Fantasy Book News

Great reviews of Dragon Keeper and Tongues of Serpents this week, followed by interviews with Brent Weeks, Peter V. Brett, Neil Gaiman, Tracy Hickman, and more. A few interesting moves in the eBook industry this week as well. Finally, I can’t believe Neil Gaiman is about to start receiving royalty checks for my favorite comic book hero.

• Review: Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb @ Fantasy Book Review
• Review: Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik @ Fantasy Book Critic
• Interview: Brent Weeks @ Grasping for the Wind
• Interview: Peter V. Brett @ The Functional Nerds
• Interview: Neil Gaiman @ The Sydney Morning Herald
• Interview: Tracy Hickman and Scott Sigler @ I Should be Writing
• Interview: Karen Miller @ Star Wars Action News
• Covers: The Inheritance by Robin Hobb @ Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
• Book Tech: Free eBook of S.L. Farrell’s Dark Water’s Embrace @ Grasping for the Wind
• Book Tech: eBook critique @ Grasping for the Wind
• Book Tech: Amazon and Apple under investigation for eBook pricing @ TheBookSeller.com
• Comics: Judge rules that Todd McFarlane owes Neil Gaiman for Spawn @ io9.com

Batten down the hatches because we’ve got a boatload of fantasy blogosphere news this week. Kick off the weekend with a slew of great reviews, spanning great fantasy novels like Imager’s Intrigue by L.E. Modesitt, Jr., a review of Joe Abercrombie’s entire trilogy, The First Law, to a review of a compilation edited by Neil Gaiman. Interviews aplenty this week as well, with some great names like David Drake, Naomi Novik, and others. Wrapping it all up is an update from George R.R. Martin on the casting, production team and film locations for the HBO series Game of Thrones.

• Review: Imager’s Intrigue by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. @ Fantasy Book Critic
• Review: The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie @ BSC
• Review: Blood of the Mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky@ Genre Reader
• Review: Shadow’s Son by Jon Sprunk @ Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
• Review: The Lost by Dan Abnett @ SF Signal
• Review: Lord of the Changing Winds by Rachel Neumeier @ Grasping for the Wind
• Review: Stories edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio @ Grasping for the Wind
• Interview: David Drake @ The Dragon Page
• Interview: Paul Kearney @ Fantasy Book Review
• Interview: Naomi Novik @ Suvudu
• Interview: Karen Miller @ Geek Syndicate
• Television: George R.R. Martin’s HBO update on Game of Thrones @ GRRM’s Not a Blog

Breaking Dawn and Dead in the Family hold strong in the number one and two spots, respectively, this week, while Bloodfever and Tongues of Serpents each make their first appearance. Dead and Gone sneaks back into the top 5, giving Charlaine Harris an additional novel in the top 5.

1. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
2. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
3. Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning
4. Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik
5. Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

Breaking Dawn holds strong in the number one spot this week, with Dead in the Family, His Majesty’s Dragon and Dead Until Dark playing musical chairs. Cloud Atlas makes the top 5 chart for the first time.

1. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
2. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
3. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
4. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
5. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Breaking Dawn and Dead in the Family swap places, while His Majesty’s Dragon makes a return to the top 5. Frost Moon makes its first appearance this week.

1. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
2. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
3. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
4. Frost Moon by Anthony Francis
5. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

The Time Traveler’s Wife catapults into first from fifth last week.  Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice stays strong in the number two slot, and the rest of the top five are the same batch, just rearranged slightly.

1. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
3. Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) by Stephenie Meyer
4. Sookie Stackhouse, Books 1-7 by Charlaine Harris
5. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

Its interesting that Margaret Lindholm’s first novel published under the pen name Robin Hobb, from 1995, is maintaining such a strong showing in Amazon’s top five.  No doubt caused by popularity of recent books, readers are feeling compelled to go back to the start of the 9 books preceding the forthcoming The Dragon Keeper.  I chose to start with the middle trilogy, since I’ve heard its the strongest of the three trilogies.  Have you read any other books by Robin Hobb?  Leave a comment, it doesn’t require signing up.

Robin Hobb moves back into the top spot, and a new entry breaks the Amazon Top 5 Fantasy Bestsellers list this week.  The Time Traveler’s Wife is a mixture os fantasy and sci-fi, that apparently touches upon all kinds of real world issues.  Definitely worth checking out.

1. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
2. Sookie Stackhouse, Books 1-7 by Charlaine Harris
3. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
4. Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) by Stephenie Meyer
5. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Random Saturday fun fact:  You can get some really good new music, and contribute to a good cause at the same time.  Check out the Mae 12 songs, 12 months project.

Robin Hobb is nudged out of first this week by a vampire series, and Breaking Dawn moves up to sandwich Assassin’s Apprentice for the top 3 Amazon fantasy bestsellers. Vampires currently own 40% of the Amazon top 5:

1. Sookie Stackhouse, Books 1-7 by Charlaine Harris
2. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
3. Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) by Stephenie Meyer
4. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
5. Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold! by Terry Brooks

Is it time that vampire books be considered the fantasy fad of 2009?

Here’s Amazon’s top 5 individual fantasy bestseller novels as of this fine 4th of July holiday:

1. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
2. Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold! by Terry Brooks
3. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
4. Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) by Stephenie Meyer
5. Weapons of Choice (Axis of Time, Book 1) by John Birmingham

Everyone enjoy the long holiday weekend!