The Dread Hammer Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Linda Nagata, award-winning sci-fi writer under pen name Trey Shiels, ventures into an action-packed fantasy with a thread of romance that will keep you turning the pages late into the night. An unerring ear for language and fine use of prose lends itself to a quality read. Dread Hammer casts a haunting spell that will leave you thinking about the book and waiting on the sequel- and wondering if the demon assassin has a heart after all.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Dread Hammer

Ketty is a pretty shepherdess with a contrary nature, who runs away from home to escape an unwanted marriage. As she flees along the forest road, she prays to the Dread Hammer for help-and to her astonishment help comes in the form of a charming and well-armed young murderer named Smoke. As Ketty soon discovers, Smoke is not entirely human.Smoke, too, is taken by surprise at their encounter. He had lurked beside the forest road intending to pierce hearts and slit throats, not to fall in love. But love it is-or it would be-if only he can convince Ketty that marriage is better than death.But just when happily-ever-after seems within reach, Smoke's past returns to claim him. A deserter from the Koráyos army, his supernatural skill at killing is still very much in demand. Now the army wants him back.The Dread Hammer is an enthralling, darkly comic fairytale of love, war, murder, marriage, and fate.

Click here for more information about The Dread Hammer

Read More...

Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions (P.S.) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I should point out first that (a) I've been Neil's friend for many years, and therefore not without bias, and (b) some of these stories I've read several times before. However, due to various health problems, I have been spending a lot of time in a series of doctor's waiting rooms for months now, and Smoke and Mirrors has been my book of choice for resisting lure of six month old issues of Field and Stream. I have read it from start to finish, resisting the strong temptation to flip forward to the stories I hadn't read, savoring each offering as I would a course in a lavish meal (and considering I'm on a diabetic's diet that's more savoring than I'm allowed in the traditional sense). It's been an unalloyed pleasure. And yesterday, while waiting for my endcrinologist to check me over, I finished the last story.
I rationed myself on this book, but you don't have to. If you only know Gaiman from Neverwhere or his Sandman comics, this is a chance to see the full range of his writing chops, which are formidable. I defy anyone to find me a better story this side of Nathaniel West about the mythical land of Hollywood than "The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories." I cannot think of a more bizarre marriage than the melding of epic poetry and bikini bimbos that is Baywolf. I heard the ghost of Peter Cook at my ear in "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar." I took inordinate pleasure in reading "Snow, Glass, Apples" aloud to a group of my son's friends, and watching them laugh uneasily.
There is a wealth of fine storytelling here, a veritable trove of style and substance, passion and pastiche, wit and bite and vision and venom. The art of the short story is in excellent hands.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions (P.S.)

Get 25% OFF

Click here for more information about Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions (P.S.)

Read More...

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I would like to start off this review by saying that I really didn't want to read this book. The people who decided on the back of the book description did a crappy job explaining this story in an interesting way. Now that I have read it, the back looks good, but from a fresh perspective, it fell flat. If it weren't a Vine book, given to me for free, I would have never picked it out among the thousands of books out there. I am so glad I gave it a try.
This complex story is about a girl who has no idea of who she really is. Her life has been filled with creatures that would cause terror to most but have been family to her. Karou is a strong, talented seventeen year old who helps her "family" of demon like characters collect teeth. The teeth have a use, but Karou has never found out what exactly. She just goes to designated sights through portal doors to collect the teeth and then goes back to her private art school and her one friend. Her lonely life is interrupted by the sight of an angel who is trying to put a stop to the teeth trade and the creatures who traffic them. Even though he should destroy Karou ,he can not bring himself to kill her due to her similarities to his long lost love. What follows is an intriguing tale of forbidden love in a lush, imaginative world.
I know, I know, collecting teeth sounds so...weird. I promise that the author pulls this off and then some. I struggled with what to say without giving too much away, but I wanted to tell more than the back cover. Karou is an interesting heroine who is beautiful, exotic, and real all at the same time. The world building is really the star of this novel. Everything is different than anything I have read. Yes, it has angels in it, but the author still makes everything fresh.
On a different note, I would not recommend this book to younger teens. Not only is it a little more complex, there is sex and sexual situations. I would say sixteen and up as an absolute minimum in age requirement. As an adult, this is one of those YA books that transfers just fine.
Overall, I really liked this book, and I will be looking for the sequel to help ease the cliffhanger ending.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Get 41% OFF

Click here for more information about Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Read More...