In the Shadow of Swords – Val Gunn

About this Book When legendary killer Ciris Sarn ends a life in an empty city plaza with a single dagger thrust, little does he know that an insidious game has been triggered by the brutal slaying. Turning predator into prey, this part fantasy, part espionage novel races along as it follows the now hunted Sarn across…

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City of Ruin – Mark Charan Newton

Read my review of Nights of VilljamurAuthors official website (Warning: this is a little longer than my typical review length because I can’t seem to get myself to stop talking about this book. It’s the authors fault for writing something I enjoy so much.) Not too long ago I finished Nights of Villjamur, went to…

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Nights of Villjamur – Mark Charan Newton

I’m always kind of hesitant to read a book that the entire speculative world has already read and raved about. I get nervous because, what if the book just doesn’t live up to the hype? What if I read it and end up being the only person alive who hated it? So I avoided Nights of…

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Havemercy – Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett

Back Cover Blurb:  Thanks to its elite Dragon Corps, the capital city of Volstov has all but won the hundred years’ war with its neighboring enemy, the Ke-Han. The renegade airmen who fly the corps’s mechanical, magic-fueled dragons are Volstov’s greatest weapon. But now one of its members is at the center of a scandal…

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Heroes Die – Matthew Woodring Stover

From Publishers Weekly:  After two fantasy novels (Iron Dawn; Jericho Moon), Stover combines fantasy and SF in this vigorous adventure story. Our world has developed a hyper-rigid, occupation-based caste system in which the reading of freedom-based philosophy, from John Locke to Robert A. Heinlein, is punished. For entertainment, people participate vicariously in recorded Adventures from…

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Acacia – David Anthony Durham

Publishers Weekly:  In this sprawling and vividly imagined fantasy, historical novelist Durham (Pride of Carthage) chronicles the downfall and reinvention of the Akaran Dynasty, whose empire, called Acacia, was built on conquest, slaving and drug trade. The Acacian empire, encompassing “The Known World,” is hated by its subjugated peoples, especially the Mein, who 22 generations…

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Curse of the Mistwraith – Janny Wurts

From Library Journal:  Two brothers, heirs to lands and locked in a blood feud, are drawn across a dimensional portal into a world where they are hailed as the promised saviors. As Arithon, the Master of Shadows, and his half-brother Lysaer, the Lord of Light, prepare to do battle against the Mistwraith, who has for…

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Dragonfly Falling – Adrian Tchaikovsky

From Publishers Weekly:  Tchaikovsky returns to the caste-haunted insect-themed world of 2010’s Empire in Black and Gold, as the inapt kinden realize that their natural gifts and old knowledge are no longer sufficient to allow them to dominate their apt cousins, who can use technology. The Wasp kinden have been slowly conquering the land for three…

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The King’s Bastard – Rowena Cory Daniells

About the Book Only seven minutes younger than Rolencia’s heir, Byren has never hungered for the throne. He laughs when a seer predicts that he will kill his twin. But the royal heir resents Byren’s growing popularity. Across the land the untamed magic of the gods wells up out of the earth’s heart. It sends…

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Scarlet – Stephen R. Lawhead

Amazon.com Blurb:  After losing everything he owns, forester Will Scarlet embarks on a search for none other than King Raven, whose exploits have already become legendary. After fulfilling his quest–and proving himself a skilled and loyal companion–Will joins the heroic archer and his men. Now, however, Will is in prison for a crime he did…

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