Book Review Week!

I’m a little behind on book reviews.

Surprised, are you? I’ve been making an effort to spend more time writing, plotting, (video gaming, *sigh*), and reading than usual, but all that means that I need to keep everyone abreast of the newer books to hit the shelves in the past month.

This week, we’re going to talk about John Ringo’s Eye of the Storm, Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold, S. M. Stirling’s The Sword of the Lady. If I’m feeling especially ambitious, we’ll catch up with some earlier summer releases: John Birmingham’s Without Warning and Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker.

As a preview, I have to say that Sanderson’s book, while initially very odd, is my early contender for novel of the year. It was nice to see Ringo return to form with another story in the Legend of the Aldenata universe, and S. M. Stirling could hardly disappoint with more of his change series.  The real surprise, and to my mind, the underdog, has been Joe Abercrombie. He’s been churning out meaty fantasy novels for the past few years, and as far as I can tell, has gone largely unnoticed. Let me say this straight out: He is amazing. No one, not even George R. R. Martin, has as keen a grasp of character as Abercrombie. Wait for the review and I’ll give you a glimpse of it.

That means I’m still behind on Weber’s By Heresies Distressed, and I have to get that one done in time for the Christmas book rush. That means I’m going to be a busy guy.