to this one too and sometimes listening one appreciates more details that may escape on first read.

 

[suciul]

Finished Last Paladin 7 by R Savarovsky - only reading for now as audiobook is not yet out; supreme fun and this series has become a huge favorite, while this installment didn't disappoint either; my Goodreads review:

Another best of the series installment starting with one of the best sequences in recent books - twists, intrigue, secrets and of course a duel for the fate of the Empire - and just keeps going at the usual fast rate until another twist cliffhanger. Even more secrets, more characters, new aspects of old characters, changes in leadership at various levels and so on; the only (temporary) regret is that the audiobook is not yet out as this will be even more fun listening to. Just a taste from the opening sequence below:

“Right again!” von Grave beamed. “Most of my collection consists of powerful Gifted. But aside from Mordin and Azvek, two more rings contain elemental imprints of fallen Paladins. I spent twenty years hunting them across the Western Kingdom. The rival duchies weren’t thrilled with the idea of me growing stronger. They resisted. Hid what they could. So imagine my surprise when your Light Prince came to me himself and offered up the Earth Paladin’s remnants on a silver platter.”
He paused, letting out a faint, mock sigh. “A shame you beat me to that basement. But the residual trace was enough. Even a fragment lets the ring reconstruct an elemental imprint—afterlife data is remarkably cooperative. Once we’re finished here, I’ll return for the rest. You’ve no idea, Marcus, how refreshing it is to have someone assist your search instead of obstructing it. I located Azvek’s remnants in under a week. And according to my intelligence, at least three more Paladin remains are still hidden within Imperial territory.” He smiled, almost giddy. “Feels like I’ve wandered into a playground.”
“You wouldn’t believe it, Duke,” I said with a smile, “but that’s exactly the impression the Empire gives me too.”
“But listen to me ramble. Forgive my rudeness,” von Grave said lightly. “There are very few people I can speak to about this. And you—you're the first I’ve met who actually knows the name of the Death Paladin. I couldn’t resist. Still, I truly did want to thank you.”
“You sure about that?” I tilted my head. “One guy already tried. You saw how that ended.”
“Don’t be rude, Marcus. I’m investing my time, and the attention of hundreds of aristocrats, so you’ll understand that your death won’t be in vain.” He rubbed a faint scratch on his cheek. “No, you’re not a Paladin. But your power intrigued me. So I’ll grant you the honor of remaining in my collection postmortem. Think of it. Eternity, surrounded by Paladins.”

*****************************************

“Sorry, buddy. Nothing personal,” I said, lifting my hand. “Protect.”
The Voidfang materialized instantly, its matte-black blade turning red-hot under the pressure.
“Pointless, fool!” von Grave’s voice rang out, barely containing his delight. “Azvek is a god here! No Gifted alive commands this Element better than a Paladin!”
“You’re not wrong,” I murmured, grinning—right as a wall of raw elemental fire came crashing down on me. But before it hit, my blade pierced Azvek’s chest.
The wall of fire froze midair. Azvek jerked, feet dangling helplessly as his eyes flickered. The laughter cut off.