Category Archives: Book Spotlight

Here’s an Excerpt of the Alloy of Law Audiobook

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Yesterday I posted my review of Brandon Sanderson’s new steampunk book, The Alloy of Law, a continuation of the Mistborn trilogy. Today I’m offering a sample of the audiobook, compliments of Macmillan Audio.

Click link to hear: Alloy of Law Audiobook Sample


You can get a free copy of the entire Alloy of Law audiobook from Audible with a free trial membership. If you’re interested, you can help support my website by clicking here on my affiliate link: Try Audible Now and Get A FREE Audiobook! Thank you!

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson — Steampunk Extraordinaire

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The measure of a person is not how much they have lived. It is not how easily they jump at a noise or how quick they are to show emotion. It’s in how they make use of what life has shown them. ~Waxillium Ladrian from The Alloy of Law

Oh…my…goodness. I just finished reading The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson. As you probably know by now, I am an unabashed Sanderson fan, but I was surprised to see how in many ways, I forgot I was reading his work. The Alloy of Law does not read like any of his other books.

No, rather than one of his finely drafted fantasies, The Alloy of Law is probably the best steampunk book I have ever read. In its pages I found heroism, uncertainty, criminal intent, beauty, and mystery — and a main character, Waxillium Ladrian, a wildly heroic lawman reminiscent of Wyatt Earp but with a healthy helping of Allomantic powers thrown in, and a dash of wisdom to boot (see the quote above for a sample).

Waxillium Ladrian is a noble-born man who left the aristocratic circles of Elendel to serve as a lawman in the wild frontier Roughs. However, when his uncle dies, he is left with the responsibility of returning to Elendel to manage the family estate, previously one of the most influential houses in the city but now rundown, the result of gross mismanaged by his now-deceased uncle. But when robbers begin stealing vast amounts of riches and priceless metals, he is torn between being the gentleman who will bring his house back from ruin and returning to his passion of being a powerful, nearly unbeatable lawman determined to bring the criminals to justice.

Enter Steris Harms, a cold, stern woman and potential fiancée; her beautiful, kind cousin Marasi; Wayne, a miscreant and Wax’s former companion in the Roughs; and Tillaume, a conscientious butler determined to keep Waxillium on the right path. These characters and a host of others set the stage for a rollicking romp of gunfights, bravery and heroism. Toss in the element of Allomantic powers introduced in the Mistborn trilogy, and you end up with a tale the likes of which I’ve never seen. (Allomantic powers comprise the ability some people genetically inherit to ingest and burn one or more of sixteen metals that will grant them the ability of pushing and pulling off of metallic surfaces, creating bubbles that will slow or hasten the passage of time, of being able to heal themselves very quickly if not instantaneously, and a host of other talents.)

I would recommend this book to anyone with even a vague interest in fantasy and/or steampunk fiction. I for one couldn’t hardly put the book down until I was finished. In fact, before I finished, I was already thinking about how much fun it would be to read it again. I love, love, love this book. Needless to say, I give it a 5 out of 5 stars.

If you’d like more information, here are my affiliate links: Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

To find the author, here’s his website: http://brandonsanderson.com/

Do you have a favorite steampunk book? Or have you already read The Alloy of Law? I’d love to hear what you think. Just leave a comment below.

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Lady Lazarus by Michele Lang Puts A New Spin on WW II

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I damned my soul in the summer of 1939. I did it for the noblest reasons, the best ones — to save the people I loved; to make a terrible wrong turn right.

So begins the Prologue of Michele Lang’s Lady Lazarus, a book first published by Tor in September 2010. The protagonist in the tale is Magda Lazarus, whose life changes in 1939 with her sister’s terrible vision that Nazi Germany will overrun Europe and exterminate millions of people, including her own family. And so Magda sets out to change the course of events and protect her sister and childhood friend, truly the only family she has left.

Aiding her in her quest is her guardian angel, Raziel. As they become personally acquainted, her relationship with Raziel threatens to become more, an event that could lead to him walking away from his angelic duties, possibly with terrible consequences. Nonetheless, Magda sets out to find the long-lost Book of the Angel Raziel, even as she is pursued by SS werewolves and a Nazi wizard.

I found Lady Lazarus to be an intriguing tale and possibly different from any other book I’ve read. Historical fantasy can be that way. It’s the big “what ifs” that drive stories such as this. I commend Michele Lang for her vivid imagination and creativity as she crafted this book. It is a dark tale rife with witches, wizards, demons, werewolves and vampires and, although we know the ultimate, historical outcome to World War II, Lang keeps the reader in suspense by, if by nothing else, the inclusion of these fantasy characters.

If you are attracted to dark fantasy fiction with a hint of romance, you might want to give Lady Lazarus a try. Personally, I give the book 3.75 out of 5 stars. I found it an entertaining read that I wouldn’t mind reading again, however it probably wouldn’t be on the top of my stack. All the same, there is enough suspense at the end of the book that I wouldn’t mind checking out the sequel, Dark Victory.

For more information, here are my affiliate links: Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

You can find the author at http://michelelang.com/.

What about you? Do you have a favorite dark fantasy you’d like to recommend? If so, leave a note in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you.

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Peter Orullian’s “The Unremembered” Reminiscent of Robert Jordan

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I first came across Peter Orullian when he interviewed Brandon Sanderson. (You can find the interview here.) It wasn’t long until I found out Peter had a new book coming out with Tor called The Unremembered. I read the synopsis and thought, “This looks interesting. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for that one and put it on my TBR stack.” And that’s saying something. If you’ve seen my embarrassingly tall to-be-read stack of books, you’d know what I mean.

Nonetheless, when I did come across the book, I nabbed a copy and stuck it on top of my stack. After finishing a couple of other books I had promised to check out for a few people, I finally got my hands on it and settled down in a corner for a new adventure. The book didn’t look too big so I figured it wouldn’t take me very long to read it. But after a couple of days I found I wasn’t quite halfway done and got to thinking “This book is longer than I thought.” I thumbed to the back and found that while it’s not as thick as some of Tor’s other doorstop books (which I love, by the way), it’s actually 687 pages and according to my unofficial estimates, I figure it’s somewhere upwards of 320,000 words. Now that’s a respectable book. Anyone who can write a book that long and get it published by Tor definitely has my respect.

As you probably saw in the headline, there were parts of this book that reminded me of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. (If you’re curious, you can find anything you want to know about the Wheel of Time series at one of the premier fan sites: http://www.dragonmount.com/.) In particular, The Unremembered opens with Tahn, a backwoods young archer forced to flee inhuman creatures invading his village by being led away by a mysterious, competent warrior into who-knows-where. While the plot follows the type of storyline laid out by Jordan, Orullian does a good job of developing believable characters, each with a separate set of complications to deal with. The villains are real and the book opens with immediate conflict — oh, and by the way, if you’re one of those people who usually skips the prologue, don’t. You’ll be sorry — and probably will be quite lost as the story develops.

If you’ve read many of my reviews, you’ve probably seen by now that I try very hard not to give any spoilers. That’s a real pet peeve of mine so I won’t go too far into the plot. I’ll just let you read what the publisher wants you to know beforehand. Here’s the official blurb:

The gods, makers of worlds, seek to create balance — between matter and energy; and between mortals who strive toward the transcendent and the natural perils they must tame or overcome. But one of the gods fashions a world filled with helllish creatures far too powerful to allow balance; he is condemned to live for eternity with his most hateful creatures in that world’s distant Bourne, restrained by a magical veil kept vital by the power of song.

Millennia pass, awareness of the hidden danger fades to legend, and both song and veil weaken. The most remote cities are laid waste by fell, nightmarish troops escaped from the Bourne. Some people dismiss the attacks as mere rumor. Instead of standing against the real threat, they persecute those with the knowledge, magic, and power to fight these abominations, denying the inevitability of war and annihilation. And the evil from the Bourne swells…

The troubles of the world seem far from the Hollows, where Tahn Junell struggles to remember his lost childhood and to understand words he feels compelled to utter each time he draws his bow. Trouble arrives when two strangers appear — an enigmatic man wearing the sigil of the feared Order of Sheason and a beautiful woman of the legendary Far. They’ve come to take Tahn, his sister, and his two best friends on a dangerous, secret journey. Tahn knows neither why nor where they will go. He knows only that terrible forces have been unleashed upon mankind and he has been called to stand up and face that which most daunts him — his own forgotten secrets and the darkness that would destroy him and his world.

I found The Unremembered to be a good debut epic fantasy novel and look forward to seeing how Orullian grows as a writer. When book two in the series comes out, it too will go on my TBR stack.

I give The Unremembered 4 out of 5 stars. For more info, here are my affiliate links: Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

You can find author Peter Orullian at http://www.orullian.com 

The Unremembered, Book 1 of The Vault of Heaven, by Peter Orullian
Publisher: Tor Books, April 2011
ISBN-10: 0765325713

Are you a fan of epic fantasy? I’d love to know who your favorite authors are. Leave a comment below and let us know! Maybe we’ll find someone new to put on our shelves.

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Boogeyman Resurfaces in “The Stuff of Legend” by Mike Raicht, Brian Smith

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Do you remember times when, as a kid, you would be in bed and in the dead of night you would look up to see something in your room that made your heart pound in fright? I was not a fearful child, but a couple of times I did find myself cringing in the dark from a perceived monster, which usually turned out to be clothes harmlessly hanging in the doorway of my closet. In The Stuff of Legend, Book 1: The Dark, such an event turned out to be not quite so harmless when a little boy is snatched by the boogeyman and carried off into the dark. But the story in this graphic novel is not about the boy — it’s about the toys that stage a rescue.

Enter the Colonel, who leads an intrepid band of compatriots comprising an Indian princess, a bear, a pig, a jester, a duck and a ballerina into the realm of the Dark. There, in the face of betrayal, death and hardship, they face the boogeyman and his army of forgotten, lost, now-evil toys.

Illustrator: C.P. Wilson III

Be forewarned, this is not a child’s book. The dark yet masterful illustrations created by Charles Paul Wilson III (see his boogeyman at the left, click on the image to see his website) would probably give the little ones nightmares, but I believe many older teens and adults would appreciate the artist’s skill as well as the positive themes of the story written by Mike Raicht and Brian Smith. I agree with the publisher when it says, “The Stuff of Legend is a haunting and ultimately redemptive tale of loyalty, camaraderie, and perseverance.”

When the book was first released in 2009, it quickly sold out and a second printing was immediately ordered. Since then several subsequent editions in the series have been released. For more info on the series, click here to visit Th3rd World Studios.

Just in time for Halloween, I’d like to pass along to you a copy of the trade paperback version graciously given to me by Del Rey. To enter, email me before November 3 at contests@(no-spam)fantasyandfaith.com. (Before you press “send,” make sure to remove (no-spam) from the email address.) Make sure to include your snail mail address in your email. I only ship to the U.S. or Canada, so please keep that in mind when you enter. Multiple entries will be disqualified.

You can connect with the creators of The Stuff of Legend at:

Authors:
Mike Raicht, Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeraicht
Brian Smith, Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourpalSmitty

Illustrator Charles Paul Wilson III is on on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/cpwilsoniii. You can see some of his other artwork at:
http://cpwilsoniii.deviantart.com/

You can order a copy of the book by clicking here on my affiliate links:
The Stuff of Legend, Book 1: The Dark (Amazon)
Barnes & Noble

I love to hear from you! If you have any favorite horror books, let us know what they are by leaving a comment below. Happy Halloween!

Disclosure of Material Connection: At times, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”