I've been a fan of the author Katherine Addison since The Goblin Emperor came out; to quote myself, "excellent world-building, with its own language and speech conventions that are conveyed without confusion (or without much, anyway)." And as much as I love it, I have been equally-if-not-more pleased by her subsequent related-but-not-directly books, The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones (not to mention her supernatural take on Sherlock Holmes, The Angel of the Crows, which is also great but very different). The books are great, and the audio versions are wonderful: honestly, I think I would struggle a lot more with the names of people and places, except that I can "hear" them from the many times I have listened to the books.
Anyway! As a member of her Patreon, I saw recently when she gave away a few copies of the new book in the series, The Tomb of Dragons*, which comes out in March, and though I wasn't quick enough to win one of those, she next gave away advance copies of a new novella, The Orb of Cairado, which is in the same world but with different characters, and comes out in January (Subterranean Press is printing a limited, signed run). And guess what, I won!
*One of the reviews on Goodreads states, "The Tomb of Dragons did not disappoint me in the slightest, except that it ended" which is very promising!
It arrived yesterday:
I read it (of course), and I quite liked it, though I would not at all suggest jumping in with this one if you haven't read the series. You could read the books about Thara Celehar without having read The Goblin Emperor first, though I would argue you shouldn't, but in my opinion, you'll really want to understand how this world works before reading this novella. If you have read the others, then yes, I recommend this one!
That's so cool you get advance copies and that you get them signed by the authors. What a neat collection you must have of these (I seem to recall you writing about other advanced copies you've gotten in recent months?).
ReplyDeleteMy reading has TANKED this fall. Usually I read a lot, but between NaBloPoMo and life and not feeling enthused about reading, I've basically read nothing in November. Blah. I need to get back on the proverbial horse.
Mostly, the advance copies I've gotten have been through NetGalley, which is more for librarians and booksellers, but as a "book blogger" I can request books and sometimes get approved. Those are ebooks and not signed. Once in a while I win a giveaway on GoodReads, and those can be either ebooks or physical. This one was given away directly by the author, which is why she signed it.
DeleteIt's funny how we go through phases of practically no reading at all, and phases of reading all the things all the time!
Ooh, it's so pretty. I've only read The Angel of the Crows, which I really liked at first and then got lost in the pacing a bit. This series sounds cool, though.
ReplyDeleteIt's really different, but I love them!
DeleteSometimes I'm up for world building but other times (like now) I don't have the mental or emotional energy. I have very much enjoyed this type of book in the past so I'm hoping I can get back to it.
ReplyDeleteI totally get that! No pressure, read what's comfortable right now.
DeleteI've never heard of these books, they sound good though.
ReplyDeleteI like them, but they're not for everyone.
DeleteShe sent you a copy of the proof? Wow! That is so cool! I only got one author's proof copy, which of course I had to comb through letter by letter and word by word. And then return to the publisher. I was in the hospital bored out of my mind so I had time to concentrate on it and get it right.
ReplyDeleteI got approved for another book through NetGalley, which I haven't finished yet, and it was spelled out very carefully that it's an advance version, please don't complain about typos!
DeleteSo exciting! As someone who read The Goblin Emperor with my own eyes, I have to say that the names were super confusing. Audio is the way to go for new fantasy readers!
ReplyDeleteI read it with my eyes first, but after having listened to it, it flowed so much more easily!
DeleteI don't think that I have ever read one of her books! So you read it in a day? That is pretty cool! I have been a bit lax on my reading, maybe due to NaBloPoMo? Anyway, I have a long list of books to get through...
ReplyDeleteThis one is a novella, so it was pretty short. I also have a habit of racing through my first read of books, to find out what happens, and then if I liked it, rereading it more slowly to catch what I missed.
DeleteI don't typically enjoy fantasy, but I'm so excited for you that you won an advanced copy. Woot woot!
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