Hey!
We’ve got the new Discworld book as well!
Just came in in hardcover, $44.95! We’ll see you if you want a copy. 
Also, we’ve got less copies of these, so if you DID want one, might be worth calling in to book it.
Yes, you read that right!
We now have the trade paperback edition of Gathering Storm in store and on the shelves!!!!
It’s $35 each. Those of you who have placed orders, also feel free to come in and pick them up.
It’s written by Brandon Sanderson, but it’s to finish off the Wheel of Time series.
“Finish off” is misleading in some ways. Rather, let’s say that “Gathering Storm” is the 1st book of the trilogy that will finish off the Wheel of Time series.
And yes, we’ve got it now.
No, it’s not available yet, but it WILL be!
27/10/09 is the date that they are currently saying it will be released. Personally, I’ll believe it when I see it. But I’ll be a responsible bookshop owner and post now to inform you lot.
So. If you wanted a copy, give us a call at the store and let us know!
The US hardcover edition will be $46.95, and the Australian trade paperback edition will be $35.
We’ve gotten a fair few deliveries recently…
Here’s some of them!
Shadow Queen
This is the latest book set in the Black Jewels world. It doesn’t have the pure brilliance of the original trilogy, but fans of the Black Jewels will find this to be book to be devoured!
From Dead to Worse - Sookie Stackhouse!
The next book in this well-deserving-of-multiple-reads series!
If you did ever want the full box set of most (it doesn’t have the most recent one or two) of the series, make sure you let us know because we can get that for you too!
The Hidden City
Yes, I’ve already mentioned this. But it is well worth mentioning again because it is a really really really good fantasy novel that I will happily recommend to all.
It is *not* a fast paced book. But let’s face it, a lot of the time, the more recent “fast-paced” books have been pretty shitty because “fast paced” is all that they have going for it. 
*THIS* book, regardless of what you might think about the pacing, is good.
Outcast: Fate of the Jedi #1
This is the first book in the new Star Wars novel series: Fate of the Jedi.
It chronicles the events after Jacen had died (whoops spoiler alert), and the mis-trust that the Republic begins to feel for the Jedi…
(Yes, I can see some of you thinking: again!?)
Undead on Arrival This is L.A. Banks’ latest book in her Crimson Moon series.
Ruby Dice by Catherine Asaro
When the Tide Rises by David Drake
The latest book by Weber (and one of 3 to be released this year if the rumours are to be believed), this is the next book in the Saganami Isles series!
I read it in hardcover and it was absolutely freaking awesomely fantastic!
And now its in paperback and everybody else can get it and enjoy it too!!!
Come on in and pick up a copy when you can
Yes!
We did get our deliveries!
Gotten several gazillion over a fairly short period of time, to be honest. But our shelves are full again, and now with NEW books!
Click here to view our Feb catalogue (yes the March one is slightly over due).
Some of the more interesting stuff that have come in though…
Bone Crossed
The new Mercy Thompson book by the ever awesome Patricia Briggs.
It’s a new series by Rachel Caine that is set in her world of the Weather Wardens. If its anything like those, its going to be chock full of magic, adventure, sarcasm and pure unadulterated fun.
Accord
I’m reading this at the moment, and I am really REALLY enjoying how Keith Brook writes… I’ll say a bit more about it once I’ve actually finished.
Shadow Queen
This is another book set in the world of the Black Jewels and part of the reason why I’ve yet to finish reading Accord… Switching between two books is distracting…
There are some new stuff arriving in March, and we’ll get the new March books up Soon™.
In the mean time… Check out these Feb stuff!
So. Who plays World of Warcraft? Or at least heard of it?
Might be faster to ask who hasn’t heard of it.
Regardless, where we come in, is the fact that there is tons and tons and tons of lore that stretches from when the orcs first met the humans, all the way to know when the Alliance and the Horde have travelled in an uneasy truce to Northrend to meet the Lich King…
STILL sounds like gobblydekook to you?
Let’s put it this way…
If you play the game, you should *absolutely* read these background stories. It’d tell you about how the Dark Portal came to be. About the Dragon Aspects and the reasons for their existence. All in a much much richer and more imaginative manner than the game could ever do…
The basic story here is… “We’ve got Warcraft!”.
Tides of Darkness
This recounts the story that was told in the game “Warcraft II” (aka WC2).
While Beyond the Dark Portal tells the story of the expansion to WC2.
There is a fair amount of stuff here, including how the Outland became the shattered piece of living rock that it is at the moment, and it also puts into perspectives the reasons for why the Alliance are “mildly” upset with the Horde…
bear in mind that the Horde as it currently stands, has been around for a lot shorter of time than the Alliance, and you know what they say about people with long memories…
War of the Ancients
This is an omnibus containing the complete trilogy of the War of the Ancients. I’d say that it takes place after the events of WC3 and the battle for mt hyjal… But that’s a lie because it doesn’t really take place then. It starts off *after* that at least, but it doesn’t really take place then.
This is an awesome look at the Dragon Aspects as they were millennia ago. More importantly, this talks about the first invasion of the Burning Legion, the sundering that shook the high elves such that they were never recover again, and the events leading up to Queen Azshara’s change in “policies”…
Ever wondered how the naga came about and why they do what they do? Read this.
Warcraft Archive
I think this was the first omnibus of warcraft books.
Contained within are
The orcs used to be fairly nice people. Green, maybe even pebbly, and definitely mildly toothy… but as Kermit says “it’s not easy being green!”
Point is, they were the sort of people you might invite over for tea with your grandma as long as your grandma didn’t mind company that comes from a different generation as she is from (believe me, that’s how she felt about your school friends ‘oh my, they are such *nice* boys, but they wear such strange alien and AWFUL clothing!!!’).
Then the Burning Legion and Kil’jaeden came along and corrupted them with fel magic…
Cycle of Hatred
I’ve got this theory (to be fair, it’s not just me, and I definitely wasn’t the first to voice it either) that Jaina & Thrall have something going on. yes, yes, I know, inter-species and all… but hey! if it’s all in the name of better diplomatic relations, why not?
*eh-hem*
Jaina Proudmoore wants peace between the Alliance and the Horde, and the fact is, it is only through her sheer magical power, political deftness and knowledge that the first truce between the two factions was forged, and part of the reason why it continues to this day.
See how it all begins…
Don’t look at me…
I think it’s weird as well to have an art book for the trading card game. it’s a bit like having a brush to brush your toothbrush that brushes your teeth…
but there you go… Blizzard’s making a gazillion million dollars and i’m not.
I imagine collectors will like this…
That said, if you DID want this for your collection, or as a present, let us know ASAP, because we’ll need to order it in for you. No, we don’t charge extra. 
Lo’Gosh #1
Some of you have been to Stormwind and met the new King (I hope you have at any rate…). If you’ve ever wondered about why he suddenly went and displaced the gorgeous Katrana Prestor, here’s the beginning of that tale.
So there you go. lots of Warcraft books. As I said before, if you play the games, the books are well worth reading. If you don’t… I’d say War of the Ancients is worth reading simply as an epic fantasy.
happy levelling!
I just realised as I was writing this, that both books I’d just finished reading were filled with assassins. One a babe, and the other a dude.
Cally’s War
One of John Ringo’s spin-offs from his Posleen war series. This one actually takes place years after the war has ended (now you know who wins!! ;)), on an Earth that is at relative peace with the aliens that inhabit it and help rule it. All behind the scenes of course.
Our heroine is an assassin. Brought up that way, trained and mentally conditioned that way. She is freaking scary. In the opening scenes, we meet a guy that absolutely scared me. He’s brutal, he’s evil, he’s suspicious, and he’s really really really fond of torturing girls…
Cally of course, eventually goes up against him, takes everything he can throw at her, and then beats the crap out of him before going home for a nice bubble bath and sleep.
Cally rocks.
The main event is mostly interesting and fast moving. There are bits where the pace suddenly drops, or the focus switches entirely to a different character entirely. It can be a little jarring… But what the heck, John Ringo’s not known for an awesome literary skill. He’s better known for explosive, nail-biting action books that are a thorough joy to read…
The backdrop to the main event however, is quite very interesting. There’s a powerplay going on in the back ground that will obviously be played out in later books. Don’t get me wrong, this is a self-contained book. But you can tell that there is an over-arching strategy for the humans to get rid of those annoying aliens that are attempting to manipulate the events of Earth…
All in all, quite really actiony fun!
The other one was Way of Shadows.
This was the one I was whinging about not having been able to read because people kept stealing my last copy before I was able to get to it…
It’s good! It really really is. It’s got some of those good old stereotypes that you’d expect. Apprentice assassin from the streets, master assassin imparting all his knowledge before he permanently retires from the scene.
But built up on top of that is very skilled story writing, well-paced action, hopes and dreams and the shattering of them…
So there you go! More great books to read!
Basically the first thought running through my head was “Laurell K Hamilton is going to FINISH a SERIES?!??!!??”.
I was SHOCKED! This is the woman who has given us countless Anita Blake books (Guilty Pleasures - Anita Blake #1), a series that was kick-butt necromatic fun for the first 9 (or so) books, before degenerating into badly written, euphemism driven porn that *everybody* just wishes would finish, but will never ever do…
Back to the book under discussion…
I’ve just finished it, and it certainly does seem like an end to the series. Let’s just say that I’d be very disappointed if there’s another. There are things left unanswered, events that I would have like to have seen, but I also think I’m fairly happy not having actually gotten those. Complete closure is mildly annoying when you really think about what it means.
Did I enjoy it? Yes, yes I did…
This sounds a bit weird, but I didn’t have serious problems with the amount of sex in this Merry Gentry series. For one thing, it was honest… Right from A Kiss of Shadows onwards, Merry was stated to be descended from a goddess of fertility, it was well stated that sex was a weapon that the Faerie of the court she was exiled from used on a regular basis… None of this “Hey everybody! I’m a powerful necromancer who raises dead people and uses them to tear “innocent” old ladies to bits and pieces… NOT! I’m actually a succubus who will sleep with every man, vampire and were-creature that happens to be close to me!!!”
There’s no unexpected, (and undesired) sudden 270 degree twists in direction and character development… (Ok, granted character development isn’t particularly high on the list anyway, but that’s not the point…)
And oh, the vampire machinations of Jean Claude, the vampire council, etc, have got nothing on the political maneuvering of the Sidhe… And the magic that they live in is very *very* well described.
Back to the book…
There’s no gratuitous sex for the sake of it. Well, there was this one small scene where I was a little “huh?! that’s a little unexpected…”, but it kinda made sense. A bit. And it was a small scene.
The events were major, massive changes that made sense taken in the context of the whole series. Some of the characters, Mistral as an example, were fairly shallow in terms of how they were used in the story, but the main characters were well-represented. Kitto surprised me in A Lick of Frost, and while he didn’t make an appearance in “Swallowing Darkness”, his close relationship with Merry was made evident by her bodyguards’ surprising actions. Sholto grows in his role of King and matures in his role of Merry’s lover and ally. Andias’ twin roles of mother and queen are brought into conflict…
I’m not too sure what else to say about this (seemingly and hopefully) final book in the Meredith Gentry series. I did enjoy it: the faerie politics, the magic, the mild levels of sex, they worked well together to form what I feel is an appropriate and strong finish to a series that I mostly enjoyed.
