Mockingbird
I’ve been waffling for a long time over whether to read these books or not. I don’t know why. You see, there’s this moment when you’re reading a review–even when it’s a review from the very site that you write for–that you just know you’re going to read the book. That happened to me when our illustrious reviewer, Nickolas, reviewed BLACKBIRDS by Chuck Wendig (EBR Review). Because, you see, I go in pretty hard for a good character. Especially a good tortured character, and once you’ve read Nick’s review and the actual book, you can almost see the torture spread across that skein of words. They rend you and twist you, and after you leave those pages behind, they haunt you with the understanding that not only is Ms. Miriam Black a real person under all of that grime and grit, but she also might as well be you, or me, or anyone else for all the good it does her. Because Miriam’s life is like none you’ve ever seen, and anyone, given her life, might have understandably made the same choices as she.
Read the rest of this review »
Carbide Tipped Pens
Hard Science Fiction, huh? Sounds cerebral, nerdy, probably unsentimental, maybe a bit dry… but could be good. Or really boring. I have had good fortune reading and reviewing anthologies so far for EBR. (Let the streak continue!)
My sincerest apologies to the publishers of this mostly excellent anthology. This is possibly the most beat-up paperback I have ever carried around and carried around and…which I cannot explain because I enjoyed it very much. There was one story that stopped me cold, though so, in good conscience, I could not write this review until I had read every SINGLE word. That wasn’t easy.
Read the rest of this review »
Season of Storms
Some series have a definite end while others linger on, bringing joy to their long-time readers and fans. For me, and those who enjoy the seminal series, THE WITCHER, SEASON OF STORMS is both a return to Andrzej Sapkowski’s original 1980s short stories, and at the same time, it is a eulogy for the series, in a certain sense.
SEASON OF STORMS is set, for hardcore fans, after the events of THE LAST WISH, with Geralt broken up with Yennefer (in a long series of makeups and breakups in their legendary relationship…) but before the contract that made him truly famous throughout the world of THE WITCHER.
Read the rest of this review »
Giveaway: Kill the Farm Boy
Update 7/20/18: This giveaway is closed! Our winner is Corey from Springville. Congrats! Your book will be on its way soon!
The publishers of KILL THE FARM BOY (by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne) have sent us an extra hardback copy, so we’d like to send it to one of our lucky and loyal readers. To enter this giveaway:
1. Email us at elitistbookreviews@gmail.com
2. Include the following on the subject line: KILL THE FARM BOY GIVEAWAY
3. In the body of the email include your name and mailing address. This giveaway is only available to U.S. addresses.
Read the rest of this post »
Freeze Frame Revolution
Author Peter Watts’ newest offering, FREEZE FRAME REVOLUTION exists somewhere in the squishy space between a novella and a novel (according to the ‘Afterword’ it’s 1,000 words over the length of a standard novella, but who’s counting?). Watts is of the opinion that he has written a novella and I think that the story he tells is well-served at this length, which allows him to explore a single incident in-depth and with a focus that wouldn’t be well-served by irksome sub-plots or other novel-length narrative features.
Read the rest of this review »
Kill the Farm Boy
Take every fantasy trope, every dungeon crawl, every fairytale stereotype and put them in a bag, smash the bag with a hammer, then dump out the pieces and you get KILL THE FARM BOY. It’s a romp of a book, with clever turns of phrase, goofy characters, a quest they don’t realize they’re on, all while poking fun at every fantasy book you’ve ever read. Terry Pratchett would be proud.
Read the rest of this review »
eARC for Seanan McGuire’s Book Posted to Illegal Download Site
So, a friend of mine re-posted something that Neil Gaiman Tweeted earlier today, and it bothered me enough that I thought it was worth a post here. Neil Gaiman’s Tweet was a reference to a series of Tweets that Seanan McGuire made about an issue that arose with her most recent book: The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, the second book in the Sparrow Hill Road Ghost Stories series.
One of the services that we use to review books before they come out is called NetGalley. It gives publishers the ability to send out eARCs (electronic Advanced Reading Copies) to reviewers ahead of publication schedule, so that they can have time to read the book, post a review about it, and get some buzz going so that the first-week sales of the book are high. Historically, the first-weeks sales volume for a book is a really good guide for how much money the book is going to make in its lifetime. And thus it’s used as a metric by loads of people to gauge how much attention to give to particular […]Read the rest of this post »
Black Goat Blues
There was a part of me that was really kinda pumped to get this book in the mail for my TBR pile. Granted, it was the dark, twisted, macabre and grotesque side of me, but a side of me, nonetheless. Levi Black’s first book, RED RIGHT HAND (EBR Review) caught me at a very opportune moment, and as I dove into the next offering from this author that so brazenly takes his mythos from that containing Cthulhu, I found myself digging through my music downloads to find that song by Metallica that had hit just the right spot the first time around. It was a good way to start my week.
And finishing this book was a great way to end it.
Read the rest of this review »
Medusa Uploaded
Real politics, the actual grind and wear of backdoor committees, debates, and miles-long legislation is a snore. Unless you enjoy reading obscure case law or an inane housing clause that forbids people from living in a “den of iniquity,” you’re likely not going to enjoy any political fiction.
Luckily for you, and me, I enjoy reading such dry-as-wall-paint material.
Read the rest of this review »
Amberlough
AMBERLOUGH is the kind of novel that makes you want to throw adjectives at it. Sleek! Provocative! Captivating! This is due in large part to Lara Elena Donnelly’s prose, which gives the alternate world setting an immediate and richly textured sense of place. AMBERLOUGH (Amazon) is a remarkably self-assured debut, as Donnelly carves an unique space for herself in the fantasy world.
Read the rest of this review »
FB
Twitter