eBook deals from Simon & Schuster

Straight off the press (well, email) from Simon & Schuster, eBook deals aplenty. I've linked a couple of the titles to reviews I've done and there's more I will have to check out...like Zombies vs. Unicorns. How can I possibly pass that up?

Simon & Schuster offers special New York Comic Con eBook promotion

Simon & Schuster is offering a special New York Comic Con eBook promotion from October 11th through November 14th.

eBook titles have been reduced from $7.99 to $3.99 and will include Star Trek, Urban Fantasy, Sci-FI/Horror and teen fiction titles (for a complete list, please see below).

Find all titles here: http://pages.simonandschuster.com/comiccon/

Titles include:

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Horror
GEARS OF WAR: COALITION’S END by Karen Traviss
RISE AGAIN by Ben Tripp
A DARKNESS FORGED IN FIRE by Chris Evans
THE LIGHT OF BURNING SHADOWS by Chris Evans
SOULESS by Christopher Golden
THE RIVER KINGS’ ROAD by Liane Merciel (Works as stand-alone even though 3rd book won't be published)

Original Star Trek Novels
THE NEXT GENERATION: TYPHON PACT #1: ZERO SUM GAME by David Mack
THE NEXT GENERATION: TYPHON PACT #2: SEIZE THE FIRE by Michael A. Martin
THE NEXT GENERATION: DESTINY #1: GODS OF NIGHT by David Mack
THE NEXT GENERATION: DEATH IN WINTER by Michael Jan Friedman
THE ORIGINAL SERIES: ENTROPY EFFECT by Vonda N. McIntyre
TITAN #1: TAKING WING by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels
VANGUARD #1: HARBINGER by David Mack
DEPARTMENT OF TEMPORAL INVESTIGATIONS: WATCHING THE CLOCK by Christopher L. Bennett
DEEP SPACE NINE: A STITCH IN TIME by Andrew J. Robinson
VOYAGER: FULL CIRCLE by Kirsten Beyer
NEW FRONTIER: AFTER THE FALL by Peter David
THE LOST ERA: SERPENTS AMONG THE RUINS by David R. George III
DEEP SPACE NINE: TEROK NOR: DAY OF THE VIPERS: by James Swallow
ENTERPRISE: KOBAYASHI MARU by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels
THE KLINGON DICTIONARY by Marc Okrand

Urban Fantasy
A RUSH OF WINGS by Adrian Phoenix
STAKED by J.F. Lewis
UNCLEAN SPIRITS by M.L.N Hanover
DEAD ON THE DELTA by Stacey Jay
DARK DESCENDANT by Jenna Black
THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS by Kelly Gay
MASTER OF NONE by Sonya Bateman
WICKED GAME by Jeri Smith-Ready
SURRENDER THE DARK by L.A. Banks

Teen Fiction
UNWIND by Neal Shusterman
ZOMBIES VS. UNICORNS
EDGE by Rudy Josephs
DELTA ANOMALY by Rick Barba
PATHFINDER by Orson Scott Card
WICKED by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie

Review - The River Kings' Road: A Novel of Ithelas by Liane Merciel

While visiting the rival's city of Willowfield, the Lord of Bull's March, Sir Galefrid, has been ambushed by a dark magic only a Thorn could wield. The entire town is decimated, except for Brys Tarnell, who is able to escape just before the bloodmist fully takes its toll.

The coincidences and timing make it hard to believe it's only the workings of a Thorn and its bloodmagic. Sir Kelland, a knight of the Sun, blessed to work magic in the goddess Celestia's name, and Bitharn, hopelessly in love with Kelland, are asked to investigate by the Lord of Langmyr and governing province of Willowfield who had hoped to enter peace talks with the rival lord, Sir Galefrid.

Set in my favorite subgenre, that of secondary world epic fantasy, The River Kings' Road [US] [UK] is the first in the series of Ithelas (the second, Heaven's Needle [US] [UK], having been recently released).

As Peter William mentions in his review, there's a lot of competition (or maybe just a lot of books) in this subgenre with the very easy possibility of good works being lost in the sea of junk. Luckily for me, I have friends that know a good thing when they see it.

I still can't believe this was a first novel for Liane Merciel. Her prose is crisp and the pacing is perfect. I was deeply involved with the characters, and even her antagonists are hard not to like, or at least respect, they reside in a nice gray area.

The magic is centered around certain rituals that invoke a goddess' power. The Thorns' magic is based around their worship of the goddess of pain, so their rituals are pretty sick and twisted indeed. Kelland, as a knight of the Sun, has certain magical abilities which, like the Thorns, aren't completely explained, but also based in ritual (although more inward than the Thorns' outward pain infliction).

This brings up a great point that sets Merciel apart. Not only is her magic something different than the usual, but her entire story isn't run-of-the-mill either. There is no quest, but the world she's created is mysterious and vast nonetheless.

Once you get past the confusion at the beginning, mostly in trying to figure out which town belongs in which kingdom and who's on whose side, The River Kings' Road is a very satisfying read.

Why Read River Kings' Road?

Liane Merciel deserves much more credit than she has received until now and I hope her audience continues to grow and grow. I really enjoyed her debut, The River Kings' Road, and I'm extremely excited for the next installment, Heaven's Needle. Highly Recommended!

4 out of 5 Stars (Loved it!)

Check out an interview with Liane Merciel at Speculative Book Review.

Copy provided by Simon and Shuster Pocket