The Book Plank

Best First in Series of 2015 Making a new entry into an existing genre is a hard thing. There are a lot of ongoing series and getting through with a new idea is a hard thing to do. Luckily there are plenty of authors who still come up with just that new idea. Here are my favorite First in Series of 2015. To start off the list Finn Fancy Necromancy which is both an debut and an first book in a series. This Urban Fantasy story had some very wild idea's which all proved to work to the fullest extent in the end. Randy Henderson shows a great enthusiasm. I read David Walton's Quintessence  a few years ago, a great book. This year Pyr published his Superposition. What a great premise. David Walton knows his technology and creates a wild and provoking story. Flex  by Ferret Steinmetz was one of the freshest Urban Fantasy stories I read this year. Mancy, the ability to gain a specific branch of magic if you love it hard enough. As I said in the review, it takes more just to come up ...

Best Horror of 2015 Horror is a genre that I haven't been reading that long, I started a long time ago with Stephen King and read most of his classics. Though there are plenty of horror book published each year I didn't got to reading a lot this year. But from those that I read these five book were my favorites. Horns by Joe Hill was well stunning to say the least. Though I did have Daniel Radcliffe's face in my mind constantly when I read about Ig, however this didn't take away the power of the story and what horns can do.  Next up is The Devil's Only Friend which is already the fourth book in the John Cleaver series. Well it's insane. John Cleaver is by far one of the most insane protagonists that I read about this year. The Devil's Detective was Simon Kurt Unsworths debut this year, he made Hell the playground of detectives and in Hell they don't play by the rules as well (but I think you could have guessed that). Under Ground was one of the book ...

The Flux by Ferret Steinmetz, Mancer #2 Love something enough, and your obsession will punch holes through the laws of physics. That devotion creates unique magics: videogamemancers. Origamimancers. Culinomancers. But when ‘mancers battle, cities tremble… ALIYAH TSABO-DAWSON : The world’s most dangerous eight-year-old girl. Burned by a terrorist’s magic, gifted strange powers beyond measure. She’s furious that she has to hide her abilities from her friends, her teachers, even her mother – and her temper tantrums can kill. PAUL TSABO : Bureaucromancer. Magical drug-dealer. Desperate father. He’s gone toe-to-toe with the government’s conscription squads of brain-burned Unimancers, and he’ll lie to anyone to keep Aliyah out of their hands – whether Aliyah likes it or not. THE KING OF NEW YORK : The mysterious power player hell-bent on capturing the two of them. A man packing a private army of illegal ‘mancers. Paul’s family is the key to keep the King’s crumbling empire afloat. But of...

The Liar's Key by Mark Lawrence, The Red Queen's War #2 The eyes of the mighty are on the North. Loki’s key has been found and lies in the hands of a feckless prince and a broken warrior. Winter has locked Prince Jalan Kendeth far from the luxury of his southern palace. The North may be home to Viking Snorri ver Snagason but he is just as eager to leave. However, even men who hold a key that can open any door must wait for the thaw. As the ice unlocks its jaws the Dead King moves to claim what was so nearly his. But there are other players in this game, other hands reaching for Loki’s key. Jalan wants only to return to the wine and women of the south, but Snorri has a different and terrifying goal. The warrior aims to find the very door into death and throw it wide. Snorri ver Snagason will challenge all of Hell if that’s what it takes to bring his wife and children back into the living world. He has found the key – now all he needs is to find the door. But pawns a...

Made to Kill by Adam Christopher, The LA Trilogy #1 Raymond Electromatic is good at his job, as good as he ever was at being a true Private Investigator, the lone employee of the Electromatic Detective Agency--except for Ada, office gal and super-computer, the constant voice in Ray's inner ear. Ray might have taken up a new line of work, but money is money, after all, and he was programmed to make a profit. Besides, with his twenty-four-hour memory-tape limits, he sure can keep a secret. When a familiar-looking woman arrives at the agency wanting to hire Ray to find a missing movie star, he's inclined to tell her to take a hike. But she had the cold hard cash, a demand for total anonymity, and tendency to vanish on her own. Plunged into a glittering world of fame, fortune, and secrecy, Ray uncovers a sinister plot that goes much deeper than the silver screen--and this robot is at the wrong place, at the wrong time. I still remember my first book by Adam Christopher. Hang...

Media Alert: Rebecca Newton and the War of the Gods Finally I may share this amazing book trailer for Mario Routi's final book in his Rebecca Newton series. Enjoy!  more information: Rebecca and her family face their greatest challenge yet in this epic battle between good and evil. It all ends here! The Forces of Evil are poised to invade not only the Land of the White Sun, but also the Elysian Fields, home of the Gods – and now they have the power to throw human civilisation back into the Dark Ages.  Princess Rebecca  and her family  face  monumental battles in their attempts to defeat the massed forces of Evil, and the only way she can save mankind is by revealing herself to them. Her daughter, t he young Oracle Leylah,  falls in love with Prince Alexander, grandson of Hercules, but soon things are going very wrong between them. The fate of the entire universe rests on confused Leylah’s shoulders, as she travels with Ale...

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley, Lightspeed Magazine Issue 66 [no synopsis provided]  Kameron Hurley is far from a stranger in the Fantasy world. Being the bestselling author of the Bel Dame series and her most recent Epic Fantasy series the Worldbreaker series. Earlier this year I read a short story by Kameron Hurley, Elephants and Corpses which blew me away. So when I found out that Lightspeed Magazine reprinted one of her stories. What else was there left to do! The Light Brigade definitely picks up with one of the catchiest introductions. Stating that the war has turned them into light and that light is the fastest way to travel. You have to take this last bit very literal. People have literally been turned into light making them heroes. Because aliens once took over in a more than hostile way and this was the only way to fight them. In this introduction you meet a young man who turned from being a soldier into an light hero. There is something very unique to this sto...