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You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Ken Liu's The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories 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:

A publishing event: Bestselling author Ken Liu selects his award-winning science fiction and fantasy tales for a groundbreaking collection—including a brand-new piece exclusive to this volume.

With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie. This mesmerizing collection features all of Ken’s award-winning and award-finalist stories, including: “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary” (Finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards), “Mono No Aware” (Hugo Award winner), “The Waves” (Nebula Award finalist), “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species” (Nebula and Sturgeon award finalists), “All the Flavors” (Nebula award finalist), “The Litigation Master and the Monkey King” (Nebula Award finalist), and the most awarded story in the genre’s history, “The Paper Menagerie” (The only story to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards).

A must-have for every science fiction and fantasy fan, this beautiful book is an anthology to savor.

Quote of the Day

What do we call a fearless man? His father’s voice. His father’s voice, offered from the certainty of childhood memories, for he did not think he would hear it again while he lived.

A hero? he had asked, shorn of certainty; it had been such an odd question.

In the shallows of dusk, in the time between the reign of the Lord of the Sun and the Lady, doubt and uncertainty could be voiced—but carefully. Even as a child, he had known that.

His father had shaken his head. He was not displeased with the answer; he had clearly expected it. But it was the wrong answer.

A corpse.

- MICHELLE WEST, Hunter's Redoutb

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

WTF!?!


Not sure what happened today, but the Hotlist garnered 69,895 page views!

That's more than three times the previous daily record!

Official Truth, 101 Proof


After loving Duff McKagan's biography, my brother suggested that I read Rex Brown's Official Truth: 101 Proof next. I was a huge Pantera fan back in the 90s, so when he lent me the book I knew I had to read it!

If you were a fan back in the day, you probably recall that Brown never had much to say during interviews. Turns out he has a LOT to say in this biography. I never would have thought that this guy was so full of himself, or that he would piss on a lot of people, especially his own drummer.

To hear him talk, it's almost as though Rex Brown was the best thing since sliced bread. Now, I'm no pro, but none of his basslines were ever memorable and I can't really name one song in which he truly shines. He's a far cry from Steve Harris from Iron Maiden or Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, and yet he seems to consider himself one of the very best bassists to ever walk this Earth.

One of the main problems with this biography is that it's not that insightful. I was hoping for more regarding Pantera's creative process for each album and the history of the band. But it was not to be. Moreover, several sections are poorly written and repetitive. The book was supposedly cowritten with Mark Eglinton, but it seems evident that certain chapters were done by Brown alone.

In the end, especially since we're only getting one side of the story, there's not a whole lot to like about this biography, even for long-time fans. It's okay, but nothing you should be rushing to read. RIP Dimebag.

Here's the blurb:

Few heavy metal acts survived the turmoil of the early 1990s music scene. Pantera was different. Instead of humoring the market, the band instead demanded that the audience come to them by releasing a series of fiercely uncompromising, platinum albums, including Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven—two #1 albums that, like Metallica’s And Justice for All, sold millions of copies despite minimal airplay.

Rex Brown’s memoir is the definitive account of life inside one of rock’s biggest bands, which succeeded against all odds but ultimately ended in tragedy when iconic lead guitarist Darrell 'Dimebag' Abbott was murdered mid-performance by a deranged fan.

This is a lucid account of the previously untold story behind one of the most influential bands in heavy metal history, written by the man best qualified to tell the truth about those incredible and often difficult years of fame and excess.


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

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You can get your hands on the digital edition of Joe Abercrombie's excellent Best Served Cold 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:

Springtime in Styria. And that means war.

There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, and behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.

War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular - a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.

Her allies include Styria's least reliable drunkard, Styria's most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that's all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started...

Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.

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You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Gene Wolfe's Shadow and Claw for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Assoiate 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 Book of the New Sun is unanimously acclaimed as Gene Wolfe's most remarkable work, hailed as "a masterpiece of science fantasy comparable in importance to the major works of Tolkien and Lewis" by Publishers Weekly, and "one of the most ambitious works of speculative fiction in the twentieth century" by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Shadow and Claw brings together the first two books of the tetralogy in one volume:

The Shadow of the Torturer is the tale of young Severian, an apprentice in the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession -- showing mercy toward his victim.

Ursula K. Le Guin said, "Magic stuff . . . a masterpiece . . . the best science fiction I've read in years!"

The Claw of the Conciliator continues the saga of Severian, banished from his home, as he undertakes a mythic quest to discover the awesome power of an ancient relic, and learn the truth about his hidden destiny.

"Arguably the finest piece of literature American science fiction has yet produced [is] the four-volume Book of the New Sun."--Chicago Sun-Times

"The Book of the New Sun establishes his preeminence, pure and simple. . . . The Book of the New Sun contains elements of Spenserian allegory, Swiftian satire, Dickensian social consciousness and Wagnerian mythology. Wolfe creates a truly alien social order that the reader comes to experience from within . . . once into it, there is no stopping."--The New York Times Book Review

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

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You can now download John Gwynne's The Shadow of the Gods 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 GREATEST SAGAS ARE WRITTEN IN BLOOD.

A century has passed since the gods fought and drove themselves to extinction. Now only their bones remain, promising great power to those brave enough to seek them out.

As whispers of war echo across the land of Vigrid, fate follows in the footsteps of three warriors: a huntress on a dangerous quest, a noblewoman pursuing battle fame, and a thrall seeking vengeance among the mercenaries known as the Bloodsworn.

All three will shape the fate of the world as it once more falls under the shadow of the gods.

Set in a brand-new, Norse-inspired world, and packed with myth, magic, and vengeance, The Shadow of the Gods begins an epic new fantasy saga from bestselling author John Gwynne.



You can also download V. E. Schwab's Vicious for only 2.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

V. E. Schwab's New York Times bestseller Vicious is a masterful tale of ambition, jealousy, desire, and superpowers.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn't automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.


Audible deal


If you're into audio books, Audible has a promotion that allows you to get the first three months of your membership for only 0.99$ per month.

Follow this link if you're interested.

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You can now download Kim Harrison's First Contact 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 wake of the solar eclipse, a portal between our world and a paranormal realm opens—and a scientist’s life will never be the same, in this thrilling serialized adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hollows.

Dr. Renee Caisson knows there are worse things than an attractive man in uniform drafting her into a secret government project—especially when Major Jackson makes it clear that he isn’t bothered by her questionable past. But when her labs come back with decidedly odd results, the Major is forced to come clean over who the government is actually studying. Renee is shocked to learn her subjects are demonic-looking beings who call themselves “Neighbors”—refugees from a dying world, who arrived during the nation-wide solar eclipse.

The Neighbors’ technology is unlike anything Renee’s ever encountered. At first, she dismisses an injury that inexplicably heals as “just one of those things”. And surely August, the most gregarious Neighbor, begins to speak English overnight because of the team linguist’s skills?

Not until August begins evolving in real time to withstand Earth’s brighter, dryer atmosphere does she admit that the Neighbors’ “tech” feels less like science and more like magic—the same magic that brought them here in the first place, and the same they’re trying to rekindle with a mysterious labyrinth in order to return home and save their world.

At least, that’s what August claims they came for…


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You can now download Robert Jackson Bennett's Foundryside 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:

In a city that runs on industrialized magic, a secret war will be fought to overwrite reality itself–the first in a dazzling new fantasy series from City of Stairs author Robert Jackson Bennett.

Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.

But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic–the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience–have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.

Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.

To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.


You can also download Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora for only 1.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game—or die trying.


You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Brent Weeks' The Way of Shadows for only 2.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

The first novel in the Night Angel trilogy, the breakneck epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Brent Weeks.

For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art--and he is the city's most accomplished artist.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly--and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins' world of dangerous politics and strange magics--and cultivate a flair for death.

Devour this blockbuster tale of assassination and magic by Brent Weeks, which has delighted readers all over the world--with over one million copies in print!

Quote of the Day

What you know can hurt you, but what you don’t know can hurt you a lot worse.

- BENEDICT JACKA, Fated

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

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You can now download William Gibson's Mona Lisa Overdrive 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:

William Gibson, author of the extraordinary multiaward-winning novel Neuromancer, has written his most brilliant and thrilling work to date . . .The Mona Lisa Overdrive.

Enter Gibson's unique world—lyric and mechanical, sensual and violent, sobering and exciting—where multinational corporations and high tech outlaws vie for power, traveling into the computer-generated universe known as cyberspace. Into this world comes Mona, a young girl with a murky past and an uncertain future whose life is on a collision course with internationally famous Sense/Net star Angie Mitchell. Since childhood, Angie has been able to tap into cyberspace without a computer. Now, from inside cyberspace, a kidnapping plot is masterminded by a phantom entity who has plans for Mona, Angie, and all humanity, plans that cannot be controlled . . . or even known. And behind the intrigue lurks the shadowy Yazuka, the powerful Japanese underworld, whose leaders ruthlessly manipulate people and events to suit their own purposes . . . or so they think.


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You can now download Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower 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:

Gods meddle in the fates of men, men play with the fates of gods, and a pretender must be cast down from the throne in this masterful first fantasy novel from Ann Leckie, New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards.

For centuries, the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by the god known as the Raven. He watches over his territory from atop a tower in the powerful port of Vastai. His will is enacted through the Raven's Lease, a human ruler chosen by the god himself. His magic is sustained via the blood sacrifice that every Lease must offer. And under the Raven's watch, the city flourishes.

But the power of the Raven is weakening. A usurper has claimed the throne. The kingdom's borders are tested by invaders who long for the prosperity that Vastai boasts. And they have made their own alliances with other gods.

It is into this unrest that the warrior Eolo--aide to Mawat, the true Lease--arrives. And in seeking to help Mawat reclaim his city, Eolo discovers that the Raven's Tower holds a secret. Its foundations conceal a dark history that has been waiting to reveal itself...and to set in motion a chain of events that could destroy Iraden forever.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (June 15th)

In hardcover:

Stephen King's Never Flinch debuts at number 1. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rachel Gillig's The Knight and the Moth is down one position, ending the week at number 3. 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 8. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

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

In paperback:

Rebecca Yarros' Iron Flame is down six positions, ending the week at number 7. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses is down three positions, ending the week at number 11. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing is down three positions, ending the week at number 11. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale returns at number 13. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

Margaret Atwood's The Testaments returns at number 14. For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.

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You can now get your hands on the digital edition of George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire 5-book omnibus 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:

For the first time, all five novels in the epic fantasy series that inspired HBO’s Game of Thrones are together in one eBook bundle. An immersive entertainment experience unlike any other, A Song of Ice and Fire has earned George R. R. Martin—dubbed “the American Tolkien” by Time magazine—international acclaim and millions of loyal readers. Now this bundle collects the entire monumental cycle in the most convenient format available:

A GAME OF THRONES
A CLASH OF KINGS
A STORM OF SWORDS
A FEAST FOR CROWS
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS


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You can now download Elizabeth Moon's Sheepfarmer's Daughter 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:

Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter may be the daughter of a humble sheep farmer in the far north end of the kingdom, but she dreams of so much more. After refusing her father’s orders to do the sensible thing and marry the pig farmer down the road, Paks, runs away to join a band of mercenaries, dreaming of daring deeds and military glory. But life in the army is different than she imagined, and her daydreams at first seem to be turning to nightmares. But Paks refuses to let her dreams die—and does her duty with honor and integrity. Her path is an arduous one, but it will transform her into a hero remembered in songs, chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.

The Compton Crook Award‑winning first novel from Nebula‑winning author Elizabeth Moon. The first in the Paksenarrion Trilogy—now with an all‑new introduction by the author.


Targeted: Beirut


Thoughtful and poignant, Jack Carr and James M. Scott's Targeted: Beirut is an excellent work of scholarship.

Well-researched, it goes without saying, but I loved how the book focuses on everyone involved, from the Marines to President Reagan. What also sets it apart is the fact that it humanizes the casualties and the survivors. Once again, this work shows how the USA, and the rest of the Western world for that matter, never quite understood the intricacies of Islam and the various factions that came into play in Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East during that period. The Reagan administration, beset by infighting among top cabinet members regarding the Lebanese issue, is yet another example of America's doomed ventures in the Middle East over the years.

A compelling read that shines some light on one of the darkest days in the history of the US Marine Corps.

Here's the blurb:

The first in a new “authoritative, shocking” (Brad Meltzer, #1 New York Times bestselling author) nonfiction series examining the devastating terrorist attacks that changed the course of history from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr and Pulitzer Prize finalist James M. Scott, beginning with the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut.

1983: the United States Marine Corps experiences its greatest single-day loss of life since the Battle of Iwo Jima when a truck packed with explosives crashes into their headquarters and barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. This horrifying terrorist attack, which killed 241 servicemen, continues to influence US foreign policy and haunts the Marine Corps to this day.

Now, the full story is revealed as never before by Jack Carr and historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist James M. Scott with this “definitive, behind-the-scenes account of a mission and a fight that changed America” (Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author). Based on comprehensive interviews with survivors, extensive military records, as well as personal letters, diaries, and photographs, this is “a masterwork of research and storytelling” (Peter Schweizer, #1 New York Times bestselling author).


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

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You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go for 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:

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, comes an unforgettable edge-of-your-seat mystery that is at once heartbreakingly tender and morally courageous about what it means to be human.

Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of people the world wants them to be. But, curiously, they are taught nothing of the outside world and are allowed little contact with it.

Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is.

Never Let Me Go breaks through the boundaries of the literary novel. It is a gripping mystery, a beautiful love story, and also a scathing critique of human arrogance and a moral examination of how we treat the vulnerable and different in our society. In exploring the themes of memory and the impact of the past, Ishiguro takes on the idea of a possible future to create his most moving and powerful book to date.



You can also download Hugh Howey's The Silo Series Collection: Wool, Shift, Dust, and Silo Stories 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 ever, The Silo Saga Omnibus brings together all of the work in Hugh Howey's ground-breaking, best-selling, acclaimed series, including the individual novels Wool, Shift, and Dust, as well as original essays by the author, and a bonus chapbook of short fiction, Silo Stories.

The remnants of humanity live underground in a vast silo. In this subterranean world, rules matter. Rules keep people alive. And no rule is more strictly enforced than to never speak of going outside. The punishment is exile and death.

When the sheriff of the silo commits the ultimate sin, the most unlikely of heroes takes his place. Juliette, a mechanic from the down deep, who never met a machine she couldn’t fix nor a rule she wouldn’t break.

What happens when a world built on rules is handed over to someone who sees no need for them? And what happens when a world broken to its core comes up against someone who won’t stop until things are set to right?

Their world is about to fall. What—and who—will rise?


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You can now download Alastair Reynolds' Aurora Rising 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:

Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a law enforcement officer with the Panoply. His beat is the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone, the teeming hub of a human interstellar empire spanning many worlds.

His current case: investigating a murderous attack against one of the habitats that leaves nine hundred people dead. But his investigation uncovers something far more serious than mass slaughter -- a covert plot by an enigmatic entity who seeks nothing less than total control of the Glitter Band.


Ilium


I received a review copy of this book from the folks at HarperCollins way back in 2005 before the release of its sequel, Olympos. That was the year I created the Hotlist! Not sure why it took me two decades to finally give it a shot. When the digital edition of Ilium went on sale a few weeks back, I realized that it was high time to read it.

Yes, I'm extremely late to this party and I have no excuse. I was afraid that maybe Ilium had not aged well, but it turned out to be a great ride!

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.

Dan Simmons' Ilium is epic science fiction at its best. Unlike a lot of hard scifi, this book is quite complex yet can be enjoyed by any SFF readers. Indeed, it's dense but still makes for compulsive reading. It's easy to understand why it was nominated for the Hugo Award for best novel.

A retelling of Homer's The Iliad as the Trojan War takes place on Mars and pseudo-gods get involved to influence one side or the other. The worldbuilding is quite impressive, the more so since we have to wait for the sequel for Simmons' universe to come fully realized. Ilium is a convoluted tale that echoes with depth. Beyond the war on Mars, back on Earth what's left of mankind have forgotten all about their past since the departure of the post-humans for the rings in the planet's orbit. Until a woman known as the Wandering Jew reveals the truth to a small group of people, setting them on a path that will have grave repercussions for what's left of their civilization. Meanwhile, bio-mechanical organisms known as Moravecs are sent on a secret mission to Mars to investigate what could be a threat for the entire solar system. It's a lot to take in, yes, but the author pulls it off in brilliant fashion.

The characterization is particularly well done. Thomas Hockenberry is probably the closest thing to a main character found in Ilium. It's through his perspective that we see the Trojan War unfold. A dead scholar rebuilt from his DNA, as a scholic he is tasked to report to the Muse on how the war waged on Mars compares to the conflict chronicled in Homer's poem. It's through him that we learn about the Gods and the conflict between the Achaeans and the Trojans. When Aphrodite approaches him to spy and kill another Goddess, the man knows that he's in over his head. When the proverbial shit hits the fan and he believes that he only has a few hours left to live, I loved that he spent what little time he had left to have sex with Helen of Troy, said to be the most beautiful woman in the world. I didn't expect the Moravecs to have such endearing personalities. But Mahnmut, aficionado of Shakespeare's sonnets, and Orphu is Io, a Proust enthusiast, make the most unlikely pair of likeable protagonists. It's the Earth's contingent that's the hardest to like, at least until Savi's arrival. From that point on, Harman, and especially Daeman, a frivolous womanizer, truly come together.

The pace can be slow at times, especially in the first half of the novel. There's a lot of groundwork to be laid out and Simmons is juggling a number of storylines simultaneously. And though every new answer raises its share of new questions, I feel that the author did a great job in weaving all those disparate threads into a cohesive whole. The rhythm picks up in the second portion of the book, and especially in that last 200 pages or so when the various plotlines converge. It does take a while for the overall story arc to start to make sense, but not once throughout Ilium does it feel like you're totally lost. You just need to buckle up and enjoy the ride.

The endgame raises the stakes even higher, which in turn raised my expectations for Olympos. Since this was always meant to be a duology, while it offers some resolution, the ending of Ilium just leaves the door open for what comes next in the second installment. The grand scale of this story looks like it's going to take on an even wider scope in the second volume. To all ends and pruposes, it looks as though Ilium is just the set-up for what will be an even more ambitious work of science fiction in the sequel. Can't wait to sink my teeth into that one!

Recommended.

The final verdict: 8.5/10

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

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You can now download Brandon Sanderson's The Lost Metal 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:

Return to #1 New York Times bestseller Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn world of Scadrial as its second era, which began with The Alloy of Law, comes to its earth-shattering conclusion in The Lost Metal.

For years, frontier lawman turned big-city senator Waxillium Ladrian has hunted the shadowy organization the Set—with his late uncle and his sister among their leaders—since they started kidnapping people with the power of Allomancy in their bloodlines. When Detective Marasi Colms and her partner Wayne find stockpiled weapons bound for the Outer City of Bilming, this opens a new lead. Conflict between Elendel and the Outer Cities only favors the Set, and their tendrils now reach to the Elendel Senate—whose corruption Wax and Steris have sought to expose—and Bilming is even more entangled.

After Wax discovers a new type of explosive that can unleash unprecedented destruction and realizes that the Set must already have it, an immortal kandra serving Scadrial’s god, Harmony, reveals that Bilming has fallen under the influence of another god: Trell, worshipped by the Set. And Trell isn’t the only factor at play from the larger Cosmere—Marasi is recruited by offworlders with strange abilities who claim their goal is to protect Scadrial...at any cost.

Wax must choose whether to set aside his rocky relationship with God and once again become the Sword that Harmony has groomed him to be. If no one steps forward to be the hero Scadrial needs, the planet and its millions of people will come to a sudden and calamitous ruin.