Bloody awesome books!

Cheerful bedtime reading in our family!

I'm reading Maplecroft by Cherie Priest:

“Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one....

The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny.

But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness.

This evil cannot hide from me. No matter what guise it assumes, I will be waiting for it. With an axe.”

I'm halfway through and enjoying Maplecroft quite a lot! A queer lady with an axe? Yes please!

My husband is reading God's War by Kameron Hurley:

“Nyx had already been to hell. One prayer more or less wouldn't make any difference...

On a ravaged, contaminated world, a centuries-old holy war rages, fought by a bloody mix of mercenaries, magicians, and conscripted soldiers. Though the origins of the war are shady and complex, there's one thing everybody agrees on...

There's not a chance in hell of ending it. 

Nyx is a former government assassin who makes a living cutting off heads for cash. But when a dubious deal between her government and an alien gene pirate goes bad, Nyx's ugly past makes her the top pick for a covert recovery. The head they want her to bring home could end the war--but at what price? 

The world is about to find out.”

I loved the trilogy that starts with God's War, and of course I kept recommending it to my sweetheart. Now he's reading it, yay! ^u^

For some reason, people often get surprised I enjoy gory books, action movies and death/black/gothic etc. metal bands. I don't know if it's my perceived gender (“girls don't watch action!” yeah? pfff) or my non-violent nature, or maybe people just enjoy putting everyone into neat boxes without thinking much. But I do love fast-paced stories with high stakes where no one is safe and where wounds are bloody and it takes time to heal. So books like Maplecroft and God's War are perfect for me. Maybe for you too? Give them a try!

P.S. Have some female-fronted metal from Poland!
Solfernus' Path by Darzamat