Fantasy Books

A pair of reviews of Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, accompanied by reviews of books by Brent Weeks, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Chris Northern to kick off this week’s fantasy blogoshpere. Check out the interviews with Brent Weeks, Tracy Hickman, and Terry Brooks, and round out the week with good news regarding the Game of Thrones HBO series and more Guildy goodness!

• Review: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson @ A Fantasy Reader
• Review: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson @ Grasping for the Wind
• Review: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks @ Fantasy Book Critic
• Review: Salute the Dark by Adrian Tchaikovsky @ Genre Reader
• Review: The Last King’s Amulet by Chris Northern @ Fantasy Book Critic
• Interview: Brent Weeks video Q&A @ Janicu’s Book Blog
• Interview: Tracy Hickman @ The Murverse
• Interview: Terry Brooks Video Event @ Suvudu
• Chat: Terry Brooks and Peter V. Brett @ Suvudu
• Television: Game of Thrones HBO Series in Vanity Fair @ Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
• DVD Review: The Guild, Season 3 @ Geeks of Doom

Amazon’s top 5 fantasy bestsellers, August 28, 2010: The Return of the Awesome? For the first time in recent memory, the top 5 fantasy bestsellers on amazon.com are not dominated by vampire/teen novels! And it only took the king, the Elvis of fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien to dethrone the fad. Not a bad trio to round out the top three really, with Towers of Midnight holding strong, and Terry Brooks’ latest Shannara novel (Kindle version) rounding out the top 3. I’m so happy I’m not sure what to do with myself now.

1. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien
2. Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
3. Bearers of the Black Staff: Legends of Shannara by Terry Brooks
4. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
5. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

A couple reviews this week, including The Black Prism by Brent Weeks. Interviews crossing the fantasy blogosphere this week include James Barclay, Terry Brooks, and N.K. Jemison. Check out the exclusive excerpt from The Republic of Thieves over at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, and the new UK cover for Joe Abercrombie’s The Heroes. Round out the week with a short interview with Patrick Rothfuss on his love of comics.

• Review: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks @ Grasping for the Wind
• Review: The Machinery of Light by David J. Williams @ Fantasy Book Critic
• Interview: James Barclay @ Falcata Times
• Interview: Terry Brooks @ Del Rey
• Interview: N.K. Jemison @ Locus
• Interview: Upcoming chat with Peter V. Brett @ Del Rey
• Excerpt: Scott Lynch’s The Republic of Thieves @ Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
• Covers: The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie @ Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
• Comics: Patrick Rothfuss reads comics @ Steve’s Fantasy Book Review

Towers of Midnight vaults into first place this week. Woot! Other notables in the top 25 include Bearers of the Black Staff by Terry Brooks at number 21, The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson at number 22, and amazingly A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin comes in at 24, after being published in 1996!

1. Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
2. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
3. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
4. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
5. Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

Great reviews crossed the blogosphere this week, from Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay, to The Scarab Path by Adrian Tchaikovsky and others. Check out the interviews with Brent Weeks, Patrick Rothfuss, Ursula K. Le Guin, and James Cameron. Rounding out this week in fantasy blogosphere news is a review of The Eye of the World #4 comic, cover art for the Knife of Dreams eBook, and a desktop wallpaper for Brent Week’s The Black Prism.

• Review: Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay @ StevenTill.com
• Review: The Scarab Path by Adrian Tchaikovsky @ Fantasy Book Critic
• Review: The Grave Thief by Tom Lloyd @ Genre Reader
• Review: Bearers of the Black Staff by Terry Brooks @ Grasping for the Wind
• Review: The King’s Bastard by Rowena Cory Daniells @ Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell
• Interview: Brent Weeks @ Adventures in SciFi Publishing
• Interview: Patrick Rothfuss @ Locus
• Interview: Ursula K. Le Guin @ Star Ship Sofa
• Interview: James Cameron @ GeekTyrant
• Comics: The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World #4 @ Geeks of Doom
• Covers: Knife of Dreams eBook cover art @ Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
• Art: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks wallpaper @ Orbit

The cover for Gail Z. Martin’s The Sworn was released this week, and we’ve got a great mix of reviews, from Terry Brooks’ latest to a pair of Adrian Tchaikovsky novels, to the Swords and Dark Magic compilation. We’ve also located an interview with George R.R. Martin’s editor who discusses her work on A Clash of Kings. Topping off this week is our first mention of eReaders in the fantasy blogosphere, and it comes in the form of Ray Kurzweil offering a solution to books that get mangled by current eReader software.

• Review: Bearers of the Black Staff by Terry Brooks @ A Dribble of Ink
• Review: Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison @ Fantasy Literature
• Review: Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky @ SFF World
• Review: Dragonfly Falling by Adrian Tchaikovsky @ The Mad Hatter’s
• Review: Swords and Dark Magic by Various @ Sci-Fi Lovin’ News & Reviews
• Review: The Map of All Things by Kevin J. Anderson @ Fantasy Book Critic
• Review: Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton @ Grasping for the Wind
• Release: The Sworn by Gail Z. Martin @ 1888 Press Releases
• Cover: The Sworn by Gail Z. Martin @ Orbit
• Interview: Anne Groell discusses working on A Clash of Kings @ Suvudu
• Interview: Karen Miller @ Angela Slatter
• Film: Weta Workshop to bring The Wind in the Willows back to life @ Fantasy Book Review
• Book Tech: Ray Kurzweil introduces eReader software set to trump all @ The New York Times

Four reviews kick off our fantasy blogosphere roundup this week, with reviews of books by Tad Williams, Joe Abercrombie, Ian C. Esslemont and Seressia Glass.  Following this is the fantastic news that HBO has approved A Game of Thrones, so we’ll be seeing something more than a static image soon. A few covers were released this week, for Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, and Brent Weeks’ The Black Prism. Check out the interview with Brandon for his comments on his new series. I’m not sure I’m into the new photo realistic cover as exhibited on Weeks’ novel; we’ll have to keep an eye on this and see if it becomes a trend. And last but not least, some sort of explanation as to why Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter made the Amazon top 5 yesterday.

• Review: Shadowrise by Tad Williams @ BookGeeks
• Review: The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie @Peter V Brett
• Review: Night of Knives by Ian C. Esslemont @ BSC Review
• Review: Shadow Blade by Seressia Glass @ SciFi & Fantasy Lovin’ News & Reviews
• News: BO greenlights A Game of Thrones @ Airlock Alpha
• News: Terry Brooks sells three more Shannara books @ GalleyCat
• Interview: Brandon Sanderson discusses The Way of Kings @ Suvudu
• Covers: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson @ Tor
• Covers: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks @ Orbit
• Background: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter @ Thaindian News

Check out a Thanksgiving-sized helping of fantasy book reviews this week, including a pair on The Magicians by Lev Grossman, Pat’s review of The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb, and reviews of books by David Anthony Durham, Terry Brooks, and more.

We’ve also got news on The Dark Tower film project, Choose Your Own Adventure books make it to Kindle publication, and I give my take on the worst ending in fantasy books over at Grasping for the Wind.

• Review: The Magicians by Lev Grossman @ Bird-brained Book Blog
• Review: The Magicians by Lev Grossman @ Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ News & Reviews
• Review: Servant of a Dark God by John Brown @ Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ News & Reviews
• Review: The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb @ Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
• Review: The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham @ King of the Nerds
• Review: A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks @ Drying Ink
• News: Choose Your Own Adventure books now available on Kindle @ Fantasy Book News & Reviews
• The Worst Endings in Fantasy/Sci-Fi @ Grasping for the Wind
• Dissed: Industry producer/directors turn down The Dark Tower project @ movie-moron.com

Wow, the DragonCon hangover must have been a ripe one. The fantasy blogosphere has been fairly calm this past week, with only two reviews and some commentary worth noting:

• Review: Mistborn @ Keeping the Door
• Review: The Dragonbone Chair @ SFFWorld.com
• Commentary: Terry Brooks on A Princess of Landover @ Orbit

I’m about to start Mistborn, so I’m saving the above review for after I finished.  Its supposedly fantastic.

Luckily, in this lull, we’ve got three new webisodes of The Guild to pass the time.  Yee-haw!

The Guild: Season 3, Episode 1

The Guild: Season 3, Episode 2

The Guild: Season 3, Episode 3

With the Best Served Cold wave subsiding, we’ve got a variety of news in the fantasy blogosphere this week, stretching all the way to the world of graphic novels.

• Comment: Terry Brooks on The Gypsy Morph @ Orbitbooks.net
• Interview: Ursula K. Le Guin on The Left Hand of Darkness @ The New Yorker
• Review: Downshadow @ Grasping for the Wind
• Review: Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman @ Fantasy Book Review
• Interview: Tad Williams @ Locus Online
• And last but not least, a video interview with Joe Abercrombie: