Posts from 2010 :: Page 2
The Black Prism
Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful ‘drafter’ alive in a world where color is magic and power. His role is to keep the magic balanced or else the world will erupt into chaos. Unfortunately most of the problems he has to deal with are the result of the False Prism War against his brother sixteen years ago.
If you’re familiar with his hugely popular THE NIGHT ANGEL TRILOGY (Amazon), Brent Weeks‘ storytelling continues consistently, albeit with more polish. The first book in his new Lightbringer Series, THE BLACK PRISM (Amazon), Weeks builds an exciting world, plunging into the story right from the get-go.
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Passion Play
Teenage Therez lives a life of luxury, her father a successful merchant. But business has its own politics and her father must ‘sell’ her in marriage to further his ambitions. Rather than marry a cruel older man Therez runs away, but is she running away to a worse fate?
PASSION PLAY (Amazon) starts out cliche enough, but readers will learn quickly that Beth Bernobich doesn’t pull any punches. Therez is a girl with no knowledge of the world, and as a result is too trusting. She purchases a seat on a caravan traveling to the capital where she hopes to earn her own living. However, everything does wrong en route and she very quickly she turns from innocent girl into distrusting woman.
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Towers of Midnight
Sometimes it is difficult to review a novel. In fact, this isn’t even the original review we had written for TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT (Amazon). There are so many variables that come into play that we have to take an accounting of, that we wonder where we should even begin. ToM, obviously, is one of these types of novels. There is the matter of the book itself; the story, the characters and the progression in the novel have to be considered. But then so does the rest of the series in one as large as The Wheel of Time. And to be objective when you all know we like our fantasy in the non-Jordan fashion. Yeah. It’s all sorts of difficult to put a review of this type of novel together in a way that makes sense to you lovely readers.
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Rot & Ruin
A not-so-funny thing happened. We confused the release of this novel with that of another. We feel pretty awful, because Jonathan Maberry is one of our favorite authors. So, we offer our sincere apologies to one of the greats in the Horror genre. With that said, we feel we should mention how completely awesome ROT & RUIN (Amazon) is. It is… uh… completely awesome!
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The Ragged Man
As you all are well aware, we reviewed the first three novels in Tom Lloyd‘s Twilight Reign series and basically said they were the best thing since sliced bread. So with the release of THE RAGGED MAN, the fourth book in the series, it really became a question of “What more can we say?”
As it turns out, quite a bit.
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Kitty Goes to War
Carrie Vaughn‘s urban fantasy series about werewolf Kitty Norville who hosts a paranormal call-in radio show adds #8 to list with KITTY GOES TO WAR (Amazon) — there are two more slated to finish the series. Vaughn’s series is the kind where you can read each book as a standalone, but they’re that much more layered if you’ve read the others. The same applies to WAR, you can enjoy the story on its own.
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Black Hills
Right from the moment you pick up a Dan Simmons novel and first set eyes upon the page, you know you’re in for a whole new kind of reading experience. It took me an entire paragraph (yes, the first one, because it’s just that obvious) to realize this would be the case. There is detail, flow and a sense of perfection in the way Simmons has crafted the first scene in BLACK HILLS (Amazon), and I have to admit that I readily gobbled down every delicious bite of it. What’s more, I found that I continued to devour the pages by great sheaves despite the growing concerns niggling at the back of my neck.
Dude can write.
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Horns
You know that kid that you grew up with? The one that dressed like he lived in an abandoned trailer park, who was always talking about death and fire and explosions? He’d creep out your parents, and always get away with the worst things, and the girls you wanted all seemed to go ga-ga every time he walked by?
Well this story is not about that guy.
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Dexter is Delicious
What a piece of garbage.
Sorry, usually we begin with a thought provoking introduction that has you pondering the world around you in a completely different light. Jeff Lindsay’s latest novel, DEXTER IS DELICIOUS (Amazon), is just awful. It really is as simple as that. Seriously, is there even any sense to this series of novels anymore? Rhetorical question. No.
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The Reluctant Mage
Morg is not dead. Rafe is in trouble. Asher is sick. Danthe has given up. Lur is dying. By the end of THE PRODIGAL MAGE (EBR Review) everything has gone wrong and it looks pretty bleak.
The only one left to save them is mousy Dennie, the young woman too timid to do anything. Or is she? She’s spent the last months caring for her comatose father and taking over the household responsibilities of her deteriorating mother–and she’s the only one who believes that Rafe is still alive, and that he needs help only she can provide. Dennie is not the girl she used to be before her world changed, and she’s beginning to realize her new role in it.
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