Today in Fantasy: November 4, 2009

FBNR Stuff:

While I am waiting on my nook to arrive (supposed to ship Nov 30), I thought I would try to read a couple of paperbacks. I know once my nook arrives, I will be reading mostly ebooks for awhile. Pyr was kind enough to send me all 3 of the Chronicles of the Raven books. I already reviewed (and loved) the first one. I started Noonshade but put it down because I just have more interest in reading digital versions (and there is none for the Raven books). Since there is about a 4 week gap between when i read the first 200 pages, and when I started it again this week, the review will be a little different. But, I'm on page 280 (of 410 or so) and enjoying it. I think I actually prefer Dawnthief so far, but not by a lot. Noonshade has been very enjoyable, and is getting even better as I approach the end.

Author News:

-Looks like Paul S. Kemp is done writing for Wizards of the Coast. So the book he was working on, Godborn, will not be published. Too bad, I know the Cale stories were pretty popular. Seems like Wizards of the Coast is falling on some tough times in the book world. I don't see anyone really talking about the Eberron novels, and i thought I read that after December, no more Dragonlance books would be published for awhile (need to find confirmation of that).

-You can read the first 3 chapters of David B. Coe's final Blood of the Southlands novel, The Dark Eyes' War, here.

Reviews:

Is this a better book because the last couple weren’t quite as good? Yeah, maybe. I’m not exactly unbiased here and I can only admit that I love this series and frequently overlook flaws. But, this one is just better than Wheel of Time had been for a while

link: Adventures in Reading: Knife of Dreams, by Robert Jordan

For me the plot is like the skin layers of an onion. So far I didn't talk much about my secret star of the series: The Chathrand. Mr. Redick's depiction of the sailing vessel and the life on board is most imposing. I got nearly seasick on the sofa when I read the novel.

link: Review: The Rats and the Ruling Sea by Robert V.S. Redick | Only The Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy

....But the actual threat bears no connection whatsoever to the remainder of the book, and the resolution of it - and the book - is slightly, well, laughable. It's a deux-ex-machina to the extreme, insipid, and meanders slightly.

link: Drying Ink: Review|Hawkspar - Holly Lisle

Character-wise, “The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart” revolves around Hegel and Manfried Grossbart, two of the most vicious and appalling protagonists I’ve ever set eyes on. Crude, selfish, and nasty, the Brothers Grossbart are characters that filled me with disgust and who I would root against at every opportunity. Yet for all that I disliked Hegel and Manfried Grossbart, at the same time I found the twins to be quite fascinating thanks to Jesse’s wild imagination and detailed rendering.

link: Fantasy Book Critic: “The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart” by Jesse Bullington (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Tempest Rising is a short, entertaining read. It had some humor, which was rather hit or miss. Sometimes it was quite humorous, but other times it seemed to be overdone and trying too hard. There was a lot of sex - too much for my taste - and for a while I was thinking it seemed more like a paranormal romance. I decided I wouldn't actually label it a paranormal romance, though, just because it didn't seem, well, romantic.

link: Fantasy Cafe: Reviews of Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler

For me, as someone who genuinely enjoys a lot of different types and genres of fiction, Finch is one of the best books that I’ve read in years. It is also the book I’ve been waiting to read for years without knowing it. Beyond that, though, when all is said and done, Finch will be among the best books of the year.

link: Finch by Jeff VanderMeer – review » BSCreview

I really like the direction of this series and feel it has a very bright future. This will sound corny but as I finishing up this book there was a huge magic battle scene and a strange thought came into my head, this is like Harry Potter but for adults. This is series is becoming that good and easily becoming one of my favorites.

link: Robots and Vamps » RaV Book Review: Magic in the Shadows by Devon Monk

It's nothing of any great consequence, but it's certainly a quick engaging read. Salvatore keeps the plot moving along at a good clip, but he doesn't stint on his characters. These folks aren't as instantly engaging as the characters in his popular Drizzt books, (which are my favourite fun reads), but they're still fun to read about. They face some interesting moral dilemmas, too, in addition to the excellent fight scenes Salvatore's known for.

link: Stella Matutina - 146. Canticle by R.A. Salvatore

Basically, if the author had spent as much time and effort on developing the fantasy parts of the novel as he did the rest of the book, then “The Cardinal’s Blades” would have been profoundly better.

link: Fantasy Book Critic: “The Cardinal’s Blades” by Pierre Pevel (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

I hate to say this because I very much like this series and hope for a satisfying conclusion with some future volume, but Chasing the Dragon was a bit of a disappointment. There are some interesting things going on here, a couple of major developments, but they don't add up to enough to recommend the book. Even though we don’t know what the larger picture is supposed to be, there is little sense of how Chasing the Dragon really connects to the previous books.

link: Adventures in Reading: Chasing the Dragon, by Justina Robson

Series Finale: The Silver Mage by Katharine Kerr

Here is the debut of the new feature I mentioned last week, where I post a short feature/reminder on the publishing of concluding books in a series. Today, the 15th and final book in the Deverry series,The Silver Mage, hits stores. There is a temporary (I assume) LiveJournal site to celebrate the series conclusion here. The author's home page, including lots of info on the Deverry series, is here. I own 13 of the first 15 in mass market paperback, and hope to read them someday. However, I'm disappointed that only the last 4 in the series are available in ebook form. It seems like as part of the marketing for this series, they could have made an attempt to publish digital versions of all of the books...kinda how Tor is doing with the Wheel of Time. Though in this case I don't see a reason they should be published one per month. With ebooks gaining more visibility, I would have thought it made sense for them (Daw) to publish the entire series in ebook form, and add that to the marketing push. Maybe Daw doesn't own all of the series, in which case I would understand. But if they do have rights to all 15, seems like a missed opportunity. Plus, as part of the marketing push, I would have made the ebook for the first book, Daggerspell, free. Sorta like a "To celebrate the publishing of the final Deverry novel, we would like to announce that the entire series is now available in ebook format. And new readers can start the series by downloading Daggerspell for free."

At least that is my opinion. But hey, what do I know?


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New Releases: Week of November 2, 2009

Below is the list of new fantasy related releases this week, according to Amazon. As usual, links take you to the Amazon page for more details.

Grand Conspiracy by Janny Wurts (mmpb, kindle)

Finch by Jeff Vandermeer (tpb)

The Golden Tower: Book Two of The Warriors of Estavia by Fiona Patton (mmpb, kindle. Note that the kindle edition is still listed at 14.97, even though the mmpb is now available for 7.99. Hopefully the kindle price drops to match the mmpb price)

Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier (hc, kindle)

Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier (mmpb, kindle. Note this too has the high Kindle price reflecting the hc edition. Now that the mmpb is out, the kindle price should drop. At least that is normally the case)

The Lord-Protector's Daughter (Corean Chronicles) by L.E. Modesitt, Jr (mmpb, kindle. Kindle price still reflecting the hc. I know Amazon had problems with the Kindle store yesterday, wondering if these pricing issues are a side-effect? I would guess it is Amazon's job to make these pricing changes, right? They are normally pretty quick to drop the kindle price when the mmpb editions hit shelves.)

Magic in the Shadows: An Allie Beckstrom Novel by Devon Monk (mmpb, kindle)

Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set by Brandon Sanderson (mmpb box set. Not really a new release, but getting them all in one box set is. And at $16.17 for the entire set, its really like getting one free. So if you have been meaning to check out this series, this might be a good way to buy it.)

The Silver Mage: Book Four of the Silver Wyrm by Katharine Kerr (hc, kindle. The end of the Deverry series)

Son of Khyber: Thorn of Breland, Book 2 by Keith Baker (mmpb. Outside of Weiss & Hickman & Salvatore, Wizards of the Coast must not be a believer in ebooks.)

The Trouble With Heroes by Denise Little (mmpb, kindle)

Agents of Artifice: A Planeswalker Novel (Planeswalkers) by Ari Marmell (mmpb)

Born of Fire (A League Novel) by Sherrilyn Kenyon (mmpb, kindle)

The Breath of God by Harry Turtledove (mmpb, kindle)

Corsair: Blades of the Moonsea, Book II (Blades of Moonsea) by Richard Baker (mmpb)

Crusade: Destroyermen, Book II by Taylor Anderson (mmpb, kindle)

Death Masks: A Novel of the Dresden Files (The Dresden Files, Book 5) by Jim Butcher (hc, kindle. I am guessing this is the initial release of the hardcover edition, since the first several books were mmpb only.)

The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy by various authors (hc, kindle)

Elegy Beach by Steven R. Boyett (hc, kindle)

The Fall of Highwatch: Chosen of Nendawen, Book I by Mark Sehestedt (mmpb. Wizards of the Coast is 0 for 4 in releasing digital editions today.)

Fade Out (Morganville Vampires, Book 7) by Rachel Caine (mmpb, kindle)

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Couldn't Finish It: Blood Ties by Pamela Freeman

Saturday night, at around the 50% complete mark, I decided to stop reading Blood Ties by Pamela Freeman. (note: since I didn't finish the book, this isn't an official review, hence I also decided to leave off the cover art for this post).I'll keep this short so it doesn't sound like I am banging on this book. The writing quality and story were fine, I simply didn't care about any of the characters, and even more important, had no sense the plot had moved forward at all. And the pacing, for me, was too slow. While I appreciate the time spent on world and character building, I felt this occurred at the expense of the story. Sure, the characters were well fleshed out, and the author did a very good job giving the world a sense of place and a tangible history. But, after reading half the book, I didn't feel like any progress has been made in the story. And quite honestly, none of the characters made a connection with me. Going into this, based on other reviews, I know this wasn't the traditional fantasy I normally read. But neither is Best Served Cold or The Long Price Quartet. I can like a book without a quest, or much magic, or elves, dwarves, etc. As long as I care about the story, and heck, as long as I feel there is a story. In this case, I had no feeling for what the plot was supposed to be. I mean, there are hints, and of course I had more hints from the back cover. But at the halfway point, I felt like no real progress had been made on the actual story. It still felt like we were building the characters' and the world's background.

After wondering if I should continue, I decided to check my review index to see what other bloggers had to say. And I found my opinion closely matched Aidan's, and the reviewer at BSC Reviews. And while Jon (Grasping for the Wind) likes the series thus far, his review of book 2 makes me think I would have the same issues in the sequel. Thus, I can't really find the desire to continue. I can see how others would really like this story, and I did think the first-person "story" sections were very well done. I think the best way to phrase my opinion is this: I think this book and I just weren't meant for each other.

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EBook: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan Now Available

As you can imagine with me moving to mostly digital reading, I'm pretty happy to see the Wheel of Time books (officially) hits stores in ebook format. They should be coming once a month. I'll probably try to read each one as it comes out (starting next month). If I can read 1 Wheel of Time ebook per month, by the time I get to The Gathering Storm, book 13 should be out (hopefully with physical and digital simultaneous releases. The cover you see here is the new artwork for book 1, The Eye of the World. Not sure if I like it better than the original, but I'll pick it up with that cover anyway. I believe the Kindle store has the book with both the new and old cover, so you have a choice if Kindle is your format.

In case others are interested, here are some places you can get the book. The link in the storename should take you to the page for the book on that site.

Barnes & Noble: Price: $9.99, Format: .pdb (B&N doesn't explicitly tell you the format, but I downloaded the sample, and it was .pdb, so I assume the full book is also. With the Nook coming out, supposedly they are moving to Adobe .epub, so I'll probably wait for my Nook, and hope they have made the switch to .epub by then).

Amazon: Price: $9.99, Format: Kindle (interesting, they only have the version with the new cover now. Maybe I'm crazy, but I would SWEAR I saw 2 editions on Tuesday)

BooksOnBoard: Price: 13.46, Format: Adobe epub, and Adobe Digital Editions pdf. (I think BoB has moved to the epub format..need to browse around to confirm. If so, I also believe I should be able to buy books from here, and still read them on the Nook, since the Nook is supposed to support Adobe epub AND the B&N epub. I think.)

Fictionwise: Doesn't carry it. Odd. Still not sure why B&N doesn't combine Fictionwise into their ebook store. Unless its due to B&N moving to .epub, and they want to keep Fictionwise around for the ereader format customers.


Diesel Ebooks: Price: $15.00, Format: Adobe epub and pdf (Funny..if you search the store for Robert Jordan, this book comes up with the old cover. But on the product page, it doesn't even show a cover).

Sony EBook Store: Price: $10.50, Format: ? (Not sure if this is .lrf or .epub. Sony is moving to epub, but not sure if they have made that move yet, and the page doesnt tell the format. The filesize is twice the size of the Diesel ebooks epub, so I am guessing its lrf. But I could be wrong)



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Two Different Covers for Burn Me Deadly by Alex Bledsoe

I don't really have much commentary to add to this post. I just happened to be searching for the ebook of Burn Me Deadly by Alex Bledsoe on the Barnes & Noble website (Amazon has a pre-order for it, but the Kindle version is almost $17!. Lately, it seems Amazon is pricing Tor ebooks around 15 bucks, but B&N, when they have them, are only 9.99). I didn't see a pre-order for the ebook, but I did see listings for the audio book. What struck me as interesting about this, is how different the 2 covers are. Is it common for audio books to have different cover art than the print edition? Is there any significance in regards to the audio cover looking way more mainstream than the print cover? Anyway, I thought someone out there besides me might find this interesting :)

Note: the first (top) image is the hardcover book, the second (bottom) image is the audiobook cover.





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