100 books, 100 offers, 25 hours

The Book Depository is running another great promotion day. This time, it looks like they increase the scope and the size of the offers.

Starting at 12:00 noon GMT (7:00 AM EST), they are going to push a new book offer every 15 minutes.

I usually buy one or two books during their book-offer days. Let's see what gems I'm going to bring home today.

Game Review: ORC: Vengeance

I usually don't blog about games. Mostly because I'm not a serious gamer (or I should say I ceased to be one some time ago). But I consider myself a casual gamer, especially since the beginning of the smartphone era. The games I play on my phone or on my tablet are generally puzzle or strategy type of games that I can play 5 mins here and 10 mins there.

However every now and then I discover a game and I totally get glued to it until I finish it (or it finishes me - that's another kinda-long story when, years ago, I succumbed after sleepless days of playing an awesome game). The game that I absolutely loved and that I wanted to tell you about is called Orc: The Vengeance.

Please visit Speculative Book Review to read the rest of this review...

Cover Art: The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett

Please go to Speculative Book Review to read this post.

First Impression: Of Blood And Honey by Stina Leicht

Yesterday evening, when I heard about Night Shades Books' wonderful Thanksgiving Ebook Giveaway, I downloaded the books that were on offer: Agatha H and the Airship City by Phil and Kaja Fglio, The Emperors Knife by Mazarkis Williams and Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht.

I don't know you but when I receive new books I cannot simply put them down for later and go on with life. I have to look at them, turn their pages, read their first few chapters. I basically need to strike up an acquaintance with them. So I turned the first page of Of Blood and Honey.

It captured my attention immediately because the setting was Northern Ireland during the 70s, more specifically the protagonist seemed to be involved in the Irish-English conflict. I am not Irish but I have lived in Ireland for more than 13 years and I found the setting quite attractive.

The first few chapters that I read were short, dividing the story nicely. The author had a very pleasant-to-read, fluent style. And I found the plot (or I should say the beginning of it) interesting enough to make me want to continue to read.

When I put down Stina Leicht's Of Blood and Honey I was decided to get back to it very soon. It had just climbed at the top of my pile of books to be read.


Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Night Shade Books (@nightshadebooks)
Series: Book One of The Fey and The Fallen
ISBN-10: 1597802131
ISBN-13: 978-1597802130

"Fallen angels and The Fey clash against the backdrop of Irish/English conflicts of the 1970s in this stunning debut novel by Stina Leicht.

Liam never knew who his father was. The town of Derry had always assumed that Liam was the bastard of a Protestant. Liam’s mother never spoke of the man, so Liam had assumed him dead.

When the war between The Fey and The Fallen begins to heat up, Liam and the woman he loves are pulled into a conflict invisible to most humans— a conflict in which Liam’s father fights on the front lines. This centuries-old battle between supernatural forces seems to mirror the political divisions in 1970s-era Ireland, and Liam is thrown headlong into both conflicts.

Only the direct intervention of Liam’s father and a secret Catholic order dedicated to fighting The Fallen can save Liam from the mundane and supernatural forces around him, and from the darkness that lurks within."

2 New Additions To My TBR Pile

The first book that went in my TBR pile is Jonathan Green's Time's Arrow. I think you're all familiar with Abaddon's Steampunk world Pax Britannia however it might still be a good idea to give a brief introduction:

Pax Britannia is a steampunk alternative history set in a late twentieth century in which Queen Victoria - now nearing the end of her sixteenth decade on the throne, and wholly dependent on steam technology for survival - rules over the vastly wealthy, powerful and decadent Empire of Magna Britannia. Airships ply the skies overhead as gentlemen of leisure admire the dinosaurs in the London Zoo, while the Empire has extended to the Moon. Across the pond, the United Socialist States of America, loosely allied with the might of Magna Britannia, is home to dreamers, poets, madmen, and heroes, poised to usher in a new era. 

Jonathan Green's Time's Arrow is the final instalment of an interesting publishing experiment. With the first two books of the series, Green gave his readers a choice about what would happen next. Time's Arrow is the single volume that contains all three books.

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Abaddon Books (8 Nov 2012 - UK, 13 Nov 2012 - US, CA)
ISBN-10: 1781080631
ISBN-13: 978-1781080634

"Paris. City of lights. City of lovers. City of dreams. Yet if one man gets his way, its inhabitants will soon be forced to endure a nightmare such as they have never known.

Hero of the British Empire Ulysses Quicksilver is determined to stand in his way... even as he returns from the past to appear on the scene of a horrific murder!

Before he can hope to rescue the French capital from its fate, Ulysses must go on the run and track down the real killer. His intention: to clear his good name, and get back to England in one piece. And quickly, for the love of his life is about to take a most ill-advised trip to the Moon.

Can Quicksilver stop the terrorist known only as 'Le Papillon'?"

The second book that just made into my TBR pile is Juliet E. McKenna's conclusion to her The Hadrumal Crisis Trilogy: Defiant Peaks. 

Paperback: 528 pages
Publisher: Solaris (6 Dec 2012 - UK, 27 Nov 2012 - US, CA)
ISBN-10: 1781080577
ISBN-13: 978-1781080573

Archmage Planir and the wizards of Hadrumal have demonstrated their devestating powers and the corsair threat is no more. The mainland rulers' relief is overshadowed with fear of one day facing such a threat to their own dominion. Will Tormalin's Emporer make an alliance with Solura's wizards, who so openly covet Hadrumal's secrets? Will he seek out that other mysterious magic, Artifice, to counter Planir's magecraft? How will the aloof Aetheric adepts of the mountains answer such an appeal?

With many of the Wizard Council disputing Planir's chosen course, he must look beyond the island city for allies. To Suthyfer, the controversial haven for mageborn far away in the Eastern Ocean. To Caladrhia, where Corrain, Baron Halferan and Lady Zurenne believe they have finally won respite from all their trials. But absence of strife is hardly peace. The lull before winter's storms descend from the distant northern peaks will be a short one.

Cover Art: The Age Atomic by Adam Christopher

Above is the beautiful cover of Adam Christopher's The Age Atomic, the sequel to Empire State, a superhero, noir fantasy thriller set in an alternate New York. It is going to be published on 26th March 2013 in the USA/Canada and on 4th April 2013 in the UK.

"The Empire State is dying. The Fissure connecting the pocket universe to New York has vanished, plunging the city into a deep freeze and the populace are demanding a return to Prohibition and rationing as energy supplies dwindle.

Meanwhile, in 1954 New York, the political dynamic has changed and Nimrod finds his department subsumed by a new group, Atoms For Peace, led by the mysterious Evelyn McHale.

As Rad uncovers a new threat to his city, Atoms For Peace prepare their army for a transdimensional invasion. Their goal: total conquest – or destruction – of the Empire State."

Book Depository's 24 Hours Of Offers

Book Depository is going to run another one of their 24 Hours of Offers tomorrow. Each hour, they are going to offer a book at a price discounted up to 70%. The campaign will run from 8th Nov 2012 Noon (GMT) till 9th Nov 2012 Noon (GMT).