Thanks to a gift card I got for my birthday, I bought some new books that came out this month that were being recommended around the Internet. I want to read them all right now, but between the day job and this month’s event I’ve barely had time to read lately. So I’m not sure when I’ll get to them since I have a few review copies I’ll be reading next, but they’ll be waiting for me when I do have the time!
Banner of the Damned by Sherwood Smith
This is part of the Sartoran History comprised of the four Inda books, but it’s a stand alone that takes place four centuries after the Inda books (Inda, The Fox, King’s Shield, and Treason’s Shore). It’s available in hardcover and ebook formats, and there is an excerpt available on Amazon.
I couldn’t resist this when Kate Elliott was talking about how wonderful it is on Twitter. First, I’ve been hearing good things about books by Sherwood Smith so I’ve been wanting to read one of her books for a while now. Second, it came with a very high recommendation from Kate Elliott who wrote Cold Fire, which is an incredibly awesome book I loved.
Now – to find some time to read this massive 700 page long hardcover book!
Princess Lasva is about to be named heir to her childless sister, the queen. But, when the queen finally bears an heir, Lasva’s future is shattered. Grief-stricken, she leaves her country of Colend and falls into the arms of Prince Ivandred of Marloven Hesea. His people are utterly different-with their expertise in riding, weaponry, and magic- and the two soon marry.
When the sensational news makes its way to Lasva’s sister, the queen worries for Lasva at the hands of the Marlovens, whose king’s mage is in league with the magical land of Norsunder-considered by Colendi to be their enemy. The queen orders Emras, a scribe, to guard Lasva.
But it may be too late-Lasva is already deeply involved with the Marlovens and their magic. War wages on, and all are forced to redefine love, loyalty, and power…
The False Prince (The Ascendance Trilogy #1) by Jennifer A. Nielson
The False Prince is available in hardcover, ebook, and audio book. The first chapter in this YA fantasy book is available online.
After reading an excellent review of The False Prince by Thea of The Book Smugglers, I had to read this. She compared it to Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen Thief series – but said she liked both the main character and the story better. This is now something I have to check out for myself.
THE FALSE PRINCE is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.
In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well.
As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.
An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.
Summoning is a debut novel that is available in trade paperback and ebook. An excerpt can be read on Amazon.
This is another one I picked up because of the sheer power of Kate Elliott’s recommendation. Plus I just like discovering novels by new or new-to-me authors.
The World Snake is coming, devourer of Thrace and Atlantis… and the only one standing in its way is Amber, a sixteen-year-old runaway, recently arrived in Los Angeles. Amber is more than just a girl with a stolen ID and an attitude; she is a daughter of the wolf-kind, a shapeshifter able to change forms at will. One night, as Amber prowls the Hollywood Hills in wolf form, she stumbles onto an occult ceremony, interrupting the ritual. As a result, Amber finds herself the unwilling mistress of a handsome demonic servant, Richard. Appearing as a fair youth of eighteen years, Richard is a demon accidentally summoned, then captured, by Dr. John Dee, court magician to Queen Elizabeth I. Richard has been trying for four centuries to free himself from a succession of masters and mistresses, but finds himself bound to Amber, the only one who can protect him from his greatest fear, the herald of the World Snake, the Eater of Souls. But all hell is about to break loose, and Amber and Richard are going to need some allies to stop the Eater of Souls and avert the World Snake, and the battle has only begun. From Carol Wolf comes the urban fantasy debut Summoning, a novel of a wolf girl, a demon boy, and a city on the edge of disaster.
