Blood Song: Book 1 of Raven's Shadow: Amazon.co.uk: Anthony Ryan: Books. Chung Kuo Re-release Series. Top 25 Best Fantasy Books. This one is full to the brim with gritty, amoral, cynical dark humor.
A different sort of fantasy, but one that's extremely refreshing, disturbing, and entertaining -- one of the best fantasy reads to come out the past couple years. Even as we near 2015, The Prince of Thorns still stands tall among other strong fantasy books. For a dark, gritty, anti-hero driven fantasy, I felt strong Abercrombie vibes. There's a strong influence from A Game of Thrones -- and if you've ever read KJ Parker's The Engineer trilogy, you'll see some similarities in the tone and style of world. The setting of the world is interesting too, a sort of post-apocalypse world gone to hell that sparks similarities to Jack Vance's Dying Earth world. This is the brutal story of Prince Jorg, a teenage princeling who abandoned his father's castle after witnessing the murder of his mother and brother.
The narration is first person and well done at that -- I haven't been so entertained by first person narration in ages. Brandon Sanderson (Author of Mistborn) Brandon’s major books for the beginning of 2016 are The Bands of Mourning , the sixth Mistborn novel, and Calamity , the finale of the Reckoners trilogy.
He also released his longest novella yet, Mistborn: Secret History , which explores behind the scenes of the original Mistborn Trilogy and thus is filled with spoilers for those three books; it also has some spoilers for The Bands of Mourning. Brandon Sanderson was born in 1975 in Lincoln, Nebraska. As a child Brandon enjoyed reading, but he lost interest in the types of titles often suggested to him, and by junior high he never cracked a book if he could help it. This changed when an eighth grade teacher gave him Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. The Book Plank: Angel Stations. Angel Stations by Gary Gibson Eons ago, a super-scientific culture known as "Angels" left incomprehensible relics all over the galaxy.
Among these phenomena were the Stations, whereby human spacecraft could jump instantly from one part of the galaxy to another, and from them the brilliant Angel technology could be explored and exploited. One of these stations orbits the planet Kaspar, where the only other known sentient species outside Earth has been meticulously allowed to continue evolving in its own world of primitive ignorance. But suddenly Kaspar's mysterious "Citadel" has become the vital key to repelling the fast-approaching threat. At what cost, though, to its native inhabitants—and to the human residents of the orbiting Angel station?
There are quite a few well known names that represent the current sci-fi scene, but I for one hadn't heard of the author Gary Gibson and his books. Read a sample from FORTUNE'S PAWN by Rachel Bach. Read a sample from FORTUNE’S PAWN by Rachel Bach Fans of Firefly and Elizabeth Moon will lap up this action-packed military science fiction series.
Welcome to the start of a thrilling new space adventure, starring female mercenary Deviana Morris . . . You’re quitting the Blackbirds?” The shock in Anthony’s voice was at odds with the finger he was languidly sliding over my naked back. “Why? “That’s why,” I said, swatting his finger away as I pulled on my shirt. Feast and Famine by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Ranging from the deep space hard SF of the title story (originally in Solaris Rising 2) to the high fantasy of “The Sun in the Morning” (a Shadows of the Apt tale originally featured in Deathray magazine), from the Peter S Beagle influenced “The Roar of the Crowd” (original to this collection) to the supernatural Holmes-esque intrigue of “The Dissipation Club” (first published in the anthology Dead But Dreaming 2), Feast and Famine delivers a dazzling array of quality short stories that traverse the entire genre.
Ten stories in all, five of which appear here for the very first time. Contents:1. Introduction2. Feast & Famine3. ColBuchanan.com - a site for the written imaginings of the author. Shadows of the Apt. Ursula K. Le Guin (Author of A Wizard of Earthsea) Civilian Reader: Upcoming: “Fortune’s Pawn”, “Honour’s Knight” & “Heaven’s Queen” by Rachel Bach (Orbit) Civilian Reader: Guest Post: “Nine books, Six Years, One Stenwold Maker” by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor) In this guest post, Adrian Tchaikovsky looks back on the nine books in his Shadows of the Apt series available to date (the tenth and final book in the series, Seal of the Worm, will be published next year, by Tor UK).
“Nine books, Six Years, One Stenwold Maker” by Adrian Tchaikovsky It seems a lot longer ago than 2008 when the first of the Shadows of the Apt books came out. Maybe it’s that the actual setting and a lot of the characters, most definitely including War Master Maker, came from a role-playing campaign I ran back in the early 90’s, and have been rattling about in my head ever since. But mostly I think it’s just the very different pace my life has had ever since the first book got taken up by Tor UK. Ten books. Civilian Reader: Interview with ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shadows of the Apt series has one of the most interesting fantasy settings I’ve come across.
Sadly, I’ve not read beyond the first, excellent, Empire in Black and Gold, but I fully intend to catch up on the rest. Given Adrian’s impressive productivity, though, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to truly catch up. And that will be absolutely ok by me. I have wanted to interview Adrian for a while, and I am very happy to share with you his thoughts on writing, his novels, and also his contribution to the post-Hurricane Sandy charity anthology, Triumph Over Tragedy.
Let’s ease into things: Who is Adrian Tchaikovsky? I’m a fantasy author who first saw print in 2008 with Empire in Black and Gold, the start of my Shadows of the Apt series that is still ongoing, and I have a slew of short stories out there in various anthologies as well. I wanted to start with your contribution to the Triumph Over Tragedy anthology. “Spoils of War” is set in the same world as my series. Civilian Reader: “Steelheart” by Brandon Sanderson (Gollancz/Delacorte) When Superheroes Go Bad… Ten years ago, Calamity came.
It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. I’m going to keep this review pretty short. Superhero villains! There’s a pecking order to the Epics, based on their broad range of abilities, as well as how many they have.
I liked the idea of our (non-super-)hero, David, being there when Steelheart bled. Sanderson’s prose, as anyone familiar with his work would expect, is very well-crafted. If you like super-hero fiction and comic books, or are a fan of Brandon Sanderson, or even if you’re just a fan of science-fiction and speculative fiction, then Steelheart should certainly entertain. Recommended. Civilian Reader. GoodReads.