My Book of the Month - May

Deciding on my Book of the Month was a relatively easy task this time around, as I narrowed it down to two books pretty quickly - Mark Walden's Rogue and Jenna Burtenshaw's Wintercraft. I have been a huge fan of Walden's H.I.V.E. books ever since I read the first in the series, but I have decided to choose Ms Burtenshaw's novel as my May Book of the Month, as it is a remarkable debut fantasy story.

As I said in my original review, I loved this dark fantasy story with its well imagined world of Albion and its cast of colourful characters. It would seem I am not alone in this, as since its released it has continued to garner good review after good review. Some reviewers have offered their criticisms but even these admit that the quality of writing, the world building and the characters overshadow any perceived weaknesses.

Fantasy is not a genre that I have warmed to over the years - too many fairies, dragons, etc. for my liking - but this book had me captivated from start to finish (possibly aided by the total absence of any of these aforementioned mythical creatures). It is also evident that I am not the only reader who thinks that Silas Dane is the stand out element of the story. Yesterday on Twitter Ms Burtenshaw mentioned that the next adventure set in this world should be out next spring, and that "there's lots more to come from Silas and Kate" - fantastic news!