An Ocean of Others

For me, An Ocean of Others, was a great mix of Grimdark horror survival fantasy peppered with humor. By the end of the book, I had a great many questions answered. but had so many more that I wish we had been able to explore the additional characters around the main protagonist, but that just means I can only hope for more in the next instalment!

I was luckily sent an e-ARC of this, and I'm so glad I was, as I've definitely found another favorite. And what an awesome cover too!
First and foremost, I'm honestly just super impressed. The author's writing is fantastic, his world is rich, the characters are believable and real, the pacing is perfect, and the action is top notch. Instead of just giving us his version of worlds we've seen before, he makes it his own with unique places and races of people. 
This novel is first person and the main character is a bounty hunter. Both morally grey, while still aiming to be good. He loves his city and that drives him to want to improve it. His personality, motivations, abilities, and decisions all made sense to me, they tracked well. His main companions are an ex-paladin and his sister, a ranger, a mage, and a skardwarf. Each in turn had their own abilities and personalities that worked really well together. Don't know what a skardwarf is?? I guess you'll just have to read it...
This novel is fantasy, with touches of science fiction, mystery, horror, and thriller. The city of Liwokin (IMO) read as almost an industrial revolution or even Victorian Era London, with some enhanced technologies we rarely see in fantasies. There's some political intrigue, but nothing super heavy or in depth like with GoT. The mystery certainly made this feel unique for me, and it most definitely has some body horror, which was very interesting to see for a fantasy. The twists and turns this novel takes are all fast and winding, so this was absolutely thrilling. 
If you've followed any of my reviews than you most likely know that I am very anti-dream sequence in fantasy novels. I most often find them to be misleading, weird, and at worst, useless. But somehow this author makes use of them as memory sequences that play out mostly like dreams. These memory sequences at first really heighten the mystery, and later on they boost the pacing. Therefore, I found myself ultimately sold. The author doesn't mislead or use them as a filler, they have meaning and direct the MCs discovery and understanding. 
Most definitely a 5/5* for me. I will physically own one of these when they release in September!