Just finished Ekaterina Sedia's enchanting The Secret History of Moscow. This will likely be one of the best fantasy reads of 2008. Has everything that made Gaiman's Neverwhere such a treat -- and more!

Check the blog for the full review!

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Just finished my first GRRM-recommended "punishment" for losing that NFL wager. . . S. L. Farrell's A Magic of Twilight is a solid effort which should appeal to most fans of epic fantasy. In terms of style, for no reason that I can explain, I found Farrell's style similar to that of Robin ...

Just finished Raymond E. Feist's Wrath of a Mad God . . . Has Feist lost his touch? I get the feeling that -- like Eddings, Salvatore, Brooks, Weis and Hickman, etc -- Raymond E. Feist's best years might be behind him. Which is a shame if that's the case, because at his best Feist could compete with...

Just finished Joe Abercrombie's latest!

Last Argument of Kings is an excellent conclusion to what turned out to be a very entertaining series.

Check the blog for the full review.

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Just finished Kay Kenyon's Bright of the Sky . Titus Quinn is a former star pilot now living as a recluse. Most people believe that Quinn lost his mind during an accident, though he swears that the accident transported him to a strange world. He has no memories pertaining to how he was able to retur...

I had relatively high hopes for this newest Kitty adventure, and Carrie Vaughn didn't disappoint! As was the case with its three predecessors, Kitty and the Silver Bullet is a very entertaining read. Fast-paced, the only problem is that you reach the end too quickly. Despite being the fourth volume ...

Just finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods . In the end, the novel is many things: Provocative, moving, engrossing, funny, original. But most of all, it's a wonderful read accessible to any reader looking for a quality read. It's no surprise, then, to realize that this title was able to transcend the...

I just finished GRRM's A Storm of Swords (finally, I know!). In a word: Awesome!

Check the blog for the full review.

Cheers,

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Discoveries is a new speculative fiction imprint from Wizards of the Coast (Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, etc). Hence, let me begin by saying that it's about time! A new adult-oriented specfic line is good news to fans of the genre. Wizards of the Coast sent out a very neat publicity kit last fall....

Just finished Chris Roberson's Paragaea: A Planetary Romance. The novel was advertized as a great old pulp adventure story, grounded in the latest thinking in the fields of theoretical physics, artificial intelligence, genetics, and more. Paragaea is indeed a throwback to those science fiction pulp ...

Just finished GRRM and co.'s newest Wild Cards offering, Inside Straight. As a mosaic novel, I was concerned about possible glitches in terms of continuity, consistency, chronology, style and tone. I was also worried about how the individual stories would fit and further the plot of the overall stor...

Just finished David Anthony Durham's Acacia: The War with the Mein.

Holy crap, but Acacia is a book that doesn't live up to the hype. Poor characterization throughout killed this one for me...

Check the blog for the full review.

Cheers,

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

As a compendium of GRRM's early work, Dreamsongs is a veritable journey through the author's long and celebrated career. Each section begins with an extensive and insightful commentary that permits us to learn quite a lot about the man and his stories. As good as the material is -- and believe me, a...

Just finished K. J. Parker's Devices and Desires . The premise is interesting enough: An engineer is sentenced to death for a petty transgression of Guild law. After murdering some of his captors to save his life, leaving his wife and daughter behind he is forced into exile. Devices and Desires is a...

After three disappointing books in a row, we're back on track with Joel Shepherd's Killswitch! :D Following in the wake of Crossover and Breakaway, Joel Shepherd's last volume in the Cassandra Kresnov series is yet another intelligent, action-packed and kick-ass scifi thriller! A remarkable blend of...

Just finished William Gibson's Spook Country. Unfortunately, though the book is good enough, it is clearly a far cry from what one has come to expect from a writer of William Gibson's caliber. Interestingly enough, the story never quite takes off. Moreover, the ending is about as lackluster as it ge...

Just finished Brandon Sanderson's The Well of Ascension.

Sorry to say that this one didn't do it for me. Not at all. A letdown and my biggest disappointment of the year so far.

Check out the blog for the full review.

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Hi there,

I just posted my Q&A with Donaldson on the blog. The author wasn't as loquacious as I would have liked and he dodged a couple of questions, but all in all it's an interesting read!

Check it out!

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Glad to see I'm spreading some joy!

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Pat5150, you told us to expect a SPOILER FREE review. Thanks a lot dude. I'll never read a thing you write ever again. Attention fellow Watch members: DO NOT READ THE REVIEW IF YOU WANT TO REMAIN SPOILER FREE. Goddamn that pisses me off. Malik23, Well, the review itself is not spoilerish. I put it ...