What fantasy novels are you currently reading?

Laura Stamps · Joined: 24 Jul 2007 Posts: 27 Location: Columbia, SC

Last week I finished Tanya Huff's "Blood Books" series, and absolutely loved it, a wonderful vampire series. A few days ago I finished the third book in the "Dante Valentine" series by Lilith Saintcrow. One of my favorite series about a necromance and her demon boyfriend.

Now I have just started "On the Prowl," an anthology of werewolf novellas by four authors I have never read before (Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, and Sunny). So far so good. And that's saying a lot, because I am not crazy about Were novels. But now I am thinking that might be because I have never read what I considered to be a good one. Most I have read seem to concentrate on pack politics, and I have no interest in that. But what I have read so far in this anthology is nothing like that. I am enjoying it very much, so it may change my opinion of Were novels!

What are you reading??

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Laura Stamps
"The Witchery Series" (Magickal Urban Fantasy Novels)
http://www.LauraStamps.blogspot.com (info about my novels)
http://www.OccultFiction.blogspot.com (my Author blog)

Michael · Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:06 pm Post subject:

I can't even begin to express how happy I am that you've all stayed so active with the forum since I've been gone! Thanks, Laura.

Right now I'm reading The Wheel of Time, Book Four: The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. I was quite surprised. It's hard to imagine a series with individual books so long - this nearly a thousand pages - and more than 10 books in the series being so good. Well, so far it is, anyway, and I hope the rest of the series is just as good - although I find it hard to believe.
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msheald · Joined: 08 Jul 2007 Posts: 34

Hello! I'm about to start reading Nor Iron Bars a Cage by Caprice Hokstad. I enjoyed her first book, The Duke's Handmaid, and I think the sequel will be good as well. Best regards.

Michael A. Heald

Michael · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 3:03 pm Post subject:

Caprice Hokstad? I haven't heard that name? What else has she written? Is there anything in particular you'd recommend?

I'm reading WoT book five now: The Fires of Heaven. Book four was great.
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msheald · Joined: 08 Jul 2007 Posts: 34

She wrote "The Duke's Handmaid" three or four years ago. I saw it on Jeff Gerke's site "Where the Map Ends."
She wrote a short story for the story cycle as well.
I've been in contact with er by E-mail. A good author and a nice person. Best regards.

Michael A. Heald

Michael · Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:57 pm Post subject:

Thanks, Michael. So I guess that's all she's got so fat then, which makes her relatively new. And that gives me even more incentive to check out her work.
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Ophelia-Stornoway · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 10 Location: New Zealand

I have just finished reading "Black Powder War," the third in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. I'm still in love with her wonderful world and characters, but her prose in this book seemd more stilted than in her previous novels, and - bit of a meaningless grouch, this one - why the heck to publishers insist on changeing the style of a book's cover partway through the series? I've got the first two mass markets with the lovely colour, but the third mass market was only available in this woodcut-like style. And the trade cover was so gorgeous, too!

msheald · Joined: 08 Jul 2007 Posts: 34

Hello! I just finished "The Harsh Cry of the Heron." It is the sequel to the Tales of the Otori triology. I would describe the books as a kind of urban fantasy set in Japan of the fifteenth century. Ms. Hearn does a wonderful job of evoking an alluring sense of exotic wonder that is both alien and accessible.
I enjoyed the original trilogy. "The Harsh Cry of the Heron" doesn't stand on its own, but is a fun read for those who enjoyed the Tales of the Otori trilogy. Best regards.

Michael A. Heald

deathwizard · Joined: 02 Nov 2007 Posts: 9 Location: Clemson, SC

I'm reading Book Six of the amazing Steven Erikson Book of the Malazan Fallen series. Erikson never fails to blow my mind. I remember as a kid, there used to be this song about Hercules having the strength of "ten ordinary men." Erikson has the imagination of ten ordinary men.
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Jim Melvin
Author of The Death Wizard Chronicles
A six-book epic fantasy
www.deathwizardchronicles.blogspot.com

msheald · Joined: 08 Jul 2007 Posts: 34

Hello! I'm in the process of reading and writing reviews on three books, all of which I enjoyed. Hopefully, I'll have my thoughts up on y website - www.MichaelAHeald.com - shortly.

Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell
The Shadow and the Night by Chris Walley
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson.

Best regards.

Michael A. Heald