All You Need is Kill
I am continually fascinated by novels and short stories being made into movies and TV shows. Half the fun of it is the whole process of comparing the two versions and having that debate about which is “better”. I realize how fruitless such comparisons can be, and I also realize that most people opt for the auto-response of “the book is better”. Thing is, that isn’t always the case. Just look at the Dexter novels vs. the TV show as an easy example.
Read the rest of this review »
Thunderscape: The World of Aden
At GenCon 2014, I was lucky enough to be introduced to the Kyoudai Games crew, and they graciously provided me with a review copy of THUNDERSCAPE: THE WORLD OF ADEN (DriveThurRPG) to review for EBR.
Thunderscape is the product of a labor of love from Shawn Carmen (of Legend of the Five Rings fame), and his team. Based on older video games, the best genre to describe the setting as (using buzzwords) is post-apocalyptic, techno-fantasy, horror.
Sounds like a win right?
Read the rest of this review »
Dead Things
A few pages into Stephen Blackmoore’s DEAD THINGS (Amazon) I realized I would want to start reading the sequel immediately after finishing so I took a risk and ordered BROKEN SOULS (Amazon). Having finished DEAD THINGS I now recognize this was a wise decision. Yay me! Based off the cover alone my eyes would have likely skipped past this novel on a store shelf — there’s nothing wrong with it but there are a hundred trillion other urban fantasy novels with Christian McGrath covers and who has the time to sift through them all? Thankfully, DEAD THINGS comes with a recommendation by M.L. Brennan, whose American Vampire series turns me into a squealing fangirl. I enjoy Brennan’s work because she diverges from the typical hard-boiled style urban fantasy. I enjoyed Blackmoore’s novel because he embraces it with aplomb.
Read the rest of this review »
Hemlock Grove
I’d been curious about HEMLOCK GROVE for a while. Netflix had made a series out of it. The series got mixed reviews, but was renewed for a second season. A lot of people have asked me if I’d read the book it was based on and if I’d also watched the first season. So when I was offered a review copy o the novel, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to satisfy that curiosity.
Read the rest of this review »
The City
Steve knows that my favorite author is David Gemmell, whom I consider the epitome of true heroic fantasy. So when a copy of THE CITY by Stella Gemmell (Amazon) crossed his desk, he knowingly tossed it my way.
First off, I confess that my perception going into this book was colored by my adoration of David Gemmell and I was excited to get back to that style of story. This is not that style of story. This is a dark fantasy story, more akin to a combination of Joe Abercrombie and Guy Gavriel Kay.
Read the rest of this review »
Welcome to EBR! Again!
Heya everyone! Welcome to the new Elitist Book Reviews. Please pardon the sawdust, we are still getting everything cleaned up. Turns out all of those tags vanished in the import. Awesome right!? We’ll get them all straightened out.
But yeah! Welcome to our new digs! If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, just shoot us an email.
Thank you all for your continued support. We appreciate it tremendously. Enjoy the reviews. Tell your friends and family.
Most importantly, read. Read everything you can.
Elitist Book Review Presents: Blackguards
Well. Something new just popped up on Kickstarter. Have I said how much I love Kickstarter? It’s one of the best things to happen to the short-fiction market since… ever.
You know what else I love? I love assassin stories. Stories about thieves and rogues. You all know this. So over on Kickstarter is a new anthology from the awesome folks at Ragnarok Publications. This anthology goes by the title, BLACKGUARDS. All original fiction about assassins, mercs, and rogues. The list of authors is pretty awesome: Mark Lawrence, Carol Berg, Peter Orullian, John Gwynne, Django Wexler, etc, etc… Super awesome.
Read the rest of this post »
The Broken Eye
War. Revenge. Intrigue. Secrets. Magic. Everything you love about Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer Series continues in THE BROKEN EYE (Amazon).
This is what you’ve been waiting for.
Like I said with THE BLINDING KNIFE (EBR Review), trying to read BROKEN without having read the previous books will leave you lost and floundering, the sequence of events lacking real impact. If you love epic fantasy with complex characters, creative world-building, and fast-paced action, then yes you should read this series, starting with THE BLACK PRISM (EBR Review) (read the first three chapters for FREE here!). What follows will contain spoilers if you read them out of order. You have been warned.
Read the rest of this review »
Elitist University
Here is a central location for all of the courses in the Fantasy genre.
FANTASY 101: An introductory course on a few choices for books to enter the genre. We disagree on the best approach, but that works out better for you since you get two different, but equally viable options.
FANTASY 102: A very brief selection of other subgenres in the Fantasy section of speculative fiction. We recommend a number of YA, Steampunk, or Urban Fantasy here.
FANTASY 201: 6 books that we think you should absolutely read to further your fantasy book education. And what we think is law.
FANTASY 202: Primarily a step into the Horror genre, and a small explanation of what exactly the horror part of the fantasy genre is.
FANTASY 301: This is where the learning curve jumps, but where the reward is the greatest. These are our favorite books in the genre. Period.
***
Here are our listings for our courses in the subject of Science Fiction:
SCIENCE FICTION 101: Hey, everyone has to start somewhere right? […]Read the rest of this page »
Night Broken
The latest in Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson series has her heroine face her most terrifying adversary yet. This opponent is tougher than the river devil that almost killed her; more cunning than the local vampire queen; and a better baker than Mercy herself: Adam’s ex-wife Christy.
Read the rest of this review »
