Reviews :: Book Rating :: Books We Like

I’m always on the lookout for a great, quick read, and when I came across this one, I decided pretty quickly that it fit the bill.
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I haven’t read near enough Glen Cook.

I keep telling myself this, and yet my penchant for continuing to push his books down my TBR pile is, quite frankly, fairly embarrassing. I actually received this book quite some time ago, and only recently took the chance to read it. Mainly because it was short and I needed to get to something short. One of these days I’m going to figure out how to get ahead of the review game again, and have these things scheduled out. Until then, one foot in front of the other.
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Occasionally, I’ll come across a book that just resonates with my inner core. At who I am, way down deep. This was one of those. The first time I saw the announcement–the author, the title, the cover–there just wasn’t any question. I was going to buy this book and it would be fabulous. I mean, look at that cover! How can that visual *not* just call to you? Maybe I’m biased by the fact that I’m a father and husband, by how hard I know life can be sometimes. So for me, pre-ordering this one was near instant, unknown publisher or not. Didn’t matter. I wanted to get this book into my greedy hands and devour it as soon as humanly possible.
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This book has an interesting title. Don’t you think? I must admit, it threw me for a bit of a loop the first time I saw it. Same for the series name. Didn’t quite know what to think after the initial announcement. Excitement for a new Mark Lawrence book? Well, yeah, of course. But what kind of book was this going to be? Any idea as to whether or not it would be connected to the rest of his books, as they all seem to be so far? It sure didn’t sound like it. But there was always the chance. And so, alas, not a book that I pre-ordered, but when I got the chance to get an eArc, I was in. Of course, I was. What kind of question is that?
THE BOOK THAT WOULDN’T BURN is the first of a new projected trilogy from Mr. Mark Lawrence, one of our favorite authors here at EBR. Although, given this guy’s throughput, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to find out that he’d already penned (at the very least) the first draft of the last line of the series. Guy produces.
Evar and Livira are two […]Read the rest of this review »

TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEAS might well have started with “Once Upon a Time” because it has much the same tone as any fairytale–original or modern. Tress is our main character, a teenage girl with simple wants, who also happens to be in love with the duke’s son, Charlie. But when his father discovers their budding romance, he takes the boy to court and attempts to marry him off to a young woman with more status. However, the duke underestimates the strength of Tress and Charlie’s friendship, and Charlie successfully bores the noble girls away (I know this sounds weird, but this is Sanderson and he loves his goofy camp). Unfortunately, his punishment is to be sent to fight the infamous sorceress of the Midnight Sea, which results in his capture.
And this is where Tress’ adventure begins.
Set in the world of the Cosmere, this standalone novel still has much of the same flavor as MISTBORN (with a little Terry Pratchett thrown in), but on a more […]Read the rest of this review »

Tara Abernathy grew up in a village desert away from the big city. Now that small-town girl is one of the strongest users of the Craft, the law and rights-based magic which can transform bodies, compel gods, and shape the world. But today she is returning home to attend her father’s funeral. Knowing magic doesn’t make her popular with the local villagers, she’s concerned about her reception. But the village and Tara soon discover that her arrival is the only thing that will help the villagers survive.
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From the very first chapter, you realize that any notions you may have about this being a standard mystery story are going to be turned on their heads. Our main character wakes up in the middle of the woods with amnesia, and believes that he hears a murder being committed. From that point on, we are plunged into a story that unfolds piece by piece from the POV of seven characters–who are actually one character. His name is Aiden Bishop and he wakes up in the body of seven different guests at Blackheath Manor each morning, and he has one day to solve the mystery of the death of Evelyn Hardcastle.
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This is a book that I likely would not have picked up of my own accord. Instead, my reading of it came on the shoulders of the recommendation of a trusted friend. Not that anything in particular made me shy away from the book. These days I just tend to avoid anything resembling large-ish science fiction tomes that don’t also come with a strong recommendation from someone I trust. My poor experience with the genre in general, I guess, but this won’t be news to those that follow our site.
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When I watched the season of “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” I loved it. I loved how weird it was, the strange characters, the fascinating and crazy story. Totally my speed. So when my book club decided to read another of Susanna Clark’s books called PIRANESI I was on board. And like her previous books, it is just as weird and mind-bending.
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So I sat on this one for a long time. Saw a bunch of hype for it a while ago (thinking last year sometime?) and picked up a copy of the ebook for a steal of a deal. Never got around to reading it though, as something else shiny and pretty always caught my eye first. Recently, I noticed that it had been part of last year’s SPFBO, and it actually did quite well: 2nd place overall. Not too shabby. So, I figured I had better get to it and see what all the hubbub was about.
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