More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Cassandra Clare's Sword Catcher for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

Two outcasts find themselves at the center of world-altering change in the start of a riveting epic fantasy series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Shadowhunter Chronicles.

In the vibrant city-state of Castellane, the richest of nobles and the most debauched of criminals have one thing in common: the constant search for wealth, power, and the next hedonistic thrill.

Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword-Catcher—the body-double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He has been raised alongside the prince, trained in every aspect of combat and statecraft. He and Conor are close as brothers, but Kel knows he has one destiny: to die for Conor. No other future is possible.

Lin Caster is one of the Ashkar, a small community who still possess magical abilities. By law, they must live behind walls in the city, but Lin, a physician, ventures out to tend to the sick and dying of Castellane. Despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend Mariam without access to forbidden knowledge.

After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of Castellane’s underworld. He offers them each what they want most; but as they descend into his world of intrigue and shadow, they discover a conspiracy of corruption that reaches from the darkest gutters of Castellane to the highest tower of its palaces. As long-kept secrets begin to unravel, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? Can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will Lin and Kel’s discoveries plunge their nation into war—and the world into chaos?

Never Flinch

Little did I know when I first read the Bill Hodges trilogy during my Camino de Santiago that Holly Gibney, then a secondary character, would become one of my favorite King protagonists of recent years. Then came The Outsider, followed by Holly, and that anxious and hypochondriac woman has truly come into her own. Indeed, I was thrilled when I learned that Never Flinch would feature her as lead once again.

The blurb immediately piqued my curiosity and I knew I'd be reading the novel as soon as it came out. It looked as though this one would be made up of several disparate storylines, yet now that I've read the book I can say that the plot suffers from too many moving parts. And even if King brings it all together near the end, a lot of it feels contrived to a certain extent.

Here's the blurb:

From master storyteller Stephen King comes an extraordinary new novel with intertwining storylines—one about a killer on a diabolical revenge mission, and another about a vigilante targeting a feminist celebrity speaker—featuring the beloved Holly Gibney and a dynamic new cast of characters.

When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to “kill thirteen innocents and one guilty” in “an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man,” Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution? As the investigation unfolds, Izzy realizes that the letter writer is deadly serious, and she turns to her friend Holly Gibney for help.

Meanwhile, controversial and outspoken women’s rights activist Kate McKay is embarking on a multi-state lecture tour, drawing packed venues of both fans and detractors. Someone who vehemently opposes Kate’s message of female empowerment is targeting her and disrupting her events. At first, no one is hurt, but the stalker is growing bolder, and Holly is hired to be Kate’s bodyguard—a challenging task with a headstrong employer and a determined adversary driven by wrath and his belief in his own righteousness.

Featuring a riveting cast of characters both old and new, including world-famous gospel singer Sista Bessie and an unforgettable villain addicted to murder, these twinned narratives converge in a chilling and spectacular conclusion—a feat of storytelling only Stephen King could pull off.

Thrilling, wildly fun, and outrageously engrossing, Never Flinch is one of King’s richest and most propulsive novels.

As was the case with Holly, and unlike The Outsider which worked well as a standalone, the same cannot be said of Never Flinch. Events featured in the novella If It Bleeds are once again referred to, but it's not necessary to have read it. However, you must read the Bill Hodges trilogy and the other two novels featuring Holly to fully understand what's going on. Once more, not just for knowing more about Holly's background, which in turn gives you more insight into her character. No, it's important to have witnessed Holly's evolution to fully appreciate how far along she's come since we were first introduced to her in the original series. It's also important to understand the relationships between Holly and the supporting cast for the plot to make sense.

Like its predecessor, Never Flinch reads like a murder mystery/police procedural. There are no paranormal elements underpinning this tale, just messed-up individuals. Because as Holly has come to realize in the previous book: Just when you think you’ve seen the worst human beings have to offer, there’s no end to evil. This one features a deranged man who wants to avenge the death of an innocent person convicted of being a pedophile who got shanked in jail by killing a number of people, as well as religious nutjobs who wish to silence women’s rights activist. This would have been enough for a compelling story. Trouble is, the author needed to find a way to get young poet Barbara involved and thus came up with the gospel singer's thread, which sort of derailed the plot from time to time.

With her strengths, and especially with her weaknesses, Holly remains an extremely endearing main protagonist. I particularly enjoyed how her relationship with Izzy has evolved and how the detective has learned to trust Holly instincts. Trig is an interesting villain, and so is Chris. The more we discovered about each of them and their past, the better everything became. It was interesting to follow the interactions between bossy Kate McKay and the more timid yet capable Holly. Corrie was also nice addition to the supporting cast. Again in this novel, even if Holly is in the spotlight, I feel that too much limelight was given to both Jerome and Barbara. Neither were really necessary for the story to make sense, and more often than not they both got in the way of the plot. I'm aware that they've been part of everything that has occurred thus far, but at some point they need to somewhat fade in the background and Holly must stand on her own. Did we really need to have such a big chunk of the book dedicated to Barbara joining Sista Bessie's gig and have one of her poems turned into a song? I mean, there is someone murdering people to make the jury who convicted an innocent man feel guilty for his death and religious fucktards trying to kill a woman who stands for everything they oppose. That's more than enough for a captivating novel.

Although the Sista Bessie/Barbara storylines is woven into the plot, more often than not the sequences featuring them seem to get in the way of the more interesting stuff. Still, Never Flinch makes for another entertaining read. The Guns and Hoses charity baseball game added a bit of humor and levity to what are decidedly darker themes. All in all, you'll get through this book in no time. Having said that, Barbara and Jerome are becoming bigger and bigger distractions with each new work, so here's to hoping that Holly can get her own moment in the limelight without having to rely on her young friends in the next book that features her.

Never Flinch was good, but not as good as The Outsider and Holly.

The final verdict: 7.5/10

For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Guy Gavriel Kay's A Song for Arbonne for only 4.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

From the critically-acclaimed author of The Fionavar Tapestry comes an epic fantasy novel of love, both courtly and forbidden, and two kingdoms endlessly opposed...

Blaise of Gorhaut is a warrior. He fought for his king and country, until the king died with an arrow in his eye at the battle of Iersen Bridge, and a dishonorable treaty ceded a good part of his country to foreign hands. He has broken relations with his father, adviser to the king of Gorhaut, and abandoned the use of his family name.

Now, Blaise is a mercenary. He never expected to work for the lords of Arbonne, the warm, fertile lands south of Gorhaut, whose people praise the love of women—they even worship a goddess, instead of the god. They are a soft people, or so he thought. But for all their nonsense about love, their troubadours and songs, they will fight for their country, when invasion comes from the north.

You can also get your hands on the digital edition of Benjamin Liar's The Failures for only 4.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

Welcome to the Wanderlands.
A vast machine made for reasons unknown, the Wanderlands was broken long ago. First went the sky, splintering and cracking, and then very slowly, the whole machine—the whole world—began to go dark.

Meet the Failures.
Following the summons of a strange dream, a scattering of adventurers, degenerates, and children find themselves drawn toward the same place: the vast underground Keep. They will discover there that they have been called for a purpose—and that purpose could be the destruction of everything they love.

The end is nigh.
For below the Keep, imprisoned in the greatest cage ever built by magicians and gods, lies the buried Giant. It is the most powerful of its kind, and its purpose is the annihilation of all civilization. But any kind of power, no matter how terrible, is precious in the dimming Wanderlands, and those that crave it are making their moves.

All machines can be broken, and the final cracks are spreading. It will take only the careless actions of two cheerful monsters to tip the Wanderlands towards an endless dark...or help it find its way back to the light.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Sisterhood of Dune for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

The inspiration for the HBO original series DUNE: PROPHECY, coming Fall 2024!

It is 83 years after the last thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, after Faykan Butler took the name of Corrino and established himself as the first Emperor of a new Imperium.

The war hero Vorian Atreides has turned his back on politics and Salusa Secundus. The descendants of the disgraced Abulurd Harkonnen have sworn vengeance against Vor, blaming him for the downfall of their noble family.

Raquella Berto-Anirul has formed the Bene Gesserit School and, through a terrible ordeal, has become the first Reverend Mother.

The descendants of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva use mutated, spice-saturated Navigators who fly precursors of Heighliners.

And Gilbertus Albans, ward of the hated thinking machine Erasmus, is teaching humans to become Mentats…while hiding an unbelievable secret.

Led by the fanatic Manford Torondo, the Butlerian movement, fiercely opposed to all forms of "dangerous technology," sweeps across the known universe in mobs, millions strong, destroying everything in its path.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (June 1st)

In hardcover:

Danielle L. Jensen's A Curse Carved in Bone debuts at number 1. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Devney Perry's Shield of Sparrows is down three spots, finishing the week at number 4. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Joe Abercrombie's The Devils debuts at number 5. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Onyx Storm is down two positions, ending the week at number 9. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Dani Francis' Silver Elite is down seven positions, ending the week at number 12. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

In paperback:

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses is up one position, ending the week at number 6. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing is up three positions, ending the week at number 10. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Mist and Fury returns at number 12. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download George R. R. Martin's Fire and Blood for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

With all the fire and fury fans have come to expect from internationally bestselling author George R. R. Martin, this is the first volume of the definitive two-part history of the Targaryens in Westeros.

Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire and Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.

What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why did it become so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What is the origin of Daenerys’s three dragon eggs? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring more than eighty all-new black-and-white illustrations by artist Doug Wheatley. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice and Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed.

With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fire and Blood is the ultimate game of thrones, giving readers a whole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and always fascinating history of Westeros.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Neal Stephenson's bestselling Reamde for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Plenty of other Stephenson titles like Anathem, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O, and all three installments of the Baroque Cycle are also on sale.

Here's the blurb:

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Neal Stephenson is continually rocking the literary world with his brazen and brilliant fictional creations—whether he’s reimagining the past (The Baroque Cycle), inventing the future (Snow Crash), or both (Cryptonomicon). With Reamde, this visionary author whose mind-stretching fiction has been enthusiastically compared to the work of Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Kurt Vonnegut, and David Foster Wallace—not to mention William Gibson and Michael Crichton—once again blazes new ground with a high-stakes thriller that will enthrall his loyal audience, science and science fiction, and espionage fiction fans equally. The breathtaking tale of a wealthy tech entrepreneur caught in the very real crossfire of his own online fantasy war game, Reamde is a new high—and a new world—for the remarkable Neal Stephenson.

From the extraordinary Neal Stephenson comes an epic adventure that spans entire worlds, both real and virtual.

The black sheep of an Iowa farming clan, former draft dodger and successful marijuana smuggler Richard Forthrast amassed a small fortune over the years—and then increased it a thousandfold when he created T'Rain. A massive, multibillion-dollar, multiplayer online role-playing game, T'Rain now has millions of obsessed fans from the U.S. to China. But a small group of ingenious Asian hackers has just unleashed Reamde—a virus that encrypts all of a player's electronic files and holds them for ransom—which has unwittingly triggered a war that's creating chaos not only in the virtual universe but in the real one as well. Its repercussions will be felt all around the globe—setting in motion a devastating series of events involving Russian mobsters, computer geeks, secret agents, and Islamic terrorists—with Forthrast standing at ground zero and his loved ones caught in the crossfire.

Dan Simmons' Ilium and Olympos are also on sale for only 1.99$ each through this Amazon Associate link.

Here's the blurb:

The Trojan War rages at the foot of Olympos Mons on Mars -- observed and influenced from on high by Zeus and his immortal family -- and twenty-first-century professor Thomas Hockenberry is there to play a role in the insidious private wars of vengeful gods and goddesses. On Earth, a small band of the few remaining humans pursues a lost past and devastating truth -- as four sentient machines depart from Jovian space to investigate, perhaps terminate, the potentially catastrophic emissions emanating from a mountaintop miles above the terraformed surface of the Red Planet.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of the Baroque Cycle omnibus by Neal Stephenson, comprised of Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World, for only 3.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. That's 3505 pages for less than 4$!!! This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

Get all three novels in Neal Stephenson's New York Times bestselling "Baroque Cycle" in one e-book, including: Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World. This three-volume historical epic delivers intrigue, adventure, and excitement set against the political upheaval of the early 18th century.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Naomi Novik's Uprooted for only 1.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Sean Russell's The One Kingdom for only 1.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

The cataclysm began more than a century earlier, when the King of Ayr died before naming an heir to the throne. The cold-blooded conspiracies of the Renne and the Wills—each family desirous of the prize of rule—would sunder the one kingdom, and spawn generations of hatred and discord.

Now Toren Renne, leader of his great and troubled house, dreams of peace. In the opposing domain, Elise Wills's desire for freedom is to be crushed, as an unwanted marriage to an ambitious and sinister lord looms large. As always, these machinations are feeding a bonfire of animosity that has now trapped an unsuspecting young Valeman Tam and two fortune-hunting friends from the North in its high, killing flames.

But the closer Toren comes to achieving his great goal of uniting two enemy houses, the more treachery flowers. Nobles and mystics alike conspire to keep the realm divided, knowing that only in times of strife can their power grow.

And perhaps the source of an unending misery lies before an old king's passing, beyond the scope of history, somewhere lost in a fog of myth and magic roiling about an ancient enchanter named Wyrr—who bequeathed to his children terrible gifts that would poison their lives . . . and their deaths. It is a cursed past and malevolent sorcery that truly hold the land, its people, and its would-be rulers bound. And before the already savaged kingdom can become one again, all Ayr will drown in a sea of blood.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (May 25th)

In hardcover:

Devney Perry's Shield of Sparrows debuts at number 1. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Dani Francis' Silver Elite debuts at number 5. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Onyx Storm is down one position, ending the week at number 7. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame is down one position, ending this week at number 12. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

In paperback:

Jaysea Lynn's For Whom the Belle Tolls debuts at number 6. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses is down four positions, ending the week at number 7. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing is down three positions, ending the week at number 13. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Damned for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Nevernight Chronicle, Jay Kristoff, comes the much-anticipated sequel to the international bestselling sensation EMPIRE OF THE VAMPIRE.

From holy cup comes holy light;
The faithful hands sets world aright.
And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight,
Mere man shall end this endless night.

Gabriel de León has saved the Holy Grail from death, but his chance to end the endless night is lost. Drawn into an uneasy alliance with the mysterious vampire Liathe, Gabriel must now deliver the Grail to ancients of the Blood Esani, and learn the truth of how Daysdeath might be finally undone.

But the Last Silversaint faces peril, within and without. Pursued by terrors of the Blood Voss, drawn into warfare between the Blood Dyvok and duskdancers of the frozen Highlands, and ravaged by his own rising bloodlust, Gabriel may not survive to see the Grail learn her truth.

And that truth may be too awful for any to imagine.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Jim Butcher's Small Favor for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

Harry Dresden's life finally seems to be calming down -- until a shadow from the past returns. Mab, monarch of the Sidhe Winter Court, calls in an old favor from Harry -- one small favor that will trap him between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and that will strain his skills -- and loyalties -- to their very limits.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Elizabeth Moon's Oath of Fealty for only 3.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

For the first time in nearly twenty years, Elizabeth Moon returns to the thrilling realm of her superb Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy.

Thanks to Paks’s courage, the long-vanished heir to the half-elven kingdom of Lyonya has been revealed as Kieri Phelan, a formidable mercenary who earned a title—and enemies—in the neighboring kingdom of Tsaia, where Prince Mikeli suddenly faces the threat of a coup. Acting swiftly, Mikeli strikes at the powerful family behind the attack: the Verrakaien, magelords steeped in death and evil. Mikeli’s survival—and that of Tsaia—depend on the only Verrakai whose magery is not tainted with innocent blood. Two kings stand at a pivotal point in the history of their worlds. For dark forces are gathering against them, knit in a secret conspiracy more sinister and far more ancient than they can imagine.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (May 18th)

In hardcover:

RyNyx's Enigma debuts at number 3. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Onyx Storm is down one position, ending the week at number 6. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame is down five positions, ending this week at number 11. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

In paperback:

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses is up seven positions, ending the week at number 3. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Mist and Fury returns at number 4. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Wings and Ruin returns at number 5. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Silver Flames returns at number 6. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Frost and Starlight returns at number 7. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing is down three positions, ending the week at number 10. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Oath of Gold

As you know, I recently decided to give Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion a shot and I was surprised by how well the series has aged over the years. Many SFF fans consider this the ultimate paladin tale and I was curious to see how it would end.

Divided Allegiance was as compelling, if much darker, than Sheepfarmer's Daughter, and its ending made it impossible to wait long for the conclusion. Oath of Gold comes full circle for Pakse, though one of the major plotlines is so predictable that it does rob the finale of the impact the author meant to convey. Still, it caps off the trilogy with aplomb and definitely makes me want to read the sequels.

Here's the blurb:

Paksenarrion—Paks for short—was somebody special. Never could she have followed her father's orders and married the pig farmer down the road. Better a soldier's life than a pig farmer's wife, and so, though she knew that she could never go home again, Paks ran away to be a soldier. And so began an adventure destined to transform a simple Sheepfarmer's Daughter into a hero fit to be chosen by the gods.

Oath of Gold is the climactic final volume of the epic that Judith Tarr calls "the first work of high heroic fantasy I've seen that has taken the work of Tolkien, assimilated it totally and deeply and absolutely, and produced something altogether new and yet incontestably based on the master... [Moon's] military knowledge is impressive, her picture of life in a mercenary company most convincing. I'm deeply impressed."

As mentioned in my past reviews, Elizabeth Moon, a former member of the US Marine Corps, imbues her military fantasy stories with a realism that civilian authors probably seldom get right. Through Pakse's evolution from new recruit to a more seasoned trooper, and then as she studied and trained as a paladin-candidate, the author's firsthand knowledge was palpable and it added layers to the plot and its characters. This was even more evident in Moon's depiction of Pakse's post-traumatic stress disorder in Divided Allegiance. À la Robin Hobb and Jacqueline Carey, Moon made her protagonist go through the wringer and things got extremely bleak for the poor girl. Oath of Gold picks up right where the second installment ended, with Pakse experiencing such hopelessness after being such a gifted warrior. Those chapters focusing on Master Oakhallow helping her heal her mind and body were by far the best part of this final volume. Not only because it demonstrates that you cannot cure someone physically, mentally, and emotionally overnight, but because Moon shows a deft human touch in those scenes which packs a powerful punch.

Moon's worldbuilding continues to improve, this time focusing more on the North. Once again, we see more of the author's universe, mostly the kingdoms of Lyonya and Tsaia. We finally see more involvement on the part of the elves, which I really liked. As I said, only the lost king storyline is problematic for you see it coming from a mile away. Moreover, it doesn't help that Moon has been telegraphing it for a while. That being said, though it is predictable, its resolution is still interesting and sets the stage for the second series.

Some claim that Paksenarrion is somewhat of a Mary Sue character and that the plot can be a bit formulaic and linear, yet I disagree. Although at times it sure looks as though Pakse can do no wrong, her capture and torture during the quest to find Luap's stronghold, which left her a shell of her former self, put paid to that perception. From then on, it's obvious that Moon decided that Pake's character growth would be through physical, psychological, and emotional struggles. The same happens again in Oath of Gold when she willingly surrenders so that her companions might escape with their lives. As was the case with those gruesome scenes from Divided Allegiance, this is as grimdark as it gets. Hence, even if at times Paksenarrion might come off as Mary Sue-ish, there is a lot more depth to her than that. To be honest, given her plight and the odds stacked against her, it's well nigh impossible not to root for her. The supporting cast is made up of a disparate bunch of men and women who will all leave their mark on Pakse and help shape the woman she's destined to become.

Given its slow beginning, like its predecessor Oath of Gold suffers from pacing issues. Paksenarrion's healing takes time and it also takes a while for the lost king of Lyonya storyline to get going. Wolrdbuilding must needs take precedence over more exciting action sequences and battles, and about a third of the novel is necessary for the author to put all her pieces on the board. It wasn't a problem for me, as all the threads come together for an absorbing endgame. Once again, Elizabeth Moon's prose creates a vivid imagery, one that makes the story leap right off the page.

As I said before, anyone looking for a strong female lead and no romance will probably find a lot to like about this trilogy. Looking forward to reading the Paladin's Legacy series, even though Paksenarrion isn't the main character in that one.

The final verdict: 7.75/10

For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Ian Tregillis' Bitter Seeds, the opening volume in one of my favorite speculative fiction series of the new millennium, for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

It's 1939. The Nazis have supermen, the British have demons, and one perfectly normal man gets caught in between.

Raybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him.

When the Nazis start running missions with people who have unnatural abilities―a woman who can turn invisible, a man who can walk through walls, and the woman Marsh saw in Spain who can use her knowledge of the future to twist the present―Marsh is the man who has to face them. He rallies the secret warlocks of Britain to hold the impending invasion at bay. But magic always exacts a price. Eventually, the sacrifice necessary to defeat the enemy will be as terrible as outright loss would be.

Alan Furst meets Alan Moore in the opening of an epic of supernatural alternate history, Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis is a tale of a twentieth century like ours and also profoundly different.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars for only 1.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale.

Here's the blurb:

In his most ambitious project to date, award-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson utilizes years of research and cutting-edge science in the first of three novels that will chronicle the colonization of Mars.

For eons, sandstorms have swept the barren desolate landscape of the red planet. For centuries, Mars has beckoned to mankind to come and conquer its hostile climate. Now, in the year 2026, a group of one hundred colonists is about to fulfill that destiny.

John Boone, Maya Toitavna, Frank Chalmers, and Arkady Bogdanov lead a mission whose ultimate goal is the terraforming of Mars. For some, Mars will become a passion driving them to daring acts of courage and madness; for others it offers and opportunity to strip the planet of its riches. And for the genetic "alchemists, " Mars presents a chance to create a biomedical miracle, a breakthrough that could change all we know about life...and death.

The colonists place giant satellite mirrors in Martian orbit to reflect light to the planets surface. Black dust sprinkled on the polar caps will capture warmth and melt the ice. And massive tunnels, kilometers in depth, will be drilled into the Martian mantle to create stupendous vents of hot gases. Against this backdrop of epic upheaval, rivalries, loves, and friendships will form and fall to pieces--for there are those who will fight to the death to prevent Mars from ever being changed.

Brilliantly imagined, breathtaking in scope and ingenuity, Red Mars is an epic scientific saga, chronicling the next step in human evolution and creating a world in its entirety. Red Mars shows us a future, with both glory and tarnish, that awes with complexity and inspires with vision.