The Book Plank

 May Review Round-up 1. Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson, Tor/Gollancz In April I read the start of the Stormlight Archive, The Way of Kings and was immediately sucked into the amazingly rich world that Brandon Sanderson managed to show in it. I was fortunate enough not to have to wait a few years for the sequel to be released as it was already sitting on my TBR pile. In Words of Radiance , Brandon Sanderson nicely broadens the scope of his story still lying the focus on Kaladin and Shallan but also involving more and more different characters to neatly draw a complete picture. Both the books have been clocking in at about 1000-1100 pages and with such an epic scope it's can be hard to keep the focus on the main drive of the story, here it clearly comes to show that Brandon Sanderson has gained a lot of experience from continuing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. There is never a dull moment in Words of Radiance , Brandon Sanderson managed to grab me from start ...

The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan, The Powder Mage #2 'The hounds at our heels will soon know we are lions' Tamas's invasion of Kez ends in disaster when a Kez counter-offensive leaves him cut off behind enemy lines with only a fraction of his army, no supplies, and no hope of reinforcements. Drastically outnumbered and pursued by the enemy's best, he must lead his men on a reckless march through northern Kez to safety, and back over the mountains so that he can defend his country from an angry god. In Adro, Inspector Adamat only wants to rescue his wife. To do so he must track down and confront the evil Lord Vetas. He has questions for Vetas concerning his enigmatic master, but the answers might come too quickly. With Tamas and his powder cabal presumed dead, Taniel Two-shot finds himself alongside the god-chef Mihali as the last line of defence against Kresimir's advancing army. Tamas's generals bicker among themselves, the brigades lose g...

(p)review forecast May part two 1. The Leopard by K.V. Johansen, Pyr In the days of the first kings in the North, there were seven devils… Ahjvar, the assassin known as the Leopard, wants only to die, to end the curse that binds him to a life of horror. Although he has no reason to trust the goddess Catairanach or her messenger Deyandara, fugitive heir to a murdered tribal queen, desperation leads him to accept her bargain: if he kills the mad prophet known as the Voice of Marakand, Catairanach will free him of his curse. Accompanying him on his mission is the one person he has let close to him in a lifetime of death, a runaway slave named Ghu. Ahj knows Ghu is far from the half-wit others think him, but in Marakand, the great city where the caravan roads of east and west meet, both will need to face the deepest secrets of their souls, if either is to survive the undying enemies who hunt them and find a way through the darkness that damns the Leopard. To Marakand, too,...