HONORVERSE – A Short Victorious War by David Weber

A Short Victorious War is the third book in David Weber’s Honor Harrington series published April 1994, by Baen Books. This story kicks off the confrontation eluded to in the first two books between Haven and Manticore. Haven needs a short victorious war to deflect their proles (unemployed masses) from panicking over frozen basic living stipend expenditures. Manticore makes the perfect victim it’s rich and it lies directly in Havens path to the Silesian Confederacy, their obvious next big target. But Manticore has been preparing for this for twenty years, maybe not always willingly or with grace but they have been building up their navy since before their current Queen took the throne. And they aren’t going to just roll over and give up when raiders are at their shores.

A Short Victorious War cover by David Mattingly

HONORVERSE – The Honor Of The Queen, David Weber Book 2

TLDR: Honor delivers well-deserved smackdown left and right. Another free book link at the bottom of this post!

The Honor of the Queen cover by David Mattingly

The Honor of the Queen is the second book in David Weber’s Honor Harrington series and was originally published June 01, 1993. It takes place three years after the events that took place in On Basilisk Station which I reviewed last week on the blog.

BOOKS – David Weber, On Basilisk Station

TLDR: This is a great book for anyone who likes sci-fi, pew-pew, strong female protagonists and punching nazi’s (more or less) and you can get it for free legitimately by following the link at the bottom.

On Basilisk Station cover art by David Mattingly

This is a post I’ve been toying with a long time. This isn’t a book or an author who truly needs any kudos from some nobody blogger but I also continuously recommend his books to new readers. Having all my thoughts in a spoiler free “review’ with helpful links in one place makes those recommendations very simple.
And 2017 seems like a good year to make some noise for sci-fi that deals with totalitarian and populistic regimes.  Not that there’s ever not a good time for picking up a tale that weighs in on matters like that.

BOOKS – Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

One of the many books I’ve finished reading in the past few months is Blood Rites by Jim Butcher, published July 2010 by Roc Paperback. This is the 6th in the Harry Dresden series and I am both happy and a little relieved to have made it to this one.

Blood Rites, UK cover

I love the premise of this series. These books are told as a noir detective story complete with first person narration and Neanderthal views on women and an overall feel of a little darkness, a little grime, a loaded revolver, a shot of whiskey and the dame. Add to that the kind of dad-joke banter that Richard Castle would be proud of and you have a pretty good formula no matter what setting you’re in. The Dresden books combine crime lords and gangs of Chicago with vampires and wizards and tiny fairies who like pizza. It delivers what the urban Fantasy genre needs the most, uniqueness.

Do the books have their weak points? Sure and I’ll touch and some of them below but overall, if you, like me, are enchanted by the idea of a modern world setting with supernatural elements and disappointed again and again at most of the stories crafted in a genre with so much potential, then you should definitely read Butcher’s series. In fact, I’d almost have to insist upon it.

BOOKS – The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes

The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes.
Published 2012 by Tyche Books. Cover by Lili Ibrahim.

BOOKS – Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

Leviathan Wakes is the first in The Expanse series of books written by authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck under the pen name of James S. A. Corey. Published in June 2011 by Orbit Books and followed by 5 more titles in the series. SyFy has picked up the series for a TV production which premiered yesterday (December 14, 2015) and is written and produced by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. You can even watch the first episode for free by following the link at the bottom of the page!

BOOKS – Extinction Point: Exodus by Paul Antony Jones

About the book and the author.

Extinction Point: Exodus is book two in Paul Antony Jones’ series of so far four, about journalist Emily Baxter’s survival on a desolated Earth. It was published June 11, 2013, by 47North and if you would like a spoiler-free review of the first book (Extinction Point) you can visit this link:

Books – Extinction Point by Paul Antony Jones

Paul Antony Jones has added author to his list of titles which includes journalist, short-story writer and freelance copywriter. He lives in Nevada with his wife, four dogs and eight cats.

The Synopsis
In book two of the Extinction Point series, Emily Baxter, having survived the calamity that befell the world sets off on a journey North to find the owner of a voice on a radio, who promises her sanctuary and safety from the alien incursion in the cold of the Arctic.

With her she has Thor, a malamute who apparently shares her immunity to the red rain and has taken up the duty of being her trusty protector. She soon stumbles upon another small family of survivors, however, in no small way thanks to the quirks of a micro-climate area.

The threat from the aliens that started with the red rain has increased and expanded in chilling ways and is as mysterious as ever. Now with two children to protect as well, can she and Thor make it the hundreds of miles North to an unforgiving climate, through a deadened world where ever darkened shadow holds the threat of attack?

BOOKS – Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Peter Grant is the son of a neat-freak, Sierra Leone mother and a junkie jazz-playing dad and he didn’t pass all his A levels. In fact, on paper he’s not much of a cop either. Not like his friend Lesley who’s on the fast track for DCI in homicide and has her copper instincts honed to a sharp point. But that’s ok. Unlike Lesley, Peter can see ghosts and he’s a nice guy. Or so he discovers one cold, wet evening on the job. This saves him from a clerk assignment and lands him instead in a secret branch of the Met with all of two officers – Peter included – that deals with magic and the supernatural.

Books – Written in Red by Anne Bishop

Written in Red, book One of The Other’s Series. Written by Anne Bishop. Published March 2013 by ROC Books.

If you are only going to take a chance on one urban fantasy title this year, let Written in Red be the one. It has a unique take on the genre that charmed me to the core while maintaining  threads of monstrosity, horror and the comically absurd. This is a fantastic and refreshingly original take on what being a werewolf might be like, on the little absurdities of everyday life and on what being human means.

This is hands down my favourite Urban Fantasy tale of them all so far.

Books – Extinction Point by Paul Antony Jones

Extinction Point by Paul Antony Jones

It’s been too long since I picked up a new book from a (to me) fresh author and which just transported me right away. But that’s exactly what happened with Extinction Point by Paul Antony Jones (@PaulAntonyJones), the first in his ongoing series about Emily, a survivor from a planetwide apocalypse. (Published by 47North. Feb. 19, 2013).

Emily’s story is a nail-biting, toes-off-the-floor bag of surprises that left me guessing the whole way. Follow the only adult woman in the state of New York without a driver’s license as she overcomes crippling hopelessness, to stubborn her way out of a city heaped hip high in the dead. Her first problem? She survived when no one else did. But that doesn’t mean she’s not alone…