The Leaning Pile of Books is a feature where I talk about books I got over the last week – old or new, bought or received for review consideration (often unsolicited). Since I hope you will find new books you’re interested in reading in these posts, I try to be as informative as possible. If I can find them, links to excerpts, author’s websites, and places where you can find more information on the book are included.
This week’s books include one purchase of a book I had to have, and all are written by New York Times bestselling authors (two of which are among my favorite authors).
Before getting to the books, a quick announcement: this blog will be on hiatus for awhile next month while I move to a new state. I’ll have to see how it goes, but I think at least the first three weeks of September will be pretty quiet because of this. The entire second week of the month will definitely be devoted to moving since our stuff will be packed on Monday and won’t arrive at the new place until Thursday. This will be the first time I have lived anywhere other than Maine so this will be an interesting experience!
Due to preparing to move, I’ve had less spare time during the evenings and weekends than usual lately so I have not yet finished the review of Half a King I’m working on. I am hoping to have it up sometime this week, though!
On to the books!
Fool’s Assassin (The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy #1) by Robin Hobb
A few days ago, my husband placed an order and asked if I wanted anything, to which I said, “Didn’t the new Robin Hobb book about Fitz and the Fool JUST come out?” We looked it up and found it had just been released so it ended up being my choice. I loved the Farseer, Liveship Traders, and the Tawny Man trilogies so I was very excited to learn that there would be another related trilogy. I don’t know when I’ll get to read it due to the aforementioned move and this book’s length, but it is going on the (rather large) pile of books I really want to read soon.
The first 50 pages from Fool’s Assassin are available on Suvudu.
Nearly twenty years ago, Robin Hobb burst upon the fantasy scene with the first of her acclaimed Farseer novels, Assassin’s Apprentice, which introduced the characters of FitzChivalry Farseer and his uncanny friend the Fool. A watershed moment in modern fantasy, this novel—and those that followed—broke exciting new ground in a beloved genre. Together with George R. R. Martin, Robin Hobb helped pave the way for such talented new voices as Scott Lynch, Brandon Sanderson, and Naomi Novik.
Over the years, Hobb’s imagination has soared throughout the mythic lands of the Six Duchies in such bestselling series as the Liveship Traders Trilogy and the Rain Wilds Chronicles. But no matter how far she roamed, her heart always remained with Fitz. And now, at last, she has come home, with an astonishing new novel that opens a dark and gripping chapter in the Farseer saga.
FitzChivalry—royal bastard and former king’s assassin—has left his life of intrigue behind. As far as the rest of the world knows, FitzChivalry Farseer is dead and buried. Masquerading as Tom Badgerlock, Fitz is now married to his childhood sweetheart, Molly, and leading the quiet life of a country squire.
Though Fitz is haunted by the disappearance of the Fool, who did so much to shape Fitz into the man he has become, such private hurts are put aside in the business of daily life, at least until the appearance of menacing, pale-skinned strangers casts a sinister shadow over Fitz’s past . . . and his future.
Now, to protect his new life, the former assassin must once again take up his old one. . . .
The Abyss Beyond Dreams (Chronicle of the Fallers #1) by Peter F. Hamilton
The first half of a new duology set in the Commonwealth universe is scheduled for release in the US on October 21 (hardcover, ebook, audiobook). Its UK publication date is October 9 (hardcover, ebook). Its place in relation to the other books in this universe is between the Commonwealth Saga and The Void Trilogy.
An excerpt from The Abyss Beyond Dreams is available on the UK publisher’s website, as well as the author’s tour schedule.
The wait is over. Bestselling science fiction master Peter F. Hamilton is back with the first of a new two-book saga set in his popular Commonwealth universe. Distinguished by deft plotting, a teeming cast of characters, dazzling scientific speculation, and imagination that brings the truly alien to life, The Abyss Beyond Dreams reveals Hamilton as a storyteller of astonishing ingenuity and power.
The year is 3326. Nigel Sheldon, one of the founders of the Commonwealth, receives a visit from the Raiel—self-appointed guardians of the Void, the enigmatic construct at the core of the galaxy that threatens the existence of all that lives. The Raiel convince Nigel to participate in a desperate scheme to infiltrate the Void.
Once inside, Nigel discovers that humans are not the only life-forms to have been sucked into the Void, where the laws of physics are subtly different and mental powers indistinguishable from magic are commonplace. The humans trapped there are afflicted by an alien species of biological mimics—the Fallers—that are intelligent but merciless killers.
Yet these same aliens may hold the key to destroying the threat of the Void forever—if Nigel can uncover their secrets. As the Fallers’ relentless attacks continue, and the fragile human society splinters into civil war, Nigel must uncover the secrets of the Fallers—before he is killed by the very people he has come to save.
Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs
Shifting Shadows will be released on September 2 (hardcover, ebook, audiobook). It contains all six previously-published stories and four new stories set in the same universe as the Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega books, plus outtakes from Silver Borne and Night Broken. There is also currently a giveaway for Shifting Shadows on the author’s website.
I love the Mercy Thompson series so I’m quite intrigued by this one! (If you haven’t read this series yet and want to read it, the book to begin with is Moon Called.)
Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger…
A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends…
Includes the new stories…
“Silver”
“Roses in Winter”
“Redemption”
“Hollow”
…and reader favorites
“Fairy Gifts”
“Gray”
“Alpha and Omega”
“Seeing Eye”
“The Star of David”
“In Red, with Pearls”
Sleeping Late on Judgement Day (Bobby Dollar #3) by Tad Williams
The final Bobby Dollar book will be released on September 2 (hardcover, ebook). Its UK publication date is September 11 (also hardcover and ebook).
The previous books in the series are as follows:
- The Dirty Streets of Heaven
- Happy Hour in Hell
Where does an angel go when he’s been to Hell and back?
Renegade angel Bobby Dollar does not have an easy afterlife. After surviving the myriad gruesome dangers Hell oh-so-kindly offered him, Bobby has returned empty-handed – his demon girlfriend Casmira, the Countess of Cold Hands, is still in the clutches of Eligor, Grand Duke of Hell. Some hell of a rescue.
Forced to admit his failure, Bobby ends up back at his job as an angel advocate. That is, until Walter, an old angel friend whom Bobby never thought he’d see again, shows up at the local bar. The last time he saw Walter was in Hell, when Walter had tried to warn him about one of Bobby’s angel superiors. But now Walter can’t remember anything, and Bobby doesn’t know whom to trust.
Turns out that there’s corruption hidden within the higher ranks of Heaven and Hell, but the only proof Bobby has is a single feather. Before he knows it, he’s in the High Hall of Heavenly Judgement – no longer a bastion for the moral high ground, if it ever was, but instead just another rigged system – on trial for his immortal soul…
Sleeping Late on Judgement Day is the third installment of Tad Williams’ urban fantasy Bobby Dollar series!
