My Book Haul - February 2018

Yay, another post celebrating my haul physical copies of books.

To be honest, I am quite hard on cash at the moment due to my sudden transfer in my job. I am not getting my salary since December and using my backup money for life and all its necessities. Hopefully I will come to some kind of stability in March after getting another transfer to the capital (keeping my fingers crossed). For now, it seems I will have to live with only three purchases this month.

Once again, thanks to backpackbang.com and amazon for their services.

"The Founding (Gaunt's Ghosts #1-3)" by Dan Abnett from Black Library/ Games Workshop

The last warriors of a dead world, the Tanith First and Only follow their charismatic commander, ColonelCommissar Ibram Gaunt, through the deadly wars of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade in search of glory and honour – if they can survive their Chaostainted enemies and the contempt of their fellow Imperial Guard units.
Read it Because
If you've never experienced the start of Black Library's longestrunning Warhammer 40,000 series, now's your chance. And if you have, you can read them again, like revisiting old friends.

[ I have been meaning to check this out for so long. The 'Gaunt's Ghosts series' is applauded as one of the greatest of Warhammer 40k as well as one of the best writing by Dan Abnett. From the day I found out about this reissue I was in. I got the paperback edition though, cause you now I am kinda broke at the moment. ]

"Dragon Ball Super, Vol. 2" by Akira Toriyama (Story), Toyotaro (Illustrations) from Viz Media 

Goku’s adventure from the best-selling classic manga Dragon Ball continues in this new series written by Akira Toriyama himself!
Ever since Goku became Earth’s greatest hero and gathered the seven Dragon Balls to defeat the evil Boo, his life on Earth has grown a little dull. But new threats loom overhead, and Goku and his friends will have to defend the planet once again in this continuation of Akira Toriyama’s best-selling series, Dragon Ball!
The Universe 6 and 7 Invitational Fighting Tournament continues. Goku faces off against a guy who looks exactly like Freeza. Heck, the guy even has the same transformations and powers as Freeza! Will Goku and the warriors from Universe 7 be able to pull through and win the tournament and its prize—the Super Dragon Balls?!

[ This is kind of a given when you think about it. If I buy only one manga from now on it will be this. I have been a fan of 'Dragon Ball' since my childhood (I still remember those days watching each episode twice everyday on Toonami on Cartoon Network). These new stories featuring Goku and the gang brings back so many fond memories that I just can't think of not buying this series volume after volume. ]

"Javelin Rain (Reawakening Trilogy #2)" by Myke Cole from Ace 

The fast-paced, adrenaline-filled sequel to Gemini Cell, set in the same magical and militaristic world of the acclaimed Shadow Ops series.
Javelin: A code denoting the loss of a national security asset with strategic impact.
Rain: A code indicating a crisis of existential proportions.
Javelin Rain incidents must be resolved immediately, by any and all means necessary, no matter what the cost...
Being a US Navy SEAL was Jim Schweitzer’s life right up until the day he was killed. Now, his escape from the government who raised him from the dead has been coded "Javelin Rain." Schweitzer and his family are on the run from his former unit, the Gemini Cell, and while he may be immortal, his wife and son are not.
Jim must use all of his strength to keep his family safe, while convincing his wife he’s still the same man she once loved. Only what his former allies have planned to bring him down could mean disaster not only for Jim and his family, but for the entire nation...

[ If you know me you know I am a huge fan of 'Myke Cole' and his particular brand of military sci-fi/fantasy (check out my review of 'Control Point' and 'Fortress Frontier' to see how much I adore him). I already own the first and third book of his second series so it was high time to complete my collection of the trilogy. Now I just need to binge read these, I guess. ]

Promising Sci-fi, Horror, Mystery & Fantasy - October 2017

October seems to have lots of releases that seems to interest me. With 14 releases on this list this is by far the most promising month for Sci-fi & Fantasy books for 2017.

"Quarry's Climax (Quarry #14)" by Max Allan Collins by Hard Case Crime

From the award-winning author of ROAD TO PERDITION, the new QUARRY novel continues the deadly story of the assassin who stars in the acclaimed Cinemax original series.
Memphis, 1975. "Raunchy" doesn’t begin to describe Max Climer’s magazine, Climax, or his all-hours strip club, or his planned video empire. And evangelists, feminists, and local watchdog groups all want him out of business. But someone wants more than that, and has hired a killer to end Max’s career permanently. Only another hit man - the ruthless professional known as Quarry, star of the acclaimed series on Cinemax - can keep Climer from becoming a casualty in the Sexual Revolution.

[ The latest Quarry novel from Hard Case Crime, though I have read stuff from Max Allan Collins I have yet to get on the Quarry band-wagon. May be now is the right time. ]

"The Genius Plague" by David Walton from Pyr 

What if the pandemic you thought would kill you made you more intelligent instead? In the Amazon jungle, a disease is spreading. To those who survive, it grants enhanced communication, memory, and pattern recognition. But the miracle may be the sinister survival mechanism of a fungal organism, manipulating the infected into serving it.
Paul Johns, a mycologist, is convinced the fungal host is the next stage of human evolution, while his brother Neil, an analyst at the NSA, is committed to its destruction. Is the human race the master in this symbiotic relationship, or are we becoming the pawns of a subtly dominating and utterly alien intelligence?

[ A setting that interests me very much, hopefully the execution will be good too. ]

"The Core (Demon Cycle #5)" by Peter V. Brett from Del Rey

For time out of mind, bloodthirsty demons have stalked the night, culling the human race to scattered remnants dependent on half-forgotten magics to protect them. Then two heroes arose—men as close as brothers, yet divided by bitter betrayal. Arlen Bales became known as the Warded Man, tattooed head to toe with powerful magic symbols that enable him to fight demons in hand-to-hand combat—and emerge victorious. Jardir, armed with magically warded weapons, called himself the Deliverer, a figure prophesied to unite humanity and lead them to triumph in Sharak Ka—the final war against demonkind.
But in their efforts to bring the war to the demons, Arlen and Jardir have set something in motion that may prove the end of everything they hold dear—a Swarm. Now the war is at hand and humanity cannot hope to win it unless Arlen and Jardir, with the help of Arlen’s wife, Renna, can bend a captured demon prince to their will and force the devious creature to lead them to the Core, where the Mother of Demons breeds an inexhaustible army.
Trusting their closest confidantes, Leesha, Inevera, Ragen and Elissa, to rally the fractious people of the Free Cities and lead them against the Swarm, Arlen, Renna, and Jardir set out on a desperate quest into the darkest depths of evil—from which none of them expects to return alive.  

[ The final book in the 'Demon Cycle', now that its over I know its high time I read this acclaimed series. ]

"Blackwing (Raven's Mark #1) by Ed McDonald from Ace

Set on the ragged edge of a postapocalyptic frontier, Blackwing is a gritty fantasy debut about a man’s desperate battle to survive his own dark destiny…
Nothing in the Misery lasts…
Under a cracked and wailing sky, the Misery is a vast and blighted expanse, created when the Engine, the most powerful weapon in the world, was unleashed against the immortal Deep Kings. Across the wasteland, teeming with corrupted magic and malevolent wraiths, the Deep Kings and their armies are still watching—and still waiting.
Ryhalt Galharrow is no stranger to the Misery. The bounty hunter journeys to a remote outpost, armed for killing both men and monsters, and searching for a mysterious noblewoman. He finds himself in the middle of a shocking attack by the Deep Kings, one that should not be possible. Only a fearsome show of power from the very woman he is seeking saves him.
Once, long ago, he knew the woman well, and together they stumble onto a web of conspiracy that threatens to unmake everything they hold dear and end the fragile peace the Engine has provided. Galharrow is not ready for the truth about the blood he’s spilled and the gods he’s supposed to serve… 

[ One of the most talked about fantasy books of the year and one of the best debuts also. Should check out what the hype is all about. ]

"The Seven (Vagrant #3)" by Peter Newman from Harper Voyager

Years have passed since the Vagrant journeyed to the Shining City, Vesper in arm and Gamma’s sword in hand.
Since then the world has changed. Vesper, following the footsteps of her father, journeyed to the breach and closed the tear between worlds, protecting the last of humanity, but also trapping the infernal horde and all those that fell to its corruptions: willing or otherwise.
In this new age it is Vesper who leads the charge towards unity and peace, with seemingly nothing standing between the world and a bright new future.
That is until eyes open.
And The Seven awakes.

[ I read and reviewed the first in the series titled 'The Vagrant', hopefully the ending will be just as good. ]

"The Stone in the Skull (Lotus Kingdoms #1)" by Elizabeth Bear from Tor Books

The Stone in the Skull, the first volume in her new trilogy, takes readers over the dangerous mountain passes of the Steles of the Sky and south into the Lotus Kingdoms.
The Gage is a brass automaton created by a wizard of Messaline around the core of a human being. His wizard is long dead, and he works as a mercenary. He is carrying a message from a the most powerful sorcerer of Messaline to the Rajni of the Lotus Kingdom. With him is The Dead Man, a bitter survivor of the body guard of the deposed Uthman Caliphate, protecting the message and the Gage. They are friends, of a peculiar sort.
They are walking into a dynastic war between the rulers of the shattered bits of a once great Empire. 




[ Elizabeth Bear is an author that I have been interested in for a long time, may be this will finally be my entry point into her fictions. ]
  

"A Plague of Giants (Seven Kennings #1)' by Kevin Hearne from Del Rey/Orbit

In the start of a compelling new series, the New York Times bestselling author of The Iron Druid Chronicles creates an unforgettable fantasy world of warring giants and elemental magic.
In the city of Pelemyn, Fintan the bard takes to the stage to tell what really happened the night the giants came . . .
From the east came the Bone Giants, from the south, the fire-wielding Hathrim - an invasion that sparked war across the six nations of Teldwen. The kingdom's only hope is the discovery of a new form of magic that calls the world's wondrous beasts to fight by the side of humankind. 

[ New series by Kevin Hearne, and a new entry point as well I guess. ]

"The Two of Swords Vol. 1" by K.J. Parker from Orbit

The epic opening volume in The Two of Swords trilogy by World Fantasy Award-winning author K. J. Parker.
"Why are we fighting this war? Because evil must be resisted, and sooner or later there comes a time when men of principle have to make a stand. Because war is good for business and it's better to die on our feet than live on our knees. Because they started it. But at this stage in the proceedings," he added, with a slightly lop-sided grin, "mostly from force of habit."
A soldier with a gift for archery. A woman who kills without care. Two brothers, both unbeatable generals, now fighting for opposing armies. No-one in the vast and once glorious United Empire remains untouched by the rift between East and West, and the war has been fought for as long as anyone can remember. Some still survive who know how it was started, but no-one knows how it will end.
The Two of Swords is the story of a war on a grand scale, told through the eyes of its soldiers, politicians, victims and heroes. 

[ I have only read one novella by this author and loved it (My review), hopefully this epic will be even better. ]

"Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr" by John Crowley from Saga Press

From award-winning author John Crowley comes an exquisite fantasy novel about a man who tells the story of a crow named Dar Oakley and his impossible lives and deaths in the land of Ka.
A Crow alone is no Crow.
Dar Oakley—the first Crow in all of history with a name of his own—was born two thousand years ago. When a man learns his language, Dar finally gets the chance to tell his story. He begins his tale as a young man, and how he went down to the human underworld and got hold of the immortality meant for humans, long before Julius Caesar came into the Celtic lands; how he sailed West to America with the Irish monks searching for the Paradise of the Saints; and how he continuously went down into the land of the dead and returned. Through his adventures in Ka, the realm of Crows, and around the world, he found secrets that could change the humans’ entire way of life—and now may be the time to finally reveal them. 

[ A synopsis that seems to me like a promise of weird yet engaging vision, and a protagonist like none other, should be a blast to read. ]

"The Fall of Dragons (Traitor Son #5)" by Miles Cameron from Orbit

The blood-thirsty, epic Traitor Son Cycle comes to its gripping conclusion in this fifth and final book.
In the climax of the Traitor Son Cycle, the allied armies of the Wild and the Kingdoms of men and women must face Ash for control of the gates to the hermetical universe, and for control of their own destinies. But exhaustion, treachery and time may all prove deadlier enemies.
In Alba, Queen Desiderata struggles to rebuild her kingdom wrecked by a year of civil war, even as the Autumn battles are fought in the west. In the Terra Antica, The Red Knight attempts to force his unwilling allies to finish the Necromancer instead of each other.
But as the last battle nears, The Red Knight makes a horrifying discovery...all of this fighting may have happened before. 


[ I recently interviewed this author for fantasy-faction, this series seems like a somewhat authentic take on action in regards to fantasy setting. Now that its over I know I need to binge read this unique series. ] 

"Siege Line (Shadow Ops #6)" by Myke Cole from Ace

In Myke Cole's latest high-octane, action-packed military fantasy, the fate of undead Navy SEAL James Schweitzer will be decided--one way or another...
The Gemini Cell took everything from Jim Schweitzer: his family, his career as a Navy SEAL, even his life. Hounded across the country, Schweitzer knows the only way he can ever stop running, the only way his son can ever be safe, is to take the fight to the enemy and annihilate the Cell once and for all.
But the Cell won't be easily destroyed. Out of control and fighting a secret war with the government it once served, it has dispatched its shadowy Director to the far reaches of the subarctic in search of a secret magic that could tip the balance of power in its favor. Schweitzer must join with the elite warriors of both America and Canada in a desperate bid to get there first--and avert a disaster that could put the Cell in control.

[ Myke Cole is a master of military science-fiction, and I am sucker for his writing ( 1st review, 2nd review ), I already bought this one from amazon.com through backpackbang, hopefully this will be as good as the first series which I loved a lot. ] 

"Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix (The Horus Heresy: Primarchs #6)" by Joshua Reynolds from Black Library

The sixth title in The Horus Heresy: Primarchs series, focusing on Fulgrim, primarch of the Emperor's Children Legion.
Lord of Chemos and bearer of the Palatine Aquila, Fulgrim, primarch of the Emperor’s Children, is determined to take his rightful place in the Great Crusade, whatever the cost. A swordsman without equal, the Phoenician has long studied the art of war and grows impatient to put his skills, and those of his loyal followers, to a true test. Now, accompanied by only seven of his finest warriors, he seeks to bring a rebellious world into compliance, by any means necessary. But Fulgrim soon learns that no victory come without cost, and the greater the triumph, the greater the price one must pay... 



[ In my opinion 'Fulgrim' is one of the most interesting Primarch and this is a tale of his early days, I would love to read more about him anytime. ]

"The Last Hunt" by Robbie MacNiven from Black Library

When one of their recruiting worlds is threatened by a tyranid hive fleet, Joghaten Khan leads the White Scars to protect the planet from the rampaging aliens.
In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, the Imperium is protected by Space Marines, superhuman warriors who battle tirelessly to protect humanity from aliens and the dark powers of Chaos. The White Scars are an old and noble Chapter, their apparent wildness and savagery hiding a cultured and spiritual nature. When one of their recruiting worlds comes under threat from a splinter fleet of Hive Fleet Leviathan, Joghaten Khan leads the Fourth Company to protect the planet from the rampaging tyranids. But all is not as clear as it seems. The White Scars find their efforts hampered by mysterious enemies, though they also receive an offer of aid from a most unexpected quarter. Without help, their mission looks next to impossible, but are their newfound allies to be trusted? 

[ An action-packed entry in Warhammer 40k universe, count me interested. ]

"Ruinstorm (The Horus Heresy #46)" by David Annandale from Black Library

Imperium Secundus lies revealed as a heretical folly. Terra has not fallen, though it remains inaccessible. Sanguinius, Guilliman and the Lion El’Johnson, the primarchs of the Triumvirate, must reach Terra at all costs. They seek to defend the Emperor, and to atone for their sins. But the Ruinstorm, a galaxy-wide maelstrom of chaos, hides the Throneworld from the primarchs. Now the fleets of three Legions depart Macragge, and the primarchs will stop at nothing to overcome the Ruinstorm. Yet an insidious enemy watches their every move, and plots against the weaknesses of the errant sons of the Emperor. Each has his own inner storm, linkand each marches towards his own ruin. 




[ The latest entry into the 'Horus Heresy' series, and written by one of my favorite authors 'David Annandale', need I say more. ]