STEELHEART by Brandon Sanderson

The blurb:

(from goodreads)

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics...nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart - the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning - and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

The afterglow:

Any blurb I could find simply does not do Steelheart justice. I felt like I had died and gone to reader-heaven.

Sheer, utter, perfection lies within the pages of this book.

From a world that is brilliantly crafted and expertly comments on our own society, to characters that are incredibly unique with complex relationships, Steelheart is one of those don't-even-try-to-talk-to-me-I'm-reading type of books. Every page is filled with excitement. Set in Newcago - the villain, Steelheart's, solid-steel transformation of modern-day Chicago - it feels modern and futuristic at the same time. And with the unexplained and almost magical powers of the Epics, this book seamlessly mixes fantasy and science-fiction to create something that is truly extraordinary.

And the action! I have never, ever, wanted to see a book turned into a movie so bad. It was written perfectly - fast-paced and easy to follow, but also wildly creative and unlike anything I've ever imagined.

Just ... perfect.

If you want a book that will simultaneously break your heart, invigorate your mind, fill you with hope, and split your sides with a slew of hilariously bad metaphors, this is the book for you.

Actually, no matter who you are, this is the book for you. Seriously.

(When does the sequel come out??)

♥tg

PS - I looked it up. Firefight comes out in January. Guess who's pre-ordering it.

STARDUST by Neil Gaiman

I received a review copy of this special edition published by HarperCollins' William Morrow which includes an early Wall story called Wall: A Prologue. The edition I received has a blue cover and gold-embossed art by Charles Vess.

I'm usually not the kind of person who can go to a bookstore and pick out a book I like.  Typically, I will see a movie I really like and will want to read the book, or I may buy a book at my wife's suggestion.

Stardust is one of the former.

Just like any young man in love, Tristran Thorn made a promise to a girl he loved (who didn't entirely love him back) that he would go so far to find a falling star for her, if it would mean her hand in marriage.  On his journey, he runs across many of the things you would find in fairy tales: unicorns, witches, human transformations, teleporting, etc.

From Goodreads:

In the sleepy English countryside of decades past, there is a town that has stood on a jut of granite for six hundred years. And immediately to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here in the town of Wall, Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. One crisp October night, as they watch, a star falls from the sky, and Victoria promises to marry Tristran if he'll retrieve that star and bring it back for her. It is this promise that sends Tristran through the only gap in the wall, across the meadow, and into the most unforgettable adventure of his life.

Stardust was made as a fairy tale for adults, so it ends up being very fun for any adult reading.  The movie left me with high hopes for the book, and I ended up loving the book even more.  There were scenes that were told so much better in the book than Hollywood could portray.  Also, the book never had many of the scenes that I didn't like in the movie.

The plot was very well done.  Any tension the author creates during the book is finally put at ease as you get near the end of the book.  The characters were also very unique, including Prince brothers that would literally kill one another, but have an unwritten obligation to seek revenge for another's death if done by someone other than family.

 I wanted to see how the book compared to the movie and in this case, the book was much better than the movie. I recommend it.

New breath for THE CLEARING in SHADOWS OF THE HIDDEN by Anne Riley

Find it on goodreads

I am beyond stoked that Anne Riley's book, formerly titled THE CLEARING, has been given new life and a gorgeous new cover by Compass Press. SHADOWS OF THE HIDDEN now has the cover I pictured when reading it for the first time. Okay, so I didn't picture it exactly, but this was basically it. I love it!

Here's my original afterglowing review:

The short version: Just finished reading The Clearing by Anne Riley and it was a very satisfying read! The twists and emotional intensity really got me. It dealt with the reality of bereavement very well in the midst of a supernatural plot, and made me cry more than once.  

The self-indulgent version: 
*Happy sigh* 

Yeah, I liked this book that much. 

After I read the author's blog--and liked her so much I snagged her for a guest post over at The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog--I started to worry about the inevitable moment of truth: What if I read her book and didn't like it? After all, there are no guarantees about any given book, even those published by the big houses and buzzed all over the place as the next HP or Twilight! So what would I do if I didn't like THE CLEARING? This anxiety kept me from reading it at first, even when I had the lovely paperback sitting on my night stand. It waited patiently for me to grow a spine, which I did, thankfully. 

All my stress, it turns out, was for naught. In fact, Riley's debut novel is right up there with the best in the urban fantasy genre. THE CLEARING boasts a suspenseful, spooky plot and relatable, tortured characters. I thought about it for days afterward. I wished for a sequel or companion novel to continue in the unique world Anne Riley created. I cried multiple times as the protagonist Natalie dealt with such serious issues as bullying at school and her parents' deaths. The twists are sublimely surprising, and the magical escapism enchanted me. Doesn't every girl hope deep down that she's special? Especially those of us who were bullied relentlessly in school! 

And that is as specific as I'll be with the spoilers. :)  

Enjoy! It gets FIVE STARS from me. Well done, Anne! I hope to enjoy many more books with your name on them.

The new edition comes out December 10, 2012. Merry Christmas!

Visit Anne at her website/blog, on twitter, facebook, and look for her as a featured author at Operation Awesome's free, online New Year's Revisions Conference January 4-6, 2013. 

The Winds of Khalakovo, by Bradley P. Beaulieu

I started reading the paperback I bought at World Fantasy Convention 2011, but I soon switched to Kindle, when that edition was offered up for free (as a promotion, not the author's gift to me for review). In the interest of full disclosure, I will also point out that I know Brad, a little. I met him at WFC because we have some mutual friends, and I first fell in love with his writing after hearing him read from the sequel to this novel.

Now, all that being said, none of it affected my enjoyment of this book, which is one of the best fantasy debuts I've ever come across. Before I share my take, let me give you the blurb, from Amazon:

Among inhospitable and unforgiving seas stands Khalakovo, a mountainous archipelago of seven islands, its prominent eyrie stretching a thousand feet into the sky. Serviced by windships bearing goods and dignitaries, Khalakovo's eyrie stands at the crossroads of world trade. But all is not well in Khalakovo. Conflict has erupted between the ruling Landed, the indigenous Aramahn, and the fanatical Maharraht, and a wasting disease has grown rampant over the past decade. Now, Khalakovo is to play host to the Nine Dukes, a meeting which will weigh heavily upon Khalakovo's future.

When an elemental spirit attacks an incoming windship, murdering the Grand Duke and his retinue, Prince Nikandr, heir to the scepter of Khalakovo, is tasked with finding the child prodigy believed to be behind the summoning. However, Nikandr discovers that the boy is an autistic savant who may hold the key to lifting the blight that has been sweeping the islands. Can the Dukes, thirsty for revenge, be held at bay? Can Khalakovo be saved? The elusive answer drifts upon the Winds of Khalakovo...

Now, I have to say, it's been about two weeks since I finished this book, and I needed that time, because it was a lot to absorb. I was a huge fan of epic fantasy when I was young--Tolkien was my first love, but authors like Eddings, Jordan, Brooks and others filled my shelves as a teen--but of late I've read very little of it. George Martin is really the only fantasy I've read this decade, and I can't even call A Song of Ice and Fire, High or True Fantasy (not that I mean that as a slight, George's books are phenomenal, just very untraditional, in a good way). Bradley's book is incredibly similar in its inability to fit into a tidy little box.

There were some things that struck me about this novel as the levels through which I was introduced to it expanded.

• The cover. It's a steampunk-ish, alternate world, air-ship orgasm of a cover, and yet it's painted with such an air of mystery, it's clear this is no juvenile manga-style tale of another world (not that I don't love those too, but I digress)
• Brad's reading from what was then probably a third stage draft of the sequel. Brad's voice, tone, diction, and resonance probably played a part, but for me it was really the richness of language and culture that drew me in. I heard him read from the sequel before I read the original, but it gave me enough of a taste for the world that I knew I would have to return.
• The cultures. I don't want to attribute every fantasy I ever read to Tolkien, because as much as I wish it did, it doesn't work that way, and another thing that makes Winds stand out to me is the fact that is does not borrow Orcs, or Elves, or Dwarves. It includes the landed of the great duchies, who are only very loosely based on Tsarist Russia, who I thought were mostly pretty cool, except for amazing standout characters like Nikandr, Atiana, and Victania, but more importantly it included the fascinating Aramahn, a culture that was part Indian Hindi, part Arabic Muslim, and part Japanese Buddhist, whose religion, or more specifically, spiritual system of beliefs, was what really drove this story for me. It's key characters were the morally conflicted Rehada, the vaguely autistic Nasim, his guide and elder Ashan, and the clearly devout, confused, radical, and yet still sympathetic Soroush. The Aramahn really made this book for me, and I look forward to the subsequent volumes in which I hope they will explored even more deeply.

If I had to make one complaint, it would be that the pacing dragged a bit for me in the middle third. However, I suspect this was only due to the fact that I'd been reading so many 60,000 word YA novels lately, and I doubt that most fantasy readers would take issue. People who read a lot of high fantasy understand that a world this rich takes time to build, and you can't just dump it all on the reader. Regardless, the final third of the novel made it all worth it. There were almost sort of two separate climactic moments, both of which I thought were done very well and I thoroughly enjoyed.

I would recommend this novel for anyone who enjoys fantasy, but also for anyone who is looking for something truly new and unique. Before I let you go, allow me to point you to a few places you can find Brad on the web, and read some other opinions on this book:

Brad's website: Quillings.com
Brad's blog
Brad on Facebook
Brad on Twitter: @BBeaulieu

An awesome cross interview between Brad and Rob Ziegler, at Fantasy Book Critic.
Brad on moral ambiguity, at John Scalzi's blog

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist - reviews Khalakovo much better than I
A review at Bookwork Blues
A review at Black Gate

That's it for today. Happy Tuesday, everyone!