April releases

Looking back now, I realized that I only read Spellwright from the march releases. Not really a bad thing, only an observation. There was talk lately on the blogosphere about the reviewing of older books vs the new releases. As for myself, I think I'm going with a mix of both, but slightly more recent novels. I tend to listen more to older books than physically reading them but since it's kind of hard to find much older audiobooks... Anyway, back to the topic, next month spotlight:

***

The Desert Spear
Peter V. Brett
April 1st

Brett's first novel, The Warded Man, was a very good debut although I was not impress as much as most of the reviewers. Still, I look forward to picking up this one since it will probably contain less "good old tales of farmer's wives (in a fantasy setting)" (as I put in my review). So far, I only read the review by Aidan (A Dribble of Ink). He liked the book but his hopes were crushed a little. Here's the blurb :

The Deliverer has returned, but who is he? Arlen Bales, formerly of the small hamlet of Tibbet's Brook, learnt harsh lessons about life as he grew up in a world where hungry demons stalk the night and humanity is trapped by its own fear. He chose a different path; chose to fight inherited apathy and the corelings, and eventually he became the Painted Man, a reluctant saviour. But the figure emerging from the desert, calling himself the Deliverer, is not Arlen. He is a friend and betrayer, and though he carries the spear from the Deliverer's tomb, he also heads a vast army intent on a holy war against the demon plague...and anyone else who stands in his way.

***

Tome of the Undergates
Sam Sykes
April 15

If you're on Twitter and you don't follow Sam Sykes, you're missing something (and his blog too). The guys is funny and incisive. I hope his book reflects that. So far, I read mostly great things about this novel. Here you go :

Lenk can barely keep control of his mismatched adventurer band at the best of times (Gariath the dragon man sees humans as little more than prey, Kataria the Shict despises most humans, and the humans in the band are little better). When they're not insulting each other's religions they're arguing about pay and conditions. So when the ship they are travelling on is attacked by pirates things don't go very well. They go a whole lot worse when an invincible demon joins the fray. The demon steals the Tome of the Undergates - a manuscript that contains all you need to open the undergates. And whichever god you believe in you don't want the undergates open. On the other side are countless more invincible demons, the manifestation of all the evil of the gods, and they want out. Full of razor-sharp wit, characters who leap off the page (and into trouble) and plunging the reader into a vivid world of adventure this is a fantasy that kicks off a series that could dominate the second decade of the century.

***

The Emerald Storm
Michael J. Sullivan
April 10

This is the fourth book of the Riyria Revelations. I read only the first one but this is a series I'm really looking for to complete. Since Michael comes up with a novel every 6 months, the wait will not be long. Not so many reviews so far but book 2 and 3 were very well received. What's this one about :


A MESSAGE IS INTERCEPTED. A SINISTER PLAN LAUNCHED. TWO THIEVES STAND IN THE WAY. Ex-mercenary Hadrian Blackwater sets course on a high seas adventure to find the lost Heir of Novron. His only hope lies in confronting the ruthless and cunning Merrick Marius. Fearing his friend is not up to the challenge, Royce Melborn joins his old partner for one last mission. Their journey finds them adrift amid treachery and betrayals forcing Hadrian to face a past he hoped never to see again.

***

Shadow Prowler
Alexey Pehov
April 1st

I know that it was released in February in the UK but it will be out in April in Canada. I kept an eye on this book but the reviews kind of put it away from my reading list... well at least on hold. Here's the synopsis :

After centuries of calm, the Nameless One is stirring. An army is gathering: giants, ogres and other creatures joining forces from across the Desolate Lands, united for the first time in history under one black banner. By the spring, or perhaps sooner, the Nameless One and his forces will be at the walls of the great city of Avendoom. Unless Shadow Harold, master thief, can find some way to stop them. Epic fantasy at its best, Shadow Prowler is the first in a trilogy that follows professional thief Shadow Harold on his quest for a magic Horn that will restore peace to the kingdom of Siala. Accompanied by an elfin princess, ten Wild Hearts - the most experienced and dangerous royal fighters - and the King's court jester (who may be more than he seems ...or less), Harold must outwit angry demons, escape the clutches of a band of hired murderers, survive ten bloody skirmishes ...and reach the burial grounds before dark. Can he escape a fate worse than death?

***

The King of the Crags
Stephen Deas
April 15 (UK)

Dragons! I liked what Stephen did with them in The Adamantine Palace. I hope he went ever farther with the follow-up :

Prince Jehal has murdered, poisoned and betrayed his way to the top. There is a new speaker for the realms, his opposition has been crushed, now he just has to enjoy the fruits of power. And yet ...He feels more for the wife he married for power than perhaps he should and his lover knows it. And out in the realms those loyal to the old regime are still plotting. and there are rumours that the Red Riders, heralds of revolution and doom are on the ride. And still no-one has found the famous white dragon. The dragon that, if it lived, will have long since recovered from the effects of the alchemical liquid fed to the dragons of the realms to keep them docile, to block their memories of a time when they ruled and the world burned.

Nights of Villjamur fourth cover

Mark Charan Newton posted on his blog (here) the fourth cover for his first book, Nights of Villjamur (my best debut of last year). This one is for the US release by Bantam Spectra and was created by David Stevenson. I also added the first three covers of the novel.

I think it's not bad but I prefer the original UK hardcover cover art (the one in the middle). And you?

Abercrombie's The Heroes cover art and blurb

It's going to be everywhere on the blogosphere but you can't pass this one. Joe Abercrombie's star is shining more than ever. To help with the hype, Orion books posted the cover art and blurb today (here). Steve Stone is the artist behind the cover. All we know so far is that it will be released next year and will be set in the northern part of the world of The First Law with new characters and good old favorites.

Here you go :

War: where the blood and dirt of the battlefield hide the dark deeds committed in the name of glory. THE HEROES is about violence and ambition, gruesome deaths and betrayals; and the brutal truth that no plan survives contact with enemy. The characters are the stars, as ever, and the message is dark: when it comes to war, there are no heroes…

Meet THE HEROES.

Curnden Craw: a ruthless fighter who wants nothing more than to see his crew survive.

Prince Calder: a liar and a coward, he will regain his crown by any means necessary.

Bremer dan Gorst: a master swordsman, a failed bodyguard, his honor will be restored—in the blood of his enemies.

Over three days, their fates will be sealed.

Gaming disgression - The Witcher 2 preview

Here's a teaser for the upcoming follow-up to the The Witcher, one of the best PC RPG in the last years (in my opinion at least!), based on the novels by Andrej Sapkovski. The sequel is named The Witcher 2 : Assassins of Kings and there's still no release date.

I have to admit that the graphics look really great and if they can come off again with an interesting story surrounded by choices that affect the plot and contemporary themes in a fantasy RPG universe, I'm on board. The fighting system seems to be almost the same as in the first iteration but CD Projekt Red probably gave it an overhaul.

Geralt facial features are really not the same... kind of weird at first. Here you go :

Video Games | The Witcher 2 | Exclusive Debut Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Richard Morgan's The Dark Commands news

Thanks to Adam at The Wertzone, we have news from Richard Morgan about his next book. Adam posted (here) the link to a thread on the Westeros forum where Richard gave us an update about his next novel, The Dark Commands, book two of A Land Fit for Heroes series.

The manuscript is not finished so the book will not be released in the near future. As I posted a while ago (here), he's currently working as a consultant on some video games. The most interesting tidbit about Richard post is that the book will be bigger than The Steel Remains.

The US cover for the book was posted by James at Speculative Horizons and Adam added the link to the art for the UK cover (by Jon Sullivan). Here they are (first one is US and the second one UK) :

Kudos to Adam and the guys at Westeros!

Polls - Books backlog and books per year

The number of books on my backlog was 38 when I started the last poll. (the original post is here) It's now up to about 45 and it will probably keep getting larger. At first I thought it was kind of big since it's not novels that I received from publishers but all novels that I bought. And for me, that felt like a considerable number. Afterward, having read the comments and the thread on Westeros about the same question (the numbers there were staggering), it feels like a small number in comparison. Anyway, the poll is over and finally it seems that I'm among the majority of readers with 25 to 50 books. Also, not really surprising, not much people had less than 10 books on their backlog.

What's next if I continue in the same line of thought? Well... if this backlog number has to be reduced, we have a lot of books to read. So, how many books will you read this year? It could be rephrased as "How many books do you read in a year?". This humble blogger used to read more in his younger years but I would say that I read around 20 to 25 novels per year. It was easier back when I still read novels in french but I will probably never return to translated books from english to french.

To this number I could add 10 to 15 audiobooks. Even if I prefer to read a book than listening to one, I think I can still consider the audiobooks as novels I have read in a year. So as a final answer I would say 30 to 40. This time, I'm really not sure what will be the most popular answer but I don't think I'm among those who read the most.

So, fellow readers, how many books do you read in a year?

Less than 10
10-25
25-40
40-60
More than 60

The Stormcaller review

The Stormcaller (2006) is the first novel of the Twilight Reign series, a five book series. The second (The Twilight Herald, 2007) and third book (The Grave Thief, 2008) are already released and the fourth book, The Ragged Man should be out this year. The starting novel is the first book by the author and since I enjoyed myself with this read, I'm pretty sure to pick up the rest of the series.

The white-eyes. As it's said in the blurb: "[...] born bigger, more charismatic and more powerful than normal men... but with that power comes an unpredictable temper and an inner rage." Isak is a young white-eye chosen by the god of the Farlan to become Krann, the successor to Lord Bahl, the current lord of the children of Nartis. He will be given godly gifts and mentored to become the leader of his people. In war and diplomatic missions he will develop his abilities and make friends to help him in his new role. He will need them as he becomes the target of every force in the world.

The narrative for The Stormcaller is set with a multiple third-person perspective. The way the author chose to do it can feel awkward. Every now and then, after a dialog, the PoV will switch making it slightly difficult to know whom we are following. However, on the plus side, it's usually the best choice of PoV and since we spend a lot of time in the head of the various protagonists, this didn't feel like a problem for me in the end.

The subject matter of this tale is the choices one has to make when he knows that the world is depending on him. With prophecies guiding everyone around him, the struggle with those choices creates a difficult burden. Isak is interesting to follow in this mostly because of his white-eye temper. It creates a memorable character striving for leadership and trying hard to be a better man. I grew fond of him even though he's not the easy guy to like.

Many secondary characters are added to the cast throughout the book. For most of them, their past remains mysterious and their motivation nebulous. Taking this into account, Stormcaller really feels like the start of a large scale series. I read a few times on the web some comparison with Steven Erikson.... I'm not really sure why. The scope is not the same (neither is the world especially the mythology), the writing very different and the cast in centralized almost exclusively around Isak...

The world building is deftly implemented. A true cohesion is created between the various aspects included in this universe, thus making sure that the setting stays credible. Religion and the history of this world explain very well the origins of the empires and the relations between the races and factions. The only negative point that I noticed is the propensity of Lloyd to want to insert the most fantastic elements as possible in the world. Centaurs, elves, dragons, prophets, mythical magic swords, elementals, spirits, wyverns, you name it.

On the other hand magic is not as skilfully used. The magic system is directly connected to the gods, just like the powers or rather skills and physical capacities of the white-eyes. Isak does not really control his powers and the explanations or lessons conferred to him by the most potent users of magic are not evolved and not required by the hero. Consequently, when the magic of Isak becomes necessary, he quite simply makes use of it to get out of a difficult situation. Disappointing.

I think that if you want a good well-written epic fantasy title with great world-building centered on the most important individual in the world, this is a nice choice. Isak has a great future ahead of him if he continues to evolve as he did in this first instance.

Technically, I think the Gollancz cover by Larry Rostant looks more polished but the Pyr cover by Todd Lockwood is still nice and more representative. The paperback edition of the novel is 485 pages and there's a simple but still welcomed map included, as well as a cast list.

The Stormcaller review score :

Characterization............. 8 /10
World building............... 8.5 / 10
Magic system................. 6 / 10
Story.............................. 7 / 10
Writing........................... 7.5 / 10

Overall (not an average) 7.5 / 10

Enjoy!

Tom Lloyd page

In the mail - reading update

Here's what was lurking in my mailbox at the end of the week. Aside from Avempartha, these are all fantasy debut I'm eager to read. Farlander will probably follow Spellwright in my next reads.

I'm currently writing my review for The Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd and I should finish listening to A Darkness Forged in Fire (not quite satisfied with this one) and reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (really surprising) within the week, so look for the reviews soon. My next audiobook will probably be The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe.

Aside from this, I want to make my "Gaming digression" posts more frequent. I'm currently playing Darksiders and I have Final Fantasy XIII, Heavy Rain and God of War 3 waiting for my thumbs!

Midwinter review

Matthew Sturges was a writer of comics who is now giving a shot at fantasy. Midwinter is the first novel in a series with a sequel confirmed, The Office of Shadow (cover art here).

I chose to pick-up this book without knowing the full extent of the story. In this was one of my problems since the world in which the story for Midwinter is set is a faerie land parallel to ours with portals between the two. Honestly, I don't like fantasy books linked to the real world but I will try to be as objective as I can while judging the book and expressing my feelings about it.

In Midwinter, we follow Mauritaine, the ex guard captain of her majesty Queen Titania. The fae was taken into custody after being accused of treason toward the crown. His service to the queen will be renewed when Purane-Es, his nemesis, comes to send him back on a mission. The captain will choose some companions, i.e. his former corporal, Raeve a representative from Avalon, Silverdun a fae lord and Satterly a human, and will have to make it to a far-away city within a limited timeframe without knowing why.

Mauritaine is the only characters that I connected with. And even then, at times I felt like Sturges was writing him too much as the perfect modest and noble captain. We don't know much about the other protagonists and at the end of the story, what happens to them is less significant. The love story that blossoms between Mauritaine and Raeve is not based on much and totally predictable. The rest of the cast could have been more "deepened" by the author.

The villains in the story are Pezho, an ambitious mage and Queen Mab. They simply incarnate evil without much purpose. Pezho has the start of an engaging back story but everything falls flat way too quickly in his storyline. The same thing can be said about all the prophecies taking part in the evolution of the tale. There's even a scene with a real "legendary" boogeyman that eventually reveals to be totally useless.

These deficiencies excluded, there's still some nice elements under the cover. The wolrdbuilding is not lacking with an interesting historical struggle between the two main fae factions and their leaders. The gods are involved and multiple religions are portrayed. However, magic is not explained in details so we have to assume that the fae people can just do it. The Midwinter theme with this long winter coming to an end is finely exploited, as are the "Shifting places", anomalies of space and time. Sturges writing is adequate and the pace well balanced.

Midwinter story doesn't feel as if it's really going somewhere for at least half the book. Then we are granted with a few stirring moments. If you like a fantasy book in which fae characters can drive a Pontiac LeMans through a forest trail, this is for you. As for myself, I don't think I will pick up the next book, I was not taken in enough even though the novel had his times.

For one of the first time in my listening history of audiobooks, I think that I may have enjoyed the book more if I had read it instead of listening to it. The narration by Kevin Pariseau is not very good. The same tone from start to finish... kind of boring.

Technically, I liked the cover (Pyr) by Chris McGrath, a bit gritty and really to the point for a fantasy cover. The paperback edition of the novel is 345 pages and the audiobook edition I listened to is 13 hours and 36 minutes.

Midwinter review score :

Characterization............. 6.5 /10
World building............... 8 / 10
Magic system................. 5 / 10
Story.............................. 6 / 10
Writing........................... 7.5 / 10

Overall (not an average) 6.5 / 10

Matthew Sturges page

Completion (or not) news

There are often rumors about the completion of novels we are all eagerly waiting for. In the last two weeks, we heard news about George R.R. Martin, Scott Lynch, Patrick Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson, probably the four most wanted manuscripts in the fantasy scene.

***

As far as completion goes, this is not the big news for A Dance with Dragon (here), since you'll notice that the title of the post from Mr. Martin is "Not Done Yet"... We learn that the author is having some problems with the timeline between his last novel (Feast for Crows), Dance (which is going on at the same time or so he is trying to do and the next one, Winds of Winter. I don't think that's really a problem. At least, the most important thing is the story and the evolution of the characters, not the perfection in dates and age. Erikson also had some problems with that in his Malazan series and it went well anyway.

Another interesting tidbit about our beloved ASoIaF, the Game of Thrones TV series on HBO. The pilot did its job and the production for the first 10 episodes will start soon! Can't wait, more so when I read that the budget will be there. Here's the first production still by the way :

***

Adam at The Wertzone got a confirmation that the third book from Scott Lynch, The Republic of Thieves (from The Gentleman Bastard sequence) is now being revised and a tentative release window of spring 2011 is offered.

***

Lesbian unicorns! Got your attention? Well Patrick Rothfuss posted an update on his work for the second book of his Kingkiller Chronicles series, The Wise Man's Fear. A new improved manuscript was send to his editor. It's still not the final draft but things are going well. The book will be longer than The Name of the Wind. Why the lesbian unicorns you say? Here's Patrick post. (you'll have to scroll... his blog post titles can't be linked)

***

Finally, news from one of the most prolific writer in fantasy aside from Steven Erikson, Brandon Sanderson. Towers of Midnight, the follow-up to the final trilogy of the Wheel of Time is still planned for a late fall release. Brandon has not updated his progress for a while, but he's doing rewrites and the book will be bigger than The Gathering Storm. Aside from this, Brandon is also working on his news series first book, The Way of Kings, which is also stopping his progress bar for ToM. More from him here.

That's it folks, great reading still ahead!

Lord of Chaos ebook cover art

I officially name this week "Cover Art Unveiling Week"!

The third big cover art unveiling this week is none other than Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan, ebook edition! So far so good with the beautiful covers from almost all of the six books (the first one was not very good in my opinion). The artist behind the work is Greg Manchess (more here).

You probably identified the scene chosen to be depicted on the cover? Yes, Dumai’s Wells, Asha'man vs Shaido!!! The obvious choice and the right one. I love it and the "scrolling" full cover art is even better (check out the blog post by Tor with Sketches and more info about the creation at Tor.com).

You can see the first five ebook covers here :

The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven

Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings cover art

Another cover launch today this time with the first book of the new series from Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings (the series is named The Stormlight Archive). The art is from Michael Whelan (more here). By the way, Michael said that the manuscript was 1400 pages (not final but...)!

As for my opinion of the cover art, I would say that I'm disappointed a bit. Tor.com posted some sketches (here) and I think that the cover would have been better without the addition of the final colors (the blue/red/yellow/purple). The sketches with more gray were looking great... Here they are :

Brent Weeks's The Black Prism cover art and blurb

The cover art for the next novel from the author or The Night Angel trilogy was unveiled today. Brent Weeks new series will be a trilogy set in a brand new world with an original magic system. A blurb of the new book was posted on amazon several months ago and was denied by Mr. Weeks as being wrong. A possible cover art also leaked at the same time (Brent post on his site here). The first cover art is at the end of this post.

This time, it comes directly from Orbit and I think that it looks much better. The cover art was done by Richard Jones (more here) and the design is by Lauren Panepinto who gave us this as a description of the book :

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.

But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he’s willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.