Today in Fantasy: June 5, 2009

FBNR News:

Still trying to determine what to read next. Since I have all 3 books of The Crossroads by Kate Elliott, I am thinking of giving Spirit Gate a go. I might have something in the works for a Kate Elliott month on the blog here in August, but need to follow up with Tor to see if that might still be a go. More details later if/when it looks more firm.

Also: While going through Google Reader to create this post, I saw that James at Speculative Horizons posted that Nights of Villjamur came out today. I thought Book Depository usually had a little delay before having new books available. But i just checked and they had the book ready to ship, and they even display US currency now (probably use your IP address to determine the default currency to show). Anyway, for 22 bucks, you can have a copy sent to the US. Not bad. My order has been placed. Book details here.

Finally, still getting caught up with the review links. I wont get caught up in this post, but will make a weekend post that should get me up to date with all the reviews posted in the last week.

Reviews:

-SFF World: Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie (I have a bad feeling that this one might be too graphic for me. His trilogy was about at my limit of what I can take in regards to graphic violence. I'll definitely give this book a go, but I'll be prepared that it might be too much for me), Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

-Bookgeeks: Turn Coat by Jim Butcher (if this review is showing the UK cover, I think I like the US cover quite a bit better)

-Fantasy Book Critic: Alara Unbroken by Doug Beyer (i've come close to buying a book in this world to check it out, but so far never make it to the checkout line with the book in hand), The Immortal Prince by Jennifer Fallon (a much more detailed review than mine. And Liviu's comments on the SFF World forum were what prompted me to request the first 2 books from Tor. I still need to find a way to justify the money to spent 60 bucks importing 2 mmpb books so i can own the last 2).

-Adventures in Reading: Lamentation by Ken Scholes (I gotta disagree with Joe here. He considers it a negative that there are only 2 notable female characters in the book. I say "so what"? Why does there need to be a balance? Why can't some stories be told with a mostly male or female cast? I would think the last thing we need is some sort of quota for male vs female in a story. I'm not totally sure if its the number of female characters, or how they are portrayed that is his real beef. But I'll also argue that not all female characters need to be strong, and not all stories require a strong female lead, and vice-versa. If some secondary worlds have men dominant over women, or women dominant over men, so what? Its the author's fictional world, not the real world. Heck, the lack of equality can be a good plot point for a story.).

-Grasping for the Wind: Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow

-Dark Wolf's Fantasy Review: The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas

-The Deckled Edge: Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey

-Robots & Vamps: No Prisoners (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) by Karen Traviss

-My Favourite Books: Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells

-Davebrendons Fantasy & Sci-FI Weblog: Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton (this review sets a record for the number of smiley emoticons used in one review)

-SciFiGuy: The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff

-SF Signal: Green by Jay Lake

-Fyrefly's Book Blog: Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik (this is a series I want to check out, but at this point, i'm not quite interested enough to read it until the series is finished)

Authors/News:

-S.L. Farrell (to use his pen name) is up to 150k words in the draft of A Magic of Dawn.

-Jim C. Hines is giving away another free, autographed copy of The Stepsister Scheme.