Blog Publicity Tour – Cephrael’s Hand – Excerpt
Miscellaneous / December 31, 2012

Once again I’m taking part in a Blog Publicity Tour – this time for Cephrael’s Hand by Melissa McPhail. I have read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. A review will be coming later on in the week. Here’s a short extract. Please enjoy this excerpt from Cephrael’s Hand, a spellbinding epic fantasy by Melissa McPhail. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including a Kindle Fire, $450 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book.   Ean hugged the shadows as he tried to find his way back to le Comte’s estates. He feared they’d hurt his head worse than he thought, for the twisting alleys of the city disoriented him now. He was sure he’d passed the last street corner already once, and he had the uneasy feeling that he was walking in circles. Trying to break the cycle, he turned into a long and shadowed alley, spotting a streetlamp at the other end. Abruptly a form reared out of the shadows. Ean reached for his sword— “…Ean?” The prince halted with his hand around the hilt. “Fynn?” “Balls of Belloth!” Fynnlar crossed the distance…

Blog Publicity Tour – Cephrael’s Hand – Excerpt
Miscellaneous / December 31, 2012

Once again I’m taking part in a Blog Publicity Tour – this time for Cephrael’s Hand by Melissa McPhail. I have read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. A review will be coming later on in the week. Here’s a short extract. Please enjoy this excerpt from Cephrael’s Hand, a spellbinding epic fantasy by Melissa McPhail. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including a Kindle Fire, $450 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book.   Ean hugged the shadows as he tried to find his way back to le Comte’s estates. He feared they’d hurt his head worse than he thought, for the twisting alleys of the city disoriented him now. He was sure he’d passed the last street corner already once, and he had the uneasy feeling that he was walking in circles. Trying to break the cycle, he turned into a long and shadowed alley, spotting a streetlamp at the other end. Abruptly a form reared out of the shadows. Ean reached for his sword— “…Ean?” The prince halted with his hand around the hilt. “Fynn?” “Balls of Belloth!” Fynnlar crossed the distance…

Review – Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Book Reviews / December 30, 2012

It’s always fun when you pick up a great read unexpectedly. I first saw this book on the Tor website, where they were offering the first five chapters for free. The concept seemed very fresh (although reminiscent of the Three Fates from Greek/Roman mythology – can’t go wrong with an age-old story) and intriguing so I picked up the free five chapter sample. Before long I’d finished the first five chapters, and happily bought the full book. It really sucked me in. The premise of a girl who has the power to literally weave people’s life stories and that of her region proved as intriguing as my initial reaction and I really like where Albin seems to be taking this in the next book in the series. The characters were engaging enough, with about the depth you’d expect from a young adult novel. Adelice is no Arya Stark, but then again she’s no Bella Swan Cullen either. The novel is written purely from Adelice’s point of view, so she – and the reader – are never entirely sure which of the people she meets can be trusted. This increases the tension nicely. This is in a similar vein to The…

Kindle Paperwhite Review
e-Reader Reviews / December 23, 2012

So on my day off work this week I took a trip to Plattsburgh NY to purchase a Kindle Paperwhite. I’ve wanted one ever since Jeff Bezos presented the project launch back in early September, but they are not available to ship to Canada. I’ve been keeping an eye on Bestbuy.com for stock information and when they came in stock last week I decided to go ahead and purchase one. The bad When I first got it home, my initial reaction was, well, it’s nice, but not overwhelmingly so. I had been keen to see the new UI, but was exceptionally frustrated to know that as I had the cheaper special offers version there was only room for THREE books on the home screen in the new Cover View. THREE!!! Three!!! The rest of the space is taken up by Amazon advertising. That is ridiculous. Fortunately a quick Google search helped somewhat. Hint: From Home screen go to Settings -> Device Options -> Personalise Your Kindle and turn off Recommended Content. This will give you an extra three books on your home screen. Having said that, it is lovely to have book covers as a home screen rather than just…

Kindle Paperwhite Review
e-Reader Reviews / December 23, 2012

So on my day off work this week I took a trip to Plattsburgh NY to purchase a Kindle Paperwhite. I’ve wanted one ever since Jeff Bezos presented the project launch back in early September, but they are not available to ship to Canada. I’ve been keeping an eye on Bestbuy.com for stock information and when they came in stock last week I decided to go ahead and purchase one. The bad When I first got it home, my initial reaction was, well, it’s nice, but not overwhelmingly so. I had been keen to see the new UI, but was exceptionally frustrated to know that as I had the cheaper special offers version there was only room for THREE books on the home screen in the new Cover View. THREE!!! Three!!! The rest of the space is taken up by Amazon advertising. That is ridiculous. Fortunately a quick Google search helped somewhat. Hint: From Home screen go to Settings -> Device Options -> Personalise Your Kindle and turn off Recommended Content. This will give you an extra three books on your home screen. Having said that, it is lovely to have book covers as a home screen rather than just…

The Hobbit – I think I get it.
Miscellaneous / December 16, 2012

This afternoon I saw The Hobbit and it’s really been bugging the heck out of me why Peter Jackson is padding out The Hobbit so much with the additional material. The whole Hobbit narrative – Bilbo’s adventure There and Back Again, which is a sweet adventure tale in which the threats Bilbo faces are mainly physical (goblins, orcs, spiders all try to kill and/or eat him) and how his character develops – really jarred for me with the whole Necromancer, Morgul blade metaphysical menace. But now I think I get it. Peter Jackson isn’t making another trilogy. He’s doing the next three movies in a six-movie set, which just happen to be set before the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. It appears he is aiming for a cohesive narrative throughout the three Hobbit movies and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I will reserve judgement until the last movie to say if he is any more successful than George Lucas with his dreadful prequels to the Star Wars movies. Just please no more 10 minute chase scenes of Radagast the Brown in a sled pulled by freaking BUNNIES!!! Aarrgh. One thing that did really detract from the movie was…

The Hobbit – I think I get it.
Miscellaneous / December 16, 2012

This afternoon I saw The Hobbit and it’s really been bugging the heck out of me why Peter Jackson is padding out The Hobbit so much with the additional material. The whole Hobbit narrative – Bilbo’s adventure There and Back Again, which is a sweet adventure tale in which the threats Bilbo faces are mainly physical (goblins, orcs, spiders all try to kill and/or eat him) and how his character develops – really jarred for me with the whole Necromancer, Morgul blade metaphysical menace. But now I think I get it. Peter Jackson isn’t making another trilogy. He’s doing the next three movies in a six-movie set, which just happen to be set before the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. It appears he is aiming for a cohesive narrative throughout the three Hobbit movies and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I will reserve judgement until the last movie to say if he is any more successful than George Lucas with his dreadful prequels to the Star Wars movies. Just please no more 10 minute chase scenes of Radagast the Brown in a sled pulled by freaking BUNNIES!!! Aarrgh. One thing that did really detract from the movie was…

A Memory of Light – My Thoughts, Hopes and Predictions (minor spoilers)
Book Reviews / December 11, 2012

On the 8th of January, the fourteenth and final book in the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light, will be released. It has been completed by Brandon Sanderson who was tasked with the commission after Robert Jordan's untimely passing. This is the third such book written by Sanderson. I should preface this entry by noting that, while I am a big fan of the series, I am not a superfan who has analysed each and every word. I should also note that there may be some minor spoilers here based on the already published prologue and first chapters of the book, and also from Tor's "Memories of Light" snippets. I'm also assuming you have read all of the preceding books! As at the end of Towers of Midnight, the Last Battle is imminent. I believe the LB will be fought on three levels: the physical, in the dream world Tel'aran'rhiod and with the One Power. This matches up well with the unique skills of our six heroes. For the physical we have Mat Cauthon, with the skills and knowledge of the best generals of the Age, Elayne with her political power as Queen of Andor and Cairhien. For Tel'aran'rhiod…

A Memory of Light – My Thoughts, Hopes and Predictions (minor spoilers)
Book Reviews / December 11, 2012

On the 8th of January, the fourteenth and final book in the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light, will be released. It has been completed by Brandon Sanderson who was tasked with the commission after Robert Jordan’s untimely passing. This is the third such book written by Sanderson. I should preface this entry by noting that, while I am a big fan of the series, I am not a superfan who has analysed each and every word. I should also note that there may be some minor spoilers here based on the already published prologue and first chapters of the book, and also from Tor’s “Memories of Light” snippets. I’m also assuming you have read all of the preceding books! As at the end of Towers of Midnight, the Last Battle is imminent. I believe the LB will be fought on three levels: the physical, in the dream world Tel’aran’rhiod and with the One Power. This matches up well with the unique skills of our six heroes. For the physical we have Mat Cauthon, with the skills and knowledge of the best generals of the Age, Elayne with her political power as Queen of Andor and Cairhien. For Tel’aran’rhiod…

A Tale of Three Comparisons
Miscellaneous / December 2, 2012

First of all, apologies for the delay in posting. It's been a busy few weeks on both a personal and work level, so I have not been able to post much. Anyway, here I am! Some of the books I've read recently have led to some natural comparisons. Two of these are Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan and Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines. These both have in common a theme of magic and mystery being hidden within books, a love of reading, and also a setting which couldn't be anywhere other than in the present day, within the last few years. There were references to the dot.com crash and Google and the Twilight series. Personally, that second point is something which irritated me. I feel it limits the books' durability. While Libriomancer was more of a traditional good vs evil fantasy, Penumbra is more of a mystery in which the protagonist attempts to resolve an ages old mystery hidden within books. I found it a fresh and entertaining concept. I had a few issues with the magic system in Libriomancer. Brandon Sanderson, considered one of the better contemporary developers of magic systems, wrote a couple of essays…