Reviews :: Book Genre :: Epic Fantasy :: Page 7

We have received quite a few requests to review ACACIA: THE WAR WITH THE MEIN (Amazon), and we decided that we should probably honor those requests. We ARE very kind and giving, after all. Yeah, we know the book isn’t a new release, but it seems a shocking number of people haven’t read it. Luckily, our good buddy Rob was all sorts of anxious to do this review, and you all get to benefit. Enjoy–EBR.

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Is your George R.R. Martin starting to sag? Do you still love his epic storyline, but hate the wait? Do you find yourself wondering if there will ever be a way to get that same gritty, edge-of-your-seat sensation without waiting years (or is it decades?) for character and plot progression? What if we told you it was possible? And what if we said that you could get it on-time? Early, even? That you could have twice the Martinesque, twice as fast? You wouldn’t believe us, would you?

Believe (feel free to drop a “hallelujah”).
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SHADOW PROWLER (Amazon), by Alexey Pehov, was quite a surprising read for us. All we knew going in was that eight or so years ago it was released in Russia, the translation was done by Bromfield (of Nightwatch translation fame), and that the author had some recognition in his home country.

Just picking up the book gave us confidence in it. The cover art depicts an obvious epic fantasy, and it looked gritty enough to hold our attention. Before we even read the excerpt on the back we were really excited. Especially Nick, since he loves Russian writing (even if it is translated).

However, the excitement we both had for the book dissipated immediately (and more than just a little) when we read the back cover blurb. Nameless One, Ogres, Elves, Quest for “the-relic-that-will-save-the-day”…Uh oh! It’s like Pehov went to great lengths to use every single fantasy trope or cliché in this book. Nevertheless, since we ARE the most important book reviewers that have graced the internet, we moved forward in reading the book.
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THE GATHERING STORM (Amazon). We know that you have all been waiting for us to write this review. You know what this book is, and you likely had some sort of strong feeling when you found out that Brandon Sanderson would be completing the late Robert Jordan’s epic series. Some of you felt as though demon’s had taken over Tor and killed Santa, and some of you felt a profound sense of relief just knowing the series would be finished.

Truthfully, we weren’t in either camp. Oh we were glad when we heard our buddy Brandon was finishing the series–we tend to consider him a great writer–but we wondered if anyone stood a chance at making this series enjoyable again.

Before you get your panties all twisted up, let us explain. This IS going to be a rather long review, so go to the bathroom before continuing.
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A CAVERN OF BLACK ICE (Amazon), by J.V. Jones, was published back in 2005, and is the first in the Sword of Shadows series. The most recent entry to the series was A SWORD FROM RED ICE (Amazon) in 2008 and we are expecting the fourth book soon. When we tell people that J.V. Jones is one of our favorite authors, the most common response is, “Who?” So, instead of reviewing the latest book, we thought we would do this first book as an introduction to a series that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. And it deserves a ton.

Before Steve explodes from holding it in (it’s not what you think…), we need to say that we absolutely hate the covers for this series. All three of the books have ridiculously terrible covers, and we attribute part of the series’ obscurity to that fact. Books are judged by their covers all the time, and these covers scream “DON’T BUY US!!! WE ARE GENERIC AND TERRIBLE!!”
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Here at Elitist Books Reviews, we are always on the lookout for that next series that will get us (and in turn, you) excited. What makes a series exciting for us? Well, if you’ve been paying attention to our reviews, you know that we feel the first book in a new series is extremely important. It starts with the cover of the book. Is it awesome? Does it make you want to pick up a copy of the novel just to read what it is about? Then, with the actual book itself, do we as readers feel interested in the new world we are presented? Do we get a sense of newness and wonder at the world, magic, characters, and story? Does the story leave a ton of room to grow and expound on the ideas introduced in book 1?

You see, we ask for a lot. (You better give it to us when we ask too. Or so help us, we might… uh… be mean.)
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Every now and then, we get a little hesitant to pick up and read a novel. We know, this is a dangerous admission on our part–believe it or not we are human sometimes (the rest of the time we are Review Gods, remember?). You see, when we find a series of novels that we like, each subsequent novel in that series becomes more exciting and terrifying to pick up. Why? Because we are afraid of being let down (read: Jim Butcher).
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Since DUST OF DREAMS (Amazon) is coming to the US soon, we thought we would go back to the series’ roots to both introduce newcomers and invigorate the old-timers. GARDENS OF THE MOON by Steven Erikson (Amazon) is not a simple novel–in fact this novel has, arguably, the steepest learning curve of any fantasy novel to date. This review will be a tad longer than usual, but it deserves nothing less.

GARDENS OF THE MOON is the first tale in Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Currently we have eight novels released in the series (with the ninth out in the UK now–yeah, yeah, we are waiting for our import copy), three short stories, and two other novels written by Erikson’s co-creator of this vibrantly imagined world, Ian Cameron Esslemont. We tell you this so you will understand the investment of time, should you start this series. The best part of all of this? Erikson doesn’t make us wait half a decade between his encyclopedia-sized tomes (you know who we are talking about). A book a year is the pace Erikson has set, which is downright awesome.
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Don’t worry. Despite having the word Twilight in the title, THE TWILIGHT HERALD (Amazon) is nothing like the book in our last review, TWILIGHT (EBR Review). This is Tom Lloyd‘s second entry in his Twilight Reign series, and it is much grander is scope and larger in size than the opening book, THE STORMCALLER (Amazon).

In a word (and you only need one from us): AWESOME.

Tom Lloyd is a newcomer, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have what it takes to blow us away with his story telling. He has managed to create a believable, original setting using the familiar fantasy tropes and bending or breaking them to his will. Populating his enormous, top-notch world is an exponentially growing list of characters, most of whom are distinct and interesting.
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There is this guy named Brandon Sanderson, and if you read fantasy with any regularity, you know who he is. If you don’t know who he is, you should really read more. Seriously. Not only is he the talent in epic fantasy, he is finishing the WHEEL OF TIME for the late Robert Jordan. Sanderson is a gifted author, and WARBREAKER (Amazon), his newest novel, shows why.

Color (as in dyes, etc) is power. A person’s breath let’s them breathe life to inanimate objects. A talking sword that begs to kill things. Sound like an intriguing magic system? It should. Sanderson has made quite a name for himself by inventing unique and enjoyable magic systems. WARBREAKER essentially starts with the wrong, untrained daughter of a king being sent to another country to prevent a war from breaking. A great start to a great novel.
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