I’ve had my eye on Darkborn for a while; it sounds like such an interesting concept. Two races living in the same city, but one dies from the sun and the other dies from darkness? Cool idea.

Here’s the summary:

In the city of Minhorne, Darkborn and Lightborn live side by side, never meeting, divided by a powerful mages’ curse that makes daylight lethal to the Darkborn and darkness lethal to the Lightborn. They are divided, too, by their acceptance of magic and technology, their politics, their religion, and their views of the proper conduct of men and women.

An act of necessary succor brings Darkborn physician Balthasar Hearne to the deadly attention of agents of a new and unrecognized enemy of both Darkborn and Lightborn. His aristocratic wife, Telmaine, is forced to use magical abilities she has all her life concealed, to protect her husband and her children. And Ishmael di Studier, mage and outcast, who has spent his life defending his borders home from the marauding Shadowborn, now finds himself engaged against an even more dangerous enemy.

Darkborn by Alison Sinclair is available on Amazon.co.uk for £5.39 and on Amazon.com for $6.99.

I love it when you come across a book with a gorgeous cover and then also hear a ton of good reviews about it. Blood Rights is one of those books. Don’t you just love the cover?

Here’s the summary from Amazon:

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle’s body bears the telltale marks of a comarre – a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility and control their hungers. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the darkness of the mortal world . . . and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.

Chrysabelle’s secrets, though, are about to put her life – and those around her – in even greater jeopardy. She possesses a powerful ring, the key to unlocking an ancient prophecy destined to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. A chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen threatens to reign unless she and Malkolm can stop the noble vampire behind the merciless plot.

What that description doesn’t mention though, is that it takes place in 2067. I’ve read the prologue and first chapter, and it look like a very interesting world. Plus it’s the type of book that you start reading and just can’t put down; I really need to get my hands on this!

Blood Rights is available on Amazon.co.uk for £6.11 and on Amazon.com for $7.99.

Too many books and not enough time. I’ve only read 22 books this year and I’ve gotten 100+ on my ToBeRead list. It’s not 2013 yet, but I’m already thinking of setting two challenges for myself next year: 1. I’m only allowed to buy 10 books next year and I need to specify at the start of the year what those 10 books will be, 2. I need to read at least 40 books from my ToBeRead list. It’s going to be challenging, but I think I can do it…

One of the books on my TBR pile is The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg. I found it and its sequel The Soul Mirror at a secondhand bookshop earlier this year and couldn’t resist getting it.

Here’s the description from Amazon:

For Portier de Savin-Duplais, failed student of magic, sorcery’s decline into ambiguity and cheap illusion is but a culmination of life’s bitter disappointments. Reduced to tending the library at Sabria’s last collegia magica, he fights off despair with scholarship. But when the King of Sabria charges him to investigate an attempted murder that has disturbing magical resonances, Portier believes his dreams of a greater destiny might at last be fulfilled…

The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg is available on Amazon.co.uk for £4.99 and on Amazon.com for $6.80.

Writers come in all different flavours. You’ll find the ones that create one interesting series and stick writing only for that series for the rest of their lives. Then you have the ones that will try and write something else, but fail, and end up returning to their most popular work. And finally you’ll have the ones who can create intriguing world after world after world, never failing to come up with something interesting and new.

Sharon Shinn is definitely of that latter group. I had read books from 3 of her series before realizing they were all written by the same person. I’m still making my way through her Samaria series, but I love how she’s combined angels and sci-fi. So imagine my surprise when I found out Shinn’s got an anthology book, where she returns to four of her worlds…

Here’s the description from Sharon Shinn’s website:

The four novellas in Quatrain are set in worlds I’ve created for Archangel, Heart of Gold, Summers at Castle Auburn, and Mystic and Rider.

“Flight” follows a former angel-seeker who used to be in love with the Archangel Raphael and now is determined to keep her beautiful niece from making her same mistakes.

“Blood” is the story of a fierce young gulden man who comes to the city to seek his mother, whom he hasn’t seen since he was a boy and she ran away from his abusive father.

In “Gold,” a crown princess escapes the hazards of war by hiding among the fairylike aliora, where she encounters an altogether different sort of danger.

And in “Flame,” the mystic Senneth uses her magic to save a little girl, an act that wins her new friends but puts her own life at risk.

I’ve read books from three of the worlds; the only one I haven’t read yet is the Heart of Gold series. All the new stories sound like great additions though and I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Quatrain by Sharon Shinn is available on Amazon.co.uk for £4.98 and on Amazon.com for $9.12.

My favourite writer this year has got to be Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant. Both her urban fantasy Toby Daye series (written as Seanan McFurie) and her zombie Newsflesh trilogy (written as Mira Grant) are awesome, and I love the unique worlds she’s created. I love that she’s made a zombie world where people actually have grown up watching zombie movies, etc (unlike most movies and TV shows where somehow nobody has even considered anything like a zombie before).

So I was quite excited to hear that Grant would return to her zombie world with When Will You Rise. It turns out though that it consists of two stories: Countdown, a prequel novella set in the same world which takes place in the early days of the zombie apocalypse, and Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box, which isn’t set in the Newsflesh universe. Countdown was previously available only in e-book format.

It turns out though that the book will have a limited run with only 1000 signed numbered hardcover books, and will cost $38 (you can order one from the publisher’s site). This would make a perfect Christmas gift…

I’ve had my eye on this series for a while and I finally got them all a few weeks ago from a secondhand bok shop. I’m guessing they’re filtering those standalone ones out now that this omnibus version has come out, which contains all three parts (Lord of the Changing Winds, Land of the Burning Sands, Law of the Broken Earth). I really like it when publishers release trilogy books like this. It saves me from trying to get all three books in the same format (which is whole lot more difficult than you might think) and saves me money!

I loved the idea of griffins as a kid. I’ve got a memory of this old TV show which had a griffin in it, but I don’t remember the name of it anymore. I just have this scene playing over in my head: a kid looks into a puddle and sees the reflection of a griffin… anybody know from what TV show that is?

Back to topic, griffins are awesome and they’re should be more books about them. Here’s the description of The Griffin Mage from Amazon:

The desert winds have come to the village of Minas Ford. Griffins, creatures of fire, have appeared in a burning haze – searing the sky a blinding white and scorching the earth to parched, barren sand. These majestic beasts, half-lion, half-eagle, spread the arid desert wherever they roam. Iaor, the King of Feierabiand, will not tolerate the destruction of his people’s farmland. He means to drive the griffins from his domain – whether by negotiation or brute force. But not all those who encounter the griffins fear them. Kes, a timid village girl, is summoned to heal the King of the Griffins himself. She will discover her affinity with these creatures, and come to realise that the menace they flee is even more deadly than the blazing fires of the desert.

The Griffin Mage by Rachel Neumeier is £7.79 on Amazon.co.uk and $15.42 on Amazon.com.

I loved the first book of Jean Johnson’s Theirs Not To Reason Why series. It’s a great blend of military fiction and sci-fi with an awesome strong female protagonist. Plus it’s got a great wide universe with a lot of different species and backstories, which I had been looking for (I wanted something like Mass Effect but in book form and this pretty much is that). I can’t wait to read the second book in this series!

Here’s the description from Amazon:

After a terrible vision of the future, Ia must somehow ensure the salvation of her home galaxy long after she’s gone. Promoted in the field for courage and leadership under fire, she is now poised to become an officer in the Space Force Navy once she undertakes her Academy training. But at the Academy, she discovers an unexpected challenge: the one man who could disrupt her plans. The man whose future she cannot foresee. Time is running out for Ia, the galaxy is on the brink of the Second Salik War.

An Officer’s Duty is available on Amazon.co.uk for £4.89 and on Amazon.com for $7.99.

Ooh, I can’t wait to read these books! Legend came out earlier this year, and after reading some great reviews, it went straight on to my WANT list. Sadly I started a self-applied book buying ban: I’m only allowed to buy books from ongoing series I already own, until I’ve read 50 books from my over a 100 ToBeRead pile. But getting review copies from lovely PRs doesn’t count, right? I’m not breaking the rules: I didn’t buy the books!

Anyways, I’m really excited to get these books. Prodigy is also my first ever ARC (Advanced Reader Copy). It will be coming out in January and it’s awesome that I’ll be able to read it early!

Here’s the blurb for Legend:

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths – until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

I know dystopian teenage dramas is our current wizard/vampire/whatever-else-has-been-a-teenage-fandom, but I like the sound of Legend. Plus what the description doesn’t mention is that it’s also a loose reimagination of Les Miserables… And how can you resist an opening like this:

Have you read Legend already? Excited for Prodigy?

Legend is available on Amazon.co.uk for £4.89 and on Amazon.com for $11.98. Prodigy is out on January 29th and can be preordered on Amazon.co.uk for £6.29 and Amazon.com for $12.23.

I just started reading The Name of The Wind last weekend and so far it’s great. It’s beautifully written and it’s one of those books that once I start reading I can’t put down. Sadly I haven’t found enough time this week to read, otherwise I think I would have finished it by now!

The book starts off in a small town in a small inn with a quiet innkeeper called Kote. You soon find out though that he hasn’t always been just an innkeeper, but the assassin/thief/magician/who-knows-what-more Kvothe (pronounced like Quothe). Once a scribe and chronicler arrives in town, Kvothe starts telling his story…

The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is available on Amazon.co.uk for £6.29 and on Amazon.com for $11.56.

Ooh, the latest October Daye book came out yesterday! I really enjoyed this series from Seanan McGuire and the previous book was just soooo good. I can’t wait to get my hands on this one!

Here’s the description from Amazon:

It’s been almost a year since October “Toby” Daye averted a war, gave up a county, and suffered personal losses that have left her wishing for a good day’s sleep. She’s tried to focus on her responsibilities—training Quentin, upholding her position as Sylvester’s knight, and paying the bills—but she can’t help feeling like her world is crumbling around her, and her increasingly reckless behavior is beginning to worry even her staunchest supporters.

To make matters worse, Toby’s just been asked to find another missing child…only this time it’s the changeling daughter of her fellow knight, Etienne, who didn’t even know he was a father until the girl went missing. Her name is Chelsea. She’s a teleporter, like her father. She’s also the kind of changeling the old stories warn about, the ones with all the strength and none of the control. She’s opening doors that were never meant to be opened, releasing dangers that were sealed away centuries before—and there’s a good chance she could destroy Faerie if she isn’t stopped.

Now Toby must find Chelsea before time runs out, racing against an unknown deadline and through unknown worlds as she and her allies try to avert disaster. But danger is also stirring in the Court of Cats, and Tybalt may need Toby’s help with the biggest challenge he’s ever faced.

Toby thought the last year was bad. She has no idea.

Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire is available on Amazon.co.uk for £5.03 and on Amazon.com for $7.99.