Posts from 2013

Review

A Memory of Light

Posted: January 8, 2013 by Alan in Books We Love Meta: Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, Epic Fantasy
A Memory of Light

This is easily the most difficult review I have had the opportunity write.  I start it off much the same I way wrote the review for the previous WoT book.  It’s difficult to write a review solely on A MEMORY OF LIGHT (Amazon), without considering all that has come before.  Opening the cover of this book, and reading those first words, all the way to finishing the last words and closing the book, has been been an inevitability hurtling (sometimes crawling) at me for 17 years or so.
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Review

11/22/63

Posted: January 15, 2013 by Writer Dan in Books We Don't Like Meta: Stephen King, Romance
11/22/63

Romance? I know. I can hear the tumult of the masses lurching in defiance from here.  Since when does EBR review romance novels?  Answer:  since King started writing them while his publisher was marketing them as otherwise.  There was nothing even remotely romance-related to this book that I came across prior to getting into its pages.  Not on the outer cover, not inside the cover, not in any official summary of the book.  Not anywhere.  In fact, despite everything that made my deductive reasoning lean toward the contrary, I didn’t even fully accept that the book was a romance until the very end.  Not until the last sentence of the book.

And did that bother me?  Immensely so.
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Review

Red Country

Posted: January 18, 2013 by Steven in Books We Love Meta: Joe Abercrombie, Dark Fantasy, Western
Red Country

I love Westerns. LOVE them. I grew up reading Louis L’Amour and watching John Wayne movies. When I got older I found I loved the more mature stories in the genre. You know, Unforgiven and the like. Can you even begin to imagine how excited I was when Joe Abercrombie announced his next novel would have Western themes in it? And it would be called RED COUNTRY? If that doesn’t scream Western-styled violence, I don’t know what does.
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Review

Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish

A good while ago, I had my first run at buying sushi. I’d sampled it before with friends and such, but had never purchased any myself. Apart from initially mistaking the twirl of wasabi for some tasty guacamole (How? Looking at it from this side of things, I honestly have no idea) it was a great experience. When I was finished, I decided to try the other interesting-looking thing on the plate. The one that looked like marinated flower petals. I found that it was sweet and actually pretty good, but then arose the over-powering taste of… soap? Later, a good friend told me what I had actually ingested.

The connection? My impression of this book in two words: candied ginger.
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Review

Cold Days

Posted: January 25, 2013 by Steven in Books We Love Meta: Jim Butcher, Urban Fantasy
Cold Days

The last few Dresden Files novels have been a bit hit-or-miss with me. That is a painful admission. For the longest time, Jim Butcher was one of my favorite authors, and the Dresden Files included some of my favorite novels. But then… yikes. To me, some of these last books have just not been good. CHANGES started to put things right again, and GHOST STORY had its moments. But then came COLD DAYS (Amazon)…

…and it was freaking amazing.
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Review

Three Parts Dead

Posted: January 29, 2013 by Vanessa in Books We Like Meta: Max Gladstone, Fantasy
Three Parts Dead

Magic lawyers. No, not lawyers who go to court over magic, but lawyers who have magic and use it to make contracts. Gods who are real. Gargoyles. Vampires. Necromancy. A murder mystery. Trying to explain everything this novel has and is just makes my head spin.

So… maybe I should start at the beginning.
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Review

The Wolf’s Hour

Posted: February 1, 2013 by Steven in Books We Love Meta: Robert McCammon, Horror, Audible
The Wolf’s Hour

This review is going to be a bit different. Why? Because it isn’t a review of the actual, physical book. You see, I drive a lot. More than is healthy, even. On average, I spend nearly two hours per day in a car. That’s ten whole hours a week being dedicated to something other than reading awesome books…

… unless I use…… wait for it……. AUDIOBOOKS!!!!!!!!
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Review

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

Posted: February 5, 2013 by Vanessa in Books that are Mediocre Meta: Richard Paul Evans, Fantasy, Young Adult
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

Michael Vey is not your average teenager. Ever since he was a kid, he could produce an electric shock. Kind of like a walking Taser. Only with hormones and acne.

His mom is paranoid about what would happen if people found out about his abilities. She gave up a good job at a California law firm to move them both to Idaho in order to keep him safe from anyone who might notice. But in high school Michael is noticed for other reasons: he’s kinda scrawny, his best friend is the brainiac nerd at school, and he has Tourettes (the kind with tics when he’s nervous, not the swearing kind). So of course the poor kid is bullied.
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Review

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

Posted: February 8, 2013 by Shawn in Books We Love Meta: Catherynne M. Valente, Fantasy, Young Adult
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

Do you know where these are from? “Follow the yellow brick road”, “There’s no place like home” or even “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore Toto.” How about we try another one? If I were to talk to you about going down the rabbit hole would you know what I meant? What if I asked you about the Mad Hatter? You would wouldn’t you?
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Review

Earth Thirst

Posted: February 12, 2013 by Nickolas in Books We Like Meta: Mark Teppo, Urban Fantasy
Earth Thirst

Vampires? Vampires! Grab the stakes and garlic, this sub-genre isn’t dead yet. Don’t mind me, I kid. Vampires are never going away and Mark Teppo’s EARTH THIRST (Amazon) rejuvenates a tired concept. Teppo’s vampires are of the crunchy granola, tree hugging variety. Don’t confuse the Arcadians for hippies though, the stewards of the Earth come heavily armed.

The Earth is dying. Mankind poisons the soil and pollutes the air. The Arcadians, vampire stewards, are fighting a losing battle against hyper-industrialization. Silas is a soldier, he follows orders – even when those orders lead him onto the open seas with a group of protestors trying to save the whales. Things quickly go awry and Silas finds himself cut off from support and running for his immortal life. Now he will have to get to the bottom of a mystery that could destroy everything he loves.
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