Steampunk

I need some help from you guys.

Tor.com is on a crusade for steampunk fantasy glory for two weeks and The Mad Hatter is on rampage for this sub-genre for the month. I know there been more and more press on this specific niche of literature in the last years and it's getting a lot of love.

Lately I read Farlander and The Last Page. First off, I know, those book could not be categorized as steampunk. There are some elements in Farlander, aka zeppelins, and the same in The Last Page. I enjoyed both of these titles but my reasons for liking them are nowhere near the fact that steampunk elements are included.

However, this brings me to why I need your help. This will probably be slightly in contradiction with my last poll where I stated that I don't feel like getting away from my beloved epic fantasy genre but I'm curious and I want to explore on this a bit. So, what would you recommend for me as a first time reader of steampunk fantasy? Which novel is the best representation of the genre? It doesn't have to be the most accessible steampunk novel...


Thanks in advance!

November releases and missed titles

So, November may be the month of the dead but still, the fantasy scene is not resting. Here we go with my picks for November and 2 missed titles, because I did not post about the releases of October.

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Towers of Midnight
Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
November 2nd

Still an ugly cover... This title needs no introductions and it's simply for the fans who could go through the first twelve books. Judging from the first WoT book from Sanderson and the fact that the final battle finally started, this ought to be something up to it's expectations. For those of you in dire need of ToM goodness, head on to Tor.com or Brandon website for the chapter 1 excerpt, chapter 8 excerpt or the prologue and chapter 2 in audio format. My review of TGS is here.

The Last Battle has started. The seals on the Dark One's prison are crumbling. The Pattern itself is unravelling, and the armies of the Shadow have begun to boil out of the Blight. Perrin Aybara is haunted by spectres from his past. To prevail, he must find a way to master the wolf within him or lose himself to it for ever. Meanwhile, Matrim Cauthon prepares for the most difficult challenge of his life. The Tower of Ghenjei awaits, and its secrets will reveal the fate of a friend long lost. The end draws near. It's time to roll the dice.

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The Broken Kingdoms
N.K. Jemisin
November 4th

This however is a beautiful cover art. Anyway, I expect great things from what is under the cover. I loved the first book by Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, her fantasy debut, nicely done in first person narrative. The only thing kind of negative while considering the next title, is the fact that the first book felt like a stand alone novel... let's see what she can pull off :

In the city of Shadow, beneath the World Tree, alleyways shimmer with magic and godlings live hidden among mortalkind. Oree Shoth, a blind artist, takes in a homeless man who glows like a living sun to her strange sight. However, this act of kindness is to engulf Oree in a nightmarish conspiracy. Someone, somehow, is murdering godlings, leaving their desecrated bodies all over the city. Oree's peculiar guest is at the heart of it, his presence putting her in mortal danger - but is it him the killers want, or Oree? And is the earthly power of the Arameri king their ultimate goal, or have they set their sights on the Lord of Night himself?

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Surrender to the will of the night
Glen Cook
November 23

Ok, I'm slowly becoming a fan of The Black Company, especially Croaker. So I still have much catching up to do with Glen Cook novels but if you have read the first two books of his Instrumentalities of the Night series, you'll probably pick up the final novel. Anyone is reading this trilogy?

Piper Hecht’s secrets make him dangerous, but his skill and his reputation put him in danger—from his enemies, who fear what he might do, or who want revenge for what he has already done; and from his friends, who want to use his military gifts for their own purposes. His sister Heris and his living ancestor Cloven Februaren, the Ninth Unknown, have made Hecht part of their fight against the return of the dark god Kharoulke the Windwalker. At the same time, the half-mad Empress Katrin wants him to lead the armies of the Grail Empire eastward on a crusade against his old coreligionists the Praman.

Meanwhile, all around them, the world is changing. The winters are growing longer and harder every year, and the seas are getting shallower. The far north and the high mountain ranges are going under the ice, and fast. The Wells of Power, everywhere, keep getting weaker. And the old evils, the Instrumentalities from the Time Before Time, have begun to ooze back into the world.

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Wintertide
Michael J. Sullivan
October 1rst

I missed this one in October. I have only read the first book in the Riyria Revelations series, but it was a good start. Good old fantasy. This is the penultimate novel in the six book series. Since Michael wrote them all as one story and then divided them in episodes (novels...), the last one will be out soon. Here's the blurb :

A Forced Wedding.
A Double Execution.
Two Thieves Have Other Plans.

The New Empire intends to celebrate its victory over the Nationalists with a day that will never be forgotten. On the high holiday of Wintertide the empress will be married. Degan Gaunt and the Witch of Melengar will be publically executed. Then the empress will suffer a fatal accident leaving the empire in the hands of the new emperor. It will be a perfect day. There is only one problem—Royce and Hadrian have finally found Degan Gaunt.

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Corvus
Paul Kearney
October 26

Argh! Another one in my shame list... This is the follow-up to the "critically acclaimed" novel The Ten Thousand.

It is twenty-three years since a Macht army fought its way home from the heart of the Asurian Empire. The man who came to lead that army, Rictus, is now a hard-bitten mercenary captain, middle-aged and tired. He wants nothing more than to lay down his spear and become the farmer that his father was. But fate has different ideas. A young warleader has risen to challenge the order of things in the very heartlands of the Macht. A soldier of genius, he takes city after city, and reigns over them as king. What is more, he had heard of the legendary leader of the Ten Thousand. His name is Corvus, and the rumours say that he is not even fully human. He means to make himself absolute ruler of all the Macht. And he wants Rictus to help him.

The Crippled God cover art

Can't really pass this one. This is simply the book I have been most eagerly waiting for in my reading life... my hopes are possibly beyond reasonable. Thanks to Aidan for posting the cover (here). The art is by Steve Stone again and really in line with the previous covers from Bantam Press. I like it.

By the way, the book will be out on February 22, 2011 and here's the blurb again :

Savaged by the K’Chain Nah’Ruk, the Bonehunters march for Kolanse, where waits an unknown fate. Tormented by questions, the army totters on the edge of mutiny, but Adjunct Tavore will not relent. One final act remains, if it is in her power, if she can hold her army together, if the shaky allegiances she has forged can survive all that is to come. A woman with no gifts of magic, deemed plain, unprepossessing, displaying nothing to instill loyalty or confidence, Tavore Paran of House Paran means to challenge the gods – if her own troops don’t kill her first.

Awaiting Tavore and her allies are the Forkrul Assail, the final arbiters of humanity. Drawing upon an alien power terrible in its magnitude, they seek to cleanse the world, to annihilate every human, every civilization, in order to begin anew. They welcome the coming conflagration of slaughter, for it shall be of their own devising, and it pleases them to know that, in the midst of the enemies gathering against them, there shall be betrayal.

In the realm of Kurald Galain, home to the long lost city of Kharkanas, a mass of refugees stand upon the First Shore. Commanded by Yedan Derryg, the Watch, they await the breaching of Lightfall, and the coming of the Tiste Liosan. This is a war they cannot win, and they will die in the name of an empty city and a queen with no subjects.

Elsewhere, the three Elder Gods, Kilmandaros, Errastas and Sechul Lath, work to shatter the chains binding Korabas, the Otataral Dragon, from her eternal prison. Once freed, she will rise as a force of devastation, and against her no mortal can stand. At the Gates of Starvald Demelain, the Azath House sealing the portal is dying. Soon will come the Eleint, and once more, there will be dragons in the world.

The Book of Transformation revised artwork

Hurrah! We were saved from a ugly cover. Two weeks ago, Mark Charan Newton posted the tentative cover art for his next book, The Book of Transformation, and asked for our opinion. The results were that the girl on the cover really had to go. Newton unveiled today the new artwork. So, let's spread the love for this new cover!

And the blurb for the first time :

A new and corrupt Emperor seeks to rebuild the ancient structures of Villjamur to give the people of the city hope in the face of great upheaval and an oppressing ice age. But when a stranger called Shalev arrives, empowering a militant underground movement, crime and terror becomes rampant.

The Inquisition is always one step behind, and military resources are spread thinly across the Empire. So Emperor Urtica calls upon cultists to help construct a group to eliminate those involved with the uprising, and calm the populace – the Villjamur Knights. But there’s more to Knights than just phenomenal skills and abilities – each have a secret that, if exposed, could destroy everything they represent.

Investigator Fulcrom of the Villjamur Inquisition is given the unenviable task of managing the Knights, but his own skills are tested when a mysterious priest, who has travelled from beyond the fringes of the Empire, seeks his help. The priest’s existence threatens the church, and his quest promises to unravel the fabric of the world. And in a distant corner of the Empire, the enigmatic cultist Dartun Súr steps back into this world, having witnessed horrors beyond his imagination. Broken, altered, he and the remnants of his order are heading back to Villjamur.

And all eyes turn to the Sanctuary City, for Villjamur’s ancient legends are about to be shattered…

Series currently reading

Amanda first asked this on Floor to Ceiling books : "How many series are you currently reading?" and then posted her list. Following in her footsteps, Sarah at Bookworm Blues and Mark at Walker of Worlds posted theirs. I figured out I could look into it myself and I found out that maybe it's a bit too much in my case. I currently "actively" follow 25 series.... that's a bit much in my opinion. Anyway, I can't do anything about it... except read!

I added actively since I didn't include series like Chris Evans Iron Elves series, Matthew Sturges series, Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, R.A Salvatore Drizzt books or some other series that I'm not sure I will ever be reading to the end (not because they are necessarily bad series, because I will probably always have something even better suited to my taste to read).

Here we go :

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson 1) The Eye of the World (read) 2) The Great Hunt (read) 3) The Dragon Reborn (read) 4) The Shadow Rising (read) 5) The Fires of Heaven (read) 6) Lord of Chaos (read) 7) A Crown of Swords (read) 8) The Path of Daggers (read) 9) Winter's Heart (read) 10) Crossroads of Twilight (read) 11) Knife of Dreams (read) 12) The Gathering Storm (read) 13) Towers of Midnight (forthcoming) 14) A Memory of Light (forthcoming)	Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson 1) Gardens of the Moon - (read) 2) Deadhouse Gates - (read) 3) Memories of Ice - (read) 4) House of Chains - (read) 5) Midnight Tides - (read) 6) The Bonehunters - (read) 7) Reapers Gale - (read) 8) Toll the Hounds (read) 9) Dust of Dreams (read) 10) The Crippled God (forthcoming)
Psalms of Isaak by Ken Scholes 1) Lamentation (read) 2) Canticle 3) Antiphon 4) Requiem (forthcoming) 5) Hymn (forthcoming)	The Twilight Reign by Tom Lloyd 1) The Stormcaller (read) 2) The Twilight Herald 3) The Grave Thief 4) The Ragged Man 5) The Dusk Watchman (forthcoming)
Takeshi Kovacs by Richard Morgan 1) Altered Carbon (read) 2) Broken Angels (read) 3) Woken Furies	The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson 1) Mistborn (read) 2) The Well of Ascension 3) The Hero of Ages
Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss 1) The Name of the Wind (read) 2) The Wise Man's Fear (forthcoming)	The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin 1) The 100 thousand Kingdoms (read) 2) The Broken Kingdoms (forthcoming)
Spellwright Trilogy by Blake Charlton 1) Spellwright (read) 2) Spellbound (forthcoming) 3) Disjunction (forthcoming)	Malazan by Ian C. Esslemont 1) The Night of Knives (read) 2) The Return of the Crimson Guard (read) 3) Stonewielder (forthcoming)
The Demon Cycle by Peter V Brett 1) The Painted Man (read) 2) The Desert Spear (read) 3) The Daylight War (forthcoming)	The Godless World - Brian Ruckley 1) Winterbirth - (read) 2) Bloodheir 3) Fall of Thanes
Anthony Huso's duology 1) The Last Page (read) 2) Black Bottle (forthcoming)	The Aspect Emperor by R. Scott Bakker 1) The Judging Eye (read) 2) The White Luck Warrior (forthcoming)
The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks 1) The Way of Shadows (read) 2) Shadow's Edge 3) Beyond the Shadows	Memory of Flames trilogy by Stephen Deas 1) The Adamantine Palace (read) 2) The King of the Crags (read) 3) The Order of the Scales (forthcoming)
The Heart of the World by Col Buchanan 1) Farlander (read) 2) ??? (forthcoming)	The Riyria Revelations by Micheal J Sullivan 1) The Crown Conspiracy (read) 2) Avempartha 3) Nyphron Rising 4) The Emerald Storm 5) Wintertide 6) Percepliquis (forthcoming)
The Lightbringer by Brent Weeks 1) The Black Prism (read) 2) ??? (forthcoming)	Legends of the Red Sun by Mark Charan Newton 1) Nights of Villjamur (read) 2) City of Ruin (read) 3) The Book of Transformations (forthcoming)
Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch 1) The Lies of Locke Lamora (read) 2) Red Seas Under Red Skies 3) The Republic of Thieves (forthcoming) 4) The Thorn of Emberlain (forthcoming) 5) The Ministry of Necessity (forthcoming) 6) The Mage and the Master Spy (forthcoming) 7) Inherit the Night (forthcoming)	A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin 1) A Game of Thrones (read) 2) A Clash of Kings (read) 3) A Storm of Swords (read) 4) A Feast for Crows (read) 5) A Dance with Dragons (forthcoming) 6) The Winds of Winter (forthcoming) 7) A Dream of Spring (forthcoming)
The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson 1) The Way of Kings (read) 2) ??? (forthcoming)	The Acacia trilogy by David Anthony Durham 1) Acacia (read) 2) The Other Lands (read) 3) ??? (forthcoming)
A Land Fit for Heroes by Richard Morgan 1) The Steel Remains (read) 2) The Cold Commands (forthcoming) 3) ??? (forthcoming)

Spellbound cover art

Blake Charlton himself posted on Tor.com the cover art for the second book of this trilogy, Spellbound (due out for release next summer).

The work was done by Todd Lockwood with editing eyes of Irene Gallo. The scene depicted is Nicodemus Weal with a dragon created by spellwriting (hence the runes on the dragon). Blake talks in more details about the process in the post.

Nice!

Shame list

Yes we all have one, at least I hope I'm not the only one. Looking at the cover for Daniel Abraham new novel which has been getting more and more hype already, I could only think that he is among the fantasy authors I still haven't read any of their work yet. So let's see if I can come up with more names... obviously yes! I hope to remedy to that the sooner I can, and it's should be easy since for most of them, I already own at least one of their books.

So, I still haven't read anything by :

Daniel Abraham
Glen Cook
Adrian Tchaikovsky
China Mieville
Ursula K. Le Guin
James Barclay
Mark Chadbourn
Sam Sykes
David Gemmel
Lev Grossman
Paul Kearney
Robert V.S. Redick
K.J. Parker

Feel like sharing yours? Go ahead!

Daniel Abraham - The Dragon's Path cover

Thanks to Aidan (A Dribble of Ink) and Adam (The Wertzone), the cover art for the first book of The Dagger and the Coin, the new series by Daniel Abraham, The Dragon's Path has seen the light of day. I like it, it's slick... and beautiful. If you want to read the blurb, head on to this post from this summer.

Poll - Simultaneous reads and diversification

First off, let's return to the last poll. The question I asked was "How many books do you read at the same time?". The answers went like this :

- One - 48%
- Two or three - 30%
- One on paper and one audiobook - 18%
- Every last one of them that falls into my hands - 3%
- Four or five - 0%

I'm actually among the 18% of the respondents who listen to a different book than the one they are physically reading. I thought from what I read on some blogs that more people would be reading simultaneously more than one novel but it seems the majority of readers still want to stay concentrated and immersed into one world. Interesting.

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Then, let's head on to my new interrogation. The topic of diversification in reading habits has been discussed on several blogs over the past months. Mark Charan Newton started talking about "Bloggers’ Frontlist Fetish" and asked if us bloggers could read more of the older and less advertised books lying in wait for a time to give them more light. That post and some other related comments lead me to ask the following question : "Should we diversify our reading choice?". There is two "themes" in this query.

First, do I think that I should read more of the older books to bring them back to life? I'm not sure. I already read a couple of them every year (and I think I have a considerable enough background... although when I look at what I haven't read yet, my perspective change), trying to return to some of the roots of the genre, but I will probably always prefer the next big thing (however, not much so in audiobook format). So I could say that I already do it in a minor proportion and even if I can understand Newton's call for more obscure or older books digging in the libraries, I don't think it should be a greater priority for the majority of the bloggers, mostly because it depends on your reasons behind blogging. Mine is to write about books I'm mostly interested in. Anyway, that's simply my opinion and my goal here is purely to ask the reader what they think about this, not only the bloggers.

Second, if your a regular at A Fantasy Reader, you probably know that the majority of the novels I read and review are epic fantasy books. I have read more outside the genre in the past, mostly Sci-Fi and thrillers, but I'm actually in love with fantasy and more precisely epic fantasy. That's simply what I enjoy the most and it's giving me the reading pleasure I'm looking for in literature. The choice is staggeringly huge so I don't really have to go elsewhere and I'm not a reader that needs breaks from the genre.

As for everyone decision of reading outside of the genre or the specific niche within the genre, I think it's everybody's call and not really something that should be forced upon a reader. I would not really vigorously recommend to someone to read more books outside their common taste but I can understand that some people tend to do so and they usually have solid reasoning behind the choice. Aidan form A Dribble of Ink posted his at SF Signal in a text about Genre Diversity. It seems to suit him well and I'm glad for him (interesting post even though I didn't feel challenged).

To close up on the subject, I just wanted to talk about one comment Aidan made on Mark's reiteration of his "plea" that we should write about less "frontlist" titles :

Just wait, though, the next few weeks are going to bring an endless deluge of review for Mockingjay, The Way of Kings and The Black Prism. The blogosphere will look more sycophantic than ever.

Do the blogosphere really look more sycophantic when big guns are released? In some cases yes, but I hope and I think that's not the case in the majority of circumstances. It's normal that those titles get more blog time and if we are looking for more diversity, I think we could simply read more blogs, as with so many of them, a large cluster of novels can get their share of glory.

Having strayed just a bit, let's return to the question (and remember that what I ask is not only for bloggers but for all the readers). Should we diversify our reading choice?

No - stick to the niche we love
Yes - read more older books
Yes - read more outside of usual genre
Yes - both outside genre and older books

Round of covers

I had less time lately to keep up with the new covers unveilements, so here's a little round-up of three new cover art from last week (or weeks). Thanks to Suvudu, The Mad Hatter and The Wertzone!

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The River of Shadows
Robert V.S. Redick
Book three of The Chathrand Voyage series
February 2011

Not a bad cover, in line with the previous books...

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The Unremembered
Peter Orullian
Debut author
April 2011

Very nice cover from Ketai Kotaki. I've spoken a couple of times about him, what a great fantasy artist!

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The Order of the Scales
Stephen Deas
Book three of the Memory of Flames trilogy
Spring 2011

The same as the first books but with a different color and scene of dragons. Looks good.

Towers of Midnight first chapter

Tor.com posted the first chapter of Towers of Midnight, the next opus in the WoT saga (it's book 13 and will be released on November 2). You could already buy the prologue if you were interested but in this case it's a free read. Follow this link for chapter one. Here a glimpse :

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose above the misty peaks of Imfaral. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

Crisp and light, the wind danced across fields of new mountain grass stiff with frost. That frost lingered past first light, sheltered by the omnipresent clouds that hung like a death mask high above. It had been weeks since those clouds had budged, and the wan, yellowed grass showed it.

The wind churned morning mist, moving southward, chilling a small pride of torm. They reclined on a flat, lichen-stained granite shelf, waiting to bask in morning sunlight that would not arrive. The wind poured over the shelf, racing down a hillside of scraggly mura trees, with ropelike bark and green tufts of thick, needlelike leaves atop them.

At the base of the foothills, the wind turned eastward, passing an open plain kept free of trees and scrub by the soldier’s axe. The killing field surrounded thirteen fortresses, tall and cut entirely from unpolished black marble, their blocks left rough-hewn to give them a primal feeling of unformed strength. These were towers meant for war. By tradition they were unoccupied. How long that would last—how long tradition itself would be remembered in a continent in chaos—remained to be seen.