Posts from 2013 :: Page 6

Wow. Just… wow.

One of my biggest disappointments when the 2013 Hugo Award nominations were announced was the absence of Ian Tregillis’ THE COLDEST WAR (EBR Review) from the ballot. Don’t get me wrong, I was absolutely thrilled that EBR was nominated, but not seeing Tregillis’ name on the list for Best Novel was a huge bummer. His Milkweed Triptych is one of the most enjoyable and clever series on the market right now, and a Hugo Nomination would have made a huge and well-deserved impact on his exposure. Why am I bringing this up? Not out of bitterness, I assure you. I want all you readers to understand just how much I and everyone at EBR loved THE COLDEST WAR.
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While the majority of the books in the Vorkosigan Saga are from Miles’ PoV, there are other characters who are just as loved. One of them is Ivan Vorpatril. And after years of fans clamoring for his story, Lois McMaster Bujold delivers. But do you have to be a fan of the series to enjoy this book? Nope.
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Madeline LeBlanc comes from a long line of magic–they call it pigeon–where they can see the briar and the river devils who live there. All of us have our own devils who whisper in our ears, trying to get us to do wicked things. For the most part the devils are an unorganized lot, except that Madeline’s great-grandmother Choloe and half-brother Zenon want to use the briar’s power to change humanity itself. And the only people standing in their way are Madeline and the six-year-old boy Bo Racer who was born a being of light.
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A generation ago the Norlanders invaded the Shadar, beating down the city and its people with bloodthirsty efficiency, making the Shadari their slaves in order to mine a rare ore used for powerful weapons.
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WARBOUND (Amazon) is the third entry in New York Times Bestselling Author, Larry Correia’s urban fantasy epic, Grimnoir Chronicles. Though Larry has suggested the possibility of future books set in the Grimnoirverse, WARBOUND wraps up the particular story arc began with HARD MAGIC (EBR Review), an all-time favorite of mine. This is the first time Larry has concluded a series, and so I greeted WARBOUND with much excitement and a degree of reservation. As Larry’s fans are well aware, this man knows how to kick off a series with flair – but would he be able to end one in a similar fashion?
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Many years ago monstrous sun flares changed everything, and humanity was thrust back into the Dark Ages. For the natives of an island in the South Pacific and passengers on a beached cruise ship, they are the last known survivors of the subsequent apocalypse.
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You all know how big a fan I am of Steven Erikson. He single-handedly changed my views on the Fantasy genre, and he has written some of my favorite novels. Ever. When people ask who my favorite authors are, the first one I always say is Steven Erikson.
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I enjoyed John Hornor Jacobs’ THIS DARK EARTH (EBR Review) so much that I had to read more of his work. Fortunately Jacobs has two other published books on shelves – the southern gothic, Lovecraftian horror of SOUTHERN GODS (EBR Review), and the YA Horror THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY (Amazon). I’m eager to start SOUTHERN GODS but I couldn’t pass the opportunity to read a Young Adult book about a kid with twelve fingers that has a form of telekinesis.
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I feel bad. I received an ARC of PROMISE OF BLOOD by Brian McClellan (Amazon) several months ago and quickly devoured it. I had every intention of having a review ready to go when the book came out…and then it didn’t happen. The problem was I wanted to write something witty and fun about the book but all I kept coming up with was…. I liked it. I liked it a lot. And that’s really understating it because I really, really did like it. After finishing McClellan’s debut I looked him up to check out news for the next book. I looked on Amazon to see what was going on. I even checked on Orbit’s blog to see if there was any news about the series. It was a dang good book. I just felt that I should do something more with the review than just, “Yeah, I really liked it.”
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I’ve read comics since I was a kid but I could hardly be called a devoted fan. I’ve always found it too difficult to keep up with the individual arcs – there were no comic shops nearby and so there were great periods of time where I was out of the loop. Having recently moved to the city it has become easier to get my hands on comics but I much prefer graphic novels as it’s a much simpler way to follow the story. Modern comics cost far too much to sample a wide variety of characters and half the pages seem to be filled with advertisements. It’s for all these reasons that superhero novels appeal to me so greatly. Currently it’s an under-tapped genre and so it’s quite exciting when a new author enters the fold. A ONCE CROWDED SKY (Amazon) is Tom King’s debut novel – a superhero story with literary sensibilities.
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