Release Week: Falling Kingdoms, Tears of Rain, Joel Rosenberg, and Dean Ing

Posted on 2012-12-12 at 16:01 by Sam

Posted in Release Week | Tagged falling kingdoms, joel rosenberg, mary robinette kowal, release week, tears in rain

Today's Audible.com Daily Deal: Neil Gaiman and Neil Gaiman Presents

Posted on 2012-12-07 at 16:40 by Sam

Audible.com has been offering Daily Deals this December, and today (Friday, Dec 7) brings a 50% off deal on a list of titles by Neil Gaiman and from Neil Gaiman Presents.

From Gaiman’s American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition (A Full Cast Production) to Anansi Boys, Good Omens to The Graveyard Book; to the “Presents” titles Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners (by Ellen Kushner), Light (by M. John Harrison), and my pick for best new novel of 2012, The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan.

The sale prices won’t last long (through today only) so:

Posted in regular | Tagged caitlin r kiernan, ellen kushner, neil gaiman, neil gaiman presents

Release Week: The Testament of Jessie Lamb, A Red Sun Also Rises, and Shadow and Bone

Posted on 2012-12-05 at 18:02 by Sam

The first release week in December brings an Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel, along with the latest from Mark Hodder and a much-anticipated young adult release, and, well, a few dozen more audiobooks, besides. The most missing audiobook this week for me is a debut novel, Ink, by Damien Walters Grintalis. (More on those after the avalanche of new audiobooks.)

The Testament of Jessie Lamb: A Novel By Jane Rogers, Narrated by Fiona Hardingham for Blackstone Audio -- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins. Published by Highland, Scotland-based Sandstone Press in early 2011 and finding wider release with a May 2012 release from Harper Perennial, winner for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize --

I've been waiting for this one a good while now: "A rogue virus that kills pregnant women has been let loose in the world, and nothing less than the survival of the human race is at stake. Some blame the scientists, others see the hand of God, and still others claim that humanity is reaping the punishment it deserves for years of arrogance and destructiveness. Jessie Lamb is an ordinary 16-year-old girl living in extraordinary times. As her world collapses, her idealism and courage drive her toward the ultimate act of heroism. Jessie wants her life to make a difference; but is she heroic, or is she, as her scientist father fears, impressionable, innocent, and incapable of understanding where her actions will lead?"

A Red Sun Also Rises By Mark Hodder, Narrated by Peter Batchelor for Audible Frontiers, concurrent with the print/ebook release from Pyr -- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins. Hodder is also the author of the acclaimed Steampunk Burton and Swinburne series, here brings a Victorian aesthetic to... an alien planet: "A tale of good and evil, where neither is what it seems! Aiden Fleischer, a bookish priest, finds himself transported to an alien world. With him is Miss Clarissa Stark, a crippled hunchback of exceptional ability, wronged by an aristocrat and cast out from society."

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Narrated by Lauren Fortgang for Audible, Inc. -- Series: Grisha, Book 1 -- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins. "Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee. Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha… and the secrets of her heart."

OUT TUESDAY:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged jane rogers, leigh bardugo, mark hodder, me and the devil, nick tosches, release week, shadow and bone, the testament of jessie lamb

Dave Reviews: The Company Man

Posted on 2012-12-05 at 07:25 by Dave

The Company Man, by Robert Jackson Bennett Read by Richard Poe, for Recorded Books Length: 16 hours, 4 minutes

There’s an argument these days that the “punk” in steampunk is really superfluous – that generally, the genre isn’t punk at all. It’s not attempting to rebel against anything. Instead, we get comfortable (often fun) stories dressed up in Victorian clothes. As Cherie Priest succinctly put it, “Steampunk is fun with hats.”

For those of us looking for steampunk with a little more edge and cynicism, steampunk that doesn’t just glorify the fashions or monarchies of the past, we have Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Company Man. Granted, it’s set a bit later than steampunk usually is, but its façade contains that shiny, retro golden age of science fiction — only with sensibilities and characters that would be at home in Gibson’s Neuromancer.

In the early 1900s, the city of Evesden, Washington  has almost become a small country. Thanks to the McNaughton Corporation, electrical cars zip across the street, airships line the sky, and World War I was averted (or at least, with little American casualties and involvement).  Of course, other world powers are eager to see what makes McNaughton’s inventions tick, and so company security agents are hired with the explicit purpose of keeping the company’s assets and investments secrets, at home and abroad. But when a trolley car pulls into the station filled with dead union workers, the tensions between the union and the company bosses becomes more fraught and dangerous than ever.

Cyril Hayes, the titular company man, hears voices in his head. He’s not quite telepathic, in that people’s minds are not an open book to him, but given the right proximity, he’s granted certain insights into their thoughts. As a result, he doesn’t like other people in general, and avoids crowds. Due to some sabotage, McNaughton assigns Samantha Fairbanks to keep Hayes off the booze and drugs that help him get by, and assist him in a number of investigations. As the mysteries pile up, we follow Hayes and Fairbanks through the slums of this supposedly golden city, down into the mysterious, vast tunnels that connect to underground factories, and possibly elsewhere, in a timely noir of corporations and the working man.

In the end, The Company Man really earned my admiration, which was difficult, because it took me a lot longer to get invested in the story and characters than I would’ve liked (at least 3 hours). Hayes is not the most sympathetic character (which is definitely not a crime in my book), but initially I didn’t find him all that interesting. That the mysteries he’s investigating at the beginning – a murder and possible union saboteurs – seemed to drag on without much tension probably didn’t help. But around the time the grisly trolley car is discovered, it became incredibly compelling. Bennett kept me guessing like a happy X-Files fan about who was conspiring with who, and even what the conspiracy was. Best of all, the revelation of what happened on that macabre trolley ride surprised me, and I found the humanity Bennett gave those events and characters, as well as the closing of the story, genuinely moving.

Richard Poe gives the book a solid, straightforward narration. There’s not a lot of theatrics here, and I think given the tone of the story, it works well. Though it’s took me a little while to get into, I think The Company Man is a book that’s going to linger with me for some time.

Posted in reviews | Tagged dave thompson, reviews, robert jackson bennett

Audible's editors pick the best audiobooks of the year (and a so-far rundown of The Lists)

Posted on 2012-12-04 at 19:18 by Sam

While I'm most eagerly awaiting Bob Reiss's picks over at The Guilded Earlobe, the first of the big year-end "best of the year" audiobooks lists is up, from Audible.com as a Best of 2012 featurette, collecting their editors' picks in quite a few categories, the top 10 Listener Favorites of the year, and additional picks from six editors. (Note: since the original post, I've added a few more run-downs of some best-of-the-year lists.)

First, those Listener Favorites, which included six (count 'em!) sf/f titles: The Hobbit, Cold Days: The Dresden Files, Book 14, Shadow of Night, Zombie Fallout 5: Alive in a Dead World, The Twelve: A Novel: The Passage Trilogy, Book 2, and Monster Hunter Legion: Monster Hunter, Book 4.

The Classics category included Dracula [Audible Edition] and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. (And another classic, The Handmaid's Tale, appears on the Fiction list.)

The new Completed Series category includes sf/f series with seven of its eight picks (the outsider is Lee Child's Jack Reacher series): The Lord of the Rings, Beautiful Creatures, Chronicles of Amber, The Morningstar Strain, Hush, Hush, Matched, and (perhaps a bit of a cheat, as the final book arrives early January) The Wheel of Time.

The Fantasy list is topped by Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness, and includes as runners-up: Monster Hunter Legion: Monster Hunter, Book 4, Nine Princes in Amber: The Chronicles of Amber, Book 1, Iron Gray Sea: Destroyermen, Book 7, and Gardens of the Moon: The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1.

Audible's Science Fiction list is topped by 14 by Peter Clines, and includes as runners-up: Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas, Zombie Fallout: Zombie Fallout, Book 1, Year Zero: A Novel, and Battle Station: Star Force, Book 5.

Chris' Editor Picks adds: "My vote for #1 is really a vote for Mark Hodder's Burton & Swinburne trilogy as a whole (it just happens that The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man was my favorite of the three). The action (and weirdness) never stopped, and while the steampunk time-travel saga was fantastic on its own, Gerard Doyle's narration took the series to the next level."

Jess' Editor Picks adds: Adam McOmber's "subtly dark and otherworldly debut" The White Forest.

And lastly Michael's Editor Picks adds some great overlooked picks: Theft of Swords: Riyria Revelations, Book 1 ("The first chapter of Theft of Swords features one of the cleverest, most grin-inducing introductions to its principal character I've ever read in Fantasy, and [the Riyria Revelations trilogy] keeps up the momentum throughout its 60+ hours"), adding "2012 also saw several clever genre mash-ups. The Last Policeman delivered a gripping hard-boiled detective story set against an apocalyptic backdrop. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel combined a secret society thriller with a dash of Sci Fi geekery."

OTHER LISTS:

Posted in regular

Dave Reviews: Dodger, by Terry Pratchett

Posted on 2012-11-30 at 17:11 by Dave

Dodger, by Terry Pratchett. Narrated by Stephen Briggs for Harper Audio Length: 10 hours, 30 minutes

Reviewed by Dave Thompson:

It starts with a brawl in the rain. When a young woman attempts to escape her captors, teenage Dodger pops up through a manhole and lays into them with a set of brass knuckles. Dodger finds the girl sanctuary with the help of journalist Charlie Dickens, then the two quickly begin an investigation to find out who the girl is, and what she’s trying to escape from. A rollicking adventure above and below the cobblestone streets of London ensues. And it’s a pure, simple, listening delight - the kind of book you don’t want to stop listening to.

This is not a retelling of Oliver Twist. Instead, Dodger himself becomes the inspiration for one of the characters in that novel, and for a lot more of Dickens’ work. (Spotting all the Dickensian Easter Eggs in this is great fun.) Without a doubt, though, this  is a love letter to Charlie Dickens, Henry Mayhew, and the working class of London.

The plot isn’t the most original or complicated, but it’s written and told expertly. Best of all: the characters are ones I want to hang out with over and over again. The relationship between Dodger and Charlie crackles - it’s just a joy to witness the respect and rapport and that builds between them. You can’t shake the feeling that Dodger himself, despite whatever blows life has landed him, is a good kid who is always trying to do his best for people. He’s no Oliver Twist. Like all good detectives, he’s a very proactive hero, one we can unequivocally root for. Charlie is a man who believes the world can be better than it is, and he’s found the best way to do that is by telling stories that may not always be factual, but that are rooted firmly in truth. Simplicity, the mysterious young woman Dodger and Charlie are trying to protect,  is not quite as simple as her name might appear. She’s not terribly complicated, but despite being the damsel in distress, she exerts a certain amount of agency over her circumstances.

Dodger is straight-up historical fiction. If there’s a speculative element to it, it’s so slight I can’t recall it. There’s also a certain retro flavor to it - not just in the Victorian London setting, but in the way Pratchett tells the tale. It’s very easy to imagine this as a Guy Ritchie film – in fact, I often found myself playing the theme song from Shaft! over and over in my imagination between listens. Despite taking place in the 1830s, Dodger has a distinct 70s vibe to it.

Terry Pratchett is an author I’ve had limited experience with. I’ve read one Discworld book, and listened to another, and while I enjoyed them, they didn’t wow me as they have many of my friends, though I did love Good Omens. After listening to Dodger, I’m really excited to explore more of Pratchett’s work. Discworld? Probably. But certainly his non-Discworld novels. And if those books are narrated by Stephen Briggs, all the better! Briggs gave a fantastic reading for this one, conveying the dry tone of the characters and Pratchett, and never losing the essence of fun that permeates the story.

All in all, it’s a delightfully fast-paced ride from beginning to end. And like any good roller coaster, as soon as it’s over, you’ll consider hopping back in line to do it all over again.

Note: Thanks to Harper Audio for providing me a copy of this to listen to.

Posted in reviews | Tagged dave thompson, dodger, harper-audio, reviews, terry pratchett

Release Week: The Rise of Ransom City, The Dresden Files, The Iron Druid Chronicles, and City of Dark Magic

Posted on 2012-11-28 at 14:49 by Sam

The last Tuesday in November brings new books in beloved series, as well as a Conan O'Brien-blurbed romp through a fantastical Prague. Still, it's another sequel which most catches my eye, and another sequel (Hannu Rajaniemi's The Fractal Prince) which I'm most disappointed to not see in audio this week.

That most-anticipated title for me this week is The Rise of Ransom City: The Half-Made World, Book 2 By Felix Gilman, Narrated by Ramon De Ocampo and Gregory Itzin for Audible Frontiers -- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins. Gliman's novelette "Lightbringers and Rainmakers" was published in October 2010 by Tor.com and was one of my favorite reads of that year, introducing the delightful character of Harry Ransom and (a bit) of Gilman's world of The Half-Made World. Harry Ransom made only a cameo appearance in the first novel, but here, right from the outset, it's the Harry Ransom show, and that's more than fine by me. The world of The Half-Made World is a kind of "weird west", a fusion of frontier adventure and fantasy, with Steampunk contraptions as well. As an aside, I discovered another "Whispersync for Voice" price quirk, which would get you the first audiobook in the series for $12.94, including the Kindle version, versus the member price of $17.46 or one credit for the audiobook alone. (See the bottom of the post for another of these "quirks".)

The first of those series continuations is Cold Days: The Dresden Files, Book 14 By Jim Butcher, Narrated by James Marsters for Penguin Audio -- Series: The Dresden Files, Book 14 -- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins. Marsters returns as the voice of Harry Dresden after a scheduling conflict kept him off the last book. Here: "After being murdered by a mystery assailant, navigating his way through the realm between life and death, and being brought back to the mortal world, Harry realizes that maybe death wasn’t all that bad - because he is no longer Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard. He is now Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. After Harry had no choice but to swear his fealty, Mab wasn’t about to let something as petty as death steal away the prize she had sought for so long. And now, her word is his command, no matter what she wants him to do, no matter where she wants him to go, and no matter who she wants him to kill."

The second of those series continuations is Trapped: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 5 By Kevin Hearne, Narrated by Luke Daniels for Random House Audio -- Series: Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 5 -- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins. "After twelve years of secret training, Atticus O’Sullivan is finally ready to bind his apprentice, Granuaile, to the earth and double the number of Druids in the world. But on the eve of the ritual, the world that thought he was dead abruptly discovers that he’s still alive, and they would much rather he return to the grave. Having no other choice, Atticus, his trusted Irish wolfhound, Oberon, and Granuaile travel to the base of Mount Olympus, where the Roman god Bacchus is anxious to take his sworn revenge—but he’ll have to get in line behind an ancient vampire, a band of dark elves, and an old god of mischief, who all seem to have KILL THE DRUID at the top of their to-do lists." Narrator Daniels' turn as Oberon -- the wolfhound, not the fairy king -- is a wonderful, smile-inducing pleasure.

Lastly above the "read more" link is a debut (well, kind of, as it is a new pseudonym for two writers), City of Dark Magic: A Novel By Magnus Flyte, Narrated by Natalie Gold for Penguin Audio -- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins. "Flyte" is a pseudonym for the writing duo of Meg Howrey and Christina Lynch, and that Conan O'Brien blurb? "This deliciously madcap novel has it all: murder in Prague, time travel, a misanthropic Beethoven, tantric sex, and a dwarf with attitude. I salute you, Magnus Flyte!"

ALSO OUT TUESDAY:

Posted in regular, Release Week | Tagged city of dark magic, cold days, dresden files, felix gilman, iron druid chronicles, james marsters, jim butcher, kevin hearne, luke daniels, magnus flyte, release week, the rise of ransom city

Release Week: Robert Jackson Bennett, Seanan McGuire, Joel Rosenberg, and A.A. Attanasio

Posted on 2012-11-21 at 16:27 by Sam

Two of 2012's most missing audiobooks and two backlist books from two of my favorite authors highlight the pre-Thanksgiving release week.

The Troupe By Robert Jackson Bennett, Narrated by Luis Moreno for Recorded Books -- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins -- Published in February in print and ebook by Orbit, it's been a leading contender for "most missing audiobook" all year for me, and leads off the Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2012 - SF/F/H list: "Best-selling author Robert Jackson Bennett has won widespread critical acclaim for his unique brand of darkly inventive fiction. In The Troupe, 16-year-old George Carole joins vaudeville in search of Heironomo Silenus, the man he believes to be his father. But what he discovers casts a dark pall over his world: Silenus' troupe hides a dangerous secret - one that invites death to all in its vicinity." I've been waiting for this since reading the first few sample chapters. Now to find the time...

Speaking of long-time members of the "most missing audiobooks of 2012" leaderboard, also out this week is Discount Armageddon: InCryptid, Book 1 By Seanan McGuire, Narrated by Emily Bauer for Audible Frontiers -- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins. Published in March by DAW, it starts a new series for McGuire, author of the October Daye series and (as Mira Grant) the Newsflesh series (Feed, Deadline, Countdown, and Blackout). Here: "Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night.... The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity - and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city...."

Even longer missing has been the work of Joel Rosenberg, the late author of the long-running Guardians of the Flame series -- the first book of which, The Sleeping Dragon, is set to be released in audio later this week. This week, it's another of his series which gets its start in audio with Ties of Blood and Silver: Thousand Worlds, Book 1, Narrated by Maxwell Glick for Audible Frontiers -- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins -- "Elwere - city of rainbows, where the fortunes of the planet Oroga are concentrated in the grasping hands of the privileged few. To David, stolen from Elwere as a baby and raised as a thief of the Lower City, it is a dream of paradise, a treasure trove to which he must find the key, no matter what the cost... And Eschteef - a schrift of the jewel-and-precious-metals schtann, twice the size of a human, more than twice as strong, with frightfully glowing eyes and rows of needle-sharp teeth. It, too, has a dream, a dream of which David has suddenly become the crucial focus. And once a schrift has chosen, nothing can change its path."

Similarly long-missing is the work of A. A. Attanasio, author of the Arthurian retelling series Arthor (The Dragon and the Unicorn, The Eagle and the Sword, ...) -- no sign of this in audio yet, however. Earlier this month saw the audio release of his 2006 standalone novel Killing with the Edge of the Moon and this week brings two books from his Radix series of eon-spanning sf, starting with Radix: The Radix Tetrad (Narrated by Sergei Burbank) and, after skipping the middle two books for now, The Last Legends of Earth: A Radix Tetrad Novel (Narrated by David Gilmore). First: "A young man's odyssey of self discovery in a world eerily alien, yet hauntingly familiar. Set 13 centuries in the future, A. A. Attanasio meticulously creates a brilliantly realized Earth, rich in detail and filled with beings brought to life with intense energy. In this strange and beautiful world, Sumner Kagan will change from an adolescent outcast to a warrior with god-like powers and in the process take us on an epic and transcendent journey." Then: "Seven billion years from now, long after the Sun has died and human life itself has become extinct, alien beings reincarnate humanity from our fossilized DNA drifting as debris in the void of deep space. We are reborn to serve as bait in a battle to the death between the Rimstalker, humankind's reanimator, and the zotl, horrific creatures who feed vampire-like on the suffering of intelligent lifeforms."

Posted in regular, Release Week | Tagged aa attanasio, joel rosenberg, robert jackson bennett, seanan mcguire, the troupe

A second look at Downpour

Posted on 2012-11-19 at 15:49 by Sam

A little over a month ago, I gave my first thoughts on Downpour, a new DRM-free multi-publisher audiobook service from Blackstone Audio. Still officially in “Beta”, I’ve had another month of buying, downloading, and listening, so it’s maybe time to give a bit of an update.

A new iOS app version released in late October solves an occasional issue with play position save, by far the biggest issue for me. And an Android app is also available now, though I haven’t been able to test it yet. (If Kobo wants to send me one of their Android tablets for evaluation…)

The website is more responsive — one of my complaints was that the site was sluggish, and this seems to have been alleviated somewhat.

The library of available titles continues to fill out, including two of my called-out missing titles, Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (Book 1 of The Broken Empire — book 2 had been available) and Rise of Empire by Michael J. Sullivan (Book 2 of Riyria Revelations — books 1 and 3 had been available). But there’s still some puzzling omissions, such as Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone, and Fantastic Imaginings edited by Stefan Rudnicki, both recently published by Blackstone Audio and available at Audible.com.

Amazon.com-owned Audible.com still remains the king of content, as the long lists of titles published by Audible.com, Audible Frontiers, (Amazon.com owned) Brilliance Audio, and additional imprints like Neil Gaiman Presents, won’t likely be available elsewhere any time soon. And other titles such as Macmillan Audio’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel, Harper Audio’s The Long Earth: A Novel, are at Audible.com and not Downpour. (Though Macmillan Audio’s production of Orson Scott Card’s The Lost Gate and Harper Audio’s production of Neal Stephenson’s Some Remarks are available at both. So perhaps other titles from Macmillan and Harper are coming.) No sign yet at Downpour of titles from Tantor Audio, which had fielded its own short-lived iOS app a year ago. And still no sign of Cory Doctorow’s audiobooks at Downpour, though as the site’s downloads are DRM-free I remain of the idea that it’s a matter of time. That would give Downpour some A-list titles that Audible.com doesn’t carry.

Posted in regular | Tagged downpour

Release Week: Red Country, Annotated Shannara, six from Christopher Priest, and Goblin Secrets

Posted on 2012-11-14 at 18:33 by Sam

In a packed week of exciting mid-week releases by Kameron Hurley (Rapture) and Walter Jon Williams (The Fourth Wall), it's Joe Abercrombie's Red Country which leads the way in new audio releases. However, all the news isn't great, as there is apparently no forthcoming audiobook for Cherie Priest's latest Clockwork Century novel, The Inexplicables.

Red Country by Joe Abercrombie, read by Steven Pacey for Hachette Audio -- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins -- The third standalone novel in the world of Abercrombie's First Law trilogy brings Pacey back as the voice of the series in the US. Apparently there were some pre-order SNAFUs at Audible (but why, people, why are you rating the audiobook with 1 star over the technical difficulty of a retailer?) but thanks to a review copy from Hachette I've already finished listening to the audiobook. I'm pleased as punch that Pacey's back, as much affection as I do have for Michael Page, it's hard to detach a great narration from the story, and for me Pacey is simply the voice of Abercrombie's epic fantasy world. Also back in this audio production is the softly eerie interstitial music from The First Law, chains rattling and all. And that's not all that's back: it shouldn't be a surprise or a spoiler at this point to say that "The Bloody Nine" is back, living as "Lamb", a farmer raising three stepchildren in the Near Country, manners so mild as to be repeatedly named a coward. (Though, as he reminds central viewpoint character Shy South, "Sometimes, a coward's what you need.") Also making his return (and this is in the second chapter, so I've no worries of treading into spoiler territory here) is one mercenary general Nikomo Cosca, seen through the eyes of the second central viewpoint character, Temple, the mercenary troup's lawyer. The Near Country is a bit of an analog with the early American midwest frontier, but the novel spends nearly all of its time heading into and stomping around the Far Country, land of wild plains (populated by Ghosts, analogs of Native American tribes) and now a full-on gold rush. Lamb and Shy South are thrust into the Far Country after Shy's younger sister and brother are kidnapped by persons unknown, for reasons unknown, headed to parts unknown. Shy plays quite the part of Mattie Ross from Charles Portis' True Grit, a no-nonsense haggler who gets what she wants, but Shy's past is certainly much darker. Into the tale is woven additional characters new and old, from The First Law trilogy as well as from Best Served Cold and The Heroes, along with a Daniel Boone analog in guide Dab Sweet, frontier Wild West towns, and even brushing up against the mythos of The Maker himself. It's a well-handled large ensemble cast, and while we dip into other points of view here and there, mainly this is the Shy South and Temple show, and that's ok by me. The story's much more focused and linear than the multi-setting tapestry of The First Law, giving us many chances to observe Lamb from the outside rather than the inside. We get a few choice catch phrases about having to be realistic, and "say one thing, say he's a..." makes its familiar and comforting call and response. It's a hard ending for me to fully like, as I surely had an argument in my head as to how it could have ended just a bit differently, but not so much that I didn't immediately add the book to my own year's best list somewhere. Only one plot thread seemed to me to be left dangling ever so slightly, but it wasn't a central one by any means. But! But... The downside to producing brilliant work is that additional, escalating brilliance is the expectation. Abercrombie's latest, a thoroughly enjoyable and compelling read, is my favorite of his standalone books, and right in the mix with The First Law trilogy. But there's not too much truly surprising and new, the bar isn't raised, and the stakes are high personally, but not epic in scope, except almost tangentially. Abercrombie and Pacey reach the bar they set together with The First Law, but they don't surpass it. It's high praise, and genuine, but I also hold out hope that Abercrombie can do even better, dare to create more unexpectedly and boldly. Two final notes on the narration: continuity of voice across The First Law and Red Country is fantastic, to the point that I could recognize recurring characters before the prose more properly introduced them, and that's a fantastic thing. But, I thought the narration was a notch too slow, and so I hope Pacey's, er, pace, gets the tiniest boost if Abercrombie returns to the world of The First Law. Which I hope he does.

The Annotated Sword of Shannara: 35th Anniversary Edition By Terry Brooks, Narrated by Scott Brick for Random House Audio -- Length: 27 hrs and 34 mins -- about an hour and a half longer than the non-annotated version The Sword of Shannara: The Shannara Series, Book 1, which in the simultaneously released hardcover format includes a new introduction by the author, annotations, and (not translatable to the audio format) the Brothers Hildebrandt illustrations. In the print book, the annotations are in the outside margins -- reminiscent of the Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles by Weis and Hickman some years ago. I've no idea how these are handled in audio (or ebook for that matter), but something's adding an hour and a half to the audio, and it isn't just the introduction.

Audible Ltd has spent the first half of November publishing the novels of Christopher Priest, adding six books in all. Most interesting to me are 1. his linked story collection The Dream Archipelago (read by Michael Maloney), "In a world at war, the Dream Archipelago is a neutral zone, and therefore an alluring prospect to the young men on both sides of the conflict. In this interlinked collection of short stories and novellas, Christopher Priest explores war, relationships and forms of reality. Each tale is a truimph of quiet, steady craftsmanship, a model of ingenious design and subtle implication, and as a group they further enrich each other by interlocking cleverly, symmetrically and sometimes sinisterly." And 2. the 1974 BSFA winner Inverted World (read by Steven Cree), "A uniquely powerful novel of a society in decay. On a planet whose very nature is a mystery a massive decrepit city is pulled along a massive railway track, laying the line down before it as it progresses into the wilderness.The society within toils under an oppressive regime, its structures always on the point of collapse, the lives of its individuals lived in misery. No one knows where they are going, why they are going or what they will find when they get there." Other Priest audiobooks new this month include: The Space Machine and The Glamour (Narrated by Barnaby Edwards), A Dream of Wessex (Narrated by Caroline Lennon), and The Extremes (Narrated by Stephanie Cannon). While there's sadly no sign yet of his most recent novel, the John W. Campbell Award-winning The Islanders, for the many fans of Priest's The Prestige looking for more of his works in audio, certainly, here is quite a list.

OUT TUESDAY:

Posted in regular, Release Week | Tagged cherie priest, christopher priest, goblin secrets, joe abercrombie, kameron hurley, red country, shannara, terry brooks, walter jon williams