Book of the Week: October 16th, 2015

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The Book of the Week is back, and this time it’s not a Mistborn novel! I promise.

We’re going back quite a few years to a science fiction classic that, in my opinion, doesn’t get a whole lot of the love it deserves: Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis.

Out of the Silent Planet

Out of the Silent Planet is the first of Lewis’ Space Trilogy, and I’ll admit that my recent reading of it was a very different experience from the first time (which was probably sometime around 4th or 5th grade…it’s been a while). There were very few things that I remembered about the plot and almost nothing about the characters. The result was a pretty fresh take, and I was impressed. Continue reading

Shadows of Self – A Review

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Well, this is exciting. Any time a new Sanderson novel comes out, especially one set in the Cosmere, I have a little field day. It’s been well over a year now since we got a new Cosmere novel (the last was Words of Radiance, which I reviewed here), and the hype has really built. Due to the importance of some of the Cosmere-wide tidbits in Shadows of Self, this review will have some spoilers, not only for Shadows of Self, but also for others of Sanderson’s works.

Shadows of Self

Shadows of Self is the fifth and latest installment in Brandon Sanderson’s popular Mistborn series. Properly the second book in “Era 2” of Mistborn, Shadows picks up a year after the events
of Alloy of Law. Continue reading

Book of the Week: October 9th, 2015

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As promised, the conclusion of my featured Mistborn books is the Book of the Week!* This time, it’s the first Wax and Wayne adventure, The Alloy of Law.

*Not actually the conclusion. A review of Shadows of Self is currently in the works, set for posting either Sunday or Monday.

Alloy of Law Continue reading

Book of the Week: October 2nd, 2015

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Wow, I almost forgot about this post. For the second week in a row. My bad, everyone. It’s especially bad because I’m so excited about Shadows of Self coming out next week, and how much fun I’ve been having on this Mistborn reread. As expected the Book of the Week is The Hero of Ages.

Hero of Ages Continue reading

Top 5 Siege Battles in Epic Fantasy

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I found myself, the other day, mulling over some of my favorite battle scenes (and sequences) in fantasy, and realized something: a lot of them seem to be sieges. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy a good battlefield chapter, or that fast-paced wars don’t excite me (they do; there’s one in All Flames Cast). There are some great ones out there, from Dumai’s Wells and the Seanchan campaigns in Altara in The Wheel of Time, to the Nírnaeth Arnoediad in The Silmarillion, to the Department of Mysteries in Order of the Phoenix, and on and on.

But today, I want to talk about my five favorite siege battles (and a couple of honorable mentions).

5) The Shattered Plains in Way of Kings and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

Am I cheating right off the bat? Maybe a little bit, but the warcamps and fighting over gemhearts and all that is definitely a type of siege. In fact, it’s precisely because this isn’t a conventional siege that it made this list. Continue reading