Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

feeds@yuku.com (Lady Fellshot) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:34:50 GMT

I first saw this book at the San Diego Comicon. It was in ARC form at the time. When asked by the nice person manning the table if we wanted any of the books spread out before us, my two siblings and I all pointed at this book. Response: "Any book but that one, that's the copy we're using to make the wiki page." Any other copies here? "Sorry, but no. You can have any other book here though." Well poo. After accepting our consolation books, I made note of the title...

Canticle, Ken Scholes

feeds@yuku.com (Sargai) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:53:59 GMT

The hardest reviews to write are for the books I love. This is an unfortunate truth, one that leaves me muttering and cursing as I once more hammer away at the backspace key. That these few reviews take the most out of me should come as no surprise. The time it takes for even the shortest review is easily double the length of time it takes to write any other and I am left to work against ever looking at them again because I know, deep down, that I will find some small...

The Somnabulist by Jonathan Barnes

feeds@yuku.com (Lady Fellshot) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:13:44 GMT

I'm of a very divided mind about this book.

On the one hand, I really liked the way it started. The narration was fun and pleasantly quirky. Somehow descriptions of horrible splatter deaths were made darkly amusing and terrible deeds lightly humorous. The prose style itself bore a very strong resemblance to Sarah Caudwell's, but possessed of much darker and stranger themes. I loved the writing style right off the bat.

The characters of Edward Moon and the...

Twilight Falling by Paul S. Kemp

feeds@yuku.com (travizzt) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:16:23 GMT

Twilight Falling by Paul S. Kemp- This is the first book in The Erevis Cale trilogy. The second book is, Dawn of Midnight, and the final book is Midnight's Mask. However, the first appearance of many of these characters are found in the Sembia: Gateway to the Realms

Contract, Simon Spurrier

feeds@yuku.com (Sargai) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:20:30 GMT

There are two authors that I discovered and became fans of long before I read any of their work, before I had any plans at all of reading their work. The first is Warren Ellis-the comics writer, not the musician-whom I found during one of those distracted hikes through the bowels of Wikipedia. For what may have been hours, maybe days, I absentmindedly clicked away at each and every link until I found this author who came to be known as the Internet Jesus. I became a fan...

The Best of the Realms: Volume One

feeds@yuku.com (travizzt) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:19:09 GMT

The Best of the Realms: Volume 1 edited by Philip Athans, J. Robert King, James Lowder, Brian M. Thomsen, and Lizz Baldwin- This Best of anthology was released in November of 2003 and takes the "best" of the short stories found within various Forgotten Realms anthologies. These anthologies include: Realms of Valor, Realms of Infamy, Realms of Magic,...

Windwalker by Elaine Cunningham

feeds@yuku.com (travizzt) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:14:59 GMT
Windwalker by Elaine Cunningham- This is the third and final book in the Starlight & Shadows trilogy. The first book is Daughter of the Drow and the second book is Tangled Webs. The events in this book take place directly after Tangled Webs.
...

The Ghost King, R.A. Salvatore

feeds@yuku.com (Sargai) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:27:08 GMT

The Ghost King is, if anything, extremely hard to review without giving away spoilers. They start very near to the beginning of the novel and continue until the bitter end-the very last words on the very last page. Avoiding them is like a very complicated dance, full of subtlety and grace and possibly a few acrobatic feats thrown into the mix just to up the difficulty. It should be noted that I cannot dance and have all the grace of an elephant in a tutu...

Tangled Webs by Elaine Cunningham

feeds@yuku.com (travizzt) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:23:15 GMT

Tangled Webs by Elaine Cunningham- This is the second book in the Starlight & Shadows trilogy. The first being Daughter of the Drow and the last being Windwalker. The events in this book take place directly after Daughter of the DrowDaughter of the Drow by Elaine Cunningham- This is the first book in the Starlight & Shadows trilogy. The second being Tangled Webs and Windwalker being the third. The events of the book take place after R. A. Salvatore's Siege of Darkness

Escape From Hell!, Hal Duncan

feeds@yuku.com (Sargai) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:38:01 GMT

This is not my first time reading Escape From Hell!. I first read the book shortly after its release back in December of 2008-ignore what the site says, it lies-and I loved it then. Since then the book has found itself in various locations around my room and finally received the honor of being placed on the top shelf. From this vantage point the novella has stared down at me, tempting me to meet the little monkey eyes at the base of its spine, and...

The Love We Share Without Knowing, Chistopher Barzak

feeds@yuku.com (Sargai) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:57:01 GMT

"Everything you think you know about the world isn't true. Nothing is real, it's all made up. We live in a world of illusion. I'm telling you this up front because I don't want you thinking this story is going to have a happy ending. It won't make any sense out of sadness. It won't redeem humanity in even a small sort of way."

These words introduce the novel to us. They begin the story of Elijah Fulton, an American...

Realms of the Deep edited by Philip Athans

feeds@yuku.com (travizzt) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:04:21 GMT

Realms of the Deep edited by Philip Athans was released in 1999. The anthology is comprised of twelve short stories written by Lynn Abbey, Elaine Cunningham, Peter Archer, Ed Greenwood, Richard Lee Byers, Clayton Emery, Mel Odom, Troy Denning, Larry Hobbs, Thomas M. Reid, Steven E. Schend, and Keith Francis Strohm. Also included is a calendar, telling the names of the various months in the Realms. This anthology goes...

The Child Thief by Brom

feeds@yuku.com (Sargai) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:12:36 GMT

As I sit here and stare into space, it dons on me that this is going to be a very difficult review to write. The release seemed to have come out of nowhere-a book written by an artist that I had scarcely heard of before. There was interest though, despite reading a short excerpt that left me rather uncertain of the whole thing. After reading the first chapter I felt the prose was workmanlike, a factor that can push me to put down a novel faster than anything else, but the...

The Innocent Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker book 1) by Karen Miller

feeds@yuku.com (Lady Fellshot) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:17:36 GMT
So, Innocent Mage has a few glaringly overdone plot hooks going on. However, they all seemed to peter out just before they got too obnoxious to me.

First up, the rustic coming to town and, through luck more than anything else, ends up in a position of power and influence. It's been done. A lot. Rustic is fleeing a bad home life? Check! Rustic becomes friend of some personage of political importance? Check! Nobles have hissy fits over rustic's new position? Check!...

Realms of Arcane edited by Brian M. Thomsen

feeds@yuku.com (travizzt) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:25:13 GMT
Realms of the Arcane edited by Brian M. Thomsen was released in 1997. This anthology has 10 short stories written by David Cook, Elaine Cunningham, Tom Dupree, J. Robert King, Mark Anthony, Monte Cook, Ed Greenwood, Philip Athans, Brian Thomsen, and Jeff Grubb. There is also a prologue, two interludes, and a epilogue that are written by Wes Nicholson, I will not comment on these except to give a basic overview of them. As you can guess, the stories...

A Shadow in Summer, Daniel Abraham

feeds@yuku.com (Sargai) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:27:04 GMT
It took me a rather long time to come to my senses and give this book a chance and I could kick myself for it. A Shadow in Summer is not your typical fantasy novel, you will not find sword fights, battles, or epic sorcery anywhere in its pages, nor will you find a farmboy lingering about waiting for some old fart to whisk him off to become savior of the world. Granted, that last bit is as stereotypical as it gets, but it still stands. What you will find in their place is...

Realms of the Underdark edited by J. Robert King

feeds@yuku.com (travizzt) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:45:02 GMT

Realms of the Underdark is edited by J. Robert King was released in 1996. This anthology has five short stories by Mark Anthony, Ed Greenwood, Elaine Cunningham, Roger E. Moore, and Brian M. Thomsen. Thomsen also writes the preface and the postscript. As you can guess, the stories written in here have to do with the Underdark and those who live there.

Preface: At the...

Realms of Magic edited by Brian Thomsen and J. Robert King

feeds@yuku.com (travizzt) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:57:17 GMT

Realms of Magic edited by Brian Thomsen and J. Robert King was released in 1995 and is currently out of print today (2009). This anthology has 17 short stories by R. A. Salvatore, Jeff Grubb, Mark Anthony, Christie Golden, Ed Greenwood, Dave Gross, Kate Novak- Grubb, Douglas Niles, Allen C. Kupfer, David Cook, Jean Rabe, Mary H, Herbert,...

Dazed Rambling

feeds@yuku.com (Sargai) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:27:23 GMT
Hey Folks, in the name of gratuitous self-promotion, I would like to mention that I have created a review blog. There is no telling how long it will keep my fancy, but this time around I am going to try and maintain it and push myself to create something worth reading. You will find a mix of novels there, most from fantasy, but a few from outside the genre and I am not limiting myself to newer releases. I...

Reader Reviews

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Canticle, Ken Scholes

The Somnabulist by Jonathan Barnes

Twilight Falling by Paul S. Kemp

Contract, Simon Spurrier

The Best of the Realms: Volume One

Windwalker by Elaine Cunningham

The Ghost King, R.A. Salvatore

Tangled Webs by Elaine Cunningham

Escape From Hell!, Hal Duncan

The Love We Share Without Knowing, Chistopher Barzak

Realms of the Deep edited by Philip Athans

The Child Thief by Brom

The Innocent Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker book 1) by Karen Miller

Realms of Arcane edited by Brian M. Thomsen

A Shadow in Summer, Daniel Abraham

Realms of the Underdark edited by J. Robert King

Realms of Magic edited by Brian Thomsen and J. Robert King

Dazed Rambling