Book Haul

Some Amazon purchases, some review copies. One is something I ordered for a certain challenge I may have mentioned not too long ago. It will be epic. Can you guess which one?

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks - I've been waiting on this for far too long. I wanted to read it when it first came out, but it kept moving back on the stack. Now I'll have something to get ready for next year's release of the sequel, The Blinding Knife.

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.

But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia - I've heard tons of great things about this author and I can't wait to learn a bunch about guns I guess.

Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a fourteenth story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer.

It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Officially secret, some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. On the other side are the people who kill monsters for a living. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit.

It’s actually a pretty sweet gig, except for one little problem. An ancient entity known as the Cursed One has returned to settle a centuries old vendetta. Should the Cursed One succeed, it means the end of the world, and MHI is the only thing standing in his way. With the clock ticking towards Armageddon, Owen finds himself trapped between legions of undead minions, belligerent federal agents, a cryptic ghost who has taken up residence inside his head, and the cursed family of the woman he loves.

Business is good... Welcome to Monster Hunter International.

The Golden Queen by Dave Wolverton - This has been a popular one, but not necessarily for the content.

The insectoid Dronon invaders have slain Semaritte, ruler of 10,000 human worlds. Only her clone, Everynne, survives to rally the forces of humanity. Pursued across a multiplicity of worlds, she enlists the aid of Gallen O'Day, a cocky young bodyguard from a backwater planet, along with the beautiful orphan Maggie Flynn and Orick, an intelligent black bear.

Howl's Moving Caste by Diana Wynne Jones - This is one of those where I didn't become interested in the author until I heard about her passing. It saddens me when that happens, but I'm happy to be able to enjoy her work.

In the land of Ingary, such things as spells, invisible cloaks, and seven-league boots were everyday things. The Witch of the Waste was another matter.

After fifty years of quiet, it was rumored that the Witch was about to terrorize the country again. So when a moving black castle, blowing dark smoke from its four thin turrets, appeared on the horizon, everyone thought it was the Witch. The castle, however, belonged to Wizard Howl, who, it was said, liked to suck the souls of young girls.

The Hatter sisters--Sophie, Lettie, and Martha--and all the other girls were warned not to venture into the streets alone. But that was only the beginning.

In this giant jigsaw puzzle of a fantasy, people and things are never quite what they seem. Destinies are intertwined, identities exchanged, lovers confused. The Witch has placed a spell on Howl. Does the clue to breaking it lie in a famous poem? And what will happen to Sophie Hatter when she enters Howl's castle?

Diana Wynne Jones's entrancing fantasy is filled with surprises at every turn, but when the final stormy duel between the Witch and the Wizard is finished, all the pieces fall magically into place.

Mr. Monster by Dan Wells - This might be next up in the stack. Can't wait to get back to John Cleaver.

I killed a demon. I don’t know if it was really, technically a demon, but I do know that he was some kind of monster, with fangs and claws and the whole bit, and he killed a lot of people. So I killed him. I think it was the right thing to do. At least the killing stopped.

Well, it stopped for a while.

In I Am Not a Serial Killer, John Wayne Cleaver saved his town from a murderer even more appalling than the serial killers he obsessively studies. But it turns out even demons have friends, and the disappearance of one has brought another to Clayton County. Soon there are new victims for John to work on at the mortuary and a new mystery to solve. But John has tasted death, and the dark nature he used as a weapon---the terrifying persona he calls "Mr. Monster"---might now be using him.

No one in Clayton is safe unless John can vanquish two nightmarish adversaries: the unknown demon he must hunt and the inner demon he can never escape.

In this sequel to his brilliant debut, Dan Wells ups the ante with a thriller that is just as gripping and even more intense. He apologizes in advance for the nightmares.

I Don't Want To Kill You (Autographed) by Dan Wells - Supposed to be a great ending to the trilogy, can't wait.

John Cleaver has called a demon—literally called it, on the phone, and challenged it to a fight. He’s faced two of the monsters already, barely escaping with his life, and now he’s done running; he’s taking the fight to them. But as he wades through his town’s darkest secrets, searching for any sign of who the demon might be, one thing becomes all too clear: in a game of cat and mouse with a supernatural killer, the human is always the mouse.

In I Am Not a Serial Killer we watched a budding sociopath break every rule he had to save his town from evil. In Mr. Monster we held our breath as he fought madly with himself, struggling to stay in control. Now John Cleaver has mastered his twisted talents and embraced his role as a killer of killers. I Don’t Want to Kill You brings his story to a thundering climax of suspicion, mayhem, and death.

It’s time to punish the guilty.

And in a town full of secrets, everyone is guilty of something.

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Zombies by Matt Mogk - At first I wasn't sure about this one, but then it even has an introduction by Max Brooks and quotes everything from Brooks' World War Z and Zombie Survival Guide to George A. Romero's films. It looks amazing. From the Zombie Research Society:

“If you’re already a zombie fan, you’ll be blown away by the time and energy sunk into this book. If you’re not a zombie a fan, this book will make you one!”

World of Warcraft: Wolfheart by Richard A. Knaack - This is the second in a series, of which I don't have the first, beginning with Stormrage. I'm very interested in this one and although it's been a while since I've played World of Warcraft, it is an awesome game.

New York Times bestselling author Richard A. Knaak continues the thrilling story begun in the record-breaking MMO game expansion WORLD OF WARCRAFT: CATACLYSM in this new hardcover!

Hellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson - Can anyone convince me to read this? I'm only partially interested at this point. The concept sounds good, but I don't have the highest expectations of the authors.

Only the most desperate colonists dare to make a new home on Hellhole. Reeling from a recent asteroid impact, tortured with horrific storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and churning volcanic eruptions, the planet is a dumping ground for undesirables, misfits, and charlatans…but also a haven for dreamers and independent pioneers.

Against all odds, an exiled general named Adolphus has turned Hellhole into a place of real opportunity for the desperate colonists who call the planet their home. While the colonists are hard at work developing the planet, General Adolphus secretly builds alliances with the leaders of the other Deep Zone worlds, forming a clandestine coalition against the tyrannical, fossilized government responsible for their exile.

What no one knows is this: the planet Hellhole, though damaged and volatile, hides an amazing secret. Deep beneath its surface lies the remnants of an obliterated alien civilization and the buried memories of its unrecorded past that, when unearthed, could tear the galaxy apart.