More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Tamsyn Muir's Harrow the Ninth for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

She answered the Emperor's call.

She arrived with her arts, her wits, and her only friend.

In victory, her world has turned to ash.

After rocking the cosmos with her deathly debut, Tamsyn Muir continues the story of the penumbral Ninth House in Harrow the Ninth, a mind-twisting puzzle box of mystery, murder, magic, and mayhem. Nothing is as it seems in the halls of the Emperor, and the fate of the galaxy rests on one woman's shoulders.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, last necromancer of the Ninth House, has been drafted by her Emperor to fight an unwinnable war. Side-by-side with a detested rival, Harrow must perfect her skills and become an angel of undeath — but her health is failing, her sword makes her nauseous, and even her mind is threatening to betray her.

Sealed in the gothic gloom of the Emperor's Mithraeum with three unfriendly teachers, hunted by the mad ghost of a murdered planet, Harrow must confront two unwelcome questions: is somebody trying to kill her? And if they succeeded, would the universe be better off?

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (November 23rd)

In paperback:

Stephen King's The Institute is up one position, ending the week at number 4 (trade paperback).

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (November 16th)

In hardcover:

V.E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is up one spot, finishing the week at number 5.

In paperback:

Stephen King's The Institute maintains its position at number 5 (trade paperback).

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is down one spot, finishing the week at number 9 (trade paperback).

Mini reviews

Sadly, due to depression I had no choice but to resign myself to the fact that I've fallen too far behind regarding my reviews. So much so that it became impossible for me to get back up to date.

So here are a few thoughts about each book.

- Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space 8.5/10:

Terrific space opera that sets the stage for so much more! Can't believe I waited this long to finally read it! Highly recommended!

- Jim Butcher's Skin Game 8.5/10:

Another great addition to the Dresden Files. A fine caper that opens the door for so much more.

- Jim Butcher's Peace Talks 8/10:

Everyone was super excited about this novel until they realized that it was just half of the book Butcher originally planned. Still good, but something's missing. Understandably.

- Stephen King's Misery 8/10:

Holy shit, a reread some 30 years later gave me a new appreciation for this one! Just an awesome and disturbing read!

- Jim Butcher's Battle Ground 7.5/10:

Biggest disappointment was realizing that we were not getting a second Dresden Files installment this year but the second half of Peace Talks. I hate the fact that urban fantasy demands shorter works, for had it been an epic fantasy title Peace Talks would have been published as a single novel. À la Memory of Light, the bulk of the book is one interminable battle that lasts for about 300 pages. There are some good stuff here and there and the ending is quite good, but it's mostly filler and very little killer.

- N. K. Jemisin's The City We Became 4/10:

Just awful. A veritable SJW manifesto. As bad as Goodkind's Faith of the Fallen, but at the other end of the socio-political spectrum. I had so high hopes for this book. . . Will not be reading the subsequent volumes.

- Margaret Atwood's The Testaments 8/10:

Not as bad as some make it out to be, and certainly not as good as others rave. The Booker prize??? Please! But it is a compelling and page-turning read, no question. Like the Breaking Bad movie, El Camino, my main gripe would have to be that this book brings very little to the dance. If anything, The Testaments is all about missed opportunities. The Handmaid's Tale raised so many questions, but its sequel answers none of them. I would have liked to know more about the colonies and life there, the wars with California and Texas, how Gilead is coping internationally, how they guard the vast border they share with Canada and why would everyone trying to escape would do it through New England instead of elsewhere. Yada yada yada.

Jeff Pearlman's Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL 8/10:

A gem of a book! Perfect for NFL fans!

Musical Interlude

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (November 9th)

In hardcover:

V.E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is down two spots, finishing the week at number 6.

In paperback:

Stephen King's The Institute is up one position, ending the week at number 5 (trade paperback).

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is up six spots, finishing the week at number 8 (trade paperback).

Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country is down five spots, finishing the week at number 10 (trade paperback).

Quote of the Day

"So persuasive. So compelling. So very . . . what's that word. . . charismatic. Loved as only politicians free from power--and therefore from disappointment--ever can be. He's brought a lot of people around to his way of seeing things. The Union side have no one in his class. All rather stodgy. But then it's difficult, isn't it, to make a passionate argument for what you already have? So boring. Whereas the delightful alternative? A bouquet of promises! A sackful of dreams! A glorious ship of fantasies, undamaged by collision with actually getting anything done."

- JOE ABERCROMBIE, The Trouble With Peace (Canada, USA, Europe)

Made me think of Joe Biden. . . ;-)

US cover art and blurb for Mark Lawrence's THE GIRL AND THE MOUNTAIN

The folks at Thatthornguy.com just unveiled Bastien Lecouffe Deharme's cover for Mark Lawrence's forthcoming The Girl and the Mountain. The novel will be published in April 2021.

Here's the blurb:

“On Abeth there is only the ice. And the Black Rock.

For generations the priests of the Black Rock have reached out from their mountain to steer the ice tribes’ fate. With their Hidden God, their magic and their iron, the priests’ rule has never been challenged.

But nobody has ever escaped the Pit of the Missing before.

Yaz has lost her friends and found her enemies. She has a mountain to climb and even if she can break the Hidden God’s power her dream of a green world lies impossibly far to the south across a vast emptiness of ice. Before the journey can even start she has to find out what happened to the ones she loves and save those that can be saved.

Abeth holds its secrets close, but the stars shine brighter for Yaz and she means to unlock the truth.”

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (November 5th)

In hardcover: 

V.E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is up one spot, finishing the week at number 4.

Terry Brooks' The Last Druid debuts at number 15.

In paperback:

Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country is up nine spots, finishing the week at number 5 (trade paperback).

Stephen King's The Institute is down three positions, ending the week at number 6 (trade paperback).

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is down three spots, finishing the week at number 14 (trade paperback).

New milestone

I've stopped keeping track of the Hotlist's traffic years ago because it no longer means as much as it used to.

Just discovered that there are new Google analytical tools that go back to January 2011, which was the year I elected to blog less. Understandably, cutting down on general coverage and interviews and giveaways meant less traffic.

And yet, though the years since then represent what is essentially Pat's Fantasy Hotlist's decline, so to speak, I was shocked to realize that the blog racked up 10.5M page views!!!

So thank you! =)

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind for only 1.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD!

DAY ONE: THE NAME OF THE WIND

My name is Kvothe.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.

So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature—the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man’s search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.