Sam Tyler
Sam has had a love of reading ever since he realised the local library was only down the road. He is a fan of novels that fall into the big genres; science fiction, fantasy, crime historic etc. but is open to other delectation on occasion. His love of reading naturally led him to a job as a Librarian, if only he had foreseen this meant as much to do with computers as books nowadays. He still spends many of his free hours reading and hopes to do so for many years to come.
Books reviewed by Sam Tyler (582)
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![Wonders Never CeaseLexy Hudson]()
FantasyI do not think of myself as a person of culture, but when I stop to think about it, I have likely been to more theatre productions, museums and Stately Homes than most people. I can thank my mother for this as being forced to go as a youth has made me appreciate them and want to go as an adult. One...
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![Low Red MoonMike Chen]()
Science FictionAs more novels are written within the Star Wars Universe, I start to realise that I am drawn increasingly towards the wider Universe and not the core Skywalker saga. On TV, The Mandalorian, and in the book world the stories I have enjoyed most were adapted from a Star Wars comic, and one even based...
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![Our Lady of BladesSebastien De Castell]()
FantasyI am not sure if readers have noticed, but we have quietly entered a new Golden Era of Fantasy writing. There is a handful or more of established fantasy authors who have the experience and skill to be writing at the top of their game. Fantasy novels that are not just simple retellings of old tropes...
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![The Drowned SirenCallisto Lodwick]()
General FictionTo work in a novel, you need to be the right amount of crazy. Too little and you just come across as a little odd and moany, too much and your book has just become a horror novel. In Callisto Lodwick’s The Drowned Siren , Eleanor is a student in Scotland who is introverted and clingy, but not really...
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![Side HustleWendy Gee]()
General FictionJournalist have somewhat of a chequered reputation, for every Watergate, there is ten celebrities caught in the act. In recent times, the profession has cleaned up its act a little, but it still relies heavily on eyes on the page or viewing figures. This leads to a competitive market and some journa...
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![If We Cannot Go at the Speed of LightKim Choyeop]()
Science FictionStarting a new book can always be daunting, but I have a special trepidation for short story collections. They can be vast, full of stories that are loosely linked. Trying to find themes and remember all the stories can feel impossible when considering a review. However, you sometimes get a more cur...
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![The Debtors GameIsabelle Mongeau]()
FantasyTwas in a café they first met, Romeo and Juliet. And twas the first day they fell into debt, because Rome-owed and Juli-eat. It feels to me that the entire system is rigged so that you never have quite enough money to escape, you work to live, and if you do not work, you do not eat. It is worse when...
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![Aphrodite in PiecesLauren J A Bear]()
General FictionI am a student of History, but even to this day there are massive blind spots in my learning, moments in the past that I know little about, so anything on the subject matter feels fresh to me. I have a passing knowledge of the Antient Greek Gods, but having read Aphrodite in Pieces by Lauren J. A. B...
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![Death Wasnt InvitedCarlene O'connor]()
General FictionI love to play hidden object games; I find them a nice way to relax after a busy day. I also love to read for the same reason, even a crime story can be comforting in its own way. Death Wasn’t Invited by Carlene O’Connor combines the two as it is a ‘cosy’ crime caper based on the June’s Journey game...
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![The Killing SpellShay Kauwe]()
FantasySticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me, but in Shay Kauwe’s The Killing Spell , words will very much hurt you. In fact, words can be fashioned into spells to kill. Not the best in an everyday family situation where words can fly thick and fast, nor in a society where a fe...
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![The Fractal EpisodesAllen Stroud]()
Science FictionWhat differentiates a short story series from episodes? Allen Stroud’s The Fractal Series comes in a collection or can be read separately. There are twelve individual stories, that sounds like a short story collection, but there is a difference as they all take place within the Fearless universe tha...
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![Bodies of WorkClay Mcleod Chapman]()
HorrorWhat is art? It is a question I have to ask on occasion as I live with an artist. It is in the eye of the beholder, some of the stuff I see I would not look twice at, even top name artists are not to everyone’s tastes. Some are labelled outsider artists, those that have no formal training and use th...
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![WoodstakeDarin S Cape]()
HorrorWoodstock is an event that has passed into folklore. Like Spike Island, I imagine that every eligible person the right age claims to have been there. Who is to say that they were not? These events are massive, you can lose yourself in the crowd, but other things can hide to. Would anyone notice a fe...
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![First Mage on the MoonCameron Johnston]()
FantasyI like when a genre becomes so embedded that as a whole, we can play with it. This has happened for years in comic books, even the films are so prevalent now that you get plenty of leftfield superhero movies. One genre that has been around longer and has even deeper roots is Fantasy, but has it expl...
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![The Wonder EngineT Kingfisher]()
FantasyA large part of fantasy novels is not really the destination, but the journey. The camaraderie that builds among a troop of characters as they travel to their destination, but what happens once they have arrived? In T Kingfisher’s Clockwork Boys four mismatched social pariahs set out to survive the...
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![Cabaret in FlamesHache Pueyo]()
HorrorWhen is a vampire not a vampire? When it is a Gul. These strange creatures are part of everyday life in this version of Brazil, the secret for the humans who want to survive is to stay at home after curfew, lest they be eaten by Guls or taken for enemies of the state by the Fascists who run the coun...
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![JitterbugGareth L Powell]()
Science FictionMany of us do not really know what is going on in Space, and not everyone really cares. It is all so far away and beyond our control. However, even the layman would think twice if the planets in our Solar System started to disintegrate one after the other and strange new discs appear in Space that b...
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![SentientMichael Nayak]()
Science FictionIf you are like me, you will have an escape plan from the building you work in, just in case there is a zombie attack. My plan is to get to the roof and use one of the ladders up there to simply steer the zombies over the low edge. This might work, but not in the Antarctic, were there are few buildi...
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![Way of the WalkerSalinee Goldenberg]()
FantasyNaming your book The Last Phi Hunter comes with some idea that this will be the last of their kind, but Salinee Goldenberg proves this is not the case with a sequel, Way of the Walker . But is this Walker an actual Phi Hunter? If your job is to find and kill the undead (Phi), befriending them and he...
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![Pretenders to the Throne of GodAdrian Tchaikovsky]()
FantasyA lot can happen during a siege, enough so that you do not have to have a book full of battles, you could have just one about the siege itself. This is the setting of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s latest in the The Tyrant Philosophers series, Pretenders to the Throne of God . We will meet new friends and old...
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![Maria the WantedV Castro]()
HorrorOne of the benefits of being a vampire is not the insatiable lust for human blood, but the eternal life. It can make meeting other vampires a tad strange as that 25-year-old looking person may actually be 100 years old, or a 1000. They try to act all modern, but they always have that whiff of the Re...
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![Books and BewitchmentIsla Jewell]()
FantasyAs a born cynic, I am always on the lookout for the angle in life and in fiction, but sometimes something is what it seems on the surface; wholesome. Not all books need to challenge the reader and leave them exhausted. Novels can be an escape, an entertainment, full of love and magic. Books and Bewi...
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![A Forest, DarklyA G Slatter]()
FantasyDealing with major changes in your life is not easy. You can find help in your community, but when you are a Witch who is hunted down, this is not so simple. Any other Witch that you come across is also being hunted or is too young to know what to do and needs a mentor. All Merhrab wants is to be le...
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![Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to DieGreer Stothers]()
Fantasy has a rich history of heroes who fight against the odds to ensure that good triumphs over evil, but what about the cowards? What about the people who would rather live in peace and quiet faraway from the front and have no truck with prophecies, even if they are the centre of them? In Greer S...
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![A Hole in the SkyPeter F Hamilton]()
Science FictionWe all come of age at some point in our lives. If we are lucky enough this will be as part of a loving household and we come out of it not too messed up, but not everyone is lucky. In the real world it can be tough enough, but take this dysfunction and place it is space, things can get real bad. Haz...
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![Nine GoblinsT Kingfisher]()
FantasyBack in the nineties, Fantasy had a comedic moment. Led by Sir Terry Pratchett, other authors were signed up to produce lighter fantasy with a sense of humour. Whilst none became as popular as Discworld, I still miss those days. T Kingfisher agreed and Nine Goblins is the author’s homage to that era...
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![The Night ShipAlex Woodroe]()
HorrorOne of the wonderful things about genre fiction is that an author does not have to explain what is going on if they do not want to. Science Fiction often goes into great detail trying to explain the science, but sometimes it just happens to be set on a remote alien planet – deal with it. In Alex Woo...
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![Paved With Good IntentionsPeter Mclean]()
FantasyThey say never judge a book by its cover and this is a good lesson to take heed of with Peter McLean’s Paved With Good Intentions , as the UK cover stars Eline dressed in regal splendour. You see, Eline is also someone you should not judge from by her looks. She may be presenting as a member of the...
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![Carried AwayT J Derry]()
General FictionThere are different people in life. There are those that love the idea of travelling to a remote Indonesian island with three friends and surfing huge waves, and those that think this is a barmy idea and would rather go on a nice city break or read a book by the pool. What you do not always get is a...
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![ExilesMason Coile]()
Science FictionOne of the best things about Science Fiction is that it also works as Science Fact. Much of the science and fantasy in the books are based on real research; taken to the nth level, but with a basis in truth. Exiles by Mason Coile layers this with some fundamentals in philosophy. Occam’s Razor sugges...
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![Queen of the DeadSarah Broadway]()
FantasyMy partner and I have differing opinions on ghosts. I like to read about them but am incredibly cynical that they exist. My partner is more of a believer. I just refuse to believe that ghoulies can exist without more evidence, we live in a surveillance society at this point. However, even I would st...
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![Blood RivalJake Arnott]()
General FictionIn fiction you can blur the real world with the fictional to give your story a sense of authenticity. This is something that Jake Arnott has done in the past taking a splash of truth, a soupcon of reality, and then blending in some fictional high-octane action. In the case of Blood Rival , there was...
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![Spawn of the Serpent GodTim Waggoner]()
FantasyConan has fought against Gods his whole life. The little ones that try to interfere with the ways of man, and the Old Ones that nestle in other dimensions waiting for their chance to absorb the Earth. The only God that Conan has had little trouble with is Crom, his own God, and that is because Crom...
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![Master of EvilAdam Christopher]()
Science FictionOne of the aspects of Star Wars that I love is that it is an IP that keeps evolving, as do I. As a child I saw The New Hope as a simple action adventure between good and evil. The Emperor was omnipotent. As the series progressed, we see that the Empire was far too vast for one man to control, no mat...
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![The Blackfire BladeJames Logan]()
FantasyHow do you push a story forward? One method used in movies is known as a MacGuffin, a meaningless plot device that someone must find that will drive all their intentions. It does not happen as often in literature, but in the case of The Blackfire Blade by James Logan it has one of the most Macguggin...
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![SupermaxKen Bruen]()
General FictionThe pulp crime genre is one of my favourite because it pushes the envelope of what is acceptable in crime. It can be a little too gory, a little too silly, a little too much, but that is what makes it so fun to read. There is a delicate balance between writing a thrilling action crime story that is...
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![Cry, VoidbringerElaine Ho]()
FantasyI enjoy a dose of Low Fantasy; a bit of grimdark and violence feels like a good counterpart to High Fantasy with its heroism and magic. A fantasy tale that is told from the muck and the trenches just feels more real, even if it is fantastic, a fantasy for our modern troubled world. But there is Low...
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![The Door on the SeaCaskey Russell]()
FantasyWhat modern fantasy has shown is that you do not need to set your fantasy world in alternative medieval Europe. Our planet is full of varied and rich cultures that can be married with fantasy concepts to make alternative takes on the genre. The Door on the Sea by Caskey Russell is the latest unique...
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![Stars Like UsStephen K. Stanford]()
Science FictionInvent any innovative technology and it won’t be long until someone finds a way to use it to make money via base entertainment. We are talking wine, woman, and song. The same can be said of future worlds; the Emperor may have thought he had an iron grip on all his subjects, but just below the surfac...
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![Jekyll & Hyde: Winter RetreatTim Major]()
FantasyIf you could invite anyone to a winter retreat, who would it be? Family, friends, someone famous. What you should never do is invite a detective, anytime you do, someone always seems to end up dead. In the case of Jekyll & Hyde: Winter Retreat by Tim Major, you get two private detectives for the p...
