[Rob B]

Well, it is now 2005 and books are being released, like every other year. And like every other year-themed thread, this specific thread is for Fantasy books released Between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005 nothing else. This is one of the few threads we like to keep close to the title.

With that said, yesterday I finished The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston, due to be publised by EOS books in a couple of weeks. I really liked it, here's a snippet from my review (http://www.sffworld.com/brevoff/175.html):

In the Fourlands, a world on the brink of being overrun by hordes of large Insects, salvation falls to the shoulders of a winged drug addict. This is the opening premise of Steph Swainston's epic, nothing-is-quite-what-it seems fantasy novel, The Year of Our War....Swainston has crafted a truly participatory novel, The Year of Our War is something you immerse yourself in, it is not a novel that will give you the answers.

[Grawgos]

Just finished Chernagor Pirates by Dan Chernenko. The second book in the Scepter of Mercy trilogy. The mass market just came out this feb. so I think it fits this topic. I thought the book was pretty good. It didn't really advance the quest for the scepter that much. The book did however, delve pretty deep into the lives of all the characters letting the reader get to them know them alot more. The kingdom of Avornis has to deal with two enemy states in this installment. The Chernagors in the north and the pawns of the Banished one in the south. A new wizard, Pterocles, is introduced to replace Alca the witch. I really liked this character and how he developed. King Lanius is finally get some power and respect and I didn't find myself feeling as sorry for him as I did while reading the Bastard King. I thought the Bastard King was just a bit better than this one, but I really liked the book and I am looking forward to the final installment which should be out in feb/march 05. I think things are really going to heat up in the third book.

[Spears&Buckler]

I just finished The Warrior Prophet by R. Scott Bakker last night, and it's going to be tough for another 2005 release to top this one. I think Mr. Bakker's style is very unique, and although he writes "epic fantasy", this is in no way like the typical fat fantasies that are saturating the shelves today. He has turned epics on their heads and, for me, has redefined what a great epic should be.

[Grawgos]

Just finished The Scepter Returns by Dan Chernenko. It was just released this month. I totally lucked out with this series. Bought the bastard king in January, the mass market Chernagor pirates came out in feb and the Scepter Returns came out in March. No waiting. How cool is that? It was a great book and a great series. I kind of saw some of the things that were comming toward the end, but somethings came out of left field. I will definetely buy any book that he comes out with. Very good author.

[Rob B]

Over the weekend I finished and posted my review (http://www.sffworld.com/brevoff/179.html) of Lisa Tuttle's The Mysteries (http://www.sffworld.com/brevoff/179.html). I liked it quite a bit and would read more of her work. Here's a snippet from the review:
Vanishings, disappearances, missing people and the Sidhe, or fairy folk - these things comprise the backdrop for Lisa Tuttle's engrossing and magically fine novel, The Mysteries.
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This novel will probably draw comparisons to some recent novels touching upon similar themes. The first one, in my mind, is Neil Gaiman’s Neverhwhere.

[Rob B]

Finished and posted my *Official* review (http://www.sffworld.com/brevoff/180.html) of Mike Stackpole (http://www.stormwolf.com)'s latest A Secret Atlas (http://www.sffworld.com/brevoff/180.html), the first novel in his Age of Discovery trilogy, which I enjoyed very much. I' m really looking forward to the second installment, Cartomancy, due in the fall of this year. Here's a snippet from my review:
Atlases or maps of the fantastic world, are one item many readers enjoy seeing in their fantasy novels and in this novel, Stackpole uses the map as one of the primary devices to set events in motion. Qiro Anturasi, The Royal Cartographer, and his family, have provided the land of Nalenyr with accurate maps of the known world for many years. By knowing the trade routes to follow and the dangerous routes to avoid, the nation of Nalenyr has grown and prospered greatly into one of the world's greatest nations. The prince of Nalenyr, Cyron is seeking to unite the Nine Principalities (also the same number of gods in the Nalenyr pantheon) into a single unified nation. In order to do this, Cyron enlists the aid of Qiro's grandsons, Jorim and Keles, to go on separate paths of discovery to chart untraveled lands. Few have returned from the places Jorim and Keles are sent, including their father. Jorim is sent to the uncharted lands where their father was last seen traveling to. This is what sets the ball rolling, and as the novel progresses, pages turn faster and faster...

... I hope it wouldn’t be an insult to say the novel, while very good and entertaining, is not as great as works of writers like Tad Williams, George R. R. Martin, Greg Keyes and R. Scott Bakker, writers whom I (and a great deal of others) place at the very apex of Epic Fantasy, but Stackpole does deliver an entertaining story

[Nimea]

I have some books lying around here that were newly released but so far I only got to read one:

Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn

A group of six travels through the kingdom to look for trouble that seems to be brewing. They were sent by the King, two of them are of his personal guard, the Riders. The others are so-called Mystics - mages with different magical abilities. And the leader of the group, a woman called Senneth is probably the most powerful Mystic alive . . .
Thing is, the kingdom has twelve provinces, ruled by the Twelve Houses and in the southern Houses someone stirrs superstition and hatred against Mystics and one of the old godesses has regained lots of believers - but this godess is also against magic.
Looks like a civil war is brewing.

I always liked Sharon Shinn's novels and this is surely an entertaining book. It's also a bit different to her other novels because it is more like the "usual fantasy stuff" ;). But I can only rate it 3 out of 5 - which isn't too bad. Yet I thought her recent YA books (Safe-Keeper's Secret and Truth-Teller's Tale [which will be out this August]) were more interesting and better overall.

Not to forget that this is a "Novel of the Twelve Houses" which from the start lets you anticipate more books on that world. Yet also the ending leaves too much open and I am not sure if again the publisher left out the little detail that this is more of a trilgoy than not.
Since the group's travels come to an end - a little bit of a SPOILER ahead! - this book has kind of a closure but there are still new secrets hinted at in the end (about the King's wife) and the danger of civil war is not averted.


Okay, thinking about it, I did read another 2005 release: the already mentioned Truth-Teller's Tale by Sharon Shinn. For now all I say about this book can be found here (http://www.immerwelt.de/nimea/2005_02_01_archive.html#110762815559754123).

That's it so far. :)

[DragonReader]

"Blades of the Tiger" by Chris Pierson.

If you are a fan of Dragonlance I recommend this book. It is the first novel that takes place on the continent of Taladas and is quite good.

[Ntschotschi]

Carol Berg The Soul Weaver
It's the third book of the series "The Bridge of D'Arnath".
Carol Berg is one of the few authors you can buy without getting disappointed.
So it is with her latest installment.
It's not the hit she landed with some of her RaKirai books, but still far better than average.
I can recommend this book if you're like me bored by waiting for the follow ups of your favorite series and want good solid reading stuff in the meantime.

[Rob B]

Nobody else is reading books released from this year? Here's some of the books I've read from this year, haven't been keeping up with this topic myself.

The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases (http://www.sffworld.com/brevoff/188.html) edited by VanDerMeer & Roberts. Here's a review snippet:
The Lambshead Pocket Guide is one of the most interesting and unique pieces of fantastic fiction I have ever come across. The book has an air of bona fide medical integrity, and each disease sounds like something ill-reported from the 19th Century...should sit comfortably on the shelf of all practicing and would be doctors of the genre.


Wildwood Road (http://www.sffworld.com/brevoff/182.html) by Christopher Golden:
Christopher Golden paints a realistic picture of a normal couple thrust into an unfortunate encounter with a dark and supernatural force in his latest page-turner...would recommend it without reservation.

Last, and certainly not least, I read the first two GemQuest books (The Twins and The Awakening) by our own Gary Wassner. I've remarked before how I enjoyed these two novels and it is definitely worth mentioning again. Gary does a lot of things right, and what he does best is twofold - he respects the tradition of the genre while crafting something his own, with his own voice. Very Good Traditional Epic Fantasy.