More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now get your hands on Bradley P. Beaulieu's Twelve Kings in Sharakhai 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:

Sharakhai, the great city of the desert, center of commerce and culture, has been ruled from time immemorial by twelve kings — cruel, ruthless, powerful, and immortal. With their army of Silver Spears, their elite ompany of Blade Maidens and their holy defenders, the terrifying asirim, the Kings uphold their positions as undisputed, invincible lords of the desert. There is no hope of freedom for any under their rule.

Or so it seems, until Çeda, a brave young woman from the west end slums, defies the Kings’ laws by going outside on the holy night of Beht Zha’ir. What she learns that night sets her on a path that winds through both the terrible truths of the Kings’ mysterious history and the hidden riddles of her own heritage. Together, these secrets could finally break the iron grip of the Kings’ power…if the nigh-omnipotent Kings don’t find her first.

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001


This was an engrossing read from start to finish. Coll's well-researched book begins with the riot at the US embassy in Islamabad and ends just days prior to the 9/11 attacks. Perusing reviews before reading this one, I knew I'd want to throw this book across the room when I discovered just how inept the American government and its security agencies turned out to be over the years, none more so than the Clinton administration. It's fascinating to get the whole picture of what began in Afghanistan before and after the Soviet invasion and which led to the twin towers crashing down.

Ghost Wars is a must read for anyone interested in international politics and the rise of terrorism!

Here's the blurb:

The news-breaking book that has sent shockwaves through the Bush White House, Ghost Wars is the most accurate and revealing account yet of the CIA's secret involvement in al-Qaeda's evolution. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005.

Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll has spent years reporting from the Middle East, accessed previously classified government files and interviewed senior US officials and foreign spymasters. Here he gives the full inside story of the CIA's covert funding of an Islamic jihad against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, explores how this sowed the seeds of Bin Laden's rise, traces how he built his global network and brings to life the dramatic battles within the US government over national security. Above all, he lays bare American intelligence's continual failure to grasp the rising threat of terrorism in the years leading to 9/11 - and its devastating consequences.


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 Mark Lawrence's The Book That Wouldn't Burn 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:

A boy has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities.

A girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes.

The world has never even noticed them. That's about to change.

Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty, and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.


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 Kate Elliott's King's Dragon for only 1.99$ 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:

Set in an alternate Europe where bloody conflicts rage, the first book of the Crown of Stars epic fantasy series chronicles a world-shaking conflict for the survival of humanity.

It begins with civil war....

For though King Henry still holds the crown of Wendar, his reign has long been contested by his sister Sabella. There are many eager to flock to her banner, and there are ways to make even the most unwilling lord into a weapon pointed at the heart of Henry’s realm.

Torn by internal strife, Wendar also faces deadly raids from the north by an inhuman race, the Eika. And now terrifying portents are being seen; old ruins restored to life under the light of the full moon and peopled by the long-vanished Lost Ones; dark spirits walking the land in broad daylight.

And suddenly two innocents are about to be thrust into the middle of the conflict.

Liath, who has spent her early years fleeing from unknown enemies, is a young woman with the power to change the course of history if she can only learn to master her fear and seize what is rightfully hers.

While Alain, a young man who may find his future in a vision granted by the Lady of Battles, must first unravel the mystery of who he is—whether the bastard son of a noble father, the half-breed child of an elfin lord, the unwanted get of a whore, or the heir to a proud and ancient lineage. For only when he discovers the truth can he accept the destiny for which he was born.

Liath and Alain, each trapped in a personal struggle for survival, both helplessly being drawn into a far greater battle, a war in which sorcery not swords will determine the final outcome, and the land itself may be irrevocably reshaped by the forces unleashed....


You can also download Trudi Canavan's Thief's Magic, the first volume in a new fantasy series, for only 2.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

In a world where an industrial revolution is powered by magic, Tyen, a student of archaeology, unearths a sentient book called Vella. Once a young sorcerer-bookbinder, Vella was transformed into a useful tool by one of the greatest sorcerers of history. Since then she has been collecting information, including a vital clue to the disaster Tyen's world faces.

Elsewhere, in an land ruled by the priests, Rielle the dyer's daughter has been taught that to use magic is to steal from the Angels. Yet she knows she has a talent for it, and that there is a corrupter in the city willing to teach her how to use it -- should she dare to risk the Angels' wrath.

But not everything is as Tyen and Rielle have been raised to believe. Not the nature of magic, nor the laws of their lands -- and not even the people they trust.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (March 31st)

In hardcover:

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing maintains its position at number 2. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame maintains its position at number 3. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Damned debuts at number 4. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Danielle L. Jensen's A Fate Inked in Blood is up one spot, finishing the week at number 5. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Flame and Shadow is up one position, ending the week at number 8. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

In paperback:

Scarlett St. Clair's A Touch of Chaos debuts at number 1. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Silver Flames maintains its position at number 9. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Ali Hazelwood's Bride is down three positions, ending the week at number 11. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Tiger and the Wolf 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:

The first novel in the Echoes of the Fall series, The Tiger and the Wolf is an accomplished high fantasy by Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Arthur C. Clarke award-winning Children of Time.

In the bleak northern crown of the world, war is coming.

Maniye's father is the Wolf clan's chieftain, but she's an outcast. Her mother was queen of the Tiger and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan's animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She refuses to disown half her soul so escapes, rescuing a prisoner of the Wolf clan in the process. The killer Broken Axe is set on their trail, to drag them back for retribution.

The Wolf chieftan plots to rule the north and controlling his daughter is crucial to his schemes. However, other tribes also prepare for strife. Strangers from the far south appear too, seeking allies in their own conflict. It's a season for omens as priests foresee danger and a darkness falling across the land. Some say a great war is coming, overshadowing even Wolf ambitions. A time of testing and broken laws is near, but what spark will set the world ablaze?


You can also download Adrian Tchaikovsky's Empire of Black and Gold for only 3.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

Empire in Black and Gold is the first instalment in the critically-acclaimed fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

The days of peace are over . . .

The Lowlands’ city states have lived in peace for decades, hailed as bastions of civilization. Yet that peace is about to end. A distant empire has been conquering neighbours with highly trained soldiers and sophisticated combat techniques. And the city states are its desirable new prize.

Only the ageing Stenwold Maker – spymaster, artificer and statesman – foresees the threat, as the empires’ armies march ever closer. So it falls upon his shoulders to open the eyes of the cities’ leaders. He sees that war will sweep through their lands, destroying everything in its path.

But to warn his people, he must stay alive.


The Warm Hands of Ghosts


This was the first Katherine Arden work I've read. Nothing in The Bear and the Nightingale trilogy appealed to me, so I was happy to finally have the opportunity to sample one of her novels. Not sure what it was, but something in the press release and the cover blurb of The Warm Hands of Ghosts piqued my curiosity and made me want to read it.

I'm glad I elected to do so, for the author's atmospheric prose made for an interesting and touching reading experience.

Here's the blurb:

January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, Laura receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital, where she soon hears whispers about haunted trenches and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?

November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.

As shells rain down on Flanders and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.


The first World War serves as the backdrop for this story and Arden did an incredible job setting the tone for how all-encompassing the conflict was for everyone involved. There is a minutiae of historical details that allow readers to go back in time and relive one of mankind's darkest hour. That more than anything else is what made The Warm Hands of Ghosts such an interesting read. From the Halifax Explosion and its aftermath in Canada to the horrible day-to-day existence of living in and around the Passchendaele area and experiencing all the atrocities associated with waging a war of attrition, the author truly captured the mood and created an arresting imagery.

As the blurb implies, the tale is told from two perspectives. A decorated field nurse and honorable discharge, Laura returned home to Nova Scotia only to lose both her parents in the Halifax Explosion. As she tries as best she can to put her life back together, she receives word of her brother's death. The box sent from Flanders contains his personal effects, yet no telegram was sent ahead to inform the family of a soldier's death. Oddly enough, the box also contains both of Freddie's identity tags. The red one is usually sent home, but the green one stays with the body. As if this wasn't mysterious enough, ghosts tell her that her brother is alive and she must find him. Given how much she has suffered, it's impossible not to feel for Laura. Determined to uncover the truth, even though she's convinced that Freddie is dead, she journeys back to Belgium to investigate and discover what really happened. The second perspective is that of Freddie, who regains consciousness in the dark, trapped beneath a pillbox and terrified of dying alone. His relationship with the German soldier is moving and heartbreaking and I wish it could have lasted longer before they get separated. The bond forged between Freddie and Hans Winter will prove to be stronger than anyone expected. The supporting cast is made up of a few disparate characters that each leave their mark on the tale and without whom The Warm Hands of Ghosts would have been a much less memorable read. Pim Shaw, who sails to Europe with Laura following her son's death in the war, plays a major role in the resolution of this book. Faland, the peculiar fiddler who invites soldiers and gives them wine that makes them forget the savagery of the conflict, was an interesting addition to the tale, even if I felt that too much time was spent around him. He is important, no question, yet Freddie's time at the hotel was a bit overdone and hurt the momentum of the novel. Finally, Doctor Jones, a no-nonsense American physician, gave another dimension to Laura's storyline, one that I didn't realize she needed until it happened.

In terms of pace, The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a slow burn in every sense of the expression. This is not a problem per se, as it's obvious that the various storylines need to unfold slowly and gradually, or else lose the emotional impact Katherine Arden intended for them. Still, as mentioned, Faland and Freddie's plotline could have been shorter. In my opinion, it dragged more than a little, especially once we learn what the fiddler is truly after. Other than that, regardless of how slow-paced the book turned out to be, rhythm was never an issue for me.

No matter how bleak the war, the theme of sibling love, poignant and powerful, is at the heart of the tale that is The Warm Hands of Ghosts. So is hope. Though the story is dark and tragic for the most part, Arden reminds us that no matter how broken one's existence can become, love can somehow grow and flourish in the most horrible of circumstances.

Achingly beautiful, that's what The Warm Hands of Ghosts is.

The final verdict: 8/10

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

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Brent Weeks' The Black Prism 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:

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.

But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

The Pat's Fantasy Hotlist Facebook page


Hey guys,

You may have noticed that not much is going on on the Facebook page. About two weeks ago, my Facebook account was hacked. I followed the steps to secure my account, but since then I no longer have access to the control panel and the Pat's Fantasy Hotlist Business Suite. Long story short, I can no longer post anything there.

I've contacted Facebook three times these last couple of weeks, but I never got any response from their support team. Hence, the Hotlist's Facebook page is dead in the water and I may never again get access to its functions. The world won't be a poorer place without it, that goes without saying, yet over a thousand readers followed the page and used the links there to visit the blog.

So at least for the time being, you should visit the Hotlist directly and forget about its Facebook page to keep track of what I've been up to.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Stephen R. Donaldson's Daughter of Regals and Other Tales for only 5.99$ 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:

“Donaldson proves that he is as adept at the short story as he is at the novel" (Denver Rocky Mountain News), in this superb collection. The famous outtake from The Illearth War, “Gilden-Fire,” headlines eight tales of mystics and unicorns, angels and kings—all written with the dazzling style and imagination that have made Stephen R. Donaldson one of the top fantasists of the day.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Guy Gavriel Kay's amazing Tigana 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:

A masterful epic of magic, politics, war, and the power of love and hate — from the renowned author of The Fionavar Tapestry and Children of Earth and Sky.

Tigana is the magical story of a beleaguered land struggling to be free. It is the tale of a people so cursed by the black sorcery of a cruel despotic king that even the name of their once-beautiful homeland cannot be spoken or remembered...

But years after the devastation, a handful of courageous men and women embark upon a dangerous crusade to overthrow their conquerors and bring back to the dark world the brilliance of a long-lost name...Tigana.

Against the magnificently rendered background of a world both sensuous and barbaric, this sweeping epic of a passionate people pursuing their dream is breathtaking in its vision, changing forever the boundaries of fantasy fiction.



You can also download Guy Gavriel Kay's River of Stars for the same price here.

Here's the blurb:

Ren Daiyan was still just a boy when he took the lives of seven men while guarding an imperial magistrate of Kitai. That moment on a lonely road changed his life in entirely unexpected ways, sending him into the forests of Kitai among the outlaws. From there he emerges years later—and his life changes again, dramatically, as he moves toward the court and the emperor while war approaches Kitai from the north. Lin Shan is the daughter of a scholar, his beloved only child. Educated by him in ways young women never are, gifted as a songwriter and calligrapher, she finds herself living a life suspended between two worlds. Her intelligence captivates an emperor—and alienates women at court. But when her father’s life is endangered by the savage politics of the day, Shan must act in ways no woman ever has.

In an empire divided by bitter factions circling an exquisitely cultured emperor who loves his gardens and his art far more than the burdens of governing, dramatic events on the northern steppe alter the balance of power in the world, leading to events no one could have foretold, under the river of stars.


More inexpensive ebook goodies!



You can now download James S. A. Corey's Leviathan Wakes 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:

Welcome to the future. Humanity has colonized the solar system – Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond – but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for – and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer, Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations – and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe
.

Quote of the Day

The downward spiral following the Cold War’s end was no less steep in, say, Congo or Rwanda than it was in Afghanistan. Yet for Americans on the morning of September 11, it was Afghanistan’s storm that struck. A war they hardly knew and an enemy they had barely met crossed oceans never traversed by the German Luftwaffe or the Soviet Rocket Forces to claim several thousand civilian lives in two mainland cities. How had this happened…?

- STEVE COLL, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 11, 2001.

One of the most fascinating books I've ever had the chance to read. It's no wonder that the author won the Pulitzer prize for this well-researched work that covers CIA covert operations and US involvement in the Afghanistan conflict against the Soviets in 1979 all the way to what ultimately led to the events of 9/11. Deserves the highest possible recommendation!

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

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (March 24th)

In hardcover:

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing is up two positions, ending the week at number 2. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame is up two positions, ending the week at number 3. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Danielle L. Jensen's A Fate Inked in Blood is down three spots, finishing the week at number 6. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Flame and Shadow is down one position, ending the week at number 9. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Brandon Sanderson's The Sunlit Man debuts at number 12. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

In paperback:

Ali Hazelwood's Bride is down four positions, ending the week at number 8. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Silver Flames is is down four spots, finishing the week at number 9. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Miles Cameron's Cold Iron 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:

A young mage-in-training takes up the sword and is unwittingly pulled into a violent political upheaval, in the first book of this epic fantasy trilogy by Miles Cameron, author of The Red Knight.

Aranthur is a promising young mage. But the world is not safe and after a confrontation leaves him no choice but to display his skill with a blade, Aranthur is instructed to train under a renowned Master of Swords.

During his intensive training he begins to question the bloody life he's chosen. And while studying under the Master, he finds himself thrown into the middle of a political revolt that will impact everyone he's come to know.

To protect his friends, Arnathur will be forced to decide if he can truly follow the Master of Swords into a life of violence and cold-hearted commitment to the blade.

Indian Burial Ground


Other than the non-fiction works I've read these last few weeks, I haven't read a fantasy or science fiction novel that I've really enjoyed in many a month. In an attempt to switch gears, I decided to go for something different and Nick Medina's new horror book sounded intriguing. I was hoping that the change of scenery would do me good, but Indian Burial Ground turned out to be a major disappointment.

For some reason, I was never able to get into it. It's likely due to the fact that the cover blurb is quite misleading. It was Noemi's plight that piqued my curiosity and made me want to read this novel. But it turned out that her scenes are little more than interludes in the greater scheme of things. Indeed, about 75% of the tale revolves around Louie's backstory from the 80s and I never connected with his character the way I did with his niece. I wanted to quit early on but chose to persevere, hoping that something interesting would happen before the end. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Here's the blurb:

A man lunges in front of a car. An elderly woman silently drowns herself. A corpse sits up in its coffin and speaks. On this reservation, not all is what it seems, in this new spine-chilling mythological horror from the author of Sisters of the Lost Nation.

All Noemi Broussard wanted was a fresh start. With a new boyfriend who actually treats her right and a plan to move from the reservation she grew up on—just like her beloved Uncle Louie before her—things are finally looking up for Noemi. Until the news of her boyfriend’s apparent suicide brings her world crumbling down.

But the facts about Roddy’s death just don’t add up, and Noemi isn’t the only one who suspects that something menacing might be lurking within their tribal lands.

After over a decade away, Uncle Louie has returned to the reservation, bringing with him a past full of secrets, horror, and what might be the key to determining Roddy’s true cause of death. Together, Noemi and Louie set out to find answers...but as they get closer to the truth, Noemi begins to wonder whether it might be best for some secrets to remain buried.


My main gripe with Indian Burial Ground is that it's not really a horror novel. Perhaps growing up on Stephen King and Dean R. Koontz has inoculated me somewhat, but I found nothing really creepy, spooky, or scary about this story. Perusing reviews on Goodreads left me scratching my head, wondering if those people had read the same book I did. Spine-chilling? Give me a break. I never felt any kind of suspense or tension.

One of the main reasons I wanted to read this novel was because Nick Medina is an Indigenous author. Indian Burial Ground is imbued with Native American lore and culture, which is great. Medina's depiction of life on a reservation, with its lack of opportunities, its helplessness, its hopelessness, the substance abuse problems, the mental health issues, and the suicide rate, is extremely well-done. That was by far my favorite aspect of this book. How all these elements were woven with the folklore and legends to portray the lives of men and women who could live in reservations across the USA is brilliant. However, the horror elements, or lack thereof, are a bit uninspired and half-assed at times. And though the blurb implies that Louie and Noemi's search for answers makes up the bulk of the tale, the truth is that the better part of the book recounts Louie's past.

There are two POV protagonists in Indian Burial Ground. Naomi, whose perspective is set in the present and which begins with the news that her boyfriend apparently killed himself. Though she is in many ways a stereotypical Native American female who has fucked up her life in several different ways, now that things were looking up for her it's impossible not to care for her and be heart-broken by what she's going through. Louie's perspective takes us back to the 80s, to a time before the grand opening of the casino, when living conditions on the reservation were even harder. He's a seventeen-year-old boy fighting as best he can to keep his family together. In the throes of alcoholism, his mother is just of a shell of the woman she used to be. To make matters worse, his aunt is a single teen mother and leaves him to babysit her infant daughter, Noemi. Looking ahead, Louie's prospects don't look good. Given that his storyline makes up about 75% of the novel, Louie is a more well-defined character and you can't help but to feel for him. It's when the supposedly spooky stuff begins to happen that things sort of go downhill. Because this book is not about discovering Roddy’s true cause of death, which was what made me want to read the book in the first place. No, the book is about what happened to Louie and the rest of the reservation back in 1986 and what led him to leave it behind later on. The supporting cast, most of them clichéd to a certain extent, would have benefited from a bit more depth. Especially Jean-Luc, whose true purpose in this story I never quite grasped.

The pace is uneven throughout Indian Burial Ground. Which is not surprising given the disparity between the two timelines. Noemi's scenes are usually very short and do little to move the story forward, while Louie's sequences can be long and are at times a little overdone. Connections between the past and the present can be awkward and don't always manage to convey that the horrors visited upon the reservation in the past could be happening all over again. That more than anything else is probably why I could never get into this tale.

While the end of Louie's 1986 plotline was compelling, the ending of the novel itself felt a bit flat. Still, though Indian Burial Ground offers a bleak portrayal of life on a reservation, Nick Medina came up with an ending that provides hope for the protagonists and for Native Americans in general.

How this one could be labeled a horror novel, I'll never know. . .

The final verdict: 5.5/10

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

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Shannon Chakraborty's The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi 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:

Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman’s determined quest to seize a final chance at glory—and write her own legend.

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.


More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can get your hands on the digital edition of Swords & Dark Magic, an anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders, 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:

Elric . . . the Black Company . . . Majipoor. For years, these have been some of the names that have captured the hearts of generations of readers and embodied the sword and sorcery genre. And now some of the most beloved and bestselling fantasy writers working today deliver stunning all-new sword and sorcery stories in an anthology of small stakes but high action, grim humor mixed with gritty violence, fierce monsters and fabulous treasures, and, of course, swordplay. Don’t miss the adventure of the decade!

Featuring:

"Introduction: Check Your Dark Lord at the Door" - Lou Anders & Jonathan Strahan
"Goats of Glory" - Steven Erikson
"Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company" - Glen Cook
"Bloodsport" - Gene Wolfe
"The Singing Spear" - James Enge
"A Wizard of Wiscezan" - C.J. Cherryh
"A Rich Full Week" - K. J. Parker
"A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet" - Garth Nix
"Red Pearls: An Elric Story" - Michael Moorcock
"The Deification of Dal Bamore" - Tim Lebbon
"Dark Times at the Midnight Market" - Robert Silverberg
"The Undefiled" - Greg Keyes
"Hew the Tint Master" - Michael Shea
"In the Stacks" - Scott Lynch
"Two Lions, A Witch, and the War-Robe" - Tanith Lee
"The Sea Troll's Daughter" - Caitlin R Kiernan
"Thieves of Daring" - Bill Willingham
"The Fool Jobs" - Joe Abercrombie


More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Dan Simmons' Hugo award-winning classic, Hyperion, 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.

You can get the sequel, The Fall of Hyperion, for 5.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope--and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.


You can also download C. J. Cherryh's The Pride of Chanur for only 0.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

Chaos breaks out when the captain of an all-female alien crew agrees to rescue a human male wanted by their enemy . . .

No one at Meetpoint Station had ever seen a creature like the Outsider. Naked-hided, blunt toothed and blunt-fingered, Tully was the sole surviving member of his company of humans―a communicative, spacefaring species hitherto unknown―and he was a prisoner of his discoverers and captors―the sadistic, treacherous kif―until his escape onto the hani ship, The Pride of Chanur.

Little did he know when he threw himself upon the mercy of The Pride and her crew that he put the entire hani species in jeopardy and imperiled the peace of the Compact itself . . . for the information this fugitive held could be the ruin or glory of any of the species at Meetpoint Station.


This week's New York Times Bestsellers (March 17th)

In hardcover:

Danielle L. Jensen's A Fate Inked in Blood debuts at number 3. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing is down two positions, ending the week at number 4. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame is down two positions, ending the week at number 5. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Flame and Shadow is down four positions, ending the week at number 8. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

In paperback:

Ali Hazelwood's Bride maintains its positions at number 4. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Silver Flames is up one spot, finishing the week at number 5. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Earth and Blood is down two positions, ending the week at number 11. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Joel Shepherd's excellent Crossover, opening volume in the Cassandra Kresnov sequence, 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. Follow this link to read my review from 2006.

The following volumes are all priced at 3.99$ each, which is a bargain for such a good series! These are definitely books that deserve more attention! Give them a shot and you won't be disappointed! =)

Here's the blurb:

Crossover is the first novel in a series which follows the adventures of Cassandra Kresnov, an artificial person, or android, created by the League, one side of an interstellar war against the more powerful, conservative Federation. Cassandra is an experimental design — more intelligent, more creative, and far more dangerous than any that have preceded her. But with her intellect come questions, and a moral awakening. She deserts the League and heads incognito into the space of her former enemy, the Federation, in search of a new life.

Her chosen world is Callay, and its enormous, decadent capital metropolis of Tanusha, where the concerns of the war are literally and figuratively so many light years away. But the war between the League and the Federation was ideological as much as political, with much of that ideological dispute regarding the very existence of artificial sentience and the rules that govern its creation. Cassandra discovers that even in Tanusha, the powerful entities of this bloody conflict have wound their tentacles. Many in the League and the Federation have cause to want her dead, and Cassandra’s history, inevitably, catches up with her.

Cassandra finds herself at the mercy of a society whose values preclude her own right even to exist. But her presence in Tanusha reveals other fault lines, and when Federal agents attempt to assassinate the Callayan president, she finds herself thrust into the service of her former enemies, using her lethal skills to attempt to protect her former enemies from forces beyond their ability to control. As she struggles for her place and survival in a new world, Cassandra must forge new friendships with old enemies, while attempting to confront the most disturbing and deadly realities of her own existence.

Here are reviews for the other installments:

- Breakaway
- Killswitch
- 23 Years on Fire
- Operation Shield
- Originator

Hungry Ghosts


After reading both Dead Things and Broken Souls, I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into Stephen Blackmoore's Hungry Ghosts. Like its two predecessors, this third volume reads like the episodic early Dresden Files installments. Still, it looks as though we've reached the end of the first story arc of this paranormal and gritty noir murder mystery series. Time will tell what the author has in store for us in the subsequent books.

As was the case with the previous novels, expect blood and gore and a somewhat engaging protagonist, but not as endearing as Harry Dresden. Eric Carter continues to grow on the audience, but he remains a good-hearthed asshole with a knack for seeing everything he touches turn to shit. It's been fun for three books, no question, but I feel that it's time for the main protagonist to start getting his act together so that we don't lose interest.

Here's the blurb:

Necromancer Eric Carter’s problems keep getting bigger. Bad enough he’s the unwilling husband to the patron saint of death, Santa Muerte, but now her ex, the Aztec King of the dead, Mictlantecuhtli, has come back — and it turns out that Carter and he are swapping places. As Mictlantecuhtli breaks loose of his prison of jade, Carter is slowly turning to stone.

To make matters worse, both gods are trying to get Carter to assassinate the other. But only one of them can be telling him the truth and he can’t trust either one. Carter’s solution? Kill them both.

If he wants to get out of this situation with his soul intact, he’ll have to go to Mictlan, the Aztec land of the dead, and take down a couple of death gods while facing down the worst trials the place has to offer him: his own sins.


I've said it before and I'll probably say it again, what I hate the most about urban fantasy works is that the market demands that they be short and relatively fast-paced reads. As a result, the first couple of installments are always parsimonious on the worldbuilding front. So far, Blackmoore did a good job explaining how necromancy works and how Carter can use his powers. Sadly, very little has been said about how the magical world at large and the theology underpinning it actually work. In Hungry Ghosts, the author finally unveils many secrets pertaining to Aztec/Mexican mythology. Having such Mayan and Mexican cultural influences gives the Eric Carter books a somewhat unique flavor. Problem is, I'm not sure we know enough three books into this series to get any idea where the story is going. Then again, the same could be said of the Dresden Files at the same juncture.

Given his propensity to turn every bad situation into a worse one, Eric Carter is an easy protagonist to root for. Once more, he's a foul-mouthed smartass who gets beaten to a pulp way too many times in the span of such a short novel, but there is still something about him that makes you care for the poor fool. He acts like an idiot for the most part because he's trying to protect those he loves without realizing that he's alienating them in the process. He has been running from his past for a long time and now it's finally caught up to him. As mentioned, as entertaining as he is, I guess that the time has come for some character growth to help him become a more balanced individual. In Broken Souls, Gabriella made for a nice addition to the supporting cast, and fleshing out Tabitha was also an improvement. Hungry Ghosts mostly features Carter and Tabitha, and I have a feeling that a more diverse cast would have been beneficial. Gabriella truly helped make the previous novel more interesting.

In Dead Things and Broken Souls, Blackmoore captured the LA noir setting extremely well. Most of the action in this one occurs in Mexico and Mictlan, the Aztec land of the dead, so the vibe is totally different this time around. Having said that, the Aztec underworld and the island of dolls were pretty cool. Can Carter somehow find a way to kill both Santa Muerte, his wife and patron saint of death, and Mictlantecuhtli, her ex-husband and the Aztec king of the dead, before he turns to jade and is forced to spend eternity in that prison? But how can he kill a god, let alone two of them, without dying in the process?

As I said earlier, it appears that we have reached the end of the first act. If you are looking for a gritty urban fantasy series featuring a deeply flawed male lead, the Eric Carter books are definitely for you. There is potential for bigger and better things to come, and the ending of Hungry Ghosts certainly leaves the door open for a lot more. It remains to be seen whether or not Stephen Blackmoore can up his game and elevate this series to another level. Will the fourth volume raise the bar, or will it be more of the same? We will see. . .

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 Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary 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:

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.


You can also download Madeline Miller's Circe 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.

The Song of Achilles by the same author is 1.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world.



You can also download V. E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie Larue 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 the vein of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Life After Life, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab’s genre-defying tour de force.

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.


This week's New York Times Bestsellers (March 10th)

In hardcover:

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing maintains its position at number 2. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame maintains its position at number 3. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Flame and Shadow maintains its position at number 4. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

In paperback:

Ali Hazelwood's Bride is down two positions, ending the week at number 4. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Silver Flames is down one spot, finishing the week at number 6. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' House of Earth and Blood is down two positions, ending the week at number 9. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Cameron Johnston's The Maleficent Seven 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:

When you are all out of heroes, all that’s left are the villains.

Black Herran was a dread demonologist, and the most ruthless general in all Essoran. She assembled the six most fearsome warriors to captain her armies: a necromancer, a vampire lord, a demigod, an orcish warleader, a pirate queen, and a twisted alchemist. Together they brought the whole continent to its knees… Until the day she abandoned her army, on the eve of total victory.

40 years later, she must bring her former captains back together for one final stand, in the small town of Tarnbrooke – the last bastion against a fanatical new enemy tearing through the land, intent on finishing the job Black Herran started years before.

Seven bloodthirsty monsters. One town. Their last hope.


More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Bethany Jacobs' These Burning Stars 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:

WINNER OF THE 2024 PHILIP K. DICK AWARD

A dangerous cat-and-mouse quest for revenge. An empire that spans star systems, built on the bones of a genocide. A carefully hidden secret that could collapse worlds, hunted by three women with secrets of their own. All the while, someone hunts them in return. This is an explosive space opera debut from one of the most powerful new voices in science fiction.

On a dusty backwater planet, occasional thief Jun Ironway has gotten her hands on the score of a lifetime: a secret that could raze the Kindom, the ruling power of the galaxy.

A star system away, preternaturally stoic Chono and brilliant hothead Esek— the two most brutal clerics of the Kindom—are tasked with hunting Jun down.

And tracking all three across the stars is a ghost from their shared past known only as Six. But what Six wants is anyone’s guess. It’s a game of manipulation and betrayal that could destroy them all. And they have no choice but to see it through.


More inexpensive ebook goodies!


You can now download Fritz Leiber's The Adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Volume Two: Swords Against Wizardry, The Swords of Lankhmar, and Swords and Ice Magic for only 3.99$ by following this Amazon Associte 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 Hugo and Nebula Award–winning series of sword and sorcery—featuring two unorthodox heroes—from a Grand Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Long before George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones became a worldwide phenomenon, Fritz Leiber ruled the literary universe of sword and sorcery. This novel and two short story collections chronicle the adventures of Leiber’s endearing and groundbreaking antiheroes: the barbarian Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, a former wizard’s apprentice—in the series hailed as “one of the great works of fantasy in this century” (Publishers Weekly).

This is a must-read collection of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser short stories, featuring the Hugo Award–nominated novellas “Scylla’s Daughter” and “Stardock.”

Swords Against Wizardry: Bold Fafhrd and the sly Gray Mouser find adventure wherever they tread quick and lightly, whether it be in consulting a witch for advice, climbing Nehwon’s highest peak in search of riches, discovering that they may not actually be the greatest thieves in Lankhmar, or working both sides of a royal battle for the throne of Quarmall.

The Swords of Lankhmar: With a plague of rats teeming in Lankhmar, Fafhrd and the Mouser are hired by the city to guard a shipment of grain overseas. But when the duo returns, they discover the sentient vermin have taken over Lankhmar for themselves! And now it’s up to the barbarian and the thief to build a better rat trap.

Swords and Ice Magic: Fafhrd and Gray Mouser make their way by sword and stealth as they face death in many forms, earn the ire of gods whose names they rarely even speak in vain anymore, lazily drift on the Great Equatorial Current, and venture far into the icy wastes of the Rime Isle to confront a pair of deities and a pillaging fleet in this World Fantasy Award nominee.



You can also download S.A. Chakraborty's The Kingdom of Copper for only 4.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

S. A. Chakraborty continues the sweeping adventure begun in The City of Brass—"the best adult fantasy I’ve read since The Name of the Wind" (#1 New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir)—conjuring a world where djinn summon flames with the snap of a finger and waters run deep with old magic; where blood can be dangerous as any spell, and a clever con artist from Cairo will alter the fate of a kingdom.

Nahri’s life changed forever the moment she accidentally summoned Dara, a formidable, mysterious djinn, during one of her schemes. Whisked from her home in Cairo, she was thrust into the dazzling royal court of Daevabad—and quickly discovered she would need all her grifter instincts to survive there.

Now, with Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of a devastating battle, Nahri must forge a new path for herself. But even as she embraces her heritage and the power it holds, she knows she’s been trapped in a gilded cage, watched by a king who rules from the throne that once belonged to her family—and one misstep will doom her tribe.

Meanwhile, Ali has been exiled for daring to defy his father. Hunted by assassins, adrift on the unforgiving copper sands of his ancestral land, he is forced to rely on the frightening abilities the marid—the unpredictable water spirits—have gifted him. But in doing so, he threatens to unearth a terrible secret his family has long kept buried.

And as a new century approaches and the djinn gather within Daevabad's towering brass walls for celebrations, a threat brews unseen in the desolate north. It’s a force that would bring a storm of fire straight to the city’s gates . . . and one that seeks the aid of a warrior trapped between worlds, torn between a violent duty he can never escape and a peace he fears he will never deserve.