Name the last three books you have read...

[Ol'Skool Classic]

I didn't figure it's take you long to get around to the second one. I liked that connection and finding out who Emmett was as well. I'm looking forward to whatever happens next, but I haven't taken the time to see when/if part three is in the works yet.

I don't think that info has been put out as of yet. Belcher has quite a few other book irons in the fire. The Golgotha series, Nightwise series, The Brotherhood series and this new Queen's Road book, which if all these other books are any indication will also morph into a series, it's roll of the dice what's coming out next.

 

[Tamstrong]

I don't think that info has been put out as of yet. Belcher has quite a few other book irons in the fire. The Golgotha series, Nightwise series, The Brotherhood series and this new Queen's Road book, which if all these other books are any indication will also morph into a series, it's roll of the dice what's coming out next.

He definitely stays busy. I'll probably be checking out the Nightwise series sometime in the near future. From what I've read so far, my favorite series is Golgotha.

 

[Ol'Skool Classic]

He definitely stays busy. I'll probably be checking out the Nightwise series sometime in the near future. From what I've read so far, my favorite series is Golgotha.

I'm in the middle of reading the Night Dahlia right now. I like all of them that I've read thus far. Yeah, Golgotha is the best (probably because it's got four books of character & world building under it's belt) with the Brotherhood in second.

 

[Tamstrong]

I'm in the middle of reading the Night Dahlia right now. I like all of them that I've read thus far. Yeah, Golgotha is the best (probably because it's got four books of character & world building under it's belt) with the Brotherhood in second.

I've bought the Nightwise books and will probably be reading them soon myself. Right now I'm reading Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon since I'd never gotten around to it. As for Golgotha, I was hooked from the get go. lol

 

[Ol'Skool Classic]

Lieutenant James Shelley, who has an uncanny knack for premeditating danger, leads a squad of advanced US Army military tasked with enforcing the peace around a conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. The squad members are linked wirelessly 24/7 to themselves and a central intelligence that guides them via drone relay--and unbeknownst to Shelley and his team, they are being recorded for a reality TV show.

When an airstrike almost destroys their outpost, a plot begins to unravel that's worthy of Crichton and Clancy's best. The conflict soon involves rogue defense contractors, corrupt US politicians, and homegrown terrorists who possess nuclear bombs. Soon Shelley must accept that the helpful warnings in his head could be AI. But what is the cost of serving its agenda?

Interesting characters & concept but the story execution came across in a tepid way. There are 2 more books in "The Red" Trilogy but sadly I won't be checking them out due to this book's failure to completely hook me into the series.

Two thumbs & two big toes up for this. Looking forward to the next installment of the series.

Laytham Ballard once protected humanity as part of the Nightwise, a secret order of modern-day mages dedicating to holding hellish supernatural forces at bay, but that was before a string of sadistic ritual murders shook everything he believed in—and sent him down a much darker path. One that has already cost him most of his soul, as well as everything he once held dear.

Now a powerful faerie mob boss has hired Ballard to find his lost-lost daughter, who went missing several years ago. The long-cold trail leads him across the globe, from the luxurious playgrounds of the rich and famous to the seedy occult underbelly of Los Angeles, where creatures of myth and legend mingle with street gangs and sex clubs, and where Ballard finds his own guilty past waiting for him around every shadowy corner. To find Caern Ankou, he will have to confront old enemies, former friends and allies, and a grisly cold case that has haunted him for years.

But is Caern still alive? And, perhaps more importantly, does she even want to be found?

Set in the same universe as his Brotherhood of the Wheel series, this series shows yet another side of the secret & dark supernatural world that exists alongside our own. The first 3/4 of the novel I was wondering if Belcher had mistitled the first book & this one, as the actual Nightwise society that protagonist Laytham Ballard was once a part of plays a role in this story (revealing some of his history & backstory with the group that was glossed over in the first novel) but by the end I realized what Belcher may be planning on doing with the character & the Nightwise as the series progresses.


Bonus Novella Read:







Ray Lilly has been summoned to the headquarters of the Twenty Palace Society to answer one question: How has he managed to survive mission after mission fighting alongside his boss, Annalise? He doesn't have the power of a full peer of the society. He's a wooden man. An assistant. A diversion. The other peers want to know what's going on, so it's off to Europe for a trip to the First Palace. And no place in the world is safer than inside the headquarters of the Twenty Palace Society, right?

Right?

Author Harry Connolly finally succeeded in doing in a 64 page novella story what he failed to do in 3 full length Twenty Palaces novels & a prequel novel : actually fully explain the who & what of the Twenty Palaces society. If he had done this in the first official novel of the series, it probably would have succeeded as an ongoing series. If he finally decides to continue the series going forward it will definitely have staying power this go around compared to the last.

 

[Tamstrong]

After watching his asthmatic daughter suffer in the foul city air, Theodore Constantine decides to get back to the land. When he and his wife search New England for the perfect nineteenth-century home, they find no township more charming, no countryside more idyllic than the farming village of Cornwall Coombe. Here they begin a new life: simple, pure, close to nature—and ultimately more terrifying than Manhattan’s darkest alley.

When the Constantines win the friendship of the town matriarch, the mysterious Widow Fortune, they are invited to join the ancient festival of Harvest Home, a ceremony whose quaintness disguises dark intentions. In this bucolic hamlet, where bootleggers work by moonlight and all of the villagers seem to share the same last name, the past is more present than outsiders can fathom—and something far more sinister than the annual harvest is about to rise out of the earth.

Credited as the inspiration for Stephen King’s Children of the Corn, Thomas Tryon’s chilling novel was ahead of its time when first published, and continues to provoke abject terror in readers.

I liked this one, but the pace was too slow at times and had me wanting the author to get to the damn point already. lol The story was creepy and weird, both great qualities in a book, and it pulls you in. I like when you find yourself predicting (or trying to predict) what's coming when the pieces start falling in place. You start finding out how accurate the predictions/answers were and what kind of twists you did or didn't see coming. I can definitely see how this story was strong inspiration for S.K.'s Children of the Corn.

Levi Phillips is a warlock living in the woods of rural Ohio. With his apprentice, Matthew, Levi operates one of the most ferocious covens in the world, known as The Black Fang. Managing the coven like an international corporation, Levi controls its enormous wealth while running a moonshine operation as a front. But when a plot to assassinate Levi is exposed, the warlock decides it's time to destroy The Black Fang and the destruction could create a new beginning.

The Black Fang Betrayal features today's best horror, dark fantasy and thriller writers collaborating on a unique and fascinating novel. Armed with nothing but a prompt and a character name, each author became a warlock of The Black Fang and wrote a first-person account as a member of the coven. Using themes and sequences woven throughout the complete narrative, a cohesive page-turner emerges.

For a 10 author collaboration for one book, this one was pretty solid. The ending was a bit on the weaker side for me, but overall it was good. I enjoyed seeing the different authors' approaches to their characters and part of the story. Some of the authors I knew and some I didn't. There were also some interesting short stories at the end of the book; the first of them was especially good to me.

“Once, in a kingdom called Delain, there was a king with two sons….”

Thus begins one of the most unique tales that master storyteller Stephen King has ever written—a sprawling fantasy of dark magic and the struggle for absolute power that utterly transforms the destinies of two brothers born into royalty. Through this enthralling masterpiece of mythical adventure, intrigue, and terror, you will thrill to this unforgettable narrative filled with relentless, wicked enchantment, and the most terrible of secrets….

This is another Stephen King book I hadn't gotten around to reading yet, and I wish I'd read it a long time ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Tamstrong]

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

Excellent read.

Toby’s life was perfectly normal . . . until it was unraveled by something as simple as a blood test.

Taken from his family, Toby now lives in the Death House; an out-of-time existence far from the modern world, where he, and the others who live there, are studied by Matron and her team of nurses. They’re looking for any sign of sickness. Any sign of their wards changing. Any sign that it’s time to take them to the sanatorium.

No one returns from the sanatorium.

Living in his memories of the past, Toby spends his days fighting his fear. But then a new arrival in the house shatters the fragile peace, and everything changes. Because everybody dies. It’s how you choose to live that counts.

I think it falls more in the YA category, but it's a good story and definitely worth the read.

The riveting true story of the crime, punishment, and transformation of a Seattle boy who came of age inside the adult prison system and who, once on the outside, rebuilt a new life as a man.

After twenty years of incarceration, little was familiar to newly released Willard Jimerson. His once-gritty city was a technology hub. An African American was president. And with a six-inch screen, he could access a vastly changed world. From Claudia Rowe, author of The Spider and the Fly, comes the story of the life Willard took and the life taken from Willard, the story of everything he had to regain and was yet to discover.

Inspiring story about an inspiring person. There are six books in the Missing collection, and I'm looking forward to reading them. This one popped up in my recommended books and it's included in Kindle Unlimited if anyone has a subscription and is interested.

 

[Tamstrong]

On the night of a long-awaited comet sighting, Erich, a university student, comes back from the dead. Making a miraculous recovery after a horrific car accident, he quickly returns to his musical studies and seems to have a new zest for life. Though he mingles with his fellow students and dedicates himself to his work, those close to him can't help but notice something is wrong, however.

Very wrong.

Erich isn't himself anymore. His personality has changed radically, and where he was once a middling musician, he's suddenly and unaccountably developed a virtuosic talent. He spends his nights awake, walking the streets or throwing lavish parties.

What's more, those who spend time alone with him tend to go insane.

Amid a string of suicides and government conspiracies, the denizens of Moorlake, Ohio find themselves at the center of a blossoming cosmic horror. If they don't find out who—or what—Erich Tellier has become, the horror is bound to spread beyond the confines of their quiet college town.

It was pretty entertaining. I'm looking forward to reading more of this author.

In the more shadowy corners of the world, frequented by angels and demons and everything in-between, Laytham Ballard is a legend. It's said he raised the dead at the age of ten, stole the Philosopher's Stone in Vegas back in 1999, and survived the bloodsucking kiss of the Mosquito Queen. Wise in the hidden ways of the night, he's also a cynical bastard who stopped thinking of himself as the good guy a long time ago.

Now a promise to a dying friend has Ballard on the trail of an escaped Serbian war criminal with friends in both high and low places—and a sinister history of blood sacrifices. Ballard is hell-bent on making Dusan Slorzack pay for his numerous atrocities, but Slorzack seems to have literally dropped off the face of the Earth, beyond the reach of his enemies, the Illuminati, and maybe even the Devil himself. To find Slorzack, Ballard must follow a winding, treacherous path that stretches from Wall Street and Washington, D.C. to backwoods hollows and truckstops, while risking what's left of his very soul . . . .

Another good one from this author.

Laytham Ballard once protected humanity as part of the Nightwise, a secret order of modern-day mages dedicating to holding hellish supernatural forces at bay, but that was before a string of sadistic ritual murders shook everything he believed in—and sent him down a much darker path. One that has already cost him most of his soul, as well as everything he once held dear.

Now a powerful faerie mob boss has hired Ballard to find his lost-lost daughter, who went missing several years ago. The long-cold trail leads him across the globe, from the luxurious playgrounds of the rich and famous to the seedy occult underbelly of Los Angeles, where creatures of myth and legend mingle with street gangs and sex clubs, and where Ballard finds his own guilty past waiting for him around every shadowy corner. To find Caern Ankou, he will have to confront old enemies, former friends and allies, and a grisly cold case that has haunted him for years.

But is Caern still alive? And, perhaps more importantly, does she even want to be found?

This one is good too; even better than the first one in the series.

 

[Ol'Skool Classic]

It was pretty entertaining. I'm looking forward to reading more of this author.

Another good one from this author.

This one is good too; even better than the first one in the series.

So did you get why I said I thought Belcher may have mistitiled the two books initially? The second book touched more on the Nightwise than the first book but as I said I think I know why the series as a whole is possibly going especially with the "badge" scene that played out towards the end of the story.

 

[Tamstrong]

So did you get why I said I thought Belcher may have mistitiled the two books initially? The second book touched more on the Nightwise than the first book but as I said I think I know why the series as a whole is possibly going especially with the "badge" scene that played out towards the end of the story.

Yeah, I do, and I agree. I had the feeling that scene was where it was heading after it came out who the person in question was. I still enjoyed the hell out of the scene though.

 

[Ol'Skool Classic]

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.

For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.

However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand...

Had to do this one on audio book because while this is a very good read it is extremely character & prose heavy. I actually have a physical paperback copy of the book that I bought back in the early 2000s when it first came out but only read about the first 2 chapters of the book because of how prose & character heavy it is. Author Steven Erikson does no hand holding with this story forcing readers to figure out the what, where & why of the fantasy world the characters inhabit as they interact & events play out. Same with characters as he gives limited descriptions of characters' physical appearances upon their intitial appearances in the book, but you gain more details about them (both appearance & personality wise) through their interactions with other characters as the story progresses. And this is only the first book in a series of ten telling a long & complex story.

Half-human. Half-demon. All attitude.

Luther Cross here. Dangerously handsome, effortlessly stylish half-demon, at your service. As I have inherited certain...abilities with my odd genetics, I’ve put them to use as Chicago’s foremost paranormal investigator.

My current case? Well, I have to admit, it feels a little personal. I’m helping a mysterious girl who’s turned up on my doorstep, pregnant through mystic means. I can’t help but think of my own mother…and if I don’t help her, she’ll face the same fate.

Turns out, someone is trying to create an army of half-demons. While it might be a pleasant change to hang out with my own kind, I know most half-demons don’t have my sense of morality. If I don’t stop this evil plan, the armistice between Heaven and Hell will be broken and all of the Earth will pay… It will be the beginning of the end.


Good little supernatural detective adventure story. Already have the next 2 books in the series lined up to read.

BOOK ONE OF THE GREAT WAY: The city of Peradain is the heart of an empire built with steel, spears, and a monopoly on magic… until, in a single day, it falls, overthrown by a swarm of supernatural creatures of incredible power and ferocity. Neither soldier nor spell caster can stand against them.

The empire's armies are crushed, its people scattered, its king and queen killed. Freed for the first time in generations, city-states scramble to seize neighboring territories and capture imperial spell casters. But as the creatures spread across the land, these formerly conquered peoples discover they are not prepared to face the enemy that destroyed an empire.

Can the last Peradaini prince, pursued by the beasts that killed his parents, cross battle-torn lands to retrieve a spell that might—just might—turn the battle against this new enemy?

Author Harry Connolly takes the weird horror elements he played with in his Twenty Palaces series & introduces them to a sword & sorcery environment resulting in a for more engaging read than his Twenty Palaces novels. Another trilogy series where I already have the next 2 installments lined up for reading.

 

[CAKicker]

 

[Ol'Skool Classic]

The Rebellion Chronicles ( E-Book Series)

He doesn’t need a weapon. He is the weapon.

After losing his powers in an epic battle between good and evil, former sorcerer Nate Garrett finds himself living as a humble human in Clockwork, Oregon. While the world thinks Nate is dead, his friends continue to fight against Avalon and the evil it’s intent on spreading.

Avalon’s forces turn up in Clockwork, and Nate’s frustration grows with every passing day his magic doesn’t return. He finds himself trying to stop Avalon’s plans while hiding from enemies who would destroy everything in their path to see him dead.

Avalon’s darkness begins to threaten the people Nate cares about, and an old nemesis returns; magic or no magic, he has no choice but to fight. But will Nate see his magical powers reborn before the entire town—and everyone he loves—is destroyed?

A DEADLY VENOM. A LOOMING REBELLION. A VICIOUS SIEGE. AND THE CLOCK IS TICKING.

For sorcerer Nate Garrett, the stakes have risen. If Asgard falls, he may lose much more than his home - he may lose the thing dearest to him. To stand a fighting chance against Avalon, he must be ready to go to war. But when his best friend and father are poisoned, Nate must race against the clock in a desperate quest to find a cure.

Layla Cassidy is tasked with gaining the aid of the Valkyrie in Valhalla, but once there, she finds herself involved in another rebellion and must pick a side before it's too late.

Meanwhile, Mordred finds himself on a hunt for Excalibur, a weapon of incredible power that would aid the rebellion in their fight against Arthur and his allies. But to retrieve it, Mordred must face the uncomfortable truths about himself.

War looms over the rebellion, and the battle for Asgard is at hand. Time is running out as Avalon's forces threaten total destruction. But Nate can't be in two places at once. Can he find the cure, and can he, Layla, and Mordred save the realms before it's too late?

It’s a dark day for the Earth realms. Will it be the last?

Sorcerer Nate Garrett lost much in the battle that devastated Asgard, but the war against darkness is far from over. He’s spent a year searching for Arthur, hell-bent on stopping the evil leader of Avalon and rescuing his friend Tommy from his clutches. Nate’s investigation brings him to Washington, DC, where he finds the city under siege. Just when all hope seems lost, Layla Cassidy and her team arrive to join the fight, but Avalon’s deadly plan to conquer the Earth realm is underway.

Meanwhile, Mordred is on a quest to find allies in the upcoming war against Avalon, hoping to find Arthur and stop him before it’s too late.

As the rebellion forces close in on Arthur, each of them know this could be their last fight. But with Arthur massing an unstoppable army of his own, will Nate’s fury be enough to defeat him once and for all? (less)


Very good action fantasy trilogy. It wasn't until after I had finished the first book that I learned that there where two "prequel" series that chronicle events that take place prior to this trilogy : the 6 book Hellequin Chronicles that introduce main protagonist Nate Garrett and tells his backstory & the Avalon Chronicles which introduces secondary protagonist Layla Cassidy and tells the story of the beginnings of the war with Avalon after Garrett temporarily loses his ability to use magic & is presumed to be dead by the majority of his foes & allies. (The first book of the Avalon Chronicles chronologically takes place prior to the last book of the Hellequin Chronicles as Layla Cassidy is introduced to Nate Garrett at the end of the book). There are also two spin off novels each telling the backstory of two of the supporting characters who appear in all 3 series.

 

[Tamstrong]

Chief Jim Hopper reveals long-awaited secrets to Eleven about his old life as a police detective in New York City, confronting his past before the events of the hit show Stranger Things.

Christmas, Hawkins, 1984. All Chief Jim Hopper wants is to enjoy a quiet first Christmas with Eleven, but his adopted daughter has other plans. Over Hopper’s protests, she pulls a cardboard box marked “New York” out of the basement—and the tough questions begin. Why did Hopper leave Hawkins all those years ago? What does “Vietnam” mean? And why has he never talked about New York?

Although he’d rather face a horde of demogorgons than talk about his own past, Hopper knows that he can’t deny the truth any longer. And so begins the story of the incident in New York—the last big case before everything changed. . . .

Summer, New York City, 1977. Hopper is starting over after returning home from Vietnam. A young daughter, a caring wife, and a new beat as an NYPD detective make it easy to slip back into life as a civilian. But after shadowy federal agents suddenly show up and seize the files about a series of brutal, unsolved murders, Hopper takes matters into his own hands, risking everything to discover the truth.

Soon Hopper is undercover among New York’s notorious street gangs. But just as he’s about to crack the case, a blackout rolls across the boroughs, plunging Hopper into a darkness deeper than any he’s faced before.

It's a nice bit of backstory/character development for Hopper and definitely worth the read.

In this gripping saga of race and retribution, Alex Heard tells a moving and unforgettable story of the deep South that says as much about Mississippi today as it does about the mysteries of the past. In doing so, he evokes the bitter conflicts between black and white, north and south in America.

In 1945, a young African-American man from Laurel, Mississippi, was sentenced to death for allegedly raping Willette Hawkins, a white housewife. The case was barely noticed until Bella Abzug, a young New York labor lawyer, was hired to oversee Willie McGee's appeal. Together with William Patterson, a dedicated black reformer, Abzug risked her life to plead the case. “Free Willie McGee” became an international rallying cry, with supporters flooding President Truman's White House and the U.S. Supreme Court with clemency pleas and famous Americans—including Albert Einstein, and Norman Mailer—speaking out on McGee's behalf. By 1951, millions worldwide were convinced of McGee's innocence—even though there were serious questions about his claim that the truth involved a secret love affair.

In this unforgettable story of justice in the Deep South, Mississippi native Alex Heard reexamines the lasting mysteries surrounding McGee's haunting case.

The author isn't the best writer IMO, but he did cover a lot of interesting history regarding this case and the events of the time regarding civil rights and the racial disparities of this country's so-called justice system. Not all the questions about the case were answered, but the ultimate outcome is without a doubt something that should not have happened. Unfortunately "legal lynching" was a common practice back in the day and is still a serious issue in many respects today. It also brings to mind that this country still does not have a federal anti-lynching law, and it's shameful, disgusting, and totally fucking ridiculous that it's still so difficult to get one passed.

The Gunslinger introduces readers to one of Stephen King’s most powerful creations, Roland of Gilead: The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which mirrors our own in frightening ways, Roland tracks The Man in Black, encounters an enticing woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the boy from New York named Jake.

I know this series has been out for a long time, but I'd never been in the mood for reading it until now. It's weird, out there, and kind of all over the place...all good things where the book/story is concerned. The first book didn't exactly grab me the way I hoped it would, but the story does get better as you keep reading.

 

[Ol'Skool Classic]

Ramon “Ray” Cosa’s life is not what he expected it to be. Living in a small Texas town ravaged by Hurricane Harvey, Ray has suffered many losses in his young life, and he has little hope left that anything will ever change or get better.

That is, until the vintage Ford Galaxie and its strange, dying owner enters Ray’s life. Given a jeweled ring he cannot remove and a desperate mission, Ray is plunged into a universe of secrets, wonders, and terrors he never dreamed exists.

Now, he travels the Queen's Road - a hyper-space highway that connects all the planets and galaxies in creation - in search of one man, one of the Queen of the Universe's Rangers. That journey will put Ray on the front lines of an eons-old cosmic war between the primal forces of order and chaos.

And probably make him late for his next shift at the Chug-n-Lug.


Good read. Basically Belcher giving his weird horror tales a sci-fi Lensmen style spin. Looking forward to the next installment as I'm sure there will be one.

BOOK TWO OF THE GREAT WAY: Having lost the prince to the madness of The Blessing, Tejohn and Cazia are the only people who know of his plan to retrieve a secret spell that might, just might, turn the tide of battle against the grunts.

But Tejohn’s body is broken, and Cazia has been stripped of her magic. Worse, both are being held captive: Tejohn faces charges of treason in the lands where he was born. On the other side of the continent, Cazia is a prisoner of the Tilkilit queen, a creature with a desperate, deadly plan.

While they struggle for their freedom, The Blessing continues to spread across Kal-Maddum, their numbers growing more numerous as the human population shrinks. What had started as a race to restore an empire has quickly become a mission to save humanity from extinction.

BOOK THREE OF THE GREAT WAY: What was once the Peradaini Empire is now a wasted landscape of burned, empty cities and abandoned farmlands. The Blessing, now more numerous than ever, continues to spread across the continent, driving refugees to the dubious safety of the city walls. Unharvested crops mean that few strongholds have enough provisions to last the winter, although most know the grunts will take them before starvation will.

But hope survives. A piece of stolen magic just might halt the spread of The Blessing if Tejohn and Cazia can find a scholar with the skill to recreate the spell. If such a person still lives.

Unfortunately, they are nearly out of time. The few remaining human enclaves are isolated and under siege. Worse, The Blessing has spread to other sentient creatures. If Cazia and Tejohn are going to strike back at their monstrous enemy, they can not delay.

And there’s another, deeper question left unaddressed: where did The Blessing come from, and why have they invaded Kal-Maddum?

The Way Into Darkness is the final book in The Great Way, wrapping up the story begun in The Way Into Chaos and continued in The Way Into Magic.


As stated with the first book in the series that was posted awhile back, it is a good blend of standard Sword & Sorcery fantasy & horror. Book Two leans more towards standard fantasy tale compared to the first book & Book Three as with Book One returns to the mix of horror & fantasy elements to tell the story. A solid series overall.

 

[Tamstrong]

Beginning just less than seven hours after The Gunslinger ends, in the second installment to the thrilling Dark Tower Series, Roland encounters three mysterious doorways on a deserted beach along the Western Sea. Each one enters into a different person’s life in New York—here, he joins forces with the defiant young Eddie Dean, and with the beautiful, brilliant, and brave Odetta Holmes, to save the Dark Tower.

Several months have passed since The Drawing of the Three, and in The Waste Lands, Roland’s two new tet-mates have become trained gunslingers. Eddie Dean has given up heroin, and Odetta’s two selves have joined, becoming the stronger and more balanced personality of Susannah Dean. But Roland altered ka by saving the life of Jake Chambers, a boy who—in Roland’s world—has already died. Now Roland and Jake exist in different worlds, but they are joined by the same madness: the paradox of double memories. Roland, Susannah, and Eddie must draw Jake into Mid-World and then follow the Path of the Beam all the way to the Dark Tower. There are new evils…new dangers to threaten Roland’s little band in the devastated city of Lud and the surrounding wastelands, as well as horrific confrontations with Blaine the Mono, the piratical Gasher, and the frightening Tick-Tock Man.

In Wizard and Glass, Stephen King is “at his most ebullient…sweeping readers up in…swells of passion” (Publishers Weekly) as Roland the Gunslinger, Eddie, Susannah, and Jake survive Blaine the Mono’s final crash, only to find themselves stranded in an alternate version of Topeka, Kansas, that has been ravaged by the superflu virus. While following the deserted I-70 toward a distant glass palace, Roland recounts his tragic story about a seaside town called Hambry, where he fell in love with a girl named Susan Delgado, and where he and his old tet-mates Alain and Cuthbert battled the forces of John Farson, the harrier who—with a little help from a seeing sphere called Maerlyn’s Grapefruit—ignited Mid-World’s final war.

Each installment is better than the last.

 

[Tamstrong]

The Wind Through the Keyhole is a sparkling contribution to the series that can be placed between Dark Tower IV and Dark Tower V. This Russian doll of a novel, a story within a story within a story, visits Roland and his ka-tet as a ferocious, frigid storm halts their progress along the Path of the Beam. Roland tells a tale from his early days as a gunslinger, in the guilt-ridden year following his mother’s death. Sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape-shifter, Roland takes charge of Bill Streeter, a brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast’s most recent slaughter. Roland, himself only a teenager, calms the boy by reciting a story from the Book of Eld that his mother used to read to him at bedtime, “The Wind through the Keyhole.” “A person’s never too old for stories,” he says to Bill. “Man and boy, girl and woman, we live for them.”

In the extraordinary fifth novel in Stephen King’s remarkable fantasy epic, Roland Deschain and his ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World. Their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis, a tranquil valley community of farmers and ranchers on Mid-World’s borderlands.

Beyond the town, the rocky ground rises toward the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is slowly stealing the community’s soul. The Wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to, and they can give the Calla-folken both courage and cunning. Their guns, however, will not be enough.

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, the Dark Tower series is unlike anything you have ever read. Here is the penultimate installment.

 

[Ol'Skool Classic]

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, 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 barbarian 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.

Grim & bloody tale with sprinkles of dark humor in spots. A good read if you enjoy revenge stories with the protagonist being revealed as someone who is most definitely a heavy shade of gray.



Books 1 & 2 of The Burning Series

The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable war for almost two hundred years. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine.

Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war.

Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He's going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn't get the chance.

Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He'll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.

Tau and his Queen, desperate to delay the impending attack on the capital by the indigenous people of Xidda, craft a dangerous plan. If Tau succeeds, the Queen will have the time she needs to assemble her forces and launch an all out assault on her own capital city, where her sister is being propped up as the 'true' Queen of the Omehi.

If the city can be taken, if Tsiora can reclaim her throne, and if she can reunite her people then the Omehi have a chance to survive the onslaught.


Solid sword & sorcery series written by black author Evan Winter & set in an African–inspired fantasy world ( if Africa had dragons & demons as native creatures). Intriguing world & character building. The third book in the series, The Lord of Demons, is set to be published January 2022.

 

[Tamstrong]

Roland Deschain and his ka-tet have journeyed together and apart, scattered far and wide across multilayered worlds of wheres and whens. The destinies of Roland, Susannah, Jake, Father Callahan, Oy, and Eddie are bound in the Dark Tower itself, which now pulls them ever closer to their own endings and beginnings...and into a maelstrom of emotion, violence, and discovery.

Book 7 is the second best in the series to me (book 4 1/2 was the best). The first couple of books were a bit too slow for me, but with each installment I got more into the story. This one had so many emotional moments with the characters I'd come to know and love, and I was glad to see some sad endings lead to unexpected beginnings. I was glad for some of them at least; for some I'm not so sure how I feel. It definitely worth the read if you haven't done so. I now get why Stephen King regards the series as his magnum opus .

A glorious, unparalleled view of the human body . . . Revolutionary computer images from the creator of From Conception to Birth reveal the wonders and complexities of every system in the male and female bodies.

The human body is a marvel of engineering. From the muscular and skeletal systems of the hand working in concert to allow us to type, eat, and caress, to the circadian rhythms of the heart and digestive system keeping things moving despite our consciousness being elsewhere, our bodies are far more complex and awe inspiring than any man-made creation. Not since Andreas Vesalius’s On the Fabric of the Human Body, illustrated by the scholar in the mid-16th century, has there been a work examining human anatomy for both the scientific and lay communities. The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman is the ultimate illustrated look at the internal structures and processes that sustain us as living, thinking, social beings.

Using the most advanced medical and computer technology—including body scans, ultrapowerful microscopes, and molecular surveillance tools—Alexander Tsiaras, founder of a widely acclaimed medical-imaging company, hones in on the body’s intricately constructed systems and isolates structures that have never been seen before. In more than 500 astonishing images, he dismantles each system, highlights the anatomical difference between men and women, and rebuilds the body from the molecular level on up. Barry Werth’s lyrical, informative text enhances the power of the images, providing an array of startling and fascinating facts.

The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman is a milestone in science, art, and technology. As Werth writes in the Introduction, “For the first time we see the body not like something, or represented by human hands, or as a grainy negative or video, but very nearly as it is.”

Awesomeness!

I read this one for two reasons: it was free, and I thought it might get me interested in weaving again. I did a couple of small projects back in the day after learning basic weaving techniques in art class as a teenager, and I think I'd enjoy playing with it again at some point. I'm not in the mood right now though. lol

 

[Ol'Skool Classic]

The Realm of Dreich is a getaway for the rich and powerful, a medieval-inspired town in the middle of a vast frozen wilderness. Now it’s the site of a wedding, intended to join two feuding families who have spent centuries in an uneasy truce with each other.

When Tommy Carpenter asks his best friend, Nate Garrett, to help him with the security of the wedding, Nate reluctantly agrees, knowing that it will be a long weekend of work and, in all probability, treachery.

It is only a matter of time before members of each family are found murdered and it is up to Nate and Tommy to find the killer before more bodies fall, potentially reigniting a war.


A standalone novella that falls between books 6 and 7 in Steve McHugh's Hellequin Chronicles series. Good action fantasy/mystery read.

In the final chapter of the Hellequin Chronicles, secrets will be revealed, friendships tested, and destinies fulfilled.

Avalon is under siege. A shadowy cabal, headed by a mysterious figure known only as “My Liege,” has launched a series of deadly attacks across the globe, catching innocent human bystanders in the crossfire.

Emerging from the debris of battle, Nate Garrett, the sixteen-hundred-year-old sorcerer also called Hellequin, and his friends must stop My Liege once and for all. But powerful forces stand in their way. To save Avalon, they will need to enlist the help of Mordred, once Nate’s greatest nemesis, now his most formidable ally. But Mordred is grappling with a dark prophecy that could spell Nate’s doom…

The fate of the world hangs in the balance. Even if Nate can halt the war, will there be anything left worth saving?


The book that sets up the events that occur in Steve McHugh's Avalon Chronicles Trilogy & Rebellion Chronicles Trilogy which continues the story of Nate Garrett & his rather large group of supporting characters. Tell's the story of how & why Nate Garrett is believed to be dead by the majority of his friends & enemies as well as being powerless at the start of the Rebellion Chronicles Trilogy.

Hunted is a new novella set in the universe of the bestselling Hellequin Chronicles and Avalon Chronicles series.

Cursed by witches centuries ago, Remy Roax was content with living his long life as a half-man/half-fox. But when he learned he had had undiscovered powers, he had no choice but to learn how to use them.

After relocating to North Dakota in order to practice his new found abilities, he soon finds himself in the targets of Louis Bonne, a man who wants to understand how the curse placed on Remy worked, so that he can use the souls of innocent people to make himself immortal.

Since Remy has no interest in helping, Louis sends a group of murderers intent on convincing him. But Remy isn’t some helpless bystander, and these people will soon discover that Remy isn’t the kind of fox who runs from a hunt.


This novella takes place a few months after the end of Scorched Shadows & basically spotlights one the many secondary characters that appear throughout Steve McHugh's Hellequin/Avalon/Rebellion series. A good read that answers some questions about the character's curse that have gone unanswered until now.