Reviews :: Book Genre :: Fantasy :: Page 49
Stonewielder
We were worried that STONEWIELDER (Amazon) wouldn’t quite live up to (or build upon) the greatness of RETURN OF THE CRIMSON GUARD. Ian C. Esslemont had set his own bar pretty high, so we kept our level of optimism well in check. Turns out it was all needless. STONEWIELDER is awesome.
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Return of the Crimson Guard
It is now safe to say that Ian C. Esslemont brings some serious excellence to the Malazan world. Perhaps the general consensus of the masses after reading his first novel, NIGHT OF KNIVES, was that his work wasn’t of the quality expected or that was used to from reading Steven Erikson’s work.
We don’t doubt Esslemont at all. He belongs.
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Night of Knives
When you read Steven Erikson’s The Malazan Book of the Fallen, often you get a prologue giving you the narrow piece of history needed to understand the story about to be read. History in the Malazan series is an interesting thing. It has supreme importance, but we typically only see what has been built on the foundation of that history (or what was built upon the ruins of a “newer” history that was built upon an even older past). Personally, we love the series that Erikson is writing. It isn’t perfect, but it is awe-inspiring nonetheless.
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A Discovery of Witches
Debut author Deborah Harkness has been on my ‘to read’ list since her appearance at New York’s ComicCon fantasy author panel with the likes of Peter V. Brett, Naomi Novik, Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, and Joe Abercrombie. Yeah, a newb (to the genre anyway) sitting amongst some of the most popular fantasy authors today. I had to know if she deserved being there.
In A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES (Amazon), Harkness takes all the urban fantasy romantic tropes and… uses them.
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The Crippled God
It’s hard to know where to begin with this review. I’ve been reading Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen for six years. It’s what got me re-interested in fantasy after years toiling under the belief that fantasy was imprisoned in the land of elves and dwarves. Six years.
And suddenly here we are at the end.
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Dust of Dreams
We actually have a good reason for not reviewing this novel sooner. Quite simply, it didn’t make sense to. DUST OF DREAMS (Amazon) is just the first half of the final entry into Steven Erikson‘s epic series, The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Seriously. It is literally the first half of the story and ends in a giant cliffhanger.
Sure, we could have reviewed this back when it came out last year. We almost did. After an epic debate lasting all of 30 seconds, we decided to wait until THE CRIPPLED GOD (Amazon) was about to be released to do a re-read and review of this stellar novel. It just didn’t feel right to review it any other time.
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Bauchelain and Korbal Broach
These novellas just don’t get old, and we were asked by a reader what our opinion of them was. We’ve known for years now how awesome Steven Erikson‘s novels are, but his shorter work is criminally underrated. In Erikson’s third Malazan novel, MEMORIES OF ICE (one of the most incredible books we have EVER read), we are introduced to Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, two necromancers, and their manservant, Emancipor Reese. Perhaps you wondered, like we did upon our first encounter, where these characters came from. That is what this collection, BAUCHELAIN AND KORBAL BROACH (Amazon), is for. In it are collected three novellas of fist-pumping goodness.
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Speak to the Devil
Dave Duncan is one of those guys that has been improving his trade for years. From this experienced writer comes SPEAK TO THE DEVIL (Amazon). Duncan’s offering here is set in an alternate historical version of 15th-century Europe. It has all that you would expect from that time period; knights, feudalism, oppression and religion, all with the addition of magic and a fake country.
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The Hammer
THE HAMMER (Amazon) is KJ Parker’s third stand-alone book since the completion of her Engineer Trilogy, all of which have ostensibly been set in the same fantasy world. Though, if you know anything about her past works, you’ll know that her fantasy (fantastic as it is) isn’t necessarily “fantastical”, as magic is curiously absent throughout most of them. The thing that they do have though is character, and setting, and story. This is one of the many reasons why I love her stuff so much. Just good reading. Well, that, and they make me laugh.
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The Heroes
The best part about this February? No, it isn’t the manufactured holiday of Valentine’s. No, it isn’t the fact that there are only 28 days in it, thus making this work-month blissfully shorter. The best part of this February is Joe Abercrombie‘s THE HEROES (Amazon).
THE HEROES is about a hill called The Heroes. It is a useless hill that both the armies of the Union and the North want… mainly because the other side wants it. Before you ask why these groups are fighting over this useless hill, there are two things you should know. First, Bayaz is in this novel (if you’ve read the First Law trilogy, you know why this is important). Secondly, this is a Joe Abercrombie novel. People in war make stupid decisions.
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