James Nicoll Reviews

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (October 2025)

From the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, Alix E. Harrow, comes a moving and genre-defying adventure through time, as a reluctant lady knight and a historian with dreams of being a hero, will fight to rewrite their tragic fates and finish the greatest legend ever told. 

It begins where it ends: beneath the yew tree — a girl not yet a knight, and a boy without a story. 

That is where she pulls a sword from the heartwood and becomes a legend. 

And it is where, more than a thousand years later, he will find her — and lose her — and find her — and lose her again. 

It is where a new story will be written — but whose will it be?

Blood for the Undying Throne by Sung-Il Kim (October 2025)

Blood for the Undying Throne, the sequel to Blood of the Old Kings, from award-winning Korean author Sung-il Kim and translated by the world-renowned Anton Hur, is an epic fantasy adventure where the corpses of sorcerers power an empire and ordinary people rise up to tear it downThe Empire scorns all invisible gods. 

The Empire kills all visible ones. 

The Empire continues to enforce its so-called peace with massive war machines that destroy even gods and monsters, leaving the conquered with nothing to worship or fear except the might of the Empire. But desperate odds such as these can inspire resistance. 

Last seen rallying under Loran’s banner, Emere survives an assassination attempt that will lead him to uncover sinister plots at the very heart of the Empire. 

Arienne has crossed the continent to learn more about the Star of Mersia, the famed weapon that wiped Mersia from the map. But when she arrives in the lifeless land, Arienne finds much more than ruins. 

One hundred and seventy years ago, Yuma dares to defy Mersia’s ruthless Grim King Eldred. When she meets an emissary from the Empire, she realizes that they might just have the power to overthrow the Grim King — but is there a cost to aligning with the Empire?All must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to fight tyranny. 

Keepers of the Elven Rings by Gabriele Quaglia & Francesco Nepitello (April 2025)

“In Eregion long ago many Elven-rings were made, magic rings as you call them, and they were, of course, of various kinds: some more potent and some less. The lesser rings were only essays in the craft before it was full-grown, and to the Elven-smiths they were but trifles – yet still to my mind dangerous for mortals. But the Great Rings, the Rings of Power, they were perilous.”

In the twilight of the Third Age, three realms of the West-elves still endure in Middle-earth. By the power of the Three Rings, they exist as a testament to a time that was. But not only the Elves remember. As Sauron gathers his strength to bring war to Middle-earth once again, he plans a devious vengeance against those who humbled him long ago.

Keepers of the Elven-rings™ is a supplement for The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying™, the official tabletop roleplaying game based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

(blurb from FL site)

Realms of the Three Rings by Gabriele Quaglia & Francesco Nepitello (April 2025)

“In Eregion long ago many Elven-rings were made, magic rings as you call them, and they were, of course, of various kinds: some more potent and some less. The lesser rings were only essays in the craft before it was full-grown, and to the Elven-smiths they were but trifles – yet still to my mind dangerous for mortals. But the Great Rings, the Rings of Power, they were perilous.”

In the twilight of the Third Age, three realms of the West-elves still endure in Middle-earth. By the power of the Three Rings, they exist as a testament to a time that was. But not only the Elves remember. As Sauron gathers his strength to bring war to Middle-earth once again, he plans a devious vengeance against those who humbled him long ago.

Realms of the Three Rings™ is a supplement for The One Ring™, the official tabletop roleplaying game based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

(Blurb from FL site)