Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

The Scar-Crow Men (Swords of the Albion Book 2)
by Mark Chadbourn
Cover by Chris McGrath

Promo copy:

The year is 1593. The London of Elizabeth I is in the terrible grip of the Black Death. As thousands die from the plague and the queen hides behind the walls of her palace, English spies are being murdered across the city. The killer’s next target: Will Swyfte.
For Swyfte–adventurer, rake, scholar, and spy–this is the darkest time he has known. His mentor, the grand old spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, is dead. The new head of the secret service is more concerned about his own advancement than defending the nation, and a rival faction at the court has established its own network of spies. Plots are everywhere, and no one can be trusted. Meanwhile, England’s greatest enemy, the haunted Unseelie Court, prepares to make its move.

A dark, bloody scheme, years in the making, is about to be realized. The endgame begins on the night of the first performance of Dr. Faustus, the new play by Swyfte’s close friend and fellow spy Christopher Marlowe. A devil is conjured in the middle of the crowded theater, taking the form of Will Swyfte’s long-lost love, Jenny–and it has a horrifying message for him alone.

That night Marlowe is murdered, and Swyfte embarks on a personal and brutal crusade for vengeance. Friendless, with enemies on every side and a devil at his back, the spy may find that even his vaunted skills are no match for the supernatural powers arrayed against him.

Shadow’s Lure
by Jon Sprunk
Cover by Michael Komarck

Promo copy:

The unforgiving Northlands . . .

In Othir, he was at the top of the food chain—an assassin beyond compare, a dark shadow in the night. But Caim left that life behind when he helped an empress claim her throne. And now his past has come calling again.

Searching for the truth behind the murder and disappearance of his parents, Caim discovers a land in thrall to the Shadow. Haunted by temptations from the Other Side, he becomes mired in a war he does not want to fight.

But there are some things a son of the Shadow cannot ignore, and some fights from which he can’t run. In this battle, all of Caim’s strength and skill won’t be enough. For none can resist the Shadow’s Lure.

Black Halo (The Aeons’ Gate, Book 2)
by Sam Sykes
Cover by Paul Young

Promo copy:

THE TOME OF THE UNDERGATES HAS BEEN RECOVERED…
…and the gates of hell remain closed. Lenk and his five companions set sail to bring the accursed relic away from the demonic reach of Ulbecetonth, the Kraken Queen. But after weeks at sea, tensions amidst the adventurers are rising. Their troubles are only beginning when their ship crashes upon an island made of the bones left behind from a war long dead.

And it appears that bloodthirsty alien warrior women, fanatical beasts from the deep, and heretic-hunting wizards are the least of their concerns. Haunted by their pasts, plagued by their gods, tormented by their own people, and gripped by madness personal and peculiar, their greatest foes may yet be themselves.

The reach of Ulbecetonth is longer than hell can hold.

City of Ruins
by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Cover by Dave Seeley

Promo copy:

Boss, a loner, loved to dive into derelict spacecraft adrift in the blackness of space…

But one day, she found a ship that would change everything—an ancient Dignity Vessel—and aboard the ship, the mysterious and dangerous Stealth Tech. Now, years after discovering that first ship, Boss has put together a large company that finds Dignity Vessels and finds “loose” Stealth Technology.

Following a hunch, Boss and her team come to investigate the city of Vaycehn, where fourteen archeologists have died exploring the endless caves below the city. Mysterious “death holes” explode into the city itself for no apparent reason, and Boss believes Stealth Tech is involved. As Boss searches for the answer to the mystery of the death holes, she will uncover the answer to her Dignity Vessel quest as well—and one more thing, something so important that it will change her life—and the universe—forever.

This little ditty arrived in my inbox, courtesy of Boom! Studios:

Quote:

March 22, 2011 – Los Angeles, CA – A bold new vision of the acclaimed sci-fi classic debuts this April as BOOM! Studios brings you an all-new, all-original ongoing PLANET OF THE APES comic series! Based firmly in Twentieth Century Fox’s PLANET OF THE APES franchise, this series written by award-winning sci-fi novelist Daryl Gregory (Dracula: The Company of Monsters, Pandemonium) and drawn by sensational artist Carlos Magno (Green Lantern Corps) transports you to a tumultuous time where man and ape stand at the uneasy brink of war! This April, don’t be the last to get your hands on these damn dirty apes! The PLANET OF THE APES comic series is produced under license by Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products. “In the new series, we’re taking our cues from the classic Apes movies but we’re shaking it up with some major surprises of our own,” said BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon. “This book is sure to make fans new and old cheer, rave and, dare I say, go Ape when they see what we have in store for them!” Taking place before the original 1968 PLANET OF THE APES movie, but true to the continuity of the first five films, this new ongoing comic series begins in a time when Ape society reaches a new golden age. But there are ripples of dissent in both the ape and human ranks. Tensions will rise and soon all will be caught in chaos! And amidst all this uncertainty, what is the fate of…The Lawgiver? Find out as a new chapter of the acclaimed sci-fi classic, PLANET OF THE APES, begins this April! PLANET OF THE APES #1 is written by Daryl Gregory with art by Carlos Magno and ships with an A & B cover by Karl Richardson and Carlos Magno respectively and a special 1-in-10 incentive cover. This title ships in April and carries a Diamond Code of FEB110852.

As frequent (or really infrequent) readers of GC know, I’m a bitty nutty for all things ape. But this series is even more special. Not only does it return to the world the original POTA, but oddball novelist Daryl Gregory scripts the series. Gregory penned two of my favorite sf/f novels of the past decade: Pandemonium (2008)–a tale of demonic possession featuring VALIS and Phil K. Dick, Mother Mariette, a nun who inspires decidedly unchaste feelings; and the Human League, a secret society devoted to the extermination of demons– and Devil’s Alphabet (2009)–a post apocalyptic thriller (sort of) involving a town where an epidemic left hundreds of townspeople dead, and transformed most of the rest into three clades, three alternate forms of human: The Argos, chalk-skinned and twelve feet tall; the hairless, all-female, fast-breeding Blanks; and the bulked out Charlies, some of whom are walking pharmacological factories. Skillfully infused with pop culture minutiae, fascinating characters, and unique realities, Gregory quickly emerged as one of my favorite authors. A must read!

With that c.v. and an impressive skill set, Gregory is the PERFECT man for continuing the Apes legacy. Can’t wait see what he comes up with next!

Exciting Planet of the Apes News was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

This little ditty arrived in my inbox, courtesy of Boom! Studios:

Quote:

March 22, 2011 – Los Angeles, CA – A bold new vision of the acclaimed sci-fi classic debuts this April as BOOM! Studios brings you an all-new, all-original ongoing PLANET OF THE APES comic series! Based firmly in Twentieth Century Fox’s PLANET OF THE APES franchise, this series written by award-winning sci-fi novelist Daryl Gregory (Dracula: The Company of Monsters, Pandemonium) and drawn by sensational artist Carlos Magno (Green Lantern Corps) transports you to a tumultuous time where man and ape stand at the uneasy brink of war! This April, don’t be the last to get your hands on these damn dirty apes! The PLANET OF THE APES comic series is produced under license by Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products. “In the new series, we’re taking our cues from the classic Apes movies but we’re shaking it up with some major surprises of our own,” said BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon. “This book is sure to make fans new and old cheer, rave and, dare I say, go Ape when they see what we have in store for them!” Taking place before the original 1968 PLANET OF THE APES movie, but true to the continuity of the first five films, this new ongoing comic series begins in a time when Ape society reaches a new golden age. But there are ripples of dissent in both the ape and human ranks. Tensions will rise and soon all will be caught in chaos! And amidst all this uncertainty, what is the fate of…The Lawgiver? Find out as a new chapter of the acclaimed sci-fi classic, PLANET OF THE APES, begins this April! PLANET OF THE APES #1 is written by Daryl Gregory with art by Carlos Magno and ships with an A & B cover by Karl Richardson and Carlos Magno respectively and a special 1-in-10 incentive cover. This title ships in April and carries a Diamond Code of FEB110852.

As frequent (or really infrequent) readers of GC know, I’m a bitty nutty for all things ape. But this series is even more special. Not only does it return to the world the original POTA, but oddball novelist Daryl Gregory scripts the series. Gregory penned two of my favorite sf/f novels of the past decade: Pandemonium (2008)–a tale of demonic possession featuring VALIS and Phil K. Dick, Mother Mariette, a nun who inspires decidedly unchaste feelings; and the Human League, a secret society devoted to the extermination of demons– and Devil’s Alphabet (2009)–a post apocalyptic thriller (sort of) involving a town where an epidemic left hundreds of townspeople dead, and transformed most of the rest into three clades, three alternate forms of human: The Argos, chalk-skinned and twelve feet tall; the hairless, all-female, fast-breeding Blanks; and the bulked out Charlies, some of whom are walking pharmacological factories. Skillfully infused with pop culture minutiae, fascinating characters, and unique realities, Gregory quickly emerged as one of my favorite authors. A must read!

With that c.v. and an impressive skill set, Gregory is the PERFECT man for continuing the Apes legacy. Can’t wait see what he comes up with next!

After a particularly brutal week, thankfully my only Moving Pictures review of the week proved to be a good one!

Check out the rest of my thoughts on Limitless.

An interesting and entertaining diversion was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

After a particularly brutal week, thankfully my only Moving Pictures review of the week proved to be a good one!

Check out the rest of my thoughts on Limitless.

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Retribution Falls
by Chris Wooding

Promo copy:

Sky piracy is a bit out of Darian Frey’s league. Fate has not been kind to the captain of the airship Ketty Jay—or his motley crew. They are all running from something. Crake is a daemonist in hiding, traveling with an armored golem and burdened by guilt. Jez is the new navigator, desperate to keep her secret from the rest of the crew. Malvery is a disgraced doctor, drinking himself to death. So when an opportunity arises to steal a chest of gems from a vulnerable airship, Frey can’t pass it up. It’s an easy take—and the payoff will finally make him a rich man.

But when the attack goes horribly wrong, Frey suddenly finds himself the most wanted man in Vardia, trailed by bounty hunters, the elite Century Knights, and the dread queen of the skies, Trinica Dracken. Frey realizes that they’ve been set up to take a fall but doesn’t know the endgame. And the ultimate answer for captain and crew may lie in the legendary hidden pirate town of Retribution Falls. That’s if they can get there without getting blown out of the sky.

Seduce Me in Dreams
by Jacquelyn Frank

Promo copy:

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Nightwalkers and Shadowdwellers series, Seduce Me in Dreams begins a sexy new futuristic series featuring an elite group of military heroes.

Dark. Mysterious. Sensual. When Bronse Chapel, the commander of a specialized unit of the Interplanetary Militia, begins to dream about a beautiful and exotic brunette, he wants to dismiss it as being induced by lack of sleep … or perhaps lack of sex. But his instincts tell him it’s something different, something far more dangerous.

Ravenna is the leader of the Chosen Ones, a small group of people from her village born with extraordinary powers. She doesn’t know that draws her to Bronse’s dreams night after night, but she senses that he and his team are in jeopardy. Ravenna can help him, but first Bronse must save the Chosen Ones from those who plan to use their powers for evil. Together, Bronse and Ravenna will be unstoppable. But Ravenna is hiding something that could endanger them all.

Night Magic
by Jennifer Lyon

Promo copy:

THEIR LOVE IS DESTINED TO RISE AGAIN

Ailish Donovan is a witch ready to do battle. Raised unaware of her powers, she is just sixteen when her mother tricks her into binding with the demon Asmodeus. Pure-hearted Ailish escapes with the connection incomplete but pays a heavy price: For the next eight years, she is shunned by her earth sisters and tormented by Asmodeus’s lust. After hardening her body and mind as a champion kickboxer, Ailish returns home to break the bond—or die.

The Wing Slayer Hunter Phoenix Torq is sworn to protect earth witches, but he is shaken by Ailish’s fierce independence—and his own forbidden cravings. Dark, impulsive, and haunted by his troubled past, Phoenix likewise arouses Ailish in ways she finds disturbing—and irresistible. Torn between mistrust and desire, each must go to hell and back to seek the magic that could set them both free.

Books received 3/13/11 was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Retribution Falls
by Chris Wooding

Promo copy:

Sky piracy is a bit out of Darian Frey’s league. Fate has not been kind to the captain of the airship Ketty Jay—or his motley crew. They are all running from something. Crake is a daemonist in hiding, traveling with an armored golem and burdened by guilt. Jez is the new navigator, desperate to keep her secret from the rest of the crew. Malvery is a disgraced doctor, drinking himself to death. So when an opportunity arises to steal a chest of gems from a vulnerable airship, Frey can’t pass it up. It’s an easy take—and the payoff will finally make him a rich man.

But when the attack goes horribly wrong, Frey suddenly finds himself the most wanted man in Vardia, trailed by bounty hunters, the elite Century Knights, and the dread queen of the skies, Trinica Dracken. Frey realizes that they’ve been set up to take a fall but doesn’t know the endgame. And the ultimate answer for captain and crew may lie in the legendary hidden pirate town of Retribution Falls. That’s if they can get there without getting blown out of the sky.

Seduce Me in Dreams
by Jacquelyn Frank

Promo copy:

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Nightwalkers and Shadowdwellers series, Seduce Me in Dreams begins a sexy new futuristic series featuring an elite group of military heroes.

Dark. Mysterious. Sensual. When Bronse Chapel, the commander of a specialized unit of the Interplanetary Militia, begins to dream about a beautiful and exotic brunette, he wants to dismiss it as being induced by lack of sleep . . . or perhaps lack of sex. But his instincts tell him it’s something different, something far more dangerous.

Ravenna is the leader of the Chosen Ones, a small group of people from her village born with extraordinary powers. She doesn’t know that draws her to Bronse’s dreams night after night, but she senses that he and his team are in jeopardy. Ravenna can help him, but first Bronse must save the Chosen Ones from those who plan to use their powers for evil. Together, Bronse and Ravenna will be unstoppable. But Ravenna is hiding something that could endanger them all.

Night Magic
by Jennifer Lyon

Promo copy:

THEIR LOVE IS DESTINED TO RISE AGAIN

Ailish Donovan is a witch ready to do battle. Raised unaware of her powers, she is just sixteen when her mother tricks her into binding with the demon Asmodeus. Pure-hearted Ailish escapes with the connection incomplete but pays a heavy price: For the next eight years, she is shunned by her earth sisters and tormented by Asmodeus’s lust. After hardening her body and mind as a champion kickboxer, Ailish returns home to break the bond—or die.

The Wing Slayer Hunter Phoenix Torq is sworn to protect earth witches, but he is shaken by Ailish’s fierce independence—and his own forbidden cravings. Dark, impulsive, and haunted by his troubled past, Phoenix likewise arouses Ailish in ways she finds disturbing—and irresistible. Torn between mistrust and desire, each must go to hell and back to seek the magic that could set them both free.

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man
by Mark Hodder

Promo copy:

It is 1862, though not the 1862 it should be…

Time has been altered, and Sir Richard Francis Burton, the king’s agent, is one of the few people who know that the world is now careening along a very different course from that which Destiny intended.

When a clockwork-powered man of brass is found abandoned in Trafalgar Square, Burton and his assistant, the wayward poet Algernon Swinburne, find themselves on the trail of the stolen Garnier Collection—black diamonds rumored to be fragments of the Lemurian Eye of Naga, a meteorite that fell to Earth in prehistoric times.

His investigation leads to involvement with the media sensation of the age: the Tichborne Claimant, a man who insists that he’s the long lost heir to the cursed Tichborne estate. Monstrous, bloated, and monosyllabic, he’s not the aristocratic Sir Roger Tichborne known to everyone, yet the working classes come out in force to support him. They are soon rioting through the streets of London, as mysterious steam wraiths incite all-out class warfare.

From a haunted mansion to the Bedlam madhouse, from South America to Australia, from seances to a secret labyrinth, Burton struggles with shadowy opponents and his own inner demons, meeting along the way the philosopher Herbert Spencer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Florence Nightingale, and Charles Doyle (father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

Can the king’s agent expose a plot that threatens to rip the British Empire apart, leading to an international conflict the like of which the world has never seen? And what part does the clockwork man have to play?

Burton and Swinburne’s second adventure—The Clockwork Man Of Trafalgar Square—is filled with eccentric steam-driven technology, grotesque characters, and a deepening mystery that pushes forward the three-volume story arc begun in The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack.

Haven (Trial of Blood & Steel, Book 4)
by Joel Shepherd

Promo copy:

The Army of the Regent Arosh advances on the forces loyal to Saalshen, homeland of the serrin people, as the serrin’s friends are in full retreat. Their only hope is to reach the city of Jahnd – the serrin word for Haven – across the River Ipshaal, the only human city in Saalshen itself. The Army of Lenayin marches with the Regent, but Sasha, sister of the newly crowned King Koenyg, can no longer stomach the awful cause for which her people march. As tensions between herself and her brothers rise, Sasha’s sister Sofy, wedded to the Regent, travels to the city of Tracato, to attempt to negotiate a peaceful transition of its wonderful heritage of her husband’s rule. But there are forces beneath the Regent’s banner that wish to see all serrin and serrin-influenced civilisation destroyed for good. As the serrin people fight for survival, families must be betrayed, enemies reconciled, nations persuaded and great armies fought, as A Trial of Blood and Steel reaches its dramatic conclusion.

The Society of Steam Book One: The Falling Machine
by Andrew P. Mayer

Promo copy:

In 1880 women aren’t allowed to vote, much less dress up in a costume and fight crime…

But twenty-year-old socialite Sarah Stanton still dreams of becoming a hero. Her opportunity arrives in tragedy when the leader of the Society of Paragons, New York’s greatest team of gentlemen adventurers, is murdered right before her eyes. To uncover the truth behind the assassination, Sarah joins forces with the amazing mechanical man known as The Automaton. Together they unmask a conspiracy at the heart of the Paragons that reveals the world of heroes and high-society is built on a crumbling foundation of greed and lies. When Sarah comes face to face with the megalomaniacal villain behind the murder, she must discover if she has the courage to sacrifice her life of privilege and save her clockwork friend.

The Falling Machine (The Society of Steam, Book One) takes place in a Victorian New York powered by the discovery of Fortified Steam, a substance that allows ordinary men to wield extraordinary abilities and grants powers that can corrupt gentlemen of great moral strength. The secret behind this amazing substance is something that wicked brutes will gladly kill for and one that Sarah must try and protect, no matter what the cost.

Books received 3/13/11 Pyr edition was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man
by Mark Hodder

Promo copy:

It is 1862, though not the 1862 it should be…

Time has been altered, and Sir Richard Francis Burton, the king’s agent, is one of the few people who know that the world is now careening along a very different course from that which Destiny intended.

When a clockwork-powered man of brass is found abandoned in Trafalgar Square, Burton and his assistant, the wayward poet Algernon Swinburne, find themselves on the trail of the stolen Garnier Collection—black diamonds rumored to be fragments of the Lemurian Eye of Naga, a meteorite that fell to Earth in prehistoric times.

His investigation leads to involvement with the media sensation of the age: the Tichborne Claimant, a man who insists that he’s the long lost heir to the cursed Tichborne estate. Monstrous, bloated, and monosyllabic, he’s not the aristocratic Sir Roger Tichborne known to everyone, yet the working classes come out in force to support him. They are soon rioting through the streets of London, as mysterious steam wraiths incite all-out class warfare.

From a haunted mansion to the Bedlam madhouse, from South America to Australia, from seances to a secret labyrinth, Burton struggles with shadowy opponents and his own inner demons, meeting along the way the philosopher Herbert Spencer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Florence Nightingale, and Charles Doyle (father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

Can the king’s agent expose a plot that threatens to rip the British Empire apart, leading to an international conflict the like of which the world has never seen? And what part does the clockwork man have to play?

Burton and Swinburne’s second adventure—The Clockwork Man Of Trafalgar Square—is filled with eccentric steam-driven technology, grotesque characters, and a deepening mystery that pushes forward the three-volume story arc begun in The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack.

Haven (Trial of Blood & Steel, Book 4)
by Joel Shepherd

Promo copy:

The Army of the Regent Arosh advances on the forces loyal to Saalshen, homeland of the serrin people, as the serrin’s friends are in full retreat. Their only hope is to reach the city of Jahnd – the serrin word for Haven – across the River Ipshaal, the only human city in Saalshen itself. The Army of Lenayin marches with the Regent, but Sasha, sister of the newly crowned King Koenyg, can no longer stomach the awful cause for which her people march. As tensions between herself and her brothers rise, Sasha’s sister Sofy, wedded to the Regent, travels to the city of Tracato, to attempt to negotiate a peaceful transition of its wonderful heritage of her husband’s rule. But there are forces beneath the Regent’s banner that wish to see all serrin and serrin-influenced civilisation destroyed for good. As the serrin people fight for survival, families must be betrayed, enemies reconciled, nations persuaded and great armies fought, as A Trial of Blood and Steel reaches its dramatic conclusion.

The Society of Steam Book One: The Falling Machine
by Andrew P. Mayer

Promo copy:

In 1880 women aren’t allowed to vote, much less dress up in a costume and fight crime…

But twenty-year-old socialite Sarah Stanton still dreams of becoming a hero. Her opportunity arrives in tragedy when the leader of the Society of Paragons, New York’s greatest team of gentlemen adventurers, is murdered right before her eyes. To uncover the truth behind the assassination, Sarah joins forces with the amazing mechanical man known as The Automaton. Together they unmask a conspiracy at the heart of the Paragons that reveals the world of heroes and high-society is built on a crumbling foundation of greed and lies. When Sarah comes face to face with the megalomaniacal villain behind the murder, she must discover if she has the courage to sacrifice her life of privilege and save her clockwork friend.

The Falling Machine (The Society of Steam, Book One) takes place in a Victorian New York powered by the discovery of Fortified Steam, a substance that allows ordinary men to wield extraordinary abilities and grants powers that can corrupt gentlemen of great moral strength. The secret behind this amazing substance is something that wicked brutes will gladly kill for and one that Sarah must try and protect, no matter what the cost.

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Enigmatic Pilot: A Tall Tale Too True
by Kris Sanussemm
Cover by Charles Brock

Promo copy:

Enigmatic Pilot is Kris Saknussemm’s outrageously brilliant yet profoundly moving exploration and excavation of the American dream—and nightmare.

In 1844, in a still-young America, the first intimations of civil war are stirring throughout the land. In Zanesville, Ohio, the Sitturd family—Hephaestus, a clubfooted inventor; his wife, Rapture, a Creole from the Sea Islands; and their prodigiously gifted six-year-old son, Lloyd, whose libido is as precocious as his intellect—are forced to flee the only home they have ever known for an uncertain future in Texas, whence Hephaestus’s half-brother, Micah, has sent them a mysterious invitation, promising riches and wonders too amazing to be entrusted to paper.

Thus begins one of the most incredible American journeys since Huck Finn and Jim first pushed their raft into the Mississippi. Along the way, Lloyd will learn the intricacies of poker and murder, solve the problem of manned flight, find—and lose—true love, and become swept up in an ancient struggle between two secret societies whose arcane dispute has shaped the world’s past and threatens to reshape its future. Each side wants to use Lloyd against the other, but Lloyd has his own ideas—and access to an occult technology as powerful as his imagination.

I lavished praise upon Saknussemm’s first novel Zanesville, so I’m looking forward to the second volume in his Lodemania Testament.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived
by Paul S. Kemp

Promo copy:

The second novel set in the Old Republic era and based on the massively multiplayer online game Star Wars®: The Old Republic™ ramps up the action and brings readers face-to-face for the first time with a Sith warrior to rival the most sinister of the Order’s Dark Lords—Darth Malgus, the mysterious, masked Sith of the wildly popular “Deceived” and “Hope” game trailers.

Malgus brought down the Jedi Temple on Coruscant in a brutal assault that shocked the galaxy. But if war crowned him the darkest of Sith heroes, peace would transform him into something far more heinous—something Malgus would never want to be, but cannot stop, any more than he can stop the rogue Jedi fast approaching.

Her name is Aryn Leneer—and the lone Knight that Malgus cut down in the fierce battle for the Jedi Temple was her Master. And now she’s going to find out what happened to him, even if it means breaking every rule in the book.

The River of Shadows
by Robert V. S. Redick

Promo copy:

In the gripping sequel to Robert V. S. Redick’s acclaimed epic fantasy novels The Red Wolf Conspiracy and The Ruling Sea, the crew of the vast, ancient ship Chathrand have reached the shores of the legendary southern empire of Bali Adro. Many have died in the crossing, and the alliance of rebels, led by the tarboy Pazel Pathkendle and the warrior Thasha Isiq, has faced death, betrayal, and darkest magic. But nothing has prepared them for the radically altered face of humanity in the South.

They have little time to recover from the shock, however. For with landfall, the battle between the rebels and centuries-old sorcerer Arunis enters its final phase. At stake is control of the Nilstone, a cursed relic that promises unlimited power to whoever unlocks the secrets of its use—but death to those who fail. And no one is closer to mastering the Stone than Arunis.

Desperate to stop him, Pazel and Thasha must join forces with their enemies, including the depraved Captain Rose and the imperial assassin Sandor Ott. But when a suspicious young crewmember turns his attentions to Thasha, it is the young lovers themselves who are divided—most conveniently for Arunis. As the mage’s triumph draws near, the allies face a terrible choice: to break their oaths and run for safety, or to hunt the world’s most dangerous sorcerer through the strange and deadly dream kingdom known as the River of Shadows, and to face him a last time among the traps and horrors of his lair.

Brimming with high adventure, dark enchantment, and unforgettable characters, The River of Shadows deftly secures Redick’s place in the ranks of epic fantasy’s most original and enthralling storytellers.

Part II

Books received 3/13/11 Del Rey edition Part I was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon