Catching Up

Work has been hectic this week and despite my best intentions, I couldn't find the opportunity to post these news at the right time so forgive me for bundling them together but this is the best I could do this week.

A new press released announced Tor UK's new acquisition. To hear King's and Koontz's names is enough for me to pay attention to Seth Patrick's Reviver series. But I'm afraid we're going to have to wait a little while before we can lay our eyes on the first book.

Tor UK captures Seth Patrick

Reviver by Seth Patrick has been acquired by Tor UK in a six-figure pre-empt from Luigi Bonomi.

It is the first of three books in the Reviver series, all of which have been acquired by Tor UK and Thomas Dunne Books in New York for World English Language rights. Comparable to Stephen King, Justin Cronin and Dean Koontz, this supernatural thriller has a fantastic lead character, Jonah Miller, who will feature in all three books.
Seth Patrick is in his late 30s and lives in West Sussex. A very successful computer games developer who works for Sega, Reviver is his first novel.

Reviver is set in the USA and introduces readers to Jonah Miller, one of the world’s most gifted revivers. Revivers are those who can make contact with the dead and bring them back for a short period of time to say goodbye to loved ones or, more importantly for the police, tell them who their killers were.

But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, Jonah discovers that a sinister presence is watching from the other side. When he starts to investigate, what he uncovers threatens everything he knows . . .
Julie Crisp, Editorial Director of Tor UK says,

“This is a hugely exciting project and everyone who read this loved it! Seth Patrick is a wonderful writer and there's a real sense of action and pace combined with an imagination and storyline in the novel that readers of Justin Cronin will love. Jonah Miller is going to be a very popular character.”

Luigi Bonomi comments,

“Seth Patrick has written one of the most captivating and original stories I’ve read in ages. I first read the material sitting on a train and had to ring the author there and then as I knew it was going to be terrific. I couldn’t be more delighted that Macmillan and Thomas Dunne Books are going to be publishing it.”

Reviver is currently scheduled for publication in the UK in 2013.

Mark Lawrence's upcoming book, King of Thorns, second book of the Broken Empire series, has a cover now:

My first reaction to it was: "A hooded figure (again) but I like it (again)." I think, just like in the first book's cover, I really like the posture of Jorg (the King). The first book of the series, Prince of Thorns has been very well received (reviewed here) so I'm sure most of you are looking forward to its publication in August 2012.

I also caught my first glimpse of Anthony Huso's Black Bottle:

Huso has created a big fan base with his very successful previous book, The Last Page. Black Bottle is going to be published in 2012 but I haven't heard a more precise date yet.

UK Cover Art: City of Dragons by Robin Hobb

Harper Voyager has revealed the UK cover of Robin Hobb's City of Dragons, the third instalment of The Rain Wild Chronicles.

I like this cover much better than the US cover shown below:

City of Dragons will be published on 7 Feb 2011.

Blurb

The dragon keepers and fledgling dragons have discovered a route to the lost city of Kelsingra but there is one problem: they need to be able to fly to cross the treacherous waters and enter the fabled city. At first, only a few dragons are willing to try – the others are either too ashamed of their deformed wings and feeble muscles or too proud to risk failure and humiliation.

But the rewards waiting at Kelsingra for those brave enough to take to the air are worth more than they could possibly imagine. This was a city built for dragons and their keepers. Alise Finbok is overwhelmed by the treasures she finds there, and spends hours carefully uncovering wonder after wonder, recording her findings for posterity. She knows the knowledge will change everything the world thought about dragons and the Elderlings.

Yet rumours of the city’s discovery have floated down the Rain Wild River and reached envious ears in Bingtown and beyond. Adventurers, pirates and fortune hunters are coming in droves to pillage what they can from the city. Will the dragons, only just finding their strength, and their keepers, who are changing in their own mysterious ways, be able to fend them off?

And what has happened to Tintaglia, the dragon-mother who started it all? Has she really abandoned her offspring forever? Or will she too return to seek the riches of Kelsingra…

Harper Voyager to Reissue A Song Of Ice And Fire in Hardback

After releasing A Dance with Dragons, one of the most anticipated books of recent years, Harper Voyager decided to reissue the first four books of the amazingly popular series A Song of Ice and Fire in hardback. Their cover art will follow and complement the theme of A Dance with Dragons' cover.

Update:

A Game of Thrones

ISBN 13: 9780007459483 ISBN 10: 0007459483

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780007459483/?a_aid=betweentwobooks

A Clash of Kings

ISBN 13: 9780007459452 ISBN 10: 0007459459

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780007459452/?a_aid=betweentwobooks

A Storm of Swords

ISBN 13: 9780007459469 ISBN 10: 0007459467

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780007459469/?a_aid=betweentwobooks

A Feast For Crows

ISBN 13: 9780007459476 ISBN 10: 0007459475

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780007459476/?a_aid=betweentwobooks

Book Review: The Ritual by Adam Nevill

Title: The Ritual
Author: Adam Nevill
Trade Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Macmillan (6 May 2011)
ISBN 10: 0230754929
ISBN 13: 978-0230754928

"And on the third day things did not get better. The rain fell hard and cold, the white sun never broke through the low grey cloud, and they were lost. But it was the dead thing they found hanging from a tree that changed the trip beyond recognition.

When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect with one another. But when Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his well-heeled friends, tensions rise.

With limited fitness and experience between them, a shortcut meant to ease their hike turns into a nightmare scenario that could cost them their lives. Lost, hungry, and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, Luke figures things couldn’t possibly get any worse.

But then they stumble across an old habitation. Ancient artefacts decorate the walls and there are bones scattered upon the dry floors. The residue of old rites and pagan sacrifice for something that still exists in the forest. Something responsible for the bestial presence that follows their every step. And as the four friends stagger in the direction of salvation, they learn that death doesn’t come easy among these ancient trees..."


Please find the rest of the review on Speculative Book Review...

Cover Art: Daniel Abraham's The King's Blood

Daniel Abraham's The Dragon's Path has been, without a doubt, one of my best reads this year (as of this writing, its review is still 'work in progress'). And I'm truly looking forward to reading the second book of The Dagger And The Coin series. So when I saw the cover art of The King's Blood, I had the great feeling to be closer to the publication date.

Even though this cover is following the same theme, I liked the cover of The Dragon's Path better. It had more life. But maybe that's the whole intention behind the cover of The King's Blood: Red, reminiscent of blood, and devoid of life, announcing deaths to come.