Month: May 2017

The Riyria Chronicles – The Viscount and the Witch (Short Story) – By Michael J. Sullivan

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder, , Leave a comment

Jared,

12746970I’ve begun trying to clear out my backlog of stuff I want to read. This had been on my list for since before the blog started. I really like the idea of works of short fiction that introduce authors and series that I’m interested in. Sample chapters are good too but they’re always incomplete by nature. At least with a novella or short story it’s intended to be a more complete story.

In this short it’s clearly a part of something bigger but it provided everything that I was hoping for. I got a feel for the character dynamics, the setting in general terms and the author’s style. And I liked what I saw.

So Mr. Sullivan is now firmly on my authors to watch list and Riyria is a series I want to make time for.

Robert

The Riyria Chronicles – The Viscount and the Witch (Short Story) – By Michael J. Sullivan

Wax and Wayne Series – Book 3: The Bands of Mourning – By Brandon Sanderson

Jared, , , , 5 Comments

Hey Robert,

So I have read all the books prior to this in the series but I didn’t have the time to re-read all of them before this one called to me from the audiobook library and made me listen.

 Title: Bands of Mourningbtsw-square-orig
Series: Wax and Wayne Series; Book 3
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy
Audience:  Adult
ROTS Setting: Cosmere, Magic
Synopsis: It’s six months after the end of Shadows of Self and Wax is getting married.
Recommendation: Good book for adults or late teens. Not my favorite Mistborn novel but talked more about the Cosmere which is slowly fascinating me more and more while also driving me insane.

Continue reading “Wax and Wayne Series – Book 3: The Bands of Mourning – By Brandon Sanderson” →

Wax and Wayne Series – Book 3: The Bands of Mourning – By Brandon Sanderson

The Gatekeeper’s Son – Book 2: The Fallen Gatekeepers – By C. R. Fladmark

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder, , 2 Comments

Jared,

Ok. Not as good as the first one. The book went full YA on me and things I thought were perfect in the first book were continued in this one when they shouldn’t have.

thefallengatekeepers

Title: The Fallen Gatekeepers
Series: The Gatekeeper’s Son; Book 2
Author: C. R. Fladmark
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: YA
ROTS Setting: EU, Modern, Magic
Synopsis: […] Being a modern teenager is complicated. Family expectations. Japanese teenage-girl warriors. Shape shifting lizard-men. Alternate worlds. All a day in the life of Junya Thompson. It’s been months since sixteen-year-old Junya survived his savage battle with the Evil Ones, but now that he’s back in San Francisco he’s still feeling the effects. His limp is slow to heal, his shoulder aches from the bite that should have killed him, and black poison lingers in his blood, tainting his life energy. […]
Recommendation: Still recommended but not highly. For late teens and adult. MATURE CONTENT.

Continue reading “The Gatekeeper’s Son – Book 2: The Fallen Gatekeepers – By C. R. Fladmark” →

The Gatekeeper’s Son – Book 2: The Fallen Gatekeepers – By C. R. Fladmark

Old Man’s War Series – Book 1: Old Man’s War – By John Scalzi

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder, , , 5 Comments

Hi Jared,

 

oldmanswarTitle: Old Man’s War
Series: Old Man’s War; Book 1
Author: John Scalzi
Genre: Science Fiction, Space Opera
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: Distant-Future, FTL (Skip-Drive), Aliens,
Synopsis: The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce– and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding. Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity’s resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don’t want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You’ll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You’ll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you’ll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended. Gore and adult scenes.

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Old Man’s War Series – Book 1: Old Man’s War – By John Scalzi

Imperial Radch Trilogy – Book 3: Ancillary Mercy – By Ann Leckie

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder, , 1 Comment

Jared,

This was on my list of series to finish. Sadly, it looks like there will be another series set in the same universe set to start this Fall. Oh well, I’ll just have to read and finish that one too.

ancillarymercy.jpgTitle: Ancillary Mercy
Series: Imperial Radch Trilogy; Book 3
Author: Ann Leckie
Genre: Science Fiction, Space Opera
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: CU, Distant Future, AI, FTL
Synopsis: For a moment, things seemed to be under control for Breq, the soldier who used to be a warship. Then a search of Athoek Station’s slums turns up someone who shouldn’t exist, and a messenger from the mysterious Presger empire arrives, as does Breq’s enemy, the divided and quite possibly insane Anaander Mianaai – ruler of an empire at war with itself. Breq refuses to flee with her ship and crew, because that would leave the people of Athoek in terrible danger. The odds aren’t good, but that’s never stopped her before.
Recommendation: This could have been in the YA section. The style may not be for everyone, it’s basically a gender-less society so a persons sex or sexual preference/orientation are completely ignored.

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Imperial Radch Trilogy – Book 3: Ancillary Mercy – By Ann Leckie

Anthology Thursday Postponed

Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder4 Comments

Just a quick note.

I overbooked my time last month and foresee this month being much the same. I have a longtime hobby that I’m trying to get back into and that eats into my “free-time” so something had to give. I’m finding that audio books might let me multitask a bit, but they aren’t my preferred literary medium.

Anthology Thursday will hopefully pick up again in June if I can balance out my time better.

Robert

Anthology Thursday Postponed

Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection – By Brandon Sanderson

Jared, 3 Comments

Hey Robert,28595941

So over my last long drive, I listened to Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection by Brandon Sanderson. All in all, as a bit of a Sanderson Fanboy I love the whole thing. Some of the stories are more worthwhile than others but if you follow along I’ll point out the best ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection – By Brandon Sanderson