Giveaway: Champions of Aetaltis
Update 5/20/2016: Tim from Decatur is our winner. Congrats! Thanks to everyone who entered.
The newly released CHAMPIONS OF AETALTIS is an anthology of fantasy stories by some of today’s most notable authors. The publisher has graciously offered a hardcopy to one of our fantastic readers. To enter this giveaway:
1. Email us at elitistbookreviews@gmail.com
2. Include the following on the subject line: Champions Giveaway
3. In the body of the email include your name and mailing address. This giveaway is only available to U.S. addresses if you want a hardback. I might be able to convince the publisher to send an e-copy to an entrant outside the U.S. via email, just let us know if that’s the case.
Giveaway rules can be found here. Entries will be accepted until midnight of May 19th and the winner will be posted on the 20th. Good luck!
And don’t forget to check out Dan’s review .
The Shards of Heaven
Cleopatra and Antony rule Egypt via Alexandria. Octavian rules Rome. THE SHARDS OF HEAVEN follows the real people and events that lead to the Roman conquest of Alexandria and the end of the Ptolemic line. But according to Michael Livingston, there’s more to the story.
And it involves magic.
Enter Juba, the orphaned prince of Numidia and adopted son of Julius Ceasar. Desperate to find vengeance for the death of his father, he seeks magical objects so he can have enough power to bring down Rome. At the start of SHARDS he finds what he believes to be the trident of Poseidon and discovers it’s as powerful as he hoped. But Juba is a mere teenager to Octavian’s experienced ambition and soon discovers he’s in over his head.
Read the rest of this review »
In the Labyrinth of Drakes
If you’ve been reading this series you’ve probably wondered why “A Memoir of Lady Trent” graces the covers of the books when Isabella Camherst is the name of the main character. Well wonder no more, because here we finally learn how our heroine earns her title.
And she does it in typical Isabella fashion. That is to say, she wins her notoriety honestly. (hehe)
Read the rest of this review »
Champions of Aetaltis
Whilst in the midst of reading this anthology I was reminded of a concept that is occasionally important for me to revisit. That is the idea that my opinion is not everybody’s opinion, AND (a twofer for the masses…) there can frequently be a wide range of goodness separating multiple stories written by a single author. Thus, as a reviewer, it’s my job to give an honest review of what is given to me, and, quite honestly, to enjoy what is given to me as a reader, plain and simple. For it is when I forget that I am a reader that I lose the view of who these stories were meant for. Maybe a little deep for an everyday book review intro. I seem to be on a kick lately though. So, if you must, TLDR; this bit and jump straight into the good stuff.
Read the rest of this review »
Interview with Gallant Knight Games
Game design is fascinating to me. Board games, video games, and especially roleplaying games. As it happens, one of our resident reviewers here at EBR, Alan Bahr, is also a game designer. He was the designer for the Schlock Mercenary RPG, PLANET MERCENARY, which was absurdly successful on Kickstarter. And now, his most recent game, TINY FRONTIERS, is on Kickstarter.
I figured I’d ask Alan to give all of us some insight on his company, Gallant Knight Games, and on his game, TINY FRONTIERS. So. Here we go.
Read the rest of this post »
Central Station
Tel Aviv, Israel, is the hub for the space elevator called Central Station. It’s an unusual place, a conglomeration of travelers, refugees, discarded robots, and modified humans. Miriam runs a small shebeen near the space port with the boy Kranki, whom she took custody of when his mother died of a drug overdose. She has no idea where his father is. Kranki is an unusual boy, capable of manipulating the world around him and listening in on the Conversation, the stream of data all around them, between people, between machines/robots, and the artificial intelligences that exist in the data stream. He’s always been a little odd.
Read the rest of this review »
Fall of Light
I’ll be honest, Steven Erikson’s novels have become increasingly difficult to review. Not because they are bad–on the contrary, Erikson’s works are consistently excellent in my opinion–but because I feel like I end up making many of the same comments. Well, here we go again.
Another Erikson novel, another fantastic read.
Read the rest of this review »
Less Than Charming
What if there were a world where fictional characters lived? What would that world look like? Would the science of our world work there? Would magic?
Sophie is the 12th princess from the fairytale “12 Dancing Princesses,” and as a result of her story being told for hundreds of years, her sense of character is pretty strong. Do you remember her? The curious one who was suspicious of someone sneaking behind her and her sisters? Imagine how many times her story has been told and re-told in its various forms and how it affects her personality and sense of self. Where would a girl like that work?
A newspaper, of course, because a girl that curious is bound to want to be an investigative journalist.
LESS THAN CHARMING is Rebecca A. Demarest’s most recent novel, and takes place in a world there every character ever created lives. Yes, Edward Cullen, Gandalf, and Pinkie Pie all exist in the same world. And interact. Oh imagine the possibilities.
Read the rest of this review »
The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster
I like whimsy. I loved THE SLOW REGARD OF SILENT THINGS (EBR Review) by Rothfuss and I “heart” almost everything by K.J. Parker (even though he is not a she) and, of course, Mr. Terry Pratchett in small, infrequent doses, so my initial survey of THE LEMONCHOLY LIFE OF ANNIE ASTER seemed promising. Cover art beautiful. Author’s back-story intriguing… Dive in!
Oh no, the first few chapters read like whimsy for the sake of whimsy and I lost interest. The strong characters and promise of a good story brought me back eventually, though, and I’m glad for it. LEMONCHOLY is a very sweet, sometimes sad, fast-paced and ultimately uplifting tale. Yeah, it gets better. Much better.
Read the rest of this review »
The Devil You Know
This is yet another novella in the numerous offerings that have been dropped recently from the infamous K.J. Parker. I’m a sucker for these kinds of stories from him. (See that? I’m getting better at this whole K.J.-Parker-is-a-guy-thing.) His short fiction is some of my favorite. It’s his writing, I think, that just lends itself to the short form so well. Sharp. Witty. Sarcastic. Always something to entertain and make me laugh.
Read the rest of this review »
