REVIEWS: Cold Sanctuary (released 24 Feb 2025)
"Poldark meets Gladiator...on another world." -- Halsgrove Publishing
"These books continue to remind me of A Song of Ice and Fire. Beardmore also knows when to finish a book leaving you asking questions and keen to discover more’. -- LoveReading
"I am bouncing in anticipation of the next book, as this story ended on a cliffhanger. I would give an arm and a leg to have these books adapted into a movie series." -- onlinebookclub.org
"The stakes soar to breathtaking new heights. Beardmore’s worldbuilding is masterful, blending historical depth with mythic gravitas." -- Professional book reviewer (India)
“Cold Sanctuary is a sweeping tale of survival and moral reckoning in a world on the brink of catastrophe – an unflinching look at how far humanity will go when faith, fear, and empire collide.
-- Professional Book Reviewer (India)
“There is a particular kind of quiet that descends upon a reader when a book has done something genuinely remarkable, and I find myself in that silence right now. ‘Cold Sanctuary’ is not merely a continuation of ‘The Strains of Malice’ — it is a deepening, a darkening, and an expansion, and it earns every one of its rocking 5 stars that I am rewarding it.”
-- Professional Book Reviewer (India)
"The ending left me genuinely breathless. I sat with it for a long time before I could even think about putting the book down." -- Professional book reviewer
"This series is something truly special and Cold Sanctuary proves it beyond any doubt. Essential reading." -- Goodreads reviewer
"Magnificent, relentless and emotionally devastating in all the right ways. Book three cannot come quickly enough." -- Goodreads reviewer
"One of the best fantasy series being written right now. Full stop." -- Goodreads reviewer
"I am proud to have been one of the first readers to discover what in decades to come will probably be thought of as a classic of the fantasy genre." -- Goodreads reviewer
Find the above quotes in the detailed reviews below, and much, much more...
LoveReading Review
(read native LoveReading review here)
Goodreads Reviews
NB: The small number of reviews pre-dating 2025 are for the original self-published release of The Strains of Malice - Part One: Malevolence, released via KDP in July 2022. This is the same book as Cold Sanctuary released in February 2025 and published by Halsgrove Publishing (Ryelands Books imprint).