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.