King of Ashes is the first in a new series by fantasy author Raymond E. Feist and is the first not to be set in his Midkemia setting. My thanks to HarperCollins Canada and Raymond E. Feist for the early eArc. King of Ashes is released on May 8th and as such I will keep this review as spoiler-free as possible. On a personal note, I credit Mr. Feist with reawakening my love of reading; after studying literature at university I couldn’t stand to read anything more involved than a Cosmo magazine. Then a friend put a copy of Shadow of a Dark Queen into my hands and I’ve not stopped reading since. He is a master storyteller. It’s always “have to read one more page, one more chapter.” then before you know it, it’s 6am and you have to get ready to go to work… For those of you unfamiliar with Feist’s earlier work, there are 30 novels in his Riftwar series starting with 1982’s Magician and ending with 2013’s Magician’s End. My personal recommendation is to start with Magician as a good introduction to the world – be aware it does drag in parts – or the four books…
Thank you so much to HarperCollins Canada and Raymond E. Feist for the eArc of King of Ashes. I’m SOOOOO excited to read this. I credit Mr. Feist with reawakening my love of reading; after studying literature at university I couldn’t stand to read anything more involved than a Cosmo magazine. Then a friend put a copy of Shadow of a Dark Queen into my hands and I’ve not stopped reading since. He is a master storyteller. It’s always “have to read one more page, one more chapter.” then before you know it, it’s 6am and you have to get ready to go to work… The Riftwar Saga was also the first books I migrated to ebook format when I got my very first Kindle, so you can understand the place Mr. Feist holds in my heart. You can certainly expect a review of King of Ashes once I have finished it.
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…
Hello, yes I know it’s been a while since I blogged – work and life keep getting in the way! This last couple of weeks has involved routine doctor’s visits for both me and my cat, Isis. Now, most cats don’t enjoy going to the vet, but Isis takes it to the extreme psycho-cat-going-to-shred-your-hands-and-tear-your-face-off mode complete with screaming, hissing, yowling and hyperventilating (that last, all three of us, the cat the vet and me). My normally quiet, reserved kitty became so upset the vet had to fit her with a Hannibal Lecter Silence of the Lambs mask, which she STILL managed to remove to sink her teeth into the vet. Poor kitty. She’s now on meds which fortunately are a little easier to give! Anyway, onto reading-related matters. This week I’ve been rather obsessed with the upcoming release of Robin Hobb’s Fool’s Quest, the second in her Fitz and the Fool trilogy. I enjoyed book one, and more importantly, I’m heavily emotionally invested in the characters of Fitz and the Fool and their unconventional relationship. Some of the early non-spoiler reviews I’ve read have said that it’s a fantastic return to form by Hobbs, and to my mind she was…
Silverthorn by Raymond E. Feist is the third book in the Riftwar Saga and together with A Darkness at Sethanon forms a kind of duology within the series. This first part tells the story of Prince Arutha’s search for the magical silverthorn plant to cure his beloved Anita from magical poisoning and of the growing threat of Murmandamus, I consider Feist to be one of the master storytellers of his generation. Let me tell you a story to prove it. I studied language and literature at university and after four years of deep literary analysis sucking all the enjoyment out of reading I refused to read anything more complex than a Cosmopolitan for many, many years after graduation. Not until, that is, a colleague loaned me Feist’s Shadow of a Dark Queen, the first in his Serpentwar saga. I completely DEVOURED it and the rest of the series. I was immediately drawn into Feist’s world of Midkemia and it reignited my love of reading that I’d all but forgotten. When I bought my first Kindle and made the switch to ebooks, a book by Feist was also the first book I bought to ease my transition to the new format….
First of all, I have a confession to make; I’ve not read very much this week. If I’m being perfectly honest, I’ve become engrossed in the Lego The Hobbit game on my Playstation. I wouldn’t consider myself a gamer at all, but these Lego games are so much fun – all the fun little details. Anyway, I digress. The two books I have been reading/listening to this week are Silverthorn by Raymond E. Feist and Lockstep by Karl Schroeder. i am actually reading Silverthorn in French. It would appear that ebook rights for the English version of Feist’s earlier works have not been granted. Since I much prefer to read electronically, that leaves me with the French version. Sigh. I look forward to the day when you can buy an ebook from a different market with as much ease as you can a hard copy. I am listening to Lockstep in audio and so far am very much enjoying it. Reviews will come soon. Added to my library this week There have been some interesting deals on the Audible daily deals this week. I picked up Jennifer Worth’s Call the Midwife narrated by Nicola Barber. I love the BBC…