More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Labyrinth of the Spirits for only 1.66$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

The internationally acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author returns to the magnificent universe he constructed in his bestselling novels The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel’s Game, and The Prisoner of Heaven in this riveting series finale—a heart-pounding thriller and nail-biting work of suspense which introduces a sexy, seductive new heroine whose investigation shines a light on the dark history of Franco’s Spain.

In this unforgettable final volume of Ruiz Zafón’s cycle of novels set in the universe of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, beautiful and enigmatic Alicia Gris, with the help of the Sempere family, uncovers one of the most shocking conspiracies in all Spanish history.

Nine-year-old Alicia lost her parents during the Spanish Civil War when the Nacionales (the fascists) savagely bombed Barcelona in 1938. Twenty years later, she still carries the emotional and physical scars of that violent and terrifying time. Weary of her work as an investigator for Spain’s secret police in Madrid, a job she has held for more than a decade, the twenty-nine-year old plans to move on. At the insistence of her boss, Leandro Montalvo, she remains to solve one last case: the mysterious disappearance of Spain’s Minister of Culture, Mauricio Valls.

With her partner, the intimidating policeman Juan Manuel Vargas, Alicia discovers a possible clue—a rare book by the author Victor Mataix hidden in Valls’ office in his Madrid mansion. Valls was the director of the notorious Montjuic Prison in Barcelona during World War II where several writers were imprisoned, including David Martín and Victor Mataix. Traveling to Barcelona on the trail of these writers, Alicia and Vargas meet with several booksellers, including Juan Sempere, who knew her parents.

As Alicia and Vargas come closer to finding Valls, they uncover a tangled web of kidnappings and murders tied to the Franco regime, whose corruption is more widespread and horrifying than anyone imagined. Alicia’s courageous and uncompromising search for the truth puts her life in peril. Only with the help of a circle of devoted friends will she emerge from the dark labyrinths of Barcelona and its history into the light of the future.

In this haunting new novel, Carlos Ruiz Zafón proves yet again that he is a masterful storyteller and pays homage to the world of books, to his ingenious creation of the Cemetery of Forgotten, and to that magical bridge between literature and our lives.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Mark Lawrence's One Word Kill for only 2.49$ through the following Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale. The Impossible Times trilogy is the series that ties everything else Lawrence has written together, so you don't want to miss out on it!

Even better, the second volume, Limited Wish, is 2.49$, and the final volume, Dispel Illusion, is 1.99$. So you can download the entire series for about 7$!

Here's the blurb:

In January 1986, fifteen-year-old boy-genius Nick Hayes discovers he’s dying. And it isn’t even the strangest thing to happen to him that week.

Nick and his Dungeons and Dragons-playing friends are used to living in their imaginations. But when a new girl, Mia, joins the group and reality becomes weirder than the fantasy world they visit in their weekly games, none of them are prepared for what comes next. A strange—yet curiously familiar—man is following Nick, with abilities that just shouldn’t exist. And this man bears a cryptic message: Mia’s in grave danger, though she doesn’t know it yet. She needs Nick’s help—now.

He finds himself in a race against time to unravel an impossible mystery and save the girl. And all that stands in his way is a probably terminal disease, a knife-wielding maniac and the laws of physics.

Challenge accepted.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Alan Smale's Clash of Eagles for only 3.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This is a great series that deserve more attention. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale. At this low price, it's the best time to give it a shot!

Here's the blurb:

Perfect for fans of action-adventure and historical fiction—including novels by such authors as Bernard Cornwell, Steve Berry, Naomi Novik, and Harry Turtledove—this stunning work of alternate history imagines a world in which the Roman Empire has not fallen and the North American continent has just been discovered. In the year 1218 AD, transported by Norse longboats, a Roman legion crosses the great ocean, enters an endless wilderness, and faces a cataclysmic clash of worlds, cultures, and warriors.

Ever hungry for land and gold, the Emperor has sent Praetor Gaius Marcellinus and the 33rd Roman Legion into the newly discovered lands of North America. Marcellinus and his men expect easy victory over the native inhabitants, but on the shores of a vast river the Legion clashes with a unique civilization armed with weapons and strategies no Roman has ever imagined.

Forced to watch his vaunted force massacred by a surprisingly tenacious enemy, Marcellinus is spared by his captors and kept alive for his military knowledge. As he recovers and learns more about these proud people, he can’t help but be drawn into their society, forming an uneasy friendship with the denizens of the city-state of Cahokia. But threats—both Roman and Native—promise to assail his newfound kin, and Marcellinus will struggle to keep the peace while the rest of the continent surges toward certain conflict.


You can also get your hands on the digital edition of Hal Duncan's Sodom/New Sodom for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link.

Here's the blurb:

Collecting twelve new works from the author of Vellum, Ink, Testament, and Songs for the Devil and Death, this chapbook takes the razing of Sodom as origin myth for all queers, gathers its toolkits from all corners of verse and song, old and new, to forge a passionate call to arms, a manifesto for art in the face of loss and surl.


You can also download Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Forging the Darksword, first volume in the Darksword trilogy, for only 3.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link.

Here's the blurb:

From the bestselling authors of The Rose of the Prophet and The Death Gate Cycle, the first in a majestic saga of magic, fantasy, and adventure.

In the enchanted realm of Merilon, magic is life.

Born without magical abilities and denied his birthright, Joram is left for dead. Yet he grows to manhood in a remote country village, hiding his lack of powers only through constant vigilance and ever more skillful sleight-of-hand.

Forced to kill a man in self-defense, Joram can keep his secret from the townspeople no longer: he has no magic, no life. Fleeing to the Outlands, Joram joins the outlawed Technologists, who practice the long forbidden arts of science. Here he meets the scholarly catalyst Saryon, who has been sent on a special mission to hunt down a mysterious “dead man” and instead finds himself in a battle of wits and power with a renegade warlock of the dark Duuk-tsarith caste.

Together, Joram and Saryon begin their quest toward a greater destiny—a destiny that begins with the discovery of the secret books that will enable them to overthrow the evil usurper Blachloch . . . and forge the powerful magic-absorbing Darksword.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (February 18th)

In hardcover:

Sarah J. Maas' House of Flame and Shadow debuts at number 1.

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing is down one position, ending the week at number 2.

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame is down one position, ending the week at number 3.

In paperback:

Sarah J. Maas' House of Earth and Blood is up seven positions, ending the week at number 1.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Sky and Breath is up seven spots, finishing the week at number 4.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Silver Flames is up three spots, finishing the week at number 6.

The Book That Broke the World


I was looking forward to reading The Book That Broke the World.

The first volume, The Book That Wouldn't Burn, was Mark Lawrence's longest work to date and it wasn't exactly a good thing. Up until that point, I had always felt that the author was concise and none of his scenes were overwritten. Sadly, many sequences, especially those featuring Livira, felt a bit superfluous or longer than they needed to be. For the better part of the first half of the novel, everything moved rather slowly and not much happened for a long while. Not surprisingly, Lawrence more than made up for it in the second half, bringing the first installment to a satisfying ending. Trouble is, as is usually his wont, Lawrence closed the show with another frustrating cliffhanger. Thankfully, the author's quite reliable and we only had to wait a year for the sequel.

The Book That Broke the World is another solid effort, and I've come to expect nothing less of Mark Lawrence. Still, it does suffer from the same shortcomings shown by its predecessor and the storylines occasionally appear to be meandering a little aimlessly in certain portions of the tale. As far as I know, at least in my experience, it's the first time that anything written by Lawrence seems to suffer from the infamous middle book syndrome. Having said that, I could also be the problem here. Perhaps the fault lies in my not being able to follow everything that goes on across time and space the way I was meant to. Hence, your mileage may vary in that regard.

Here's the blurb:

Two people living in a world connected by an immense and mysterious library must fight for those they love in the second book in a new trilogy from the international bestselling author of The Book That Wouldn’t Burn.

The Library spans worlds and times. It touches and joins distant places. It is memory and future. And amid its vastness Evar Eventari both found, and lost, Livira Page.

Evar has been forced to flee the library, driven before an implacable foe. Livira, trapped in a ghost world, has to recover the book she wrote—one which is the only true threat to the library’s existence—if she’s to return to her life.

While Evar’s journey leads him outside into a world he’s never seen, Livira’s path will taker her deep inside her own writing, where she must wrestle with her stories in order to reclaim the volume in which they were written.

The secret war that defines the library has chosen its champions and set them on the board. The time has come when they must fight for what they believe, or lose everything.


At the heart of this latest series lies an infinite library containing all the knowledge ever written down. We now know that this library is connected to other such repositories across the entire known universe and across time itself. The implication behind such a need is that all species, no matter where and when a certain technological level is reached, will always elevate warfare to a point where they end up on the brink of extinction. And given their inevitable quest toward self-destruction, can this cycle ever be reversed? We learned that the very first library by was built by Irad, the grandson of Cain and thus the great-grandson of Adam and Eve. Jaspeth, his brother, believes that the library glorifies the original sin of knowledge and seeks its destruction. In a clash that echoes down through the ages, the library has become the symbol of the war waged by the two brothers, a conflict opposing knowledge and ignorance. Mark Lawrence came up with some intriguing concepts like the Mechanism, the Exchange, and the Assistants, and I was really looking forward to discovering more about the library and its secrets. And though there are some revelations, I was a bit disappointed by the fact that a good chunk of the action from The Book That Broke the World occurs outside of the library. And even if we do learn more about the library and the universe at large, Lawrence once again keeps his cards close to his chest as far as the worldbuilding is concerned.

In The Book That Wouldn't Burn, the story unfolded through the eyes of two protagonists: Livira Page, a precocious girl from the Dust, and Evar Eventari, a young man who has spent his entire life trapped inside a part of the library with no exits and who was raised by the Assistant. Mark Lawrence excels at first person narratives and in my opinion that's one of the things that made his previous works so compelling. As mentioned, many of Livira's scenes felt a bit overlong and not always essential, which hurt the balance I expected from the two perspectives. This second volume also includes new POVs, which in the end exacerbated this problem. The tale is growing and the group got separated at the end of the first installment, so the author needed new perspectives that would allow the reader to follow what's taking place. Arpix, the serious young librarian, and Celcha, a ganar slave (a new species introduced in this novel) excavating dig sites for ancient treasures with her brother Hellet, are worthy additions. Indeed, Celcha and Hellet's plotline turned out to be the most fascinating of the book. It's just that again, the absence of a certain kind of balance between the POVs impacts the overall reading experience negatively. Celcha and her brother's storyline, so well-established at the beginning, gets a fast-forward treatment towards the end that completely robs it of the emotional impact it was meant to convey. All the while, you have scenes in the middle of the book that felt a bit overdone or extraneous, which is why I felt that the plot meanders a bit aimlessly at times. Furthermore, did we really need another interracial romance?

That being said, in The Book That Broke the World the author nevertheless takes us on a journey across time and dimensions, in a tale that keeps expanding across time and space. And if the novel does suffer from pacing issues, especially in the middle, you should know by now that Lawrence always delivers a rousing endgame and an exciting finale. Indeed, there seems to be more action in this one than what the author has accustomed us to. Regardless of all this, I still have mixed feelings overall about this sequel. While there are aspects that I quite enjoyed, other things put me off more than I thought they would. In the end, I believe that Mark Lawrence just shines more when he writes first person narratives and that he might not be as comfortable with multiple POVs.

Of course, I still want to read the final installment as soon as I can get my hands on it! That goes without saying!

The final verdict: 7.5/10

For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragons of Deceit for only 1.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman return to the unforgettable world of the New York Times bestselling Dragonlance series as a new heroine—desperate to restore her beloved father to life—sets off on a quest to change time.

Destina Rosethorn—as her name implies—believes herself to be a favored child of destiny. But when her father dies in the War of the Lance, she watches her carefully constructed world come crashing down. She loses not only her beloved father but also the legacy he has left her: the family lands and castle. To save her father, she hatches a bold plan—to go back in time and prevent his death.

First, she has to secure the Device of Time Journeying, last known to be in the possession of the spirited kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot. But to change time, she’ll need another magical artifact—the most powerful and dangerous artifact ever created. Destina’s quest takes her from the dwarven kingdom of Thorbardin to the town of Solace and beyond, setting in motion a chain of disastrous events that threaten to divert the course of the River of Time, alter the past, and forever change the future.


More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Tad Williams' The War of the Flowers for only 4.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale..

Here's the blurb:

Returning to the fantasy genre that made him a coast-to-coast best-selling phenomenon, Tad Williams writes this stand-alone contemporary fantasy novel, set in Northern California—and also in the strange parallel world that coexists in the farthest reaches of the imagination.Theo Vilmos is a thirty-year-old lead singer in a not terribly successful rock band. Once, he had enormous, almost magical charisma, both onstage and off—but now, life has taken its toll on Theo.

Hitting an all-time low, he seeks refuge in a isolated cabin in the woods. While there, he reads an odd memoir written by a dead relative who believed he had visited the magical world of Faerie. And before Theo can disregard the account as the writings of a madman, he, too, is drawn to a place beyond his wildest dreams...a place that will be, and has always been, his destiny.



You can also download Margaret Weis' The Lost King for 6.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada. These space opera books were a big hit when they were published inthe 90s and I've always had a soft spot for them. They've been described as Battlestar Galactica meets Game of Thrones, and I guess that's a good description.

Here's the blurb:

A galactic revolution has toppled the Starfire dynasty, and swept into power the harsh Democratic Republic. To support the murdered king is now punishable by death. But on distant worlds, the few surviving Guardians carry a dangerous secret: Somewhere in the galaxy, they shield the rightful heir to the throne.

Stalking the hidden king is the warlord, a ruthless Republican general who wields the bloodsword. Only a few brave rebels dare to oppose him: young Dion who fights to find his destiny: the mercenary Tusk, the outlaw commander Dixter, and the beautiful Lady Maigrey, the only person alive who can match the the Warlord's cunning. Theirs is the ultimate battle against a star-spanning corruption – the ultimate sacrifice for the glory of the lost king's throne.

Finally, you can also download Hal Duncan's Errata for only 2.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

Collecting for the first time, and revising for this edition, all four stories in the Errata sequence-"The City of Rotted Names," "The Prince of End Times," "The Whenever at the City's Heart," & "The Tower of Morning's Bones"-this chapbook is a cubist collage of wordplay and worldblazing, a mosaic narrative of the battle for the city of the soul. Here, fans of Vellum & Ink can delve deeper into the mythos of The Book of All Hours, while new readers will find a stand-alone story, a wild ride into the world of a work described as "the Guernica of genre fiction."

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (February 11th)

In hardcover:

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing maintains its position at number 1.

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame maintains its position at number 2.

In paperback:

Sarah J. Maas' House of Earth and Blood is up two positions, ending the week at number 8.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Silver Flames is up two spots, finishing the week at number 9.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Sky and Breath is up four spots, finishing the week at number 11.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Joe Abercrombie's Half a King for only 3.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

“I swore an oath to avenge the death of my father. I may be half a man, but I swore a whole oath.”

Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty, chains, and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea. And he must do it all with only one good hand.

The deceived will become the deceiver.

Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge.

The betrayed will become the betrayer.

Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could.

Will the usurped become the usurper?

But even with loyal friends at his side, Yarvi finds his path may end as it began—in twists, and traps, and tragedy.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (February 4th)

In hardcover:

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing maintains its position at number 1.

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame maintains its position at number 2.

Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands debuts at number 9.

Aurora Ascher's Sanctuary of the Shadow is down seven positions, ending the week at number 10.

In paperback:

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Silver Flames is up two spots, finishing the week at number 7.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Earth and Blood maintains its position at number 10.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Sky and Breath is down two spots, finishing the week at number 15.

Broken Souls


You may recall that I discovered the Eric Carter sequence in a Daw Books Facebook post last fall. Somehow, up until that point I had never heard of Stephen Blackmoore. Long story short, the kind folks at Daw hooked me up with a copy of Dead Things and I immediately knew that I'd be reading the rest of the series.

If you're like me, with any new urban fantasy series featuring a male lead, I'm always worried that it will end up being a Dresden clone. So I'm pleased to report that three books into this series, although there are similarities between Butcher's Dresden Files and this one, such as a powerful mostly self-taught young magic-user with ex-girlfriend issues, with few friends and plenty of enemies, and with untapped power levels that he is unaware of, who has come to the attention of higher beings who may seek to recruit or kill him, Eric Carter is no Harry Dresden. Like its predecessor, Broken Souls may read like the episodic early Dresden Files installments, yet Blackmoore's novels continue to read more like paranormal and gritty noir murder mystery works than anything else. Again, expect more blood and gore and a somewhat engaging protagonist, but not as endearing as Harry Dresden. Not yet at least. Eric Carter is slowly growing on the audience, but he remains a good-hearthed asshole with a knack for turning every bad situation into a worse one.

Here's the blurb:

Stephen Blackmoore’s dark urban fantasy series follows necromancer Eric Carter through a world of vengeful gods and goddesses, mysterious murders, and restless ghosts.

Sister murdered, best friend dead, married to the patron saint of death, Santa Muerte. Necromancer Eric Carter’s return to Los Angeles hasn’t gone well, and it’s about to get even worse.

His link to the Aztec death goddess is changing his powers, changing him, and he’s not sure how far it will go. He’s starting to question his own sanity, wonder if he’s losing his mind. No mean feat for a guy who talks to the dead on a regular basis.

While searching for a way to break Santa Muerte’s hold over him, Carter finds himself the target of a psychopath who can steal anyone’s form, powers, and memories. Identity theft is one thing, but this guy does it by killing his victims and wearing their skins like a suit. He can be anyone. He can be anywhere.

Now Carter has to change the game — go from hunted to hunter. All he has for help is a Skid Row bruja and a ghost who’s either his dead friend Alex or the manifestation of Carter’s own guilt-fueled psychotic break.

Everything is trying to kill him. Nothing is as it seems. If all his plans go perfectly, he might survive the week.

He’s hoping that’s a good thing.


As mentioned in my previous review, what I probably hate the most about urban fantasy works is that the market demands that they be short and relatively fast-paced reads. Which means that the first few volumes of any series in this subgenre are always stingy on the worldbuilding front. That facet is usually built upon with each subsequent novel, sometimes reaching amazing and unanticipated heights. It's too early to tell whether or not this aspect of the Eric Carter series will echo with the sort of depth that has come to characterize urban fantasy series by authors such as Jim Butcher and Simon R. Green, but it looks good thus far. In Dead Things, Blackmoore did a good job explaining how necromancy works and how Carter can use his powers. The same could be said for his surprisingly powerful magical toys. Trouble is, and that was to be expected, very little was said about how the magical world at large and the theology underpinning it actually work. Making the death goddess Santa Muerte, patron saint of the Narcos, part of the story would likely have important repercussions down the line. The author is more generous with his revelations this time around and it's obvious that having Mayan and Mexican cultural influences add new dimensions to the series mythology and might give the Eric Carter books a somewhat unique flavor if Blackmoore keeps at it. Time will tell.

As I said before, as a do-gooder at heart but with a knack to see most of what he touches turn to shit, Eric Carter is an easy protagonist to root for. Once again, he's a foul-mouthed smartass who gets beaten to a pulp way too many times in the span of such a short novel, but there is still something about him that makes you care for the poor fool. In my review of Dead Things, I envisioned him as Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad, but imagine Jesse as a badass necromancer. Given its pace, the first volume didn't allow for much character development and Carter was an idiot for the most part because he's trying to protect those he loves without realizing that he's alienating them in the process. He has been running from his past for a long time and now it's catching up to him. The ending of the first installment forced Carter to lay low for a while, but now new problems find a way to put him and those he loves in the line of fire. Finding himself in the middle of marital problems between two deities just might be the death of him. On the characterization front, Gabriella makes a nice addition to the supporting cast, and fleshing out Tabitha was also an improvement.

Once more in Broken Souls, Blackmoore captures the LA noir setting quite well and he keeps the tale moving at a good clip. So much so that you reach the end in no time. This is a problem endemic to most urban fantasy series, so it's not the author's fault. But as I'm about to finish reading the third volume, Hungry Ghosts, I can't help but feel that these two works could have been a single novel and would have been better for that. Indeed, I'm fortunate enough to be able to jump into the next one as soon as I finish the other. But would I manage to maintain the same level of interest had I been forced to wait a year or two between books given how quickly I go through them? Hard to say.

If you are looking for a gritty urban fantasy series featuring a deeply flawed male lead, the Eric Carter books are for you. There is definitely potential for bigger and better things to come, and it looks as though Stephen Blackmoore has a few tricks up his sleeve. Almost three novels into this sequence and I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. It remains to be seen whether or not Stephen Blackmoore can up his game and elevate this series to another level, but so far it's been an entertaining read. Urban fantasy fans should definitely give these books a shot.

The final verdict: 7.5/10

For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!



You can download Deborah Harkness' A Discovery of Witches for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism
.

War


Oh boy, where do I begin?

I was concerned about how well Firstborn would stand on its own, given that it was essentially the first half of War, which grew too big to be published as a single book. Hence, I was hoping that Firstborn would be akin to The Riven Shield and thus a worthy addition to the series. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Although the seventh installment featured some of the best stuff in the House War sequence, it was also plagued by some of the worse cases of West totally losing herself into pointless extraneous plotlines. Considering how bad Michelle West has been in that regard in her previous works, that was really saying something.

Still, given how she knocked it out of the park with The Sun Sword, I had hopes that she could do it again with War. With all the storylines that have been building up over the course of both The Sun Sword and The House War series, all the ingredients needed for a rousing finale were there.

Alas, this turned out to be West's most underwhelming novel by far.

Here's the blurb:

The eighth and final book in the epic fantasy House War series closes this chapter in a beloved world of magic and political intrigue, where new threats are stirring.

When the Sleepers wake.

Once, that phrase meant: never. The Sleepers were a myth, part of a story told to children. But in truth, the Sleepers, ancient princes in the court of the Winter Queen, were imprisoned in slumber by the gods themselves—in the cold, dark ruins of the ancient city that lies buried beneath the capital of the Empire. And that prison is fraying, at last.

They are waking.

The gods no longer walk the world. There is no power that can stand against the princes when they wake—and the city that has been Jewel’s home for her entire life will be destroyed when the Sleepers walk. There is only one person to whom they owe allegiance, only one chance to halt them before they destroy everything in their ancient rage.

But that person is the Winter Queen; she is not, and has never been mortal. Jewel carries the last of the surviving saplings that might usher in a new Summer age—but all of the roads that lead to the court of the Queen are closed.

Jewel ATerafin has faced the Oracle’s test. She has control of the prophetic powers that she once considered a curse and a burden. She will find her way to the Winter Queen, and she will ask—or beg—the Winter Queen to intervene to save her kind, her House, and everything she loves.

But she is mortal, and time has never been her friend. The demons are waiting to bar her way, bringing battle to the hidden ancient paths on which she must travel. To win, she must face the true meaning of the Oracle’s test, and risk sanity and life to make the choice that has always lurked at the heart of the firstborn’s test.

And even then, it might be too late.


Not surprisingly at this point, the worldbuilding remains the most amazing facet of these books. As far as I'm concerned, it's also the only thing that's been holding the House War's story arcs together for quite some time now. It's obvious that there is a depth to Michelle West's universe that rivals those of Tolkien, Erikson, and Bakker, and it's a depth that keeps growing with each new installment. Which is quite a feat, in my opinion. Oracle raised the bar in a way we hadn't seen since Sea of Sorrows and both Firstborn and War unveiled new secrets about the firstborn, the Ariani, the Sleepers, the gods and goddesses, the cats, Meralonne, the Oracle, the Winter Court, the Sen, the Cities of Man, etc. All of which added yet more layers to what is already one of the most convoluted fantasy series of all time. Problem is, worldbuilding is only the backdrop of the tale. No matter how detailed and complex that aspect turns out to be, it's all a matter of execution on the part of the author that will allow it to shine or not. And in War, sadly, West fails on basically every level to make the most important scenes/sequences come together the way they deserved. Some of them have been building up since the early volumes of The Sun Sword. And yet, for some unfathomable reasons, their resolution/conclusion almost occur in the background, while the perspectives are focused on low key and unimportant characters as the promised Apocalypse is taking place.

Once again, the characterization is severely lacking. To be honest, with a few rare exceptions, it was terrible. As mentioned, as captivating as some worldbuilding elements are, the poor characterization that leads to bad execution often undermines what should have been key and emotionally charged moments in this grand saga. I mean, it's the end of the world. The Sleepers have awakened. They're laying waste to the capital. Do we have to read about Teller trying to rescue his cat before the mansion is destroyed? Do we have have to read page after page about innocent refugees seeking shelter? Do we need to read so many pages focusing on the evacuation of House Terafin and its staff and servants? As stated in my past reviews, I believe that your mileage may vary depending on how much you are invested in Jewel and her den. What continues to hurt the characterization aspect to such a degree, perhaps because both Firstborn and War were supposed to be one work, is the fact that every single den member suffers from bouts of nostalgia throughout the book. They all reminisce about Duster and the others, for some reason, and these inner monologues go on for page after page after page, killing the momentum of every scene in which they are involved. Over the course of more than 600 pages, they continue to regurgitate their feelings about Duster's sacrifice and the death of the others, which are things we've known since the Sun Sword series. Why Michelle West felt it was important to go through all this again as we approach the end of the House War sequence, after doing it throughout Firstborn and, if we're honest, big chunks of every other Essalieyan book, I'll never know. Holy Hell, it's the Apocalypse and the Sleepers just might destroy everything that everyone holds dear, and we're still talking about Duster? Why? This is the grand finale, when the proverbial shit has hit the fan, and we're still going on about the den's past over and over again. We've known about these things since early on, so why go through it all again ad nauseam? War makes Brandon Sanderson's tackling Robert Jordan's Last Battle feel concise. Okay, maybe not, but you get my drift. Why did Michelle West elect to focus on the den and the "little people" of the realm when all hell breaks loose, I can't begin to understand. I know she wanted the den to come full circle, but to say that it was overdone would be the understatement of the decade. Such focus removed most of the gravitas from scenes that have been foreshadowed for years and years, scenes such as the resolution of the Winter Queen's plotline, and prevented such important moments from helping close this series with an exclamation point.

The pace is better this time around. Given that it's the endgame, it had to be. And yet, at times it feels as though the rhythm is atrocious because you're reading yet another boring chapter about Teller and Finch organizing the House's evacuation instead of reading about the Sleepers and what is more important in the greater scheme of things. For every interesting and exciting sequences, and there are more than a few, West then drags you through yet more tedious and repetitive House business or one of the den's interminable inner monologues.

In my last review, I was wonderering why so much focus was put on seemingly irrelevant scenes and plotlines when the end of it all was so near. The same can be said of War and that totally killed the novel for me. This book just might be the most lackluster fantasy finale I've ever read. How something with so much promise could end up in such an uninspired fashion, I'll never know. War turned out to be so underwhelming, I'm not even going to read the first 3 volumes for a long time. I simply can't deal with more Jewel and her den for now. The Sacred Hunt will be next. Which is sad, for The Sun Sword was so great. The House War, though it has its brilliant moments, is a pale shadow of its predecessor.

The final verdict: 6/10

For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Quote of the Day

At their core, mages are just academics who found something practical to do with a philosophy degree.

- STEPHEN BLACKMOORE, Hungry Ghosts

For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

I've been enjoying this series more than I thought I would so far. Quite refreshing.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (January 28th)

In hardcover:

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing maintains its position at number 1.

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame maintains its position at number 2.

Aurora Ascher's Sanctuary of the Shadow debuts at number 3.

Olivie Blake's The Atlas Complex debuts at number 9.

In paperback:

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Silver Flames is up four spots, finishing the week at number 9.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Earth and Blood is up one spot, finishing the week at number 10.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Sky and Breath returns at number 13.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Katherine Kurtz's Camber of Culdi for only 1.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Even better, nearly all the Deryni installments are on sale for 1.99$ or 2.99$! So you might want to add them to your digital library!

Here's the blurb:

Magic and mysticism come alive in this magnificent historical fantasy from the New York Times–bestselling author of the Chronicles of the Deryni.

Long before Camber was revered as a saint, he was a Deryni noble, one of the most respected of the magical race whose arcane skills set them apart from ordinary humans in the medieval kingdom of Gwynedd.

For nearly a century, Camber’s family has had little choice but to loyally serve the ruling Festils, Deryni usurpers who employed dark magic to wrest the throne from the rightful Haldane liege.

Now, the land suffers under the tyranny of King Imre, whose savage oppression of the human population weighs heavily on Camber’s heart—a heart that is shattered when the despot and his evil mistress-sister, Ariella, cause the death of Camber’s beloved son.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download C.J. Cherryh's Hammerfall for only 1.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

One of the most renowned figures in science fiction, C.J. Cherryh has been enthralling audiences for nearly thirty years with rich and complex novels. Now at the peak of her career, this three-time Hugo Award winner launches her most ambitious work in decades, Hammerfall, part of a far-ranging series, The Gene Wars, set in an entirely new universe scarred by the most vicious of future weaponry, nanotechnology. In this brilliant novel -- possibly Cherryh's masterwork -- the fate of billions has come down to a confrontation between two profoundly alien cultures on a single desert planet.

"The mad shall be searched out and given to the Ila's messengers. No man shall conceal madness in his wife, or his son, or his daughter, or his father. Every one must be delivered up." -- The Book of the Ila's Au'it

Marak has suffered the madness his entire life. He is a prince and warrior, strong and shrewd and expert in the ways of the desert covering his planet. In the service of his father, he has dedicated his life to overthrowing the Ila, the mysterious eternal dictator of his world. For years he has successfully hidden the visions that plague him -- voices pulling him eastward, calling Marak, Marak, Marak, amid mind-twisting visions of a silver tower. But when his secret is discovered, Marak is betrayed by his own father and forced to march in an endless caravan with the rest of his world's madmen to the Ila's city of Oburan.

Instead of death, Marak finds in Oburan his destiny, and the promise of life -- if he can survive what is surely a suicidal mission. The Ila wants him to discover the source of the voices and visions that afflict the mad. Despite the danger sof the hostile desert, tensions within the caravan, and his own excruciating doubts, Marak miraculously reaches his goal -- only to be given another, even more impossible mission by the strange people in the towers.

According to these beings who look like him yet act differently than anyone he has ever known, Marak has a slim chance to save his world's people from the wrath of Ila's enemies. But to do so, he must convince them all -- warring tribes, villagers, priests, young and old, as well as the Ila herself -- to follow him on an epic trek across the burning desert before the hammer of the Ila's foes falls from the heavens above.

Written with deceptive simplicity and lyricism, this riveting, fast-paced epic of war, love, and survival in a brave new world marks a major achievement from the masterful C.J. Cherryh.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Melanie Rawn's The Ruins of Ambrai for only 1.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

A thousand years ago, Mageborns fled prejudice and persecution to colonize the planet Lenfell—pristine, untouched, a perfect refuge for those whose powers were perceived as a threat by people not gifted with magic. But the greater the magic, the greater the peril—and Lenfell was soon devastated by a war between rival Mageborn factions that polluted land, sea, and air with Wild Magic and unleashed the hideous specters known as Wraithenbeasts.

Generations after that terrible war, with the land recovered from crippling wounds and the people no longer threatened by genetic damage, Mageborns still practice their craft—but under strict constraints. Yet so long as the rivalry between the Mage Guardians and the Lords of Malerris continues, the threat of another war is ever-present. And someone has been planning just such a war for many long years, the final strike in a generations-old bid for total power…

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (January 21st)

In hardcover:

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing maintains its position at number 1.

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame maintains its position at number 2.

Stephen King's Holly is down seven positions, ending the week at number 15.

In paperback:

Sarah J. Maas' House of Earth and Blood is up two spots, finishing the week at number 11.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Silver Flames is up two spots, finishing the week at number 13.