The Blood Mirror
As with previous posts about Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer series, I’m going to tell you again that you can’t start in the middle of the series without being lost, nor would you want to, it’s a great series, go to book one and start there…yadda yadda yadda. Or else here be spoilers.
Ok, now that’s out of the way. Let’s get to the good stuff.
I don’t know how Weeks consistently ratchets up the tension, weirdness, and worldbuilding with each novel, but here we are at book number four, THE BLOOD MIRROR, and you shouldn’t be surprised by this point that it’s yet another big book of epic fantasy goodness.
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The Doll Collection
Dolls can be creepy. We’ve been telling horror stories about dolls for ages. Usually, it’s only through the darkened glass of adulthood though that these constructions of plastic, wood, cloth, and porcelain become anything more than the facimilies of infantile life they represent. That’s why evil dolls and the innocent youngsters that tote them around so often find themselves brought together. Occasionally though, a story, or a doll, comes along that lacks these boundaries. Just ask my toddler-aged niece about the sunken-eyed “Scary Doll” that haunts the hallways of my own house. These are the kinds of stories that I expected going into this collection, based solely on the very creepy front cover of the book. And there were definitely some of those that I found within.
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Cloudbound
In UPDRAFT, Kirit changed the status quo in her city above the clouds, now in the second book, CLOUDBOUND, it’s up to Nat to help deal with the resultant fallout. For all that’s changed since Kirit became a Singer, there’s still so much more change to come.
If you read UPDRAFT, you have reason to be excited about this next installment where we get so many questions answered. But don’t think you’ll understand what’s going on in CLOUDBOUND if you haven’t–in fact you’ll be completely lost from page one. So go read the first book and then come back for the next installment. You won’t be disappointed.
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Interview with Fran Wilde
Fran Wilde, author of UPDRAFT and CLOUDBOUND, sat down with EBR to answer a few questions. If you enjoy smart Young Adult novels with unique settings and complicated characters, these books are for you.
Elitist Book Reviews: First, thanks for agreeing to answering a few questions for our readers at Elitist Book Reviews. We’d like to give you a chance to introduce yourself to the readers and maybe even brag a bit. Why should everyone be reading your work?
Fran Wilde: Thanks to Elitist Book Reviews for having me visit! My work so far includes the high-flying fantasies UPDRAFT and CLOUDBOUND for Tor Books, the novella “The Jewel and Her Lapidary” from Tor.com Publishing, and science fiction and fantasy short stories in Asimiov’s, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, and Tor.com. I also write essays for publications including Tor.com, The Washington Post, and GeekMom.com.
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Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard
I’ve had this book for a long time. Like, a long time. Completely my fault. Well, more appropriately my bias’s fault, because the quick-uptake I did of the book when I first got it revealed that it was science fiction. So, it got shelved until just recently, in favor of other books that I thought I’d likely enjoy more. Now, after finally picking it up off the shelf and reading the thing, I’m feeling REALLY bad that it took so long because this is a great book.
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Giveaway: The Motion of Puppets
Updated: THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. Congrats to our winners, Rod from Omaha, Ray from Vancouver, and Jennifer from Dalton. Your books will be on the way soon!
The publisher is offering three THE MOTION OF PUPPETS by Kieth Donohue hardcovers to our awesome readers to give away! This means multiple winners, people! How can you lose? To enter this giveaway:
1. Email us at elitistbookreviews@gmail.com
2. Include the following on the subject line: PUPPETS GIVEAWAY
3. In the body of the email include your name and mailing address. This giveaway is only available to U.S. addresses.
Giveaway rules can be found here. Entries will be accepted until midnight of October 27th and the winners will be posted on the 28th. Good luck!
And don’t forget to check out Vanessa’s review for THE MOTION OF PUPPETS .
Song of the Deep
Young Merryn and her father live by the sea, where her father fishes for his living. Merryn’s mother is dead, so it’s just the two of them living in the shack by the sea–at a time when being a fisherman grows more and more difficult, there are fewer fish being caught every time he goes out to sea.
Until one day when her father doesn’t return.
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What Dreams Shadows Cast
Hey, how’s it going, Barbara? Sorry it’s been a while since you sent us this novel, and I’m only now getting to a response for you. Life, as they say, has a away; what with SPFBO-round-twos, vacations to Hawai’i, and other such takers of precious time. Anyhow, thought I’d drop you a line because I was really quite excited to read the next story in your Dying World series. Hope this format is okay as well. I know you might get the feeling that a few others are reading over your shoulder, and you’re totally right. They are. 🙂 But you should be used to that by now, what with having so many of your stories out in the wild. So, here you go.
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Alliance
Ean Lambert changed the way people understood the lines that ran spaceships in LINESMAN. Now he and his friends must live with the resultant fallout: the alliances between planets have been shaken up; the Confluence has revealed its true contents; and instead of only ten lines that run spaceships, there are actually twelve.
Who knew some nobody from the slums of Lancia would end up being the instigator of amazing changes in space travel?
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The Motion of Puppets
Theo and Kay are newlyweds livings in Quebec while she spends the summer working as a performer at the cirque and he’s on sabbatical to finish a translation for a book. They’re a sweet couple, each with their own pursuits and personalities, but their relationship works.
And by the end of chapter 2 Kay has been turned into a puppet.
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