Hello, now that summer is drawing to a close, we’re coming into prime book release time. As usual, I have a metric tonne of books about whose release I am super excited. Some of these are continuations of series in which I am already invested, some are new series from authors I love and some are reissues of old favourites. So, let’s get into it, shall we? To kick off, I was really excited by the recent news that Raymond E.Feist has managed to resolve the ebook rights issue for North America. While most of his newer works have been released in ebook, his earlier novels have so far been unavailable in my preferred format. This will all change on August 22nd when his Riftwar saga as well as his Empire trilogy with Janny Wurts will be released as ebooks. I understand audiobook format will follow later this year. Although I have read all of these, I am very happy to add them to my collection. I consider Feist a true master storyteller and if you are not familiar with his work, this is a great opportunity to get started. Be aware, though,that the series does have a somewhat slow…
Gosh, it’s been quite a while since I last posted. My apologies. I seem to have been going through not quite a reading slump but a lack of focus in my reading – I’ve been all over the place. I’ve started so many books and not actually finished them before moving onto another book. Sigh. Some of the books that I have managed to finish have been by Brandon Sanderson who published not one, not two but THREE books in the last couple of months. These are: Bands of Mourning, Mistborn: A Secret History and Calamity. Bands of Mourning and Mistborn: A Secret History are both set in Sanderson’s Mistborn world, the first being the third in the four book Wax and Wayne series and Secret History a short novella set just after the events of the original trilogy. While I very much enjoyed Bands of Mourning – the pacing, characters and plot were all wonderful, and an incredible ending – I was less happy with Secret History. For those of you unaware, all of Sanderson’s adult novels are set in the same world, which he calls the cosmere. In other words, Mistborn, Warbreaker and the Stormlight Archives are all…
Firefight by Brandon Sanderson is the second in his YA contemporary fantasy trilogy Reckoners about ordinary humans turned megalomanic villains when they received superpowers. It continues the story – begun in Steelheart – of David and the Reckoners who aim to bring down the despotic Epics. If you enjoyed Steelheart, you’ll likely have fun with Firefight – it’s more of the same. It continues on the theme of power corrupting and strength of spirit perhaps overcoming this. What I liked Expanded world and character set. In this instalment David and the Reckoners leave Newcago, the location of the first book, to go take on a new Epic, Regalia, in Babylar, in other words, New York. It’s always fun when an author takes you new places, and Sanderson’s world building is excellent. His take on New York is unique and adds to the whole scope of the novel. As well as new locations we also meet new characters. They are a lot of fun and and are reasonably fleshed out. New layers in the whole origin of the Epics plot. In this book, David learns more about the cause of the Epics’ superpowers and their weaknesses. I imagine we’ll learn even…
[book-info title=”Words of Radiance” author=”brandon-sanderson-2″] So, after 48 hours of audio, here is my full review of Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. This is volume two in the planned 10 book series of The Stormlight Archive and is the sequel to Way of Kings. There be spoilers ahead so please join me after the cut if you’ve read the book.
[book-info title=”Words of Radiance” author=”brandon-sanderson-2″] First of all my apologies about the incomplete Alienated review that went – briefly – live this morning. I have been so engrossed in Words of Radiance I didn’t get around to writing the Alienated review in time. It will be written after Words of Radiance. So, Words of Radiance. I am approximately 40% of the way through the 48-hour long audiobook version of Words of Radiance. Here are my initial thoughts on this first half. A full review will come later. There are some spoilers ahead so I’ll add a cut to be sure.
This has been another quiet week in my reading roundup. I really wish I didn’t need to work so that I could concentrate on my TBR list! [book-info] Steelheart is the first in a new series by Brandon Sanderson – sparks, that writer is prolific! It tells the story of David, a young man seeking revenge for the death of his father at the hands of Steelheart, an Epic, one of many super powered humans in this new world. Steelheart has taken over Newcago (a dystopian version of Chicago) and appears all but invincible. But David has a secret; he has seen Steelheart bleed. He teams up with the Reckoners, a group of people attempting to work against the Epics to bring Steelheart down. I have commented on the free five chapter sampler and the full book does not disappoint. I have said it before, and will doubtlessly say it again, Sanderson’s strengths as a writer are in worldbuilding, magic systems and pacing. All of these are top notch in Steelheart. Sanderson takes us through David’s tale at a brisk clip, and the twists and revelations are as well thought out and logical as you would expect from the writer…
This week I finished The Gem Trilogy by Kerstin Gier, which I absolutely adored. I will say though that it is one long book divided into three parts rather than three separate books with an overarching storyline – the first two novels don’t really have a strong ending. For this reason you may wish to wait before starting the trilogy as the final book, Emerald Green, is not due out in English until October – unless you read German, that is. There were several twists in the final volume, some of which were clearly signposted along the way, others more surprising – I found that Gier had a nice balance there. I continued to enjoy the character of Gwen and her adventures. The fact that the subtitle of “love throughout the ages” can be applied to more than one couple was very appealing to me. I would certainly recommend this trilogy, although I recommend waiting a few months until the English translation is available! Check out the Gem Trilogy on Kindle, Kobo, iBook and Audible formats. The next book I read/listened to was Brandon Sanderson’s new YA novel The Rithmatist. As an aside, I would not recommend listening to this…
This week could more easily have been described as “listening roundup” as I’ve been listening more than reading – or rather I have been listening and reading along on my brand spanking new Kindle Fire. Here is what I have been reading and listening to this past week. I recently finished Siege and Storm in both Kindle and Audible by Leigh Bardugo, the followup to Shadow and Bone. To be honest I was rather disappointed in this book. I loved the Russian-style setting of the first book, and my enjoyment of this continued into the second book. However, I found the pacing of this second book rather slow. After a promising start, the story slows down to a crawl. It also annoys me when young protagonists suddenly find themselves in a leadership position with no training or experience, just because they have some unrelated power. On a positive side some new and very interesting characters were introduced, especially Sturmhond. Also the ending picked up again dramatically and I will certainly read the final book in the Grisha trilogy to see how it all ends. I listened to Graceling by Kristin Cashore from Audible which was marked as a full…
So, I have just finished reading A Memory of Light, the final book in the Wheel of Time. I thought the best way to review it would be to show and discuss the various texts I sent to my friend Natasha while reading. The texts were written as I was reading, the comments after I’d finished the book. I started reading from Chapter 3 as I had already read the prereleased prologue and first two chapters. There are of course spoilers for the entire book here. Proceed at your own risk: Random thoughts Surprised how much impact Moraine had on the negotiations at the Fields of Merrilor. Thought her Crowning Moment of Awesome would be at the end at Shayol Ghul Certainly, she did have a big influence on the discussions, and it’s true the Dragon’s Peace would have failed without her. However, I’m not certain these actions were worth Mat’s eye to save the world. Elayne as Commander-in-Chief of Team Light? I think not. Yes, I know she’s been trained in politics since she was a babe in arms, and I know there’s a precedent with Egwene as the youngest Amyrlin Seat ever, but really? Hold on, Lan. Team…