Standout Books of 2011
Jul
27
2011

It’s a little past the halfway point of the year now, but better late than never, right?  It’s been a pretty good year for reading, actually.  I’ve read fewer books than usual (looking through the list I seem to have also read more lengthy books than usual), but a higher percentage of them were really good and I keep finding more books that I just can’t leave off a list like this one.  This list includes all books read in 2011, not just those published this year.

So far this year there are two books I’ve read that stand out the most.

A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

A Dance With Dragons is the latest installment in one of my favorite series ever and I loved it.  This is still, in my opinion, the best sprawling, multi-cast epic fantasy series there is.  It’s a fantastic story, the characters are multi-dimensional, and there are so many subtle details – and there is now so much more to speculate on. (Review in Progress)

Daughter of Smoke and Bone was another book on my list of highly anticipated books.  Although my expectations were rather high based on Laini Taylor’s other work, it definitely met them.  First and foremost, Laini Taylor can write beautifully, but she’s multi-talented since she does everything exceptionally well (plot, world, characters, dialogue, injecting a sense of humor, writing memorable scenes, and instilling the urge to devour every book she’s every written). (Review)

Other notable books read this year:

The Sea Thy Mistress by Elizabeth Bear (Review)
If I were to add a third book to the above list, this would be the one.  It’s full of Norse mythology, but it’s also not a rehash – Bear uses these elements but makes it her own at the same time.  Elizabeth Bear is one of my favorite authors, and this is one of her books that has impressed me the most (along with By the Mountain Bound, another part of this same trilogy).

The Native Star by M. K. Hobson (Review)
My favorite just plain fun book I’ve read this year.  It’s set in an alternate western US in the 1800s and is filled with magic and adventure and has a great romance. This would be the book that took me by surprise the most this year since I never would have read it based on the back cover description. Thank you, fellow book bloggers, because I would never have picked this one up if not for your reviews!

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente (Review)
Another gorgeously told story and a semi-modern retelling of the Russian folktale of Koschei the Deathless.  It’s Catherynne M. Valente, need I say more?

Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire (Review)
My favorite urban fantasy from this year, which is a bit surprising considering a new Kate Daniels book came out this year.  While I still love Kate, I have to say I enjoyed this one more than the latest Kate Daniels.  Seanan McGuire just keeps getting better and better with this series.

Aside from M. K. Hobson, there aren’t any new-to-me authors on this list, so here are some favorites by authors I hadn’t read before this year:

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (Review)
The book that makes me the most foolish – because John has been telling me to read it for years and I hadn’t before now.  It is complex, dense, detailed scifi but it’s also very good scifi and I ended up rather pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed it.

Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly (Review)
This is one of those books that plays with fantasy tropes and it had the best ending of any book I’ve read this year.

Eona by Alison Goodman (Review)
I couldn’t quite connect with Eona in the first half of this duology, but in this one the way she handled herself and the obstacles she faced made me love her.  Plus it’s based on Chinese mythology, and I have a tendency to enjoy reading fantasy inspired by Asian settings.

I also don’t feel like a list like this is complete without giving a shout out to the following two books:

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (Review)
Naamah’s Blessing by Jacqueline Carey (Review in Progress)

So, all in all, a very good year so far!  What are the best books you’ve read so far in 2011?

Relic Master Winner
Jul
26
2011

The Relic Master giveaway is now over and random.org has spoken (or displayed a number anyway).  The winner is:

Gina from Pennsylvania, US

Congratulations, I hope you enjoy the series!

For those of you who didn’t win, there are more chances to win at Janicu’s Book Blog and Grasping for the Wind!

The Leaning Pile of Books
Jul
24
2011

First, a quick update since it’s been quiet around here lately: Yesterday I finally finished the 1,000 page hardcover behemoth A Dance With Dragons!  That means hopefully I’ll be getting back to writing more here now that I won’t be spending almost every spare moment reading it very slowly and trying to catch as many of the details as possible.

This week brought one review copy.

Low Town by Daniel PolanskyLow Town by Daniel Polansky

This debut novel is also being released under the name The Straight Razor Cure in the UK.  It will be available in hardcover and as an ebook on August 16th.  It sounds like a fun sort of darker noir story, and you can read an excerpt here.

Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops . . . and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town.

In the forgotten back alleys and flophouses that lie in the shadows of Rigus, the finest city of the Thirteen Lands, you will find Low Town. It is an ugly place, and its cham­pion is an ugly man. Disgraced intelligence agent. Forgotten war hero. Independent drug dealer. After a fall from grace five years ago, a man known as the Warden leads a life of crime, addicted to cheap violence and expensive drugs. Every day is a constant hustle to find new customers and protect his turf from low-life competition like Tancred the Harelip and Ling Chi, the enigmatic crime lord of the heathens.

The Warden’s life of drugged iniquity is shaken by his dis­covery of a murdered child down a dead-end street . . . set­ting him on a collision course with the life he left behind. As a former agent with Black House—the secret police—he knows better than anyone that murder in Low Town is an everyday thing, the kind of crime that doesn’t get investi­gated. To protect his home, he will take part in a dangerous game of deception between underworld bosses and the psy­chotic head of Black House, but the truth is far darker than he imagines. In Low Town, no one can be trusted.

Daniel Polansky has crafted a thrilling novel steeped in noir sensibilities and relentless action, and set in an original world of stunning imagination, leading to a gut-wrenching, unforeseeable conclusion. Low Town is an attention-grabbing debut that will leave readers riveted . . . and hun­gry for more.

A Dance With Dragons Winner
Jul
20
2011

We have a winner!  The winner of the signed copy of A Dance With Dragons is:

Ashley from North Carolina, US

Congratulations!  I hope you enjoy the book as much as I have been!

Giveaway: Relic Master Series by Catherine Fisher
Jul
18
2011

Today I am pleased to announce I have a giveaway for all four books in the Relic Master series by Catherine Fisher.  While I haven’t had a chance to read it yet myself, I have been rather interested in reading The Dark City, the first book in this series, which has a spot on Mount TBR.

Relic Master Series by Catherine Fisher

About the Relic Master Series:

Welcome to Anara, a world mysteriously crumbling to devastation, where nothing is what it seems: Ancient relics emit technologically advanced powers, members of the old Order are hunted by the governing Watch yet revered by the people, and the great energy that connects all seems to also be destroying all. The only hope for the world lies in Galen, a man of the old Order and a Keeper of relics, and his sixteen-year-old apprentice, Raffi. They know of a secret relic with great power that has been hidden for centuries. As they search for it, they will be tested beyond their limits. For there are monsters-some human, some not-that also want the relic’s power and will stop at nothing to get it.

RELIC MASTER is a four book series. Each book will be released over four consecutive months this summer:

  • Book One: The Dark City, May 17
  • Book Two: The Lost Heiress, June 14
  • Book Three: The Hidden Coronet, July 12
  • Book Four: The Margrave, August 9

Each book will include a piece of the map of Anara, the world of RELIC MASTER, on the reverse of the jacket. Collect all four books and you will have the complete map.

About the Author:

Catherine Fisher is the author of the New York Times bestselling duology Incarceron and Sapphique and in the Relic Master series has created a world equally as developed, dynamic and dangerous as that of Incarceron. Visit her at www.catherine-fisher.com.

Giveaway Rules: One entry per person.  This giveaway is open only in the US and Canada and will run through the end of the day of Monday, July 25.  A winner will be selected using random.org on the following day.  If I do not hear from the winner 48 hours after contacting them, a new winner will be selected.  That winner will then have 48 hours to get back to me or a new winner will be selected, and this will continue until a winner responds to the email.

To enter the giveaway, fill out the form below.  Please Note: Email addresses are only used for the purpose of notifying the winner.  All email addresses will be deleted once the giveaway is over and there is an address to send the book to.

Update July 26: The form has been removed now that the giveaway is over.

Good luck!

The Leaning Pile of Books
Jul
17
2011

This week brought some pretty exciting books since I finally got my copy of A Dance With Dragons, the fifth installment in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.  Better yet, I got it signed along with a new hardcover copy of A Game of Thrones (because I really needed a third copy of this book, but oh well – it’s signed and it’s one of two books in the series I didn’t already have in hardcover other than the Science Fiction Book Club version).

A Dance With Dragons Signed by George R. R. Martin

I’ve already talked about this plenty and included the usual information on the giveaway page, so all I’ll say about that now is that I’m almost halfway through it, loving it, and wishing I could read faster because I want to know what happens (especially since my husband finished it early this morning and is taunting me with knowing what happens).

I also got two review copies, one of which I’ve already talked about since I got it at BEA this year.  Since I already talked about it, I’m not going to include the cover and blurb again, but if you are interested in learning more about Blood Rights by Kristen Painter, you can read more about it here.

So that just leaves one book:

A Blight of Mages by Karen MillerA Blight of Mages by Karen Miller

That sounds like quite a problem, having a blight of mages.  This is a stand alone book set in the same world as The Innocent Mage.  Although it says it’s available in August, it appears to already be shipping on Amazon. A Blight of Mages is available both in hardcover and as an ebook.

Hundreds of years before the great Mage War, a land lies, unknowing, on the edge of catastrophe…

Barl is young and impulsive, but she has a power within that calls to her. In her city, however, only those of noble blood and with the right connections learn the ways of the arcane. Barl is desperate to learn-but her eagerness to use her power leads her astray and she is banned from ever learning the mystic arts.

Morgan holds the key to her education. A member of the Council of Mages, he lives to maintain the status quo, preserve the mage bloodlines, and pursue his scholarly experiments. But Barl’s power intrigues him-in spite of her low status.

Together, he realizes they can create extraordinary new incantations. Morgan’s ambition and Barl’s power make a potent combination. What she does not see is the darkness in him that won’t be denied.

A Blight of Mages is the new novel set in the world of Karen Miller’s bestselling debut The Innocent Mage.