It’s 2.5 weeks to Christmas! How far are you with your Christmas shopping? I’m almost done, but then I always like getting my Christmas shopping out of the way as soon as possible. So to help those of you out that might be struggling I thought I’d do some gift guides the next few days for different types of people.

First up: The Fantasy Reader!

Books

Obviously. You can’t do a gift guide for someone who reads a lot without recommending a couple of books. Of course I couldn’t pick out just one book to recommend, so here are 9 cool fantasy books that any fantasy geek would love to get. Assuming he/she doesn’t have it already, but that’s a problem you’ll have to tackle on your own (a tip for book geeks: put a link to your GoodReads/library-app-of-your-choice on your wish list so that people can see what you have already. Alternatively, create a list of writers you have already and share that with them). What other books would you recommend?

2013 Fantasy Pin-Up Calendar

I don’t really use calendars anymore, but I love this Fantasy Pin-Up Calendar. The artist Lee Moyer has worked together with each of the writers to create a good representation of their characters. Plus each illustration is done in a different style, paying homage to past pin-up artists (you can read Lee Moyer’s blog post about it here). The image below on the right is of N.K. Jemisin’s Oree from The Broken Kingdoms.

Bookends

This completely depends on what type of books your Fantasy Reader enjoys, but I thought these book ends look awesome. The top left Tentacle and Pirate Ship bookend is from Etsy store KnobCreekMetalArts for $49.99. The top right ReadBooks bookend is available on PBteen for £28.40. The Gear Bookend is from Etsy store graphicspaceswood and costs $55. The Portal one is available for $29.99 on ThinkGeek.

Cookbooks

Cookbooks?!? Yep, there are a couple of fantasy inspired cookbooks out there. Who wouldn’t want to cook up a feast worthy of the residents of Winterfell? A Feast of Ice and Fire is £29.99, Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook is £7.69 and The Unofficial Recipes of The Hunger Games is £11.99.

Jewelry

If you really want to give something special, how about an officially licensed piece of jewelry from their favourite fantasy book? Badali Jewelry Specialists worked together with the authors to create the designs from their stories. They’ve got jewelry from Lord of The Rings, Mistborn, Wheel of Time and The Kingkiller Chronicles! Having just read The Name of The Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear, those designs are my favourite; it’s so cool seeing them in “real life”. The pieces below are the Talen Pipes from The Name of The Wind and the Aes Sedai Serpent Ring from The Wheel of Time.

What do you think of my suggestions? Which ones do you want for Christmas? What else would you suggest for the Fantasy Reader?

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.

What do you get when you combine Marvel and Bond? These fantastic designs by deviantart artist Bill Walko.

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 just started reading an Advanced Reader Copy of Prodigy, the sequel to Marie Lu’s Legend. Lu has created an interesting dystopian world and I can’t wait to find out what happens to the characters. And to celebrate the upcoming release of Prodigy I’ve been given two copies of Legend to give away to two lucky readers!

To enter the contest, all you need to do is email contest@missgeeky.com with your name and address and put “Legend Giveaway” in the title. The giveaway will run until November 19th at 17:00 and is only open to residents of the United States.

About 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, 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.

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, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

24 Hours, 24 Offers, 24 Books!

The Book Depository has another 24 Hour sale! I’ve missed out on this promotion the last couple of times, each time completely forgetting that it was on. Starting at noon GMT (aka now), they’ll have a book on sale on their homepage, with a new offer appearing every hour. The first book is the LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia… not something for me, but I’m sure they’ll have other interesting books!

Last time they had some great books on sale, so I’m going to try and keep a close eye on what goes on sale every hour! I quite like The Book Depository as an Amazon alternative; I’ve often found books cheaper here and actually in stock.

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.