I have to confess, I have never watched the TV show The Librarians that this book is based on. Because of that it really wasn’t on my radar, mostly for fear that I would be at a disadvantage from not knowing anything about the show. But when I received a review copy of the book, I had to admit it still sounded like a fun quick read, so I figured it was worth a shot. I mean, come on. Combining libraries and magic? Who doesn’t want to give that a read? And I am happy to say, that based on my experience, I would say this book can definitely be read without prior knowledge of the series. The pace is quick, the characters entertaining, and I never felt like I was missing some crucial backstory or information. The premise of the series is something I think any avid reader of fantasy has to love. There that a secret group called The Librarians that serves to protect the world from all those dangerous magical things. What the Librarians are protecting people from are very familiar things we hear about in folklore, fairy tales and legends. In this particular story, the conflict…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR   FANTASY     URBAN FANTASY   SCIENCE FICTION HORROR     FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR   Bookburners Gladstone, Max 1/10/2017 Chasing Shadows: Visions of Our Coming Transparent Future ed. David Brin & Stephen W. Potts 1/10/2017 Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day Seanan McGuire 1/10/2017 Little Heaven Cutter, Nick 1/10/2017 Octavia Butler’s Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation Damian Duffy & John Jennings 1/10/2017 RoseBlood A.G. Howard 1/10/2017 Sin du Jour: The First Course Matt Wallace 1/10/2017 The Bear and the Nightingale Katherine Arden 1/10/2017 The Burning Page Cogman, Genevieve 1/10/2017 The Cold Eye Gilman, Laura Anne 1/10/2017 The El Sombra Trilogy Al Ewing 1/10/2017 The Last Harvest…

The Burning Isle is a book that captivated me from the very beginning. It’s fun, fast paced and I immediately felt connected to the protagonist, Cassius. I  found myself both rooting for him and also growing more curious about him with each page. The story is told from his POV, and has a series of interspersed flash back chapters that help you piece together both his history and his motivation. In the start of the book, Cassius has arrived in the island of Scipio, a place where the dregs of society find themselves when they have no where else to go. Lawless and ruthless, this is not a destination of choice. “Five miles of slum on the edge of fifty miles of jungle” is how it’s described in the blurb. While it may generally be lawless, there are powerful people there that have control. The city/slum is divided, each side being ruled rival leaders with the feel of a mob or gang type atmosphere. You know, that fun criminal underground setting that everyone loves to read. But the ultimate power on the island belongs to an elusive general who lives with his soldiers at a fort in the forest. The atmosphere…

Level Grind is a fast paced urban fantasy with a gamer sorceress who lives amongst shifters. There are plenty of gaming/geeky references that make this a fun read and make the characters seem that much more relatable (assuming you’re a geek, which I hope you are). Jade Crow is a great protagonist that kept me entertained. A gamer nerd who has been trying to pass as just an ordinary hedge witch, running a comic book and game shop, she is actually a powerful sorceress. In this world, that is not something you want to advertise because sorcerers are feared, seeing as they have a reputation of being cruel as well as eating people’s hearts. Not exactly a friendly conversation starter to drop on your new neighbors. Oh yeah, and she has an obsessive ex-boyfriend who is an incredibly powerful sorcerer and is trying to track her down. This is another reason Jade is trying to lay low as she makes a new life for herself in a small shifter town. Level Grind is actually an omnibus of 4 novellas. While I do prefer novel length books, I think these were enjoyable quick stories that I found myself appreciating more the more I…

re’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY                SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR   FANTASY       SCIENCE FICTION   HORROR       FANTASY          SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR   Confluence   S.K. Dunstall   11/29/2016   Ace Gloriana: Or, The Unfulfill’d Queen   Moorcock, Michael  11/29/2016  Saga Press Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis  Anne Rice  11/29/2016  Knopf The Blockade  Jean Johnson  11/29/2016  Ace The Fate of the Tearling  Erika Johansen  11/29/2016  Harper    

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION   FANTASY       URBAN FANTASY     SCIENCE FICTION       FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION   Apes and Angels Bova, Ben 11/22/2016 Tor Books Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection Sanderson, Brandon 11/22/2016 Tor Books Fireborn Dalglish, David 11/22/2016 Orbit The Operator Kim Harrison 11/22/2016 Gallery Books The Vindication of Man Wright, John C. 11/22/2016 Tor Books

Early next month, The Immortal Throne by Stella Gemmell is releasing (Dec. 6, 2016). If you missed her first book,  The City, it is exciting and fun to read;  a great good versus evil story with lots of grit and a city that takes center stage to the point where it almost feels like another character. I am definitely looking forward to The Immortal Throne, and encourage those that haven’t read her first yet to give it a try. Today we are thrilled to offer the chance to win a copy of her first book, The City. About the Author ABOUT STELLA GEMMELL Stella Gemmell is the author of The City. She has a degree in politics and is a journalist. She was married to the internationally acclaimed and bestselling fantasy novelist David Gemmell and worked with him on his three Troy novels, concluding the final book, Troy: Fall of Kings, following his death in 2006. Stella lives in East Sussex and writes in what was once the dairy of a fifteenth-century farmhouse. Giveaway About the Books In her debut solo novel, Stella Gemmell, coauthor of the “powerful” (Booklist)  conclusion to David Gemmell’s Troy series, weaves a dark epic fantasy about a war-torn civilization and the immortal…

The Dispatcher by John Scalzi may be short, but the concept behind it opens the door for a much larger story. Imagine a world where death is not necessarily final, all depending on how you die. If you die due to illness, natural cause or an accident, then death is the end. However, if you happen to die by the hand of another, if you were murdered, then you will wake up, alive and well, in your bed. At least 99% of the time. So, consider the implications this can present, the different ways that people will be motivated to game the system of death. People participating in high risk activities, suffering from life threatening conditions, they can see this new option to hopefully reduce their risk of death. Scalzi’s world explores the good and the bad with allowing people to tamper with the natural order of things, as this concept pretty much it grants people a way to cheat death. Enter the facilitators for cheating death: dispatchers. Their job is pretty much to murder dispatch people just before they would otherwise die in some way that would not ordinarily grant them a second chance at life. Since this is a novella, I am…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          SCIENCE FICTION   FANTASY   SCIENCE FICTION           FANTASY         SCIENCE FICTION    Catalyst (Star Wars) Luceno, James 11/15/2016 Del Rey Extreme Makeover Wells, Dan 11/15/2016 Tor Books Pirate Utopia Sterling, Bruce 11/15/2016 Tachyon Publications StarCraft: Evolution Zahn, Timothy 11/15/2016 Del Rey The Gates of Hell Livingston, Michael 11/15/2016 Tor Books

Today we are excited to welcome Christopher Hinz to The Speculative Herald!      His latest book, Binary Storm is published by Angry Robot and is out now. A streetwise computer wiz, his politically savvy girlfriend and a tormented supersoldier form an uneasy alliance to stop assassins existing simultaneously in two bodies from threatening the world with apocalypse. The standalone novel serves as a prequel to the more distant future of “Liege-Killer” and the Paratwa Saga.   DOING THE DARK POP APOCALYPTIC GENRE HOP By Christopher Hinz   About the Author Christopher Hinz is the author of five science fiction books. Liege-Killer won the Compton Crook Award for best first novel and was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer. He has written screenplays and a graphic novel, scripted comics for DC and Marvel, and has worked as a newspaper reporter and technical administrator of a small TV station. You can find Christopher online at his website: christopherhinz.com.     About the Book