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THE THIEF WHO PULLED ON TROUBLE’S BRAIDS (Amazon), by Michael McClung, is what Mark Lawrence’s Great Self-published Fantasy Author Blog-off is all about. This is the third book I read of the batch I was assigned. I saved it for last because I found the cover appealing, the title enticing, and the synopsis intriguing. The overall package is professional and marketable and because of that it stands out amongst the competition.

THE THIEF WHO PULLED ON TROUBLE’S BRAIDS is a little more than 200 pages long but it’s a satisfying sword & sorcery adventure that will appeal to fans of Ari Marmell, David Dalglish, Douglas Hulick, Brent Weeks, and Kelly McCullough.

Here’s the synopsis: Amra Thetys lives by two simple rules—take care of business, and never let it get personal. Thieves don’t last long in Lucernis otherwise. But when a fellow rogue and good friend is butchered on the street in a deal gone wrong, she turns her back on burglary and goes after something more precious than treasure: Revenge. Revenge, however, might be hard to come by. A nightmare assortment of enemies, including an immortal assassin and a mad sorcerer, believe Amra is in possession of The Blade That Whispers Hate—the legendary, powerful artifact her friend was murdered for—and they’ll do anything to take it from her. Trouble is, Amra hasn’t got the least clue where the Blade might be. She needs to find the Blade, and soon, or she’ll be joining her colleague in a cold grave instead of avenging his death. Time is running out for the small, scarred thief.
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So we apparently never reviewed this novel. Oops! With the paperback edition of MONSTER HUNTER NEMESIS recently being released, I looked back over our reviews and discovered the absence. So, yeah. Here we are.

If you’ve paid attention to this site, you already know that MONSTER HUNTER NEMESIS (Amazon) was one of EBR’s top novels for 2014. For me personally, NEMESIS is my favorite Monster Hunter novel. Why? Because Agent Franks is the main character.

When Franks was introduced in MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL (EBR Review), he became an immediate favorite of mine, and a huge portion of Larry Correia’s readership. As book by book went by, we got more pieces of info and came to realize Franks wasn’t exactly human. But we still didn’t have all the answers.

Well now we do. And the answers made for one of the most entertaining reads of 2014.
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Ian Tregillis is a name that has been on the watch-list of EBR for quite some time now. The Milkweed Triptych was an amazing and impressive ride, especially for having been his first published works. Pretty much solidified his place in our hearts. And so when I saw the arc for this book in my most recent box of goodness, I pretty much wanted to sit down and ignore everyone and everything else for the next several days. Didn’t quite work out that way, but I did end up putting in a couple extra hours each day toward reading it because, honestly, I just couldn’t put the dang thing down. Seriously good stuff.
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Adding supernatural elements to Historical Fiction is one of my favorite things. I’m already a lover of history, and I can’t get enough supernatural stuff. For me, it’s a match made in heaven. From Jasper Kent to Sarah Pinborough to Robert McCammon… I love it. Alan Finn’s novel, THINGS HALF IN SHADOW (Amazon), scratches that itch nicely.
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I originally dismissed RED RISING (Amazon) by Pierce Brown because of the immense level of hype behind the debut. RED RISING was being touted as the next THE HUNGER GAMES, as it seems the majority of Young Adult novels are marketed these days. Being that I consider THE HUNGER GAMES a vastly overrated and underwhelming novel I gave RED RISING a pass. I purchased a copy several months ago on a whim, unwilling to leave the bookstore empty handed. It sat untouched and unloved near the bottom of my To Read Pile until the recent release of GOLDEN SON (Amazon), book two of the trilogy. News of the sequel drew my attention back to the series and I decided to give it a shot.

I should have jumped aboard the first car of the RED RISING bandwagon when I had a chance. I absolutely devoured Pierce Brown’s debut — reading for hours at a time, even skipping dinner in order to finish the book during a frenzied four-hour reading binge. I’ve read a lot of good books lately nothing on the level of RED RISING in a long, long time.
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Now that it’s all done, I’m going to share a little secret. When it was announced that F. Paul Wilson was going to do a prequel trilogy for his Repairman Jack series, I was super excited. More Jack is always awesome. But I was also a bit nervous. Prequels are tricky. They have a bad habit of diminishing the overall series. Thankfully, all that worry that I kept hidden inside was all rendered pointless. FEAR CITY (Amazon), the final novel in the Repairman Jack: The Early Years Trilogy, is terrific.
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Chuck Gannon’s FIRE WITH FIRE (EBR Review) was easily the best science fiction novel I read in 2013. The first book in the Tales of the Terran Republic series would be right at home on a shelf amongst the hallowed Golden Age classics. FIRE WITH FIRE is a cerebral thriller – Caine makes his fair share of thrilling escapes – but the real draw to the story is the depth and intellectual complexity that Gannon brings to a First Contact scenario. As a follow-up, TRIAL BY FIRE (Amazon) is no disappointment.
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There’s something wrong with the world. Don’t you think? There’s so much garbage out there that could just be better. Like more sword fights would be nice. And massive dragonmen with bad tempers. And belly-grown demons that rip their way up through your gullet and out your mouth. And… and… and… ah, who am I kidding? What would a world like that be like? Mass chaos, I tell you. Mass chaos. And I know it all too well. For I have read it, and that world is the brilliance of Sam Sykes.
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Burton and Swinburne, huzzah! Can I tell you how excited I was to read this novel? Ridiculously. These novels have been part of my staple, my core, my life-blood’s source for brilliant storytelling. Each time I return to them, they never fail to impress and entertain me. Hilarity, imagination, and excitement all wrapped up with a neat little bow.
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I’ve heard a lot about Robert McCammon’s novel, THE FIVE (Amazon). Mostly, I heard that it was “different”. I finally got around to reading it, and everyone was right. THE FIVE is different. But it was still easily recognizable as a McCammon novel. It was still Horror, though in a different way than we are used to seeing from the author. And it was still awesome.

So yeah. Business as usual for McCammon.
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