So through the rest of the week and over the weekend, you’ll see a number of reviews published on Bookbanter, which is all part of the lead up to Bookbanter’s Top 20 Reads of 2015. I’m moving the big post to Monday morning, so that I can get all the reviews up that are mentioned in that post. This is the first time I’m going to get the “best reads” post up with reviews on every book mentioned, which I’m pretty happy about.
So be ready.
So here’s how the rest of January and some of February is going to play out in all things Bookbanter, since the month is shooting by and we have some important posts to get done. It’s going to be a busy couple of months.
January 19 – Book News
January 21 – Review of 2015 Writing Goals
January 23 – Review: The Sandman: Overture
January 26 – Book News
January 28 – Writing Goals for 2016
January 30 – Review: The Marvels
February 2 – Book News
February 4 – Review: Saturn Run
February 6 – Bookbanter’s Best Books of 2015
At this point Bookbanter will regress to the usual three-post a week schedule with a weekly book news post, 1-2 book review posts a week, along with occasional writing pieces.
In February I’ll also be debuting “King Capsules,” which will be running monthly featuring one-paragraph reviews of various Stephen King books in each “capsule.”
And so we come once again to the end of a year and the beginning of a new one, which means it’s time to look back at what we read in the past twelve months. As a mail carrier, I got to do a lot of driving during the days of 2015 and squeezed in a lot of audiobook reading. My goal for 2015 was to get more nonfiction read, which I did, and to up my books by female authors, which I also managed to do. Unsurprisingly, my ebooks read also went up. Below is a quick tally for these three categories.
Nonfiction: 7
Books by female authors: 12
Ebooks: 14
Books read in 2014 and previous years can be found here.
| NUMBER | TITLE | AUTHOR | GENRE | EDITION |
| 1 | Black House | Stephen King & Peter Straub | Horror | Audiobook |
| 2 | Rolling in the Deep | Mira Grant | Horror | |
| 3 | The Empty Throne | Bernard Cornwell | Historical Fiction | |
| 4 | The Time Traveler’s Almanac | Ann VanderMeer | Science Fiction | Ebook |
| 5 | Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen | Garth Nix | Young Adult | Audiobook |
| 6 | Symbiont | Mira Grant | Horror | Audiobook |
| 7 | Foxglove Summer | Ben Aaronovich | Fantasy | Audiobook |
| 8 | Unbound | Jim C. Hines | Fantasy | Audiobook |
| 9 | The Sculptor | Scott McCloud | Graphic Novel | |
| 10 | Firefight | Brandon Sanderson | Young Adult | Audiobook |
| 11 | A Better World | Marcus Sakey | Science Fiction | |
| 12 | The Screaming Staircase | Jonathan Stroud | Young Adult | Audiobook |
| 13 | Christine | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 14 | Stranger | Rachel Manija Brown & Sherwood Smith | Young Adult | Ebook |
| 15 | Nanovision | Paul T. Harry | Science Fiction | Ebook |
| 16 | Blood Infernal | James Rollins & Rebecca Cantrell | Thriller | Audiobook |
| 17 | Trigger Warnings | Neil Gaiman | Short Stories | Audiobook |
| 18 | The Living Years | Mike Rutherford | Autobiography | |
| 19 | Get in Trouble | Kelly Link | Short Stories | Audiobook |
| 20 | Darwinia | Robert Charles Wilson | Science Fiction | Audiobook |
| 21 | Blind Lake | Robert Charles Wilson | Science Fiction | Audiobook |
| 22 | Saga Volume 4 | Brian K. Vaughan | Graphic Novel | |
| 23 | Don’t Look Inside | Spike Black | Horror | Ebook |
| 24 | Uprooted | Naomi Novik | Fantasy | |
| 25 | Mistborn: Final Empire | Brandon Sanderson | Fantasy | Audiobook |
| 26 | Less Than Hero | S. G. Browne | Fiction | |
| 27 | A Tiny Tale | Olivier Cri to Coeur | Fantasy | |
| 28 | The Well of Ascension | Brandon Sanderson | Fantasy | Audiobook |
| 29 | The Fold | Peter Clines | Science Fiction | |
| 30 | Working for Bigfoot | Jim Butcher | Fantasy | |
| 31 | The Hero of Ages | Brandon Sanderson | Fantasy | Audiobook |
| 32 | The Alloy of Law | Brandon Sanderson | Fantasy | Audiobook |
| 33 | The Atlantis Deception | Nick Thacker | Science Fiction | Ebook |
| 34 | Under the Dome | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 35 | The Affinities | Robert Charles Wilson | Science Fiction | |
| 36 | The Collapse and Recovery of Europe | Jack L. Schwartzwald | History | |
| 37 | Flare | Jonathan Maas | Science Fiction | |
| 38 | The Stand | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 39 | Waterloo | Bernard Cornwell | History | |
| 40 | The Skystone | Jack Whyte | Historical Fiction | Audiobook |
| 41 | Weird Tales | Lyn Murray | Horror | Ebook |
| 42 | The Wright Brothers | David McCullough | Biography | Audiobok |
| 43 | The Colorado Kid | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 44 | The Fifth Heart | Dan Simmons | Thriller | |
| 45 | Rose Madder | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 46 | System: With His Face in the Sun | Jon A Davidson | Science Fiction | |
| 47 | The Scarlet Gospels | Clive Barker | Horror | |
| 48 | The Singing Sword | Jack Whyte | Historical Fiction | Audiobook |
| 49 | Waiting for the Machines to Fall | Peter Oberg | Science Fiction | Ebook |
| 50 | Finders Keepers | Stephen King | Horror | |
| 51 | Four Past Midnight | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 52 | Seveneves | Neal Stepehnson | Science Fiction | Audiobook |
| 53 | The Westing Game | Ellen Raskin | Young Adult | |
| 54 | Drunken Fireworks | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 55 | The Regulators | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 56 | Fables Vol. 21: Happily Ever After | Bill Willingham | Graphic Novel | |
| 57 | James Herriot’s Animal Stories | James Herriot | Animals | |
| 58 | Different Seasons | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 59 | Rage | Richard Bachman | Horror | Audiobook |
| 60 | Night Shift | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 61 | Tin Men | Christopher Golden | Science Fiction | Audiobook |
| 62 | The Best Team Money Can Buy | Molly Knight | Sports | |
| 63 | The Robusta Incident | Jennifer Fales | Horror | Ebook |
| 64 | Aurora | Kim Stanley Robinson | Science Fiction | |
| 65 | Throttle | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 66 | In the Tall Grass | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 67 | Solaversia | Toby Downton | Science Fiction | |
| 68 | Armada | Ernest Cline | Science Fiction | |
| 69 | The Green Mile | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 70 | Duma Key | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 71 | Fables Vol. 22: Farewell | Bill Willingham | Graphic Novel | |
| 72 | Hyperion | Dan Simmons | Science Fiction | Audiobook |
| 73 | With the Reading of | Vincent Macraven | Horror | Ebook |
| 74 | The Fall of Hyperion | Dan Simmons | Science Fiction | Audiobook |
| 75 | Roadwork | Richard Bachman | Horror | Audiobook |
| 76 | Neverwhere | Neil Gaiman | Fantasy | |
| 77 | The Owl From Oblivion | Rusty A. Biesele | Fantasy | |
| 78 | Shadows of Self | Brandon Sanderson | Fantasy | Ebook |
| 79 | The Running Man | Richard Bachman | Horror | Audiobook |
| 80 | Thinner | Richard Bachman | Horror | Audiobook |
| 81 | The Marvels | Brian Selznick | Young Adult | |
| 82 | Endymion | Dan Simmons | Science Fiction | Audiobook |
| 83 | Siege of Praetar | David Kristoph | Science Fiction | Ebook |
| 84 | The Rise of Endymion | Dan Simmons | Science Fiction | Audiobook |
| 85 | Misery | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 86 | The Lost Codex | Alan Jacobson | Thriller | |
| 87 | The Horrible Void Between the Trenches | Dr. Clifton Wilcox | History | |
| 88 | The Eyes of the Dragon | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
| 89 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Susanna Clarke | Fantasy | Audiobook |
| 90 | Zodiac | Neal Stephenson | Thriller | Audiobook |
| 91 | The Author | Facundo Raganato | Fiction | Ebook |
| 92 | A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Dickens | Fiction | Audiobook |
| 93 | Wind/Pinball | Haruki Murakami | Fiction | |
| 94 | Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights | Salman Rushdie | Fantasy | |
| 95 | The Paris Protection | Bryan Devore | Thriller | Ebook |
| 96 | Death Wave | Ben Bova | Science Fiction | |
| 97 | Oliver Twist | Charles Dickens | Fiction | Audiobook |
| 98 | The Legend of Sleepy Hollow | Washington Irving | Fiction | Audiobook |
| 99 | The Halloween Tree | Ray Bradbury | Kids | Audiobook |
| 100 | Twelve Creepy Tales | Edgar Allan Poe | Horror | Audiobook |
| 101 | Saturn Run | John Sandford | Science Fiction | |
| 102 | Great Expectations | Charles Dickens | Fiction | Audiobook |
| 103 | A Wild Sheep Chase | Haruki Murakami | Fiction | |
| 104 | The Pickwick Papers | Charles Dickens | Fiction | Audiobook |
| 105 | A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms | George R. R. Martin | Fantasy | |
| 106 | The Bazaar of Broken Dreams | Stephen King | Horror | |
| 107 | The Sandman: Overture | Neil Gaiman | Graphic Novel | |
| 108 | Career of Evil | Robert Galbraith | Thriller | Audiobook |
| 109 | The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus | Frank L. Baum | Holiday | |
| 110 | The Last Bastion of Civilization: Japan 2041 | Andrew Blencowe | Science Fiction | Ebook |
| 111 | Dead Ringers | Christopher Golden | Horror | |
| 112 | A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens | Holiday | |
| 113 | Cycle of the Werewolf | Stephen King | Horror | Audiobook |
Right now my work days are over twelve hours long, giving me little time to live a life, so cutting Bookbanter posts back to once a week. We will resume a usual program in the new year.
It’s been some time since I’ve talked at all about the awesomeness that is LibriVox. Essentially it is an organization of volunteers who record and produce audiobooks of works that are in the public domain and not under copyright. I’ve actually recorded a few myself. I’ve also recently been enjoying some great readings of some of Dickens’ works.
And then I recently thought with Halloween nigh upon us, why not . . . and have since enjoyed some great Halloween-related audio titles that are a blast.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving is of course a well-known Halloween classic. And this particular reading is a joyful one to listen to.
What Halloween reading isn’t complete without some tales by the one and only Edgar Allan Poe. This collection, Twelve Creepy Tales, features all the “big ones” from Poe with a great variety of readers and is worth the listen.
And if you’re looking for something else in the horror vein, you can browse through the Horror and Supernatural Fiction Section.
The boy had not eaten in days. His skin was pale, an indication of his sickness; his eyes were sunken into deep hollows, his cheekbones clearly visible beneath his stretched skin. His hair was thick and black, matted with clumps of dirt. His mouth was practically non-existent, just a thin line scythed into his face. He was just over five feet eight inches tall, though his frame was hunched over, due to his weakness. Each step he took resulted in a streak of white pain that coursed through his body like a bolt of lightning, as he dragged his frail form along. His mind no longer functioned properly, hallucinations appearing before him everywhere: one minute the street was congested with fat, sweaty people, noisy and uncouth; the next, it was entirely deserted, except for the rats that crawled along the gutters, searching for scraps of food.
Then the boy saw the Tall Man, dressed all in black, with a top hat, approaching him. The Man held a cane in hand, swinging by his side, its handle of shiny gold, which reflected the blanched light of the dim streetlights. He slowed down as he came closer to the boy. The boy looked up at the Man’s face and saw him staring right back at him. He was an old man, somewhere in his seventies; there were deep lines etched into his haggard face, but amongst all this tired and used flesh there was anger. The Man’s lips were drawn tight, dimpling his white cheeks in an evil way. The boy looked into the Man’s eyes and gasped at the viciousness within them. They were of no enchanting color, just a cold heartless black, absent of happiness, unable to conceive of compassion or love.
As the Man came closer, he began slowly lifting the cane above his head, his arm quivering because of his crippling arthritis. The air was icy-cool, steam permeating between the Man’s lips as he prepared himself for the beating. Now the boy became scared . . . he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“I d-did nothing w-wrong . . . it wasn’t m-me,” the boy cried, shivering with fright and cold; he wore only rags.
“You know it was all your fault, you retched troll!” the Man answered in a low, quiet-but clear voice that pierced the goose-pimpled skin of the boy like hot needles.
The boy began crying, tears streaming down his face, creating canals through the dirt on his cheeks; they never reached his dry mouth, but froze onto his cold flesh. The Man stopped just three feet from the boy. The cane was now high above his head. The boy watched as the Man moved his arm in the first strike.
Just as the cane was about to crunch onto the boy’s head and split his skull open, he screamed.
The apparition disappeared.
The boy looked up . . . the Man was gone. It had all been a hallucination.
The boy continued towing his body along the street. Then he heard the smash of a bottle in the alley to the left of him. He turned and hauled himself into the alleyway. There was an unidentifiable lump on the floor. It grunted at the boy kicked it; it was a useless bum. The boy looked up the alley to the right of him, it was a dead-end; to the left him, from where he’d come, it was silent, gloomy and devoid of life. The boy looked down at the dirty thing. His small hands reached out: one seized the man’s dirty greasy hair, getting a tight grip on the chunks of grime; with his other hand he seized the drunkard’s shoulder, clinging, like an eagle’s sharp talons, digging into the flesh. He pulled the shoulder and head in opposite directions, exposing the supple white throat.
The man began grunting and groaning, wondering what was happening. The boy bent down towards the hobo’s throat; he opened his mouth, brandishing two long sharp pearly-white fangs. The teeth sunk smoothly into the soft pliable flesh; blood dribbled from the two incisions. The boy began sucking noisily, his craving for blood increasing by the second, his sickness being cured, his hunger satiated, his strength regained.
Warmth began returning to his body.
When the boy had finished, he let the body slip to the floor, dead; he stood tall and strong, replenished. A trail of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, and a long lascivious tongue slithered out and licked it up before it could drip to the floor.
Originally written way back when in 1995.
To start gearing up for Halloween which is now just around the corner, below are my usual Halloween recommended reads you might want to check out to get some crawling up your spine. Here’s a link to a Halloween story I wrote some years ago, and on Saturday I’ll be putting up another scary short featuring lots of blood, just how you like it.
The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss: Rothfuss takes a short break from working on the the third Kingkiller Chronicle to show readers and fans a unique and in depth look at one of his strongest characters, Auri.
Snowblind by Christopher Golden: Golden brings you his best novel to date in this truly chilling horror story that uses a cold language and will have you yearning for hot tea or cocoa and trying not to be scared out of your skin.
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson: In the impatiently-awaited second installment of the Stormlight Archive Sanderson does what he does best, moving his characters along and opening up new plots and story lines that will just blow the reader’s mind.
Influx by Daniel Suarez: From the bestselling author of Daemon comes a daunting tale of an impossible world we dread might exist, where technology is far more advanced than we ever could have imagined, and ideas that we consider science fiction are in fact in existence right now.
The Martian by Andy Weir: Another story about a trip to Mars gone wrong, only this one is so well-researched and detailed that each page is a nail-biting shocker, as you wrap your mind around the concept of what it’s like to be stranded on a distant planet.
Wayward Pines Trilogy by Blake Crouch: A story about a town where everything isn’t as quaint and idyllic as it seems, but when the protagonist starts to unravel what’s behind the fake facade, it turns out to be far much worse and unbelievable.
Spectrum by Alan Jacobson: Karen Vail is back and this time she returns to her old haunts in New York to check out an old and unsolved case, and readers get to see how Vail became the great agent she is today.
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert: We are living in an unprecedented time where things just continue to get worse and worse; The Sixth Extinction shows what that catastrophic effect looks like and its ramifications.
Lock In by John Scalzi: In his new novel, Scalzi plays around with the idea about those who are different and somewhat outcast by society and wish to be accepted and not have their disability “cured.”
Kronos Rising by Max Hawthorne: An ancient creature from the deeps arises and decides it likes the taste of human flesh and blood. What if Jaws was in fact a much more terrifying giant marine dinosaur?
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith: In the follow-up to the successful Cuckoo’s Calling, Galbraith presents a picture of the British publishing world and when a well-known but not so beloved authors turns up in a horribly murdered, private detective Comoran Strike finds himself in some hot water.
Desert God by Wilbur Smith : Smith returns to ancient Egypt, a world he knows well, and his beloved character, Taita, who is now quite old but still possessed of great might and even greater intelligence, as he leads his people across a great land in a dangerous mission.
S. by J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst: In a truly monumental undertaking, S. is a work of art that is a great book with magnificent props and details that will boggle the mind.
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami (translated by Jay Rubin): Murakami is back with another tale of some truly unusual characters who are close friends and then one of their members is ostracized and he knows not why and so, later in life, must begin his pilgrimage to answer this question.
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King: King takes a turn to mystery and sleuthing with a retired cop, Bill Hodges, who may not be so retired and out of practice as he thought.
The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell: Cornwell continues his Saxon Tales series with this sixth installment featuring the tough pagan, Uhtred, looking to reclaim his stolen home, Bebbanburg.
Saga Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples: In the third volume of this award-winning, terrific series, our main characters (as well as some enemies) take a trip to Quietus and meet an old friend.
The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks and Caanan White: The author of World War Z turns to a truly remarkable graphic novel story about the African-American infantry regiment during World War I.
Climate Changed by Philipe Squarzoni: A sobering graphic novel tale about how far climate change has come and how we are at the point now where things can’t be suddenly changed and it will take centuries for the planet to return to the state it once was.
In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang: A story about a young gamer girl who learns about gold farmers and a whole world on the other side of the planet she never knew existed.
The Wake by Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy: An original story epic in scope about an invader that takes over the world and controls it for some time, but there are those few who still have hope that there is a way to stop them.
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh: A collection of the popular online comic strip that goes beyond just being funny but has some important life lessons and advice for readers.
Now it’s time to look back at what I thought was the best of the best for 2013. I read 78 books in 2013 in print, ebook, graphic novel and audiobook. While I usually do a Top Ten or Top 15 best of list, this year I’ve decided to do something a little different. I’ve decided to go with a Top 15 for fiction, and then “top” categories for Young Adult books, Nonfiction and Graphic Novels. While I read a decent selection in each category, I chose the few I thought were the best.
And here we go . . .
Top 15 Fiction Reads
Top Nonfiction Reads
Top Young Adult Reads
Top Graphic Novel Reads
Dangerous Women edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois: A new anthology featuring women as main and/or important characters, with new original stories from Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, Carrie Vaughan, and a new novella from George R. R. Martin.
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill: The novel that puts Joe Hill on the map as one of the great horror writers, about a place called Christmasland where children’s souls are slowly stolen. NOS4A2 proves Joe Hill deserves to share the horror stage with his dad, Stephen King. READ REVIEW.
Let the Old Dreams Die by John Adjvide Lindqvist: From the author of Let the Right One In and Handling the Undead comes his first collection of short stories featuring original chilling tales, as well as sequels to Let the Right One In and Handling the Undead.
Joyland by Stephen King: In this short novel, a young man has lost the love of his life and has chosen to spend his summer working at an amusement park, where there’s a murderer on the loose. READ REVIEW.
No Way Out by Alan Jacobson: Karen Vail is back on the case, and this time she’s traveled over the pond to London to solve the mystery of a terrorist attack that has much deeper ramifications. READ REVIEW.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman: From the bestselling author of American Gods and Neverwhere comes a short tale of fantasy and folklore and history and legend and magic. A tale that spins its web around you and entrances you, escorting you across the dreamscape of its story. READ REVIEW.
The Heavens Rise by Christopher Rice: From the son of Anne Rice comes a dark tale of the bayou where things are never as they seem and strange creatures lurk in the swamps and grasses.
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King: The official sequel to The Shining puts Danny Torrance in his middle-age years facing a drinking problem and helping a girl who has stronger shining abilities than he, while an ancient cabal is look to end her. READ REVIEW.
River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay: A sort of sequel to Under Heaven, Kay sets River of Stars four centuries later during the Song Dynasty, writing in the same wondrous and magical style. READ REVIEW.
Burning Paradise by Robert Charles Wilson: In this alternate world to ours, it is the near future and a strange alien presence is in control of communication and broadcasting enshrouding Earth in a blocking layer. There is a group that knows about its existence, and they were almost wiped out by the alien presence, but now it is time to put a stop to it. READ REVIEW.
Brilliance by Marcus Sakey: Since 1980, one percent of the population born have been “brilliants,” special gifted children that develop unique abilities putting them above regular humans. Some brilliants use their abilities for good, others for harm. READ REVIEW.
Big Egos by S. G. Browne: What if you could be your favorite celebrity or hero for a couple of hours? Browne posits just this in Big Egos, giving his characters the chance to take a serum that momentarily changes their DNA and makes them Indiana Jones or Captain Kirk, or whoever they want. READ REVIEW.
Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer: This is the great noir detective novel set on the planet Mars. Alex Lomax is a private Eye on New Klondike trying to forget his illicit past back on Earth and try to solve a decades old murder mystery. READ REVIEW.
Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin: Originally released as a series of short stories collected in Tuf Voyaging that has now been reprinted, these are the tales of Tuf and his giant ship that is kilometers long that lets him create just about any animal you could imagine. READ REVIEW.
The Colony by A. J. Colucci: What if a supercolony of ants was developed and then control of it was lost. The Colony is classic-style Michael Crichton with science gone awry. READ REVIEW. A. J. Colucci Interview.
Gold Rush in the Jungle: The Race to Discover and Defend the Rarest of Animals of Vietnam’s “Lost World” by Dan Drollette Jr: A fascinating look into Vietnam’s wildlife and rainforests, one of the last places on Earth still left relatively untouched. But this is all changing now. READ REVIEW.
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach: Mary Roach, bestselling author if Stiff and Bonk, takes readers on a journey from where food goes in at the mouth and comes out at the other end. Filled with entertaining anecdotes and fascinating facts, any reader will love Gulp. READ REVIEW.
Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen: A comprehensive and absorbing look at the epidemics that have plagued our world and how the current ones could lead to the end of humanity with the next pandemic.
The World Until Yesterday: What We Can Learn From Traditional Societies by Jared Diamond: A compelling look at the way numerous traditional societies around the world handle everyday things like conflict resolution, neighboring populations and interacting with them, and child rearing. READ REVIEW.
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson: What if the world was full of superheroes, except these superheroes were called epics and they were actually evil and preferred controlling and subjugating ordinary humans and running the world the way they wanted. But what if there was a group called Reckoners who were looking to put a stop to the Epics?
Homeland by Cory Doctorow: Continuing from where Little Brother left off, Doctorow puts the reader right back in the action in a world where the government is always watching, even when you think they’re not, and it’s up to a a bunch of kids to make a difference. READ REVIEW.
The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson: In this world there are fifty united islands where one would expect to find the United States, where Rithmatists are born, who are able to create chalkings to fight each other and enemies with magic. READ REVIEW.
Saga Volume One by Brian K. Vaughan: Two soldiers on opposite sides of a galactic war have fallen in love and now have an offspring, and its up to them to keep it alive and keeping on doing what they do best.
A compelling story of the Boxer Rebellion as told from two viewpoints in this stunning graphic novel project. READ BOXERS REVIEW. READ SAINTS REVIEW.
Now that it’s 2014 and my newborn is working through his fifth month of life, my own life has settled a little and has more structure and control to it. I also have a backlog of reviews developing, with my two-post a week schedule.
Therefore, starting next week, I’ll be going back to the three-post a week schedule: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Book Report will be appearing on Wednesdays now. This should clear out my backlog a bit and get more reviews to you faithful readers.
Bookbanter 