Posts from 2014

Review

A Shade of Vampire

Posted: January 3, 2014 by Vanessa in Books We Hate Meta: Bella Forrest, Urban Fantasy
A Shade of Vampire

I found A SHADE OF VAMPIRE (Amazon) thanks to Amazon recommendations, it had over 600 five-star ratings, and it was a mere $0.99 for Kindle. I was kinda excited to find something new.

It was a trap.
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Review

Hellfire

Hellfire

So pretty much everything I said about AN OFFICER’S DUTY (EBR Review) I should just cut and paste into this review… because its sequel HELLFIRE (Amazon) is almost the exact same book. Save yourself some time, read that review, and come back and I’ll try to be succinct.
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Review

The Mongoliad

The Mongoliad

Some reviews are difficult to write. Others fly off of my fingertips near light-speed. Some are simple. Others complex. But every once in a while, I come across one that seems to just be begging for discussion of a larger issue. This book sparked one of those latter types in me. The issue: writing character versus story.
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Review

Wasteland

Wasteland

So two award-winning journalists decide to try their hand at the current craze of YA dystopian/post-apocalypse novels. But WASTELAND by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan (Amazon), is what happens when non-fiction writers think that writing a coherent, engaging, and imaginative YA novel is not so hard. Throw in a controversial situation, maybe some race-themed antagonism, a couple of clever adjectives for spice, and voila. Easy peasy, right?
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Review

The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two

Posted: January 24, 2014 by Shawn in Books We Love Meta: Catherynne M. Valente, Fantasy, Young Adult
The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two

Have you ever had a secret?  I mean a delicious, wonderful secret?  The kind you want to tell the whole world about and at the same time keep only for yourself?  Something sweet and wonderful, something that would change other people lives if they only knew, yet at the same time you wanted to keep it all to yourself?  Have you ever had one of those?
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Review

Emperor of Thorns

Posted: January 27, 2014 by Steven in Books We Love Meta: Mark Lawrence, Dark Fantasy
Emperor of Thorns

I think it’s pretty rare for an author to end a series in a strong and convincing manner. Be it ten novels or two, it just seems like I’m nearly always let down once I get to the end. When I first read Mark Lawrence’s PRINCE OF THORNS (EBR Review), you’ll remember that I was completely blown away. In terms of dark and gritty fantasy, it was pretty close to the top of the list. I was worried when KING OF THORNS (EBR Review) arrived in my mailbox. It couldn’t possibly live up to the first book. Except it did. Then I received the final book in the series, EMPEROR OF THORNS. I didn’t even start reading it right away (hence the delay in this review), because, stupidly, I didn’t want to be let down. Again, how often does an author blow it? Pretty frequently.
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Review

Mayhem

Posted: January 29, 2014 by Steven in Books We Love Meta: Sarah Pinborough, Horror
Mayhem

I’ve loved Sarah Pinborough’s writing since I first opened the cover on A MATTER OF BLOOD (EBR Review). And since reading Robert McCammon and Jasper Kent, I’ve been rather obsessed with Historical Horror. So when I received a copy of Sarah’s newest Historical Horror novel… well, I’d died and gone to heaven.
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Review

Turn Down the Lights

Posted: January 31, 2014 by Steven in Books We Like Meta: Richard Chizmar (Ed), Horror, Anthology, Short Fiction
Turn Down the Lights

Lately I’ve been trying to pay more attention to the specialty publishers out there. They put out such quality work, that I’ve decided to make a concerted effort to tell all you readers about them. This time around, let’s talk about Cemetery Dance, and one of their newest collections of short stories, TURN DOWN THE LIGHTS (Amazon).

This anthology, edited by Richard Chizmar, is a celebration of Cemetery Dance. It’s been 25 years since Cemetery Dance put out their first issue, and so this collections contains stories by just some of the people who have helped it become the amazing specialty publishing house that it is today. Here’s the Table of Contents:
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Review

Space Eldritch II

Space Eldritch II

Disclaimer: horror isn’t a genre I enjoy. Really, in the slightest. I can count on one hand the number of horror movies I like. I’ve never read a horror anthology before, so needless to say, I wasn’t terribly excited about reading SPACE ELDRITCH II: THE HAUNTED STARS (Amazon). But I love Science Fiction so… what the heck.
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Review

Abaddon’s Gate

Posted: February 7, 2014 by Alan in Books We Love Meta: James S.A. Corey, Science Fiction
Abaddon’s Gate

I swear, I don’t have a man crush on Daniel Abraham. Neither does anyone else here at EBR…

…OK that isn’t entirely true.
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