{"id":2102,"date":"2012-12-12T23:24:15","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T23:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/?p=2102"},"modified":"2012-12-12T23:24:15","modified_gmt":"2012-12-12T23:24:15","slug":"books-received-121212-del-rey-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2012\/12\/12\/books-received-121212-del-rey-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Books received 12\/12\/12 Del Rey edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s take a quick look to see what\u2019s arrived at the Geek Compound.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Great North Road<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n

by Peter Hamilton<\/strong>
\n Cover by Philip Straub<\/strong><\/p>\n

Promo copy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

New York Times<\/em>\u00a0bestselling author Peter F. Hamilton\u2019s riveting new thriller combines the nail-biting suspense of a serial-killer investigation with clear-eyed scientific and social extrapolation to create a future that seems not merely plausible but inevitable.<\/p>\n

A century from now, thanks to a technology allowing instantaneous travel across light-years, humanity has solved its energy shortages, cleaned up the environment, and created far-flung colony worlds. The keys to this empire belong to the powerful North family\u2014composed of successive generations of clones. Yet these clones are not identical. For one thing, genetic errors have crept in with each generation. For another, the original three clone \u201cbrothers\u201d have gone their separate ways, and the branches of the family are now friendly rivals more than allies.<\/p>\n

Or maybe not so friendly. At least that\u2019s what the murder of a North clone in the English city of Newcastle suggests to Detective Sidney Hurst. Sid is a solid investigator who\u2019d like nothing better than to hand off this hot potato of a case. The way he figures it, whether he solves the crime or not, he\u2019ll make enough enemies to ruin his career.<\/p>\n

Yet Sid\u2019s case is about to take an unexpected turn: because the circumstances of the murder bear an uncanny resemblance to a killing that took place years ago on the planet St. Libra, where a North clone and his entire household were slaughtered in cold blood. The convicted slayer, Angela Tramelo, has always claimed her innocence. And now it seems she may have been right. Because only the St. Libra killer could have committed the Newcastle crime.<\/p>\n

Problem is, Angela also claims that the murderer was an alien monster.<\/p>\n

Now Sid must navigate through a Byzantine minefield of competing interests within the police department and the world\u2019s political and economic elite . . . all the while hunting down a brutal killer poised to strike again. And on St. Libra, Angela, newly released from prison, joins a mission to hunt down the elusive alien, only to learn that the line between hunter and hunted is a thin one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Scoundrels:<\/p>\n

Scoundrels: Star Wars<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n

by Timothy Zahn
\nCover by Paul Youll<\/strong><\/p>\n

Promo copy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

To make his biggest score, Han\u2019s ready to take even bigger risks.<\/strong>
\nBut even he can\u2019t do\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0job solo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Han Solo should be basking in his moment of glory. After all, the cocky smuggler and captain of the\u00a0Millennium Falcon<\/em>\u00a0just played a key role in the daring raid that destroyed the Death Star and landed the first serious blow to the Empire in its war against the Rebel Alliance. But after losing the reward his heroics earned him, Han\u2019s got nothing to celebrate. Especially since he\u2019s deep in debt to the ruthless crime lord Jabba the Hutt. There\u2019s a bounty on Han\u2019s head\u2014and if he can\u2019t cough up the credits, he\u2019ll surely pay with his hide. The only thing that can save him is a king\u2019s ransom. Or maybe a gangster\u2019s fortune? That\u2019s what a mysterious stranger is offering in exchange for Han\u2019s less-than-legal help with a riskier-than-usual caper. The payoff will be more than enough for Han to settle up with Jabba\u2014and ensure he never has to haggle with the Hutts again.<\/p>\n

All he has to do is infiltrate the ultra-fortified stronghold of a Black Sun crime syndicate underboss and crack the galaxy\u2019s most notoriously impregnable safe. It sounds like a job for miracle workers . . . or madmen. So Han assembles a gallery of rogues who are a little of both\u2014including his indispensable sidekick Chewbacca and the cunning Lando Calrissian. If anyone can dodge, deceive, and defeat heavily armed thugs, killer droids, and Imperial agents alike\u2014and pull off the heist of the century\u2014it\u2019s Solo\u2019s scoundrels. But will their crime really pay, or will it cost them the ultimate price?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Best of All Possible Worlds<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n

by Karen Lord<\/strong><\/p>\n

Promo copy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Karen Lord\u2019s debut novel, the multiple-award-winning\u00a0Redemption in Indigo,<\/em>\u00a0announced the appearance of a major new talent\u2014a strong, brilliantly innovative voice fusing Caribbean storytelling traditions and speculative fiction with subversive wit and incisive intellect. Compared by critics to such heavyweights as Nalo Hopkinson, China Mi\u00e9ville, and Ursula K. Le Guin, Lord does indeed belong in such select company\u2014yet, like them, she boldly blazes her own trail.<\/p>\n

Now Lord returns with a second novel that exceeds the promise of her first.\u00a0The Best of All Possible Worlds\u00a0<\/em>is a stunning science fiction epic that is also a beautifully wrought, deeply moving love story.<\/p>\n

A proud and reserved alien society finds its homeland destroyed in an unprovoked act of aggression, and the survivors have no choice but to reach out to the indigenous humanoids of their adopted world, to whom they are distantly related. They wish to preserve their cherished way of life but come to discover that in order to preserve their culture, they may have to change it forever.<\/p>\n

Now a man and a woman from these two clashing societies must work together to save this vanishing race\u2014and end up uncovering ancient mysteries with far-reaching ramifications. As their mission hangs in the balance, this unlikely team\u2014one cool and cerebral, the other fiery and impulsive\u2014just may find in each other their own destinies . . . and a force that transcends all.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Conspiracy of Alchemists:
\nBook One in The Chronicles of Light and Shadow<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/h1>\n

by Liesel Schwarz<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Promo copy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

LEAVE IT TO CHANCE.<\/em>\u00a0Eleanor \u201cElle\u201d Chance, that is\u2014the intrepid heroine of this edgy new series that transforms elements of urban fantasy, historical adventure, and paranormal romance into pure storytelling gold.<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>
\nIt is 1903, and the world is divided between light and shadow. On the side of light is a wondrous science that has transformed everyday life by harnessing magical energies to ingenious new technologies. But each advance of science has come at the expense of shadow\u2014the traditional realm of the supernatural.<\/p>\n

Now two ancient powers are preparing to strike back. Blood-sucking immortal Nightwalkers and their spellcasting Alchemist allies have a plan to cover the whole world in shadow. All they require is the sacrifice of a certain young woman whose past conceals a dangerous secret.<\/p>\n

But when they come after Elle, they get more than they bargained for. This enterprising young woman, the daughter of a scientific genius, has reserves of bravery and determination that even she scarcely suspects. Now she is about to meet her match in more ways than one: a handsome yet infuriating Warlock named Hugh Marsh, whose agenda is as suspect as his charms are annoyingly irresistible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Daylight War:
\nBook Three of The Demon Cycle<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/h1>\n

by Peter V. Brett<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Promo copy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

With\u00a0The Warded Man<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The Desert Spear<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Peter V. Brett surged to the front rank of contemporary fantasy, standing alongside giants in the field such as George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Terry Brooks.\u00a0The Daylight War,<\/em>\u00a0the eagerly anticipated third volume in Brett\u2019s internationally bestselling Demon Cycle, continues the epic tale of humanity\u2019s last stand against an army of demons that rise each night to prey on mankind.<\/p>\n

On the night of the new moon, the demons rise in force, seeking the deaths of two men, both of whom have the potential to become the fabled Deliverer, the man prophesied to reunite the scattered remnants of humanity in a final push to destroy the demon corelings once and for all.<\/p>\n

Arlen Bales was once an ordinary man, but now he has become something more\u2014the Warded Man, tattooed with eldritch wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. Arlen denies he is the Deliverer at every turn, but the more he tries to be one with the common folk, the more fervently they believe. Many would follow him, but Arlen\u2019s path threatens to lead to a dark place he alone can travel to, and from which there may be no returning.<\/p>\n

The only one with hope of keeping Arlen in the world of men, or joining him in his descent into the world of demons, is Renna Tanner, a fierce young woman in danger of losing herself to the power of demon magic.<\/p>\n

Ahmann Jardir has forged the warlike desert tribes of Krasia into a demon-killing army and proclaimed himself Shar\u2019Dama Ka, the Deliverer. He carries ancient weapons\u2014a spear and a crown\u2014that give credence to his claim, and already vast swaths of the green lands bow to his control.<\/p>\n

But Jardir did not come to power on his own. His rise was engineered by his First Wife, Inevera, a cunning and powerful priestess whose formidable demon bone magic gives her the ability to glimpse the future. Inevera\u2019s motives and past are shrouded in mystery, and even Jardir does not entirely trust her.<\/p>\n

Once Arlen and Jardir were as close as brothers. Now they are the bitterest of rivals. As humanity\u2019s enemies rise, the only two men capable of defeating them are divided against each other by the most deadly demons of all\u2014those lurking in the human heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s take a quick look to see what\u2019s arrived at the Geek Compound. Great North Road by Peter Hamilton Cover by Philip Straub Promo copy: New York Times\u00a0bestselling author Peter F. Hamilton\u2019s riveting new thriller combines the nail-biting suspense of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n