Friday Face-Off: Horse
Posted on September 1, 2017 12 Comments
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“Being born in a stable does not make one a horse”
~ a cover featuring a HORSE
Mogsy’s Pick:
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
When I was a kid, I was obsessed about this book called Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry. What little girl doesn’t like a story about horses, am I right? Well, The Scorpio Races is a book for that inner little girl in all of us, all grown up. In this novel, people from all over the world would swarm to the small island of Thisby every November to see the famous Scorpio Races, an event where tourists and locals alike would place huge bets on the horses and their riders.
Thing is though, the horses here aren’t your usual Thoroughbreds or Appaloosas. Instead, the jockeys ride the capaill uisce, a breed of water horse native to Thisby. They’re also carnivorous predators, known to prey on livestock and other animals on the island. While their strength makes them fast mounts, their fierce aggression and unpredictable temperaments also means they have no qualms about attacking humans, and it is common for riders to die in accidents or attacks every year. Though our protagonist Kate “Puck” Connolly has had no experience with racing, she decides to sign up anyway, being the first female to ever do so. And instead of choosing to ride a capaill uisce, Puck also shocks the world by choosing to compete with Dove, her plain old regular dun mare.
There are a lot of covers for this book, so I’ve only picked the best to feature. Let’s take a look at them now:
First row, from left to right: Scholastic (Hardcover 2011) – Scholastic (Paperback 2011) – Scholastic (2013)
Scholastic (2017) – Italian (2012) – Polish(2012) – Spanish (2013)
Czech (2013) – French (2012) – German (2012)
Winner:
This was a tough week featuring a lot of strong covers, especially with my favorite color combo of red+black+white being the predominant theme. But at the end of the day, I think I’m going to have to go with the Scholastic 2013 edition. I’ve loved it ever since I first saw it, though I wish that Printz Honor badge didn’t distract so much from the gorgeous image.
What do you think? Which one is your favorite?
“Can’t Wait” Books of Late 2017
Posted on August 31, 2017 35 Comments
So maybe you’ve heard, but I love lists. My day-to-day life might not be as organized as I would like, but I do enjoy creating book lists and putting together reading schedules because I’m a bit of a nut when it comes to things like that. It also has the added benefit of focusing my attention to the “must-read” releases that I’m excited about, so why not? I made lists for Early and Mid-2017 after all, so I’ve decided to do it once more for the final four months of the year. So here we go, these are the Science Fiction and Fantasy titles I’m really looking forward to in the rest of 2017…or at least I’ve tried to narrow down the list! What’s on your late-2017 “Must-Read” TBR? Anything you think I missed?
September
September 1 to 3 – Star Wars: Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson
September 4 to 10 – Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff, The Glass Town Game by Catherynne M. Valente, A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan
September 11 to 17 – Magicians Impossible by Brad Abraham, The Twilight Pariah by Jeffrey Ford
September 18 to 24 – Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda
September 25 to 30 – Provenance by Ann Leckie, Paradox Bound by Peter Clines, An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson, An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard, Invictus by Ryan Graudin
October
October 1 to 7 – The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan, A Plague of Giants by Kevin Hearne, The Core by Peter V. Brett, 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough, Blackwing by Ed McDonald, The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera, The Genius Plague by David Walton
October 8 to 14 – The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear, Into the Bright Unknown by Rae Carson
October 15 to 21 – N/A
October 22 to 28 – The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso, The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
October 29 to 31 – Kill Creek by Scott Thomas
November
November 5 to 11 – Shadowborn by David Dalglish, Jade City by Fonda Lee, The Realms of God by Michael Livingston, The Speaker by Traci Chee
November 12 to 18 – Artemis by Andy Weir, Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, The Nine by Tracy Townsend
November 19 to 25 – N/A
November 26 to 30 – Weave a Circle Round by Kari Maaren
December
December 3 to 9 – The Disappearance of Winter’s Daughter by Michael J. Sullivan, Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey, The Fall of the Readers by Django Wexler
December 10 to 16 – Killman Creek by Rachel Caine
December 17 to 23 – N/A
December 24 to 31 – N/A
Waiting on Wednesday 08/30/17
Posted on August 30, 2017 14 Comments
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick
Killman Creek by Rachel Caine (December 12, 2017 by Thomas & Mercer)
Barely a month has passed since I read the first book, and the sequel already has a cover and synopsis! Good to know the novels of this series are on the fast track to being released, with Killman Creek set to drop this winter a mere five months after Stillhouse Lake. I love it when I don’t have long to wait, especially when it’s looking like this second installment will be just as intense and addictive as its predecessor.
“Every time Gwen closed her eyes, she saw him in her nightmares. Now her eyes are open, and he’s not going away.
Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text…
You’re not safe anywhere now.
Her refuge at Stillhouse Lake has become a trap. Gwen leaves her children in the protective custody of a fortified, well-armed neighbor. Now, with the help of Sam Cade, brother of one of Melvin’s victims, Gwen is going hunting. She’s learned how from one of the sickest killers alive.
But what she’s up against is beyond anything she feared—a sophisticated and savage mind game calculated to destroy her. As trust beyond her small circle of friends begins to vanish, Gwen has only fury and vengeance to believe in as she closes in on her prey. And sure as the night, one of them will die.”
Book Review: An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors by Curtis Craddock
Posted on August 29, 2017 25 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors by Curtis Craddock
Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of The Risen Kingdoms
Publisher: Tor (August 29, 2017)
Length: 384 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
An Alchemy of Masques and Shadows turned out to an incredible surprise and one of the most engrossing reads I’ve had in a long time. In truth though, I hadn’t known what to make of the novel’s description when it first crossed my path. Its story’s scattered allusions initially prompted me to approach this one with a wariness I usually reserve for unknown quantities, but ultimately this mishmash of genre elements ended up being one of my favorite aspects of the book. There seems to be something for everyone, whether it’s science fiction, fantasy, historicals, steampunk or action and adventure that tickles your fancy.
The story predominantly follows two characters: Jean-Claude, a stouthearted and valiant musketeer who must nonetheless act the drunken fool in order to protect Princess Isabelle, who hails from a powerful family of sorcerers despite possessing no magical aptitude of her own. Their fates first collided on the day of Isabelle’s birth, when the discovery of her congenitally deformed hand almost led her to be killed on the spot. Only through Jean-Claude’s intervention was her life spared, and from that moment on, the musketeer became something of a surrogate parent for the princess.
As Isabelle grew up, her real father was cold and cruel towards her, disappointed in her disability and lack of magic. By trying to force her powers to manifest, he ended up destroying the mind of Isabelle’s best friend Marie, who became a “bloodshadow” after his traumatic magical assault on her psyche. Nevertheless, Isabelle found other ways to flourish, finding joy in secretly studying science and mathematics, two fields that are forbidden to women. She has even conducted her own research, publishing works under a male pseudonym. The only one who knows about this is Jean-Claude, who has looked out for Isabelle for years, making sure she is well-protected from those who see her deformity as proof that she is evil, or cursed.
Jean-Claude’s job is about to get more complicated, however, when one day a half-human-half-clockwork messenger arrives with a missive from the Kingdom of Aragoth, whose Prince Julio has asked for Isabelle’s hand in marriage. Not only are the politics behind the arrangement messy, with a high threat of assassination attempts and other dangers, things in Aragoth are also very different from Jean-Claude and Isabelle’s home of the Isle del Zephyrs in l’Empire Céleste. Instead of using blood-based systems of magic, the sorcerers of Aragoth are Glasswalkers who can pass in and out of mirrors.
Musketeers, Bloodshadows, clockwork cyborgs, Glasswalkers, airships and floating islands…is there anything this book doesn’t have? And as if that wasn’t enough, in the middle of all this is also a disorienting jumble of court intrigue and deadly politics. At certain points, this avalanche of information almost got to be too confusing, too much to take. And yet, just before my brain could short out like an overloaded circuit, Craddock started bringing it all together. Massive in scope and imagination, the world of The Risen Kingdoms became more immersive and real to me the longer I stayed in it. As evidenced from some of the naming conventions, the author draws a lot of inspiration from European history, but most of everything in this story is completely fresh and new.
Also, I can’t tell you what a breath of fresh air it is to read a book where the heroine actually SHOWS readers how smart, strong and capable she is through her actions, as opposed to having the text TELL us again and again—which is never as effective as authors might think. A lot of debuts tend to fall into this trap, but I’m glad this book managed to employ “Show, Don’t Tell” by allowing us to develop a connection to Isabelle through experiencing her actions, words, and feelings instead of resorting to unwieldy exposition. To wit, she stood out to me without the narrative having to idealize her character or use any “Chosen One” clichés, not to mention Isabelle being an overall worthy protagonist also allowed me to sympathize with Jean-Claude’s fierce loyalty towards her. She’s someone who earns the respect and admiration of those around her, and this in turn made it easier for me to root for her too.
Evocative and creatively imagined, An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors is a gorgeously written debut encompassing a splendid mix of speculative genre elements. Lovable characters made this one a joy to read, not to mention my delight at how almost every page would bring something new and awe-inspiring about the world to the table. If you haven’t made reading this a priority yet, you should get on that right away. As a series opener, this book made a huge impression on me, and I can’t wait to see where the story will go next.
Book Review: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
Posted on August 28, 2017 18 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 1 of Bobiverse
Publisher: Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency (April 14, 2017)
Length: 308 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Every time I go to Audible my account page is always bombarding my recommended list with this one, and well, it’s hard not to be curious when the book’s page is filled with literally tens of thousands of five star reviews. I figured it was high time to find out what all the fuss was about, and am I glad I did! For those of you who have already been initiated into We Are Legion (We Are Bob) fan club, I beg your forgiveness for being skeptical at first, but can you blame me? This whole time, I’d been going on what was written in the arguably bland and generic publisher description, which—I have to stress—is not a good reflection of the story AT ALL. Trust me, this book is so much more.
Meet Bob Johansson, who has just sold off his software company and is looking to take his new fortune to a service offering their clients the option to cryogenically freeze themselves in the event of their deaths. You can probably guess where this is headed. Sure enough, while enjoying his new life of freedom and leisure at a convention in Las Vegas, Bob gets distracted while crossing the street and—BAM! Pain and blackness is the last thing he remembers before waking up more than a century later to discover that he is now an artificial intelligence created from a brain scan of his consciousness. The country has turned into a theocracy which has declared that replicants like Bob are without rights. He is also now the property of a government program developing a self-replicating interstellar von Neumann probe with the goal of exploring the galaxy. If all goes well, Bob will be uploaded into the probe and sent on journey into space to look for habitable planets.
Unfortunately, the mission will be dangerous. Other nations have the same idea and are all in competition with each other, and indeed a large chunk of the book involves Bob’s run-ins with his Brazilian replicant counterpart who is following the same directive from his handlers. As Bob travels deeper into space, he also begins to realize the need for more processing power, leading him to clone himself multiple times in order to distribute all his responsibilities. And thus, we end up with a “legion” of Bobs, each one going about their own way and chronicling their own adventures in deep space.
This is sci-fi done in a way I’ve never really seen before. While the tone of the narrative is familiar, with its snarky humor and heavy infusion of geek pop culture jokes, the story and the characters and the worlds feel different and fresh. Like a funnier, more action-oriented version of The Long Way to A Small Angry Planet, it is presented in a format that feels almost episodic and digressive, but I was surprised to find I didn’t mind the divergent plotlines too much. Mostly, this was because of how fun it was to follow all the “Bobs”. Dennis E. Taylor has turned what could have been a lonely tale about a solo space explorer into an uproariously entertaining experience filled with many vibrant and unique personalities. The characters in this book are all one person—but they are also not. The story actually makes it a point to emphasize that the Bobs are distinct individuals, each possessing different aspects of the original.
The plot was also very clever and dynamic. Admittedly, I didn’t really care for the first few chapters, finding Bob aloof, standoffish and unlikeable. Little did I know though, this was intentional set-up for the later parts of the novel. Bob eventually learns some interesting lessons about his identity and his life, which I suppose comes with the territory of interacting with multiple versions of yourself. In fact, despite the tensions involved during the earlier parts of the book involving the development phase of the space probe and Bob’s training, I didn’t feel that things took off until well into the story—right around the same time he started replicating himself, which shouldn’t be too surprising given how so much of this book’s awesomeness is directly related to the shenanigans of the many Bobs. I won’t ruin it by going into details, but I adored following Riker, Bill, Homer, and all of the others (each iteration of Bob gets to choose their own names, most based on their favorite childhood TV shows and interests growing up int the 90’s) along on their respective adventures.
Consider me a new fan and follower of the Legion of Bob! Having finished this book and seen for myself what it’s all about, I can understand now why the popularity of this book blew up in such a short time. I highly recommend taking a look for yourself, especially if you enjoy space opera or sci-fi comedy that manages to be both smart and funny. I can’t wait to dive into the next book.
Audiobook Review: Minecraft: The Island by Max Brooks
Posted on August 27, 2017 13 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Minecraft: The Island by Max Brooks
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy, Media Tie-In
Series: Book 1/Stand Alone
Publisher: Random House Audio (July 18, 2017)
Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator: Jack Black
I never thought I’d see a book like this, brought to us by the author of World War Z no less. A month ago, if you had floated me the idea of a Minecraft novel adaptation, I would have laughed and said it would never fly. I mean, what would it even be about? Won’t it just end up being a three-hundred-page instruction manual on how to play the game?
Well, apparently yes and no. This “first and only official Minecraft novel”, trumpets the publisher blurb, tells the story of a hero stranded on an island based in the Minecraft world. The book starts off with our unnamed protagonist (whom I will refer to as “he” since I listened to the version of the audiobook narrated by Jack Black) coming to consciousness in a freaky new reality where everything—the land, the trees, the animals, the sun, and even the character’s own body—is made up of square blocks. This shouldn’t be too hard to picture in your mind, if you’re familiar with Minecraft, though if you’re not, then this book—not to mention the rest of this review—is probably going to sound very strange.
Reading this story, I flashed back to early 2010 which was when I was first exposed to Minecraft. The game was in Alpha phase at this point, very early in its development cycle, and the only mode available was Survival where players must collect resources, build shelter, fend off hostile mobs, and manage your health and hunger in order to survive. Like the character in this novel, you literally started with nothing but the clothes on your back. To flourish and thrive, you had to explore and gather raw materials which can in turn be used to craft other items like tools, weapons, and furniture. At night, you wanted to be safely ensconced in a well-lit shelter because that’s when monsters like zombies would spawn, which our protagonist discovers to his horror and dismay. This book is essentially the story of his experience and serves as a proxy for a new player who might be seeing this confusing and disorienting game world for the first time—except, of course, there are no game guides or online wikis to help him out.
As surprised as I am to admit it, Minecraft: The Island ended up being very good. Much of the enjoyment came from listening to the audiobook, I am sure (which I will go into later), but I was overall quite impressed with how the author managed to dramatize the new player experience, making even the most mundane tasks feel like a race against time. Brooks also did a great job capturing the spirit of the game, perfectly portraying that giddy sense of excitement whenever you make a new discovery, or even that satisfying feeling of accomplishment when you survive your first night without being killed by a zombie.
For a story based on a desert island scenario, the tone of the narrative was also much more enthusiastic and upbeat than I expected. Thanks to unconventional personalities like Moo the cow and other barnyard animals that our protagonist befriends (hey, it sure beats talking to an inanimate volleyball), we avoid the usual problems involving loneliness and tedium. As this book is geared towards children and young adults, the humor we get is light and clean, though I’m also confident that readers of all ages will be able to appreciate the story’s universal themes. The table of contents, which ostensibly reads like a list of guidelines to help you succeed in Minecraft, show chapter headings like “Never Give Up”, “Details Make The Difference”, “Take Life In Steps”, “Take Care of Your Environment So It Can Take Care Of You”, “It’s Not Failure That Matters, But How You Recover”, or “Books Make the World Better”—all good lessons that can be applied to the real world, no matter how old you are.
Bottom line, Minecraft fans will undoubtedly get the most out of this, but it would also be a shame to dismiss it out of hand. Having sunk plenty of hours into this game back in Alpha, reading Minecraft: The Island was a nice shot of nostalgia, with the main character’s challenges reminding me lot of those early days where no one really knew what was going on and any progress was made mostly through experimentation and sheer dumb luck. Overall, I thought this was a fun little book filled with tons of game lore and Minecraft-y goodness—along with a surprising amount of introspection, which is always a nice bonus.
Audiobook Comments: The audiobook for Minecraft: The Island comes in two versions—one narrated by Jack Black, the other narrated by Samira Wiley. Since the protagonist is undefined by gender, this allows the reader/listener to select their own “character”, so to speak. I personally went with the Jack Black version because I love his work as an actor and comedian, and it was a choice I did not regret at all. His energy was a great fit for Max Brook’s humor and writing style, and his voice acting really took the story to a whole new level. I also liked how the audiobook incorporated sounds from the game, and though the music could get a bit loud and distracting at times, I doubt I would have enjoyed myself as much if they hadn’t included these nice little touches. Indeed I am happy that I decided to go with the audiobook, and I would not hesitate to recommend this format to anyone thinking of checking out the novel.
Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Posted on August 26, 2017 48 Comments
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every other weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I round up what I’ve read since the last update and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.
I’m back home now, after spending a week on Cape Code to visit family. There was a lot of beach time, like you’d expect. And of course I got almost no reading done – also like you’d expect. Needless to say, my visions of being able to stretch out on the warm sand while basking in the sun with my nose in a book were swiftly replaced with the reality of chasing after my kids all day long, making sure they didn’t get into any trouble. On the other hand, I was quite productive when it came to audiobooks, thanks to the hours of listening time on the long drives there and back. Hopefully it won’t take too long for things to ease back into their normal schedule now that I’m home, because there will be another big shakeup to my routine once September rolls around and my oldest starts kindergarten. Time sure flies, doesn’t it!
Received for Review
Thank you to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received. For more details and full descriptions of the books, be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages!
When I came home there were a few surprise packages waiting for me. Inside one of them was Jade City by Fonda Lee which is actually a book I’ve been looking forward to, so I couldn’t have been more pleased to get a copy, with thanks to Orbit Books! Inside another was a finished copy of The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter courtesy of Crown Publishing. In case you missed it, I reviewed this official sequel to The War of the Worlds earlier this week, and you check it out here. Next up is an ARC of The Sky is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith from the awesome folks at Hogarth Publishing. I hadn’t heard of this one before, so I looked it up right away, discovering that the story is a bit of an oddball mix of epic fantasy and sci-fi dystopian. With that quirky cover calling to me, I think I’m going to have to give this book a shot. Apparently, it also has dragons!
From the wonderful team at Tor Books, I also received a treasure trove of new books this week. First up is Playing to the Gods by Melanie Rawn which unfortunately is listed as the fifth and final book in her Glass Thorns series and I haven’t read any of the previous installments. Since Rawn is an author I’ve wanted to read for a long time though, I know I’ll eventually find a good jumping on point to try her work. I also received a finished copy of An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors by Curtis Craddock, which I’ve already read and LOVED! Be sure to keep an eye out for my review in a few days! And I was also thrilled to receive a finished copy of The Dinosaur Princess by Victor Milán, book three in the Dinosaur Lords sequence. I’m still enjoying this series, but things got a little shaky in the last book so I’m hoping the story will pick up again in this one.
The Tor Books haul continues with a couple of their titles from their Tor Teen imprint. Ferocious by Paula Stokes is sequel to last year’s Vicarious which I have not gotten the chance to read yet so I’ll have to catch up before diving into this one. I also received a surprise ARC of The Dark Intercept by Julia Keller, a YA sci-fi dystopian which admittedly sounds a bit derivative from its description, but I’m nonetheless very curious to try it.
And speaking of books I want to try, The Castle in Cassiopeia by Mike Resnick is the third novel in the author’s military sci-fi series called Dead Enders. I don’t know if I’ll ever catch up with previous books considering the amount of reading already on my plate, but I’m definitely going to keep them on the list. Next up is an ARC of The Nine by Tracy Townsend, a book I’m highly anticipating. It’s on my must-read list for this fall, so I’m sure you’ll be hearing me talk more about it in the coming months. With thanks to Pyr Books for the review copies!
An finally, rounding out my new arrivals in the mail this week are a couple of unexpected but drool-worthy ARCs courtesy of Thomas Dunne Books. One of Us Will be Dead by Morning by David Moody caught my attention with its title right away, but the description is even more intriguing. The thing is, the book is listed on Goodreads as the fourth novel in the Hater sequence, though I’ve also heard the first three books called the “original trilogy”, implying this might be a standalone or start of a sequel series. If it turns out I can jump on board right here, then you can be sure that I will. Last but not least is Glass Town by Steven Savile, a novel of magic pitched as “reminiscent of Clive Barker’s Weaveworld and Neil Gaiman’s American Gods.” The author has also been a writer for popular TV shows such as Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Stargate, so I have a feeling that this book, described as his US debut, should be very interesting!
Moving on to the digital book haul, I was emailed about The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan earlier this week, and after researching it a bit, I found that I could not resist its gorgeous description and decided to accept it for review. From NetGalley, my request for The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert was also approved this week, to my absolute joy and delight. A couple of YA digital ARCs also came in from Edelweiss, first An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson and then Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre, both of which are books I’m champing at the bit to read. With thanks to Harper Voyager, Flatiron Books, Margaret K. McElderry Books, and Katherine Tegen Books for the review copies.
I was also happy when I heard that the audiobook of The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis will finally be released at the end of this month. My thanks to Macmillan Audio for offering me a chance to review it. Another audiobook that caught my eye was Warcross by Marie Lu, an upcoming YA release that has been getting tons of buzz lately. I decided to check it out, with thanks to Listening Library for the review copy. And with the finale approaching for the serial Geek Actually by Cathy Yardley, Melissa Blue, Cecilia Tan, Rachel Stuhler, I was recently contacted by the publisher Serial Box with an opportunity to review the entire first season in audio, which I gratefully accepted. This series has been on my radar for a long time, but as with all serialized releases I always prefer to binge the entire thing in one go, so I’m fantastically excited that I’m soon going to be able to do so with this one.
Reviews
A quick look at the reviews I’ve posted since the last update:
Swarm and Steel by Michael R. Fletcher (4 of 5 stars)
Raid by K.S. Merbeth (4 of 5 stars)
The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst (4 of 5 stars)
The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark (4 of 5 stars)
Ash and Quill by Rachel Caine (3.5 of 5 stars)
The Heart of Stone by Ben Galley (3.5 of 5 stars)
The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter (3 of 5 stars)
House of Furies by Madeleine Roux (3 of 5 stars)
Dreamfall by Amy Plum (2.5 of 5 stars)
The Space Between the Stars by Anne Corlett (2.5 of 5 stars)
What I’ve Read Since the Last Update
Here’s what I’ve “unstacked” from the TBR recently. Reviews are coming soon!
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read! Let me know what you plan on checking out. Until next time, see you next Roundup!
Friday Face-Off: Insect
Posted on August 25, 2017 24 Comments
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“If I be waspish, best beware my sting”
~ a cover featuring an INSECT
Mogsy’s Pick:
Abomination by Gary Whitta
I have a confession to make. You see, I’m a bit squeamish when it comes to bugs. They’re icky and give me the creeps. So this week I figured, what better way to celebrate this week’s Friday Face-Off theme than with a horror novel?
Abomination is a historical tale of terror following Wulfric, a former knight who has fallen far from grace. Once the greatest soldier and former confidante of King Alfred the Great, he now lives in the shadows, wandering the English countryside dressed in rags and chains. Fifteen years ago, he fought to rid his kingdom of a plague of monstrous beasts known as abominations, and for his troubles he was cursed with a fate worse than death.
Any more than this, I’m not going to say; I’ll just leave you all to speculate as to why the insect featured on these covers is a giant scarab…
First row, from left to right: Inkshares (2015) – Portuguese: DarkSide Books (2017) – Spanish: Tusquets (2017)
Winner:
I love all three covers, to be honest. Each version does a great job portraying the eerie and disturbing nature of the story, but if I had to choose just one, I would probably go with the Portuguese edition as the winner. I’ve always thought the Inkshares cover is a little too dark, making it hard to see the detail on the scarab, and while I really like the Spanish edition, the imagery of the roots or veins or whatever they are just isn’t as eye-catching as the Portuguese edition featuring the black of the beetle and the red of the blood on a white background. This happens to be one of my favorite color combinations, and it’s easy to see why – the results are very striking.
What do you think? Which one is your favorite?
Book Review: Swarm and Steel by Michael R. Fletcher
Posted on August 24, 2017 19 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Swarm and Steel by Michael R. Fletcher
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: A novel of Manifest Delusions
Publisher: Talos (August 22, 2017)
Length: 352 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
You know the saying, “That’s so crazy, it might just work?” Well, this is definitely true of Michael R. Fletcher’s latest Manifest Delusions novel. Featuring a new standalone tale, Swarm and Steel brings readers back to this world in which magic is insanity and the more deranged you are the more powerful you get. This, my lovelies, is the realm of the Geisteskranken, home to those whose delusions are made real.
The protagonist of this story is a woman named Zerfall, whose abilities are unique even in a world full of strange and uncanny Geisteskranken. Upon waking up in a dark alley, she does not remember how she got there, or anything about her past, for that matter. All she knows is that someone has sent an assassin on her trail, leading to a harrowing chase which ultimately ends in the desert with Zerfall gravely wounded and fighting for her life. But in her struggles to survive, she’s also starting to overcome her amnesia, with snippets of memories coming back slowly but surely. She remembers almost killing her sister Hölle by putting a blade through her belly, though she cannot exactly recall why she wanted to kill the other woman (and trust me when I say that finding out the answer to this question is the fun part).
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the desert, a young man named Jateko is fleeing for his life after accidentally killing another member of his own tribe. Mad from hunger and thirst after being hunted across the wastes by the victim’s vengeful kin, Jateko chances to stumble upon Zerfall, thus kicking off one of the most bizarre and eerie relationships I’ve ever come across in a fantasy novel. Teaming up, they decide to travel back to the city on a dead horse (yes, I said a dead horse) to confront Hölle, who currently oversees the Täuschung, a religious sect founded by the two sisters. Zerfall believes she must completely destroy the Täuschung in order to undermine Hölle’s power, and Jateko is all too willing to help. Completely smitten with Zerfall, he vows he will defeat and cannibalize their enemies in order to grow stronger, the better to fight by her side.
If you read that last bit and thought to yourself, “What the fuck?”…well, I don’t blame you. I have to hand it to Fletcher. His ability to come up with the most crazy and messed up scenarios never ceases to amaze me, and I genuinely mean that as a compliment! Having read his other Manifest Delusions novels, I thought I had seen it all, but somehow Fletcher always manages to raise the bar on himself and surpass it with every new book. If you’re a fan though, you probably know this already. Swarm and Steel is certainly not for the squeamish, even for readers accustomed to the grimdarkest of grimdark, but if you enjoyed Beyond Redemption and The Mirror’s Truth, then returning to this world will likely be as enjoyable for you as it was for me.
Still, since we follow a new cast of characters in this story, if you’re a newcomer to the world, there’s no need to read the other Manifest Delusions novels before jumping in—though prior experience with the setting will probably make things a little less overwhelming and disorienting, especially given the little references to the previous books you’ll find here and there. Learning about the different types of delusions and picking up the terminology will come in time though, as the narrative sets up backstories for both Zerfall and Jateko. Admittedly, the two of them are no Bedeckt, Stehlen, and Wichtig—our new protagonists don’t have quite the same amount of synergy in their dynamic as the original trio from Beyond Redemption—but their interplay was fascinating to watch all the same. Fletcher is flexing his writing muscles here, trying out new characters and developing new forms of relationships, and I also loved how this allowed for more unique circumstances and opportunities for action and dark humor. In time, I found myself gradually warming up to Zerfall and Jateko in spite of their unusual bond.
As always, Michael R. Fletcher’s talent for characterization makes his work stand out from everything else this genre has to offer, not to mention the sheer depth of his imagination—which is as formidable as it can be frightening sometimes! All this makes him one of my must-read authors, and I would enthusiastically recommend Manifest Delusions to all avid readers of grimdark or dark fantasy, with a guarantee that they’ll be like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Waiting on Wednesday 08/23/17
Posted on August 23, 2017 17 Comments
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick
Deadlands: Boneyard by Seanan McGuire (October 17, 2017 by Tor Books)
Oh, you know how much I love my tie-in novels. Even though I’ve had no experience with the Deadlands RPG personally, the prospect of a story based in a fantasy western world is something that I just can’t resist. As a bonus, this book is also penned by none other than Seanan Mcguire, who will undoubtedly do the Weird West horror setting justice. And the best part is, like the other books in the series, it’ll be a standalone.
“The newest book based on the hit Weird West RPG franchise Deadlands!
Step right up to see the oddities and marvels of The Blackstone Family Circus and Travelling Wonder Show! Gasp at pit wasps the size of a man’s forearm. Beware the pumpkin-headed corn stalker, lest it plant its roots in you!
Annie Pearl is the keeper of oddities, the mistress of monsters. Her unique collection of creatures is one of the circus’s star attractions, drawing wide-eyed crowds at every small frontier town they visit. But Annie is also a woman running from her past . . . and the mother of a mute young daughter, Adeline, whom she will do anything to protect.
Hoping to fill its coffers before winter sets in, the circus steers its wagons to The Clearing, a remote community deep in the Oregon wilderness, surrounded by an ominous dark wood. Word is that a traveling show can turn a tidy profit at The Clearing, but there are whispers, too, of unexplained disappearances that afflict one out of every four shows that pass through the town.
The Clearing has it secrets, and so does Annie. And it may take everything she has to save her daughter―and the circus―from both.”
The BiblioSanctum 