This week brought one unsolicited review copy. Well-Tempered Clavicle by Piers Anthony This 35th installment in the Xanth series was just released in hardcover and ebook on November 22.  An excerpt is available on the publisher’s website. I’ve never read a Xanth book, but from what I’ve heard its humorous fantasy very heavy on the puns. There’s apparently a search for a castle that supposedly contains Pundora’s Box in this book so that sounds about right. Picka Bones and his […]

Today I am pleased to have a guest post by Michael J. Sullivan on the topic of fantasy tropes. I just reviewed his Theft of Swords yesterday and found it a very enjoyable traditional fantasy. In this post, I think Michael makes some really good points about tropes in fantasy and what people often mean when they say they are tired of fantasy tropes. I hope you enjoy it, too, and thanks to Michael for stopping by today!   Hello, […]

Theft of Swords contains the first two books in the Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan, The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha. These books were self-published, but the series was recently picked up by Orbit Books, who are publishing the books in three volumes each released about a month apart. Theft of Swords is scheduled for publication on November 23. Rise of Empire, containing Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm, will be released in December. The final two books, Wintertide and […]

The Kingdom of Gods is the third book in the Inheritance trilogy by N. K. Jemisin. The first book, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, was nominated for the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy awards. In my opinion, the next book The Broken Kingdoms was even a little stronger. The Kingdom of Gods was one of my most anticipated books of 2011 given that I loved the first two novels in the series and N. K. Jemisin is one of […]

Fox & Phoenix is the first book in Lóng City, a new YA fantasy series by Beth Bernobich. It was published earlier this month (hardcover, ebook, audio book) and follows the events of the short story “Pig, Crane, Fox.” This story was originally published in the anthology Magic in the Mirrorstone and can be read for free on Smashwords. As there are spoilers for this story in the book, there will also be spoilers for it in this review. I […]

The Magician King is the sequel to Lev Grossman’s New York Times bestselling novel The Magicians, which was recently optioned by Fox as a television series. Lev Grossman also won this year’s John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, so it seems to be a pretty good year for him. Since this is a direct sequel, there will be spoilers for The Magicians in this review. If you do not want to be spoiled, do not read the rest […]