{"id":414,"date":"2010-03-29T02:32:06","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T02:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2010\/03\/29\/books-received-32810\/"},"modified":"2012-08-17T05:18:43","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T05:18:43","slug":"books-received-32810","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2010\/03\/29\/books-received-32810\/","title":{"rendered":"Books received 3\/28\/10"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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The Passage<\/span><\/a> by Justin Cronin<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.\u201d <\/p>\n

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear\u2014of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.<\/p>\n

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he\u2019s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey\u2014spanning miles and decades\u2014towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.<\/p>\n

With The Passage<\/span>, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.<\/p>\n

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Tongues of Serpents<\/span><\/a> by Naomi Novik<\/span><\/p>\n

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A dazzling blend of military history, high-flying fantasy, and edge-of-your-seat adventure, Naomi Novik\u2019s Temeraire novels, set in an alternate Napoleonic era in which intelligent dragons have been harnessed as weapons of war, are more than just perennial bestsellers\u2014they are a worldwide phenomenon. Now, in Tongues of Serpents, Naomi Novik is back, along with the dragon Temeraire and his rider and friend, Capt. Will Laurence.<\/p>\n

Convicted of treason despite their heroic defense against Napoleon\u2019s invasion of England, Temeraire and Laurence\u2014stripped of rank and standing\u2014have been transported to the prison colony at New South Wales in distant Australia, where, it is hoped, they cannot further corrupt the British Aerial Corps with their dangerous notions of liberty for dragons. Temeraire and Laurence carry with them three dragon eggs intended to help establish a covert in the colony and destined to be handed over to such second-rate, undesirable officers as have been willing to accept so remote an assignment\u2014including one former acquaintance, Captain Rankin, whose cruelty once cost a dragon its life.<\/p>\n

Nor is this the greatest difficulty that confronts the exiled dragon and rider: Instead of leaving behind all the political entanglements and corruptions of the war, Laurence and Temeraire have instead sailed into a hornet\u2019s nest of fresh complications. For the colony at New South Wales has been thrown into turmoil after the overthrow of the military governor, one William Bligh\u2014better known as Captain Bligh, late of HMS Bounty. Bligh wastes no time in attempting to enlist Temeraire and Laurence to restore him to office, while the upstart masters of the colony are equally determined that the new arrivals should not upset a balance of power precariously tipped in their favor.<\/p>\n

Eager to escape this political quagmire, Laurence and Temeraire take on a mission to find a way through the forbidding Blue Mountains and into the interior of Australia. But when one of the dragon eggs is stolen from Temeraire, the surveying expedition becomes a desperate race to recover it in time\u2014a race that leads to a shocking discovery and a dangerous new obstacle in the global war between Britain and Napoleon. <\/p>\n

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F.V.Z.A.: Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency<\/span> Issue # 3<\/a> Written by David Hine Art by Roy Allan Martinez &amp; Wayne Nichols<\/span><\/p>\n

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The final showdown between the living and the undead! When Hugo Pecos and the FVZA discover the plans of the European vampire council to infect the United States, they quickly locate the underground headquarters of the vampires in the city. As Landra and Vidal split into two squads to thwart the sinister plot of the undead, they realize that there is far more to their mission than simply extermination. A stunning revelation, a tragic death and a shocking betrayal await Landra as she journeys into the belly of the beast to battle the bloodthirsty and ruthless Chaucer and the queen vampire herself – Yaelis.<\/p>\n

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Tales of the Otherworld<\/span><\/a> by Kelley Armstrong<\/span><\/p>\n

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

New York Times<\/span> bestselling author Kelley Armstrong has bewitched audiences with her Otherworld series of supernatural thrillers. Now, in this new collection of shorter fiction, some of Armstrong\u2019s most tantalizing lead characters appear alongside her unforgettable supporting players, who step out of the shadows and into the light.<\/p>\n

Have you ever wondered how lone wolf Clayton Danvers finally got bitten by the last thing he ever expected: love? Or how the hot-blooded bad-girl witch Eve Levine managed to ensnare the cold, ruthless corporate sorcerer Kristof Nast in one of the Otherworld\u2019s most unlikely pairings? Would you like to be a fly on the wall at the wedding of Lucas Cortez and Paige Winterbourne as their eminently practical plans are upended by their well-meaning friends? Or tag along with Lucas and Paige as they investigate a gruesome crime that looks to be the work of a rogue vampire?<\/p>\n

Now devotees of the Otherworld can share these special moments with some of their favorite characters\u2014as well as discovering deeper insights into the lives of some of the lesser-known players. But even readers new to the <\/p>\n

Otherworld universe will find much to love in these seven tales of friendship, adventure, and enduring romance. For when the superhuman men and women of the Otherworld set their minds to a task, they do so with fierce passion and an undivided sense of purpose that make them, in the end, very much human.<\/p>\n

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The Desert Spear<\/span><\/a> by Peter V. Brett<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that arise as the sun sets, preying upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind ancient and half-forgotten symbols of power. These wards alone can keep the demons at bay, but legends tell of a Deliverer: a general\u2014some would say prophet\u2014who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. Those times, if they ever existed, are long past. The demons are back, and the return of the Deliverer is just another myth . . . or is it?<\/p>\n

Out of the desert rides Ahmann Jardir, who has forged the warlike desert tribes of Krasia into a demon-killing army. He has proclaimed himself Shar\u2019Dama Ka, the Deliverer, and he carries ancient weapons\u2014a spear and a crown\u2014that give credence to his claim. Sworn to follow the path of the first Deliverer, he has come north to bring the scattered city-states of the green lands together in a war against demonkind\u2014whether they like it or not.<\/p>\n

But the northerners claim their own Deliverer. His name was Arlen, but all know him now as the Warded Man: a dark, forbidding figure whose skin is tattooed with wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. The Warded Man denies that he is the Deliverer, but his actions speak louder than words, for he teaches men and women to face their fears and stand fast against the creatures that have tormented them for centuries.<\/p>\n

Once the Shar\u2019Dama Ka and the Warded Man were friends, brothers in arms. Now they are fierce adversaries. Caught between them are Renna, a young woman pushed to the edge of human endurance; Leesha, a proud and beautiful healer whose skill in warding surpasses that of the Warded Man himself; and Rojer, a traveling fiddler whose uncanny music can soothe the demons\u2014or stir them into such frenzy that they attack one another. <\/p>\n

Yet as old allegiances are tested and fresh alliances forged, all are blissfully unaware of the appearance of a new breed of demon, more intelligent\u2014and deadly\u2014than any that have come before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s take a quick look to see what\u2019s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound. The Passage by Justin Cronin Promo copy: \u201cIt happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.\u201d First, the … 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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n