2012 In Review - Stats and Top 5 Non-2012 Releases

When I was little, I obsessed over my collection of Marvel trading cards. Outside of trading and collecting, I'd read the backs of everyone and knew by heart the statistics (stamina, agility, energy projection!, etc.) of every character, hero or villain. One of the things that got me into the science fiction and fantasy community, besides figuring out when George's next book would come out, was looking at top 10 and top 100 lists and trying to read through them or at least collect books to read. I still can't get enough of lists and stats, whether my own or from other sources, I just hope they're somewhat interesting to you.

With that, here are some of my 2012 stats and following those are my Top 5 Books read in 2012 that were released prior to that time:

Books read in total: 52
Fantasy: 22
Science Fiction: 6
Urban Fantasy: 13
Audiobook: 11
eBook: 18
Paper: 23
Female authors: 9
ARC's and Review Copies read: 19
Series' started in 2012: 7
Series' completed in 2012: 2 (Shadow Saga and Macht Trilogy)

The main thing that surprised me was how many books that can be considered Urban Fantasy fell in that list. I think Bastard would be proud. :) I counted books like The Hollow City, The Thirteen Hallows, and Legion alongside books like Unclean Spirits and the Demon Squad books, which are more obviously UF.

The last list I put together was of my favorite 2012 releases, but outside of 2012 releases I read an incredible amount of really good books. I warned you in that post I'd have another list and here it is:

Top 5 of 2012 (Non-2012 Releases)

5. Lord of Chaos (Wheel of Time #6) by Robert Jordan [review]

I really did enjoy this installment in The Wheel of Time. Not my favorite in the series, but I really enjoyed all the intricacies and additions to the incredible world Jordan created.

4. Acacia (Acacia #1) [review] and The Other Lands (Acacia #2) [review] by David Anthony Durham

If you're dying for something to read while we wait for George, Acacia just may be the perfect interlude. I can't believe how close I was to passing on this series, what a huge mistake that would have been. Acacia is exactly the kind of epic fantasy I love.

3. The Curse of the Mistwraith (Wars of Light and Shadow #1) by Janny Wurts [review]

If you want a challenge along the lines of Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, in the sense that you need to be ready to apply yourself fully, that will having you living and breathing in another world altogether, you're in for a treat. While not everyone will connect with The Curse of the Mistwraith, those who do will really have a truly powerful experience.

2. Wizard and Glass (Dark Tower #4) by Stephen King [review]

If you haven't read The Dark Tower series, you're in for a treat. What? I'm the last person to do so? Well, I love it. I don't reread books much, but I will definitely do so once I'm done. This series is epic and tragic in every sense of each word. You will not regret it.

1. Blade of Tyshalle (Acts of Caine #2) by Matthew Woodring Stover [review]

As bloody and brilliant as you would expect from the awesomeness that was Heroes Die and yet Blade of Tyshalle takes everything up a notch. Action-packed mayhem and ideas that make you think? Yes, you can have it all. Bloody brilliant.

Review - Blade of Tyshalle (Acts of Caine #2) by Matthew Woodring Stover

I got a Kindle and guess what was my first purchase? You guessed it, Atlas Shrugged! Okay, no, it was this one, Blade of Tyshalle [US] [UK]. I was looking forward to it, but it's all but impossible to get in paper form unless you want to pay out the nose.

Because I had such a long wait time between this book and the first in the Acts of Caine, Heroes Die (which I was inordinately hard on for some reason), I had lots of time to read reviews and such and opinions are actually quite divisive.

On one side, you have those who absolutely adore the book and yet acknowledge how different it is from Heroes Die. These people tend to like Blade more than the Heroes. On the other side, you have those who just hated it, hated that it was a completely different book with a simple premise. I found myself in the former category (hence the 5 stars I guess).

I went into Blade not really knowing what to think, but having this idea that it would be a completely different book than it was. I had this picture that it would be a philosophical treatise almost. I was wrong. Not completely wrong, but very wrong nonetheless.

The thing is, Blade of Tyshalle is everything you would expect in a sequel to Heroes Die. It's easily one of the bloodiest, action-filled, killfests around. This was, for some reason, a big surprise to me. There is constant action.

At the same time, Blade is a very introspective book (this is where the philosophy comes in). There are lots of ideas thrown around about life and about living. I didn't even necessarily agree with all of them, but it got me really thinking.

Stover's "about the author" in some of his books reads something like, "Matthew Stover believes everything you need to know about life can be found in his books." I always thought that was pretty conceited, but now I'm starting to see why he believes this way.

One of the main arguments he puts forth here in Blade of Tyshalle is that you can really do anything you want. If you want it, do it. It's that simple. This kind of thinking really jives with me. I very much believe that life is what you make it, even as cheesy as that sounds. If you want to be rich, you can do it, you just gotta work your butt off to get it. Same goes for fame, for anything.

I think most of us fall in the category of 1) having multiple passions, which means all suffer and/or 2) getting comfortable where you are (or lazy in my case), which is why we're not rich or famous, but probably a lot happier. I'll stop before this takes over...

Anyway, tangent aside, the world that Stover has created is incredible. If the fact that his world contains a futuristic caste-based society that sends "actors" to a medieval fantasy-type world to reek havoc and practice magic purely for entertainment doesn't make you want to read a book, I don't know what would.

Seven years after the ending of Heroes Die, the first in the Acts of Caine, Caine finds himself it a bit un-Caine-like situation. He no longer has the use of his legs, what with that whole magical sword, Kosall, running him through to his spine. In fact, he hates when people remind him he's Caine.

His best "friend" (i.e., not really his friend at all, but worst enemy), Tan'elKoth, formerly known as Ma'elKoth or the bad guy from Heroes Die who found himself "transcended" to Earth, is the only one he can really talk to.

While "Caine" (or Hari now) pines for his old life, he now lives with his wife, Shanna, and daughter, Faith. He was even bumped up a caste to Administrator. So really, he's got it made. Well, not really at all because then we wouldn't have this fun story here.

Being Caine, Hari ticked of his share of people on both Overworld and Earth and that doesn't bode well for a nice, peaceful life of luxury. With a mix of old grudges and dark powers arising, Blade of Tyshalle ups the ante from Heroes Die in so many ways.

Not only does Blade deal with a medieval world that can be accessed from Earth, but the ideas Stover presents are epic themselves. Is it worth saving the world when you can't save a loved one? Is the world even worth saving? Is it worth saving one world while damning another? What if the first world has billions of more people, and especially children? These are just a couple of the questions that really had me thinking.

If there's anything I hate, it's plot-lines where the main protagonist, the hero even, loses his powers. This didn't work for me in Spider-man 2 (movie) or in Batman Returns (graphic novel). Although I still enjoyed the latter, I didn't love it because of this aspect. In this book, that seems to be the case, that Caine has lost his Mojo. It could be argued so, and I was definitely of this opinion for most of my read, but it's really not the case. Is it really the physical parts of you that make you you?

While at the limits of my gag reflex, Blade of Tyshalle comes highly recommended. It has EVERYTHING you could ever want from a fantasy and more. The pages turn themselves, the writing's spectacular, the world is insane and fully fleshed out (much more here than in Heroes Die too), and the action is the best you'll find. This isn't just puffery, I challenge you to find better action.

As bloody and brilliant as you would expect from the awesomeness that was Heroes Die and yet Blade of Tyshalle takes everything up a notch. Action-packed mayhem and ideas that make you think? Yes, you can have it all. Bloody brilliant.

5 out of 5 Stars (Best. Book. Ever.)

Note: This review may have had a hand in getting me to finally make time to read this book.

It's News To Me #17 - Cover Up or Duck and Cover or Now You're Cover-ed or ...

A couple great covers have come out lately for some really great books, well, I can only really vouch for a couple (in terms of content), but I'm sure the others won't disappoint either.

I can vouch for this great novella, New Spring. I don't yet know if I like this cover art though. I think it could grow on me.


Here's another I can vouch for, Deadhouse Gates. Read the Malazan Book of the Fallen if you haven't already. It will blow your mind. Compared to the Gardens of the Moon Sub Press, which is really unfair, this pales. But so does EVERYTHING else. On it's own, I think it represents the book quite nicely.


This is one I can't vouch for, but it's Caine. I really need to catch up on this series:


I own the first one of these, The Adamantine Palace, but here's the third already. I really really love these covers.
And that's the news...at least to me.

Review - Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover

Matthew Stover is probably best known for his Star Wars novels and most especially the novelization of the movie, Revenge of the Sith [US] [UK] (which I loved - both movie and novel).

Heroes Die [US] [UK] is the first in the Acts of Caine series continuing with the elusive Blade of Tyshalle, then Caine Black Knife, and a few more planned though no solid dates (so says Wikipedia).

Goodreads blurb:

Rife with magic and adventure, this extraordinarily ambitious fantasy chronicles the adventures of Hari Michaelson--merely a popular actor on Earth, but a renowned and deadly assassin known as Caine, the Blade of Tyshalle, on the planet Overworld.

The front of the book calls it a fantasy novel, but I would say it's more of a fantasy/sci-fi mix. There are elves and trolls, but there's also a mix of futuristic science that actually fits together really well.

Heroes Die is amazingly well plotted with vividly memorable scenes that I couldn't get out of my head even if I wanted to. There are so many twists and turns throughout and not once did I see one coming until it was already happening.

I don't want to give too much away, but there are really two places or worlds in which Heroes Die takes place. One is on Earth where there is a caste system in place from the bottom Laborers to the top Leisuremen and women. Caine/Hari is an actor which is around the middle of the castes.

The other world is Overworld where all the action takes place and where the people of earth get to see what the actors do through their eyes. The more money you have the more you get to see of the action. This is where Hari Michaelson becomes Caine.

And Caine makes it worth your while. Nothing but death and destruction follow in his path and that's why he's the number one star on earth. His scenes are just the best, full of action and impossible situations where Caine gets beat up and bloody and does everything he can to save his wife who is stranded on Overworld.

I have to say, I liked Heroes Die a lot, but I can't say I loved it. I know I've been shouting its praises and rightly so, but there was a large amount of brutality and profanity, which I thought was overused. At points the profanity made me feel like I was back in Jr. High and the references were just too crude for me.

At the same time, if you don't mind this then I can almost guarantee that you'll love this book.

When Should You Read Heroes Die?

If you like action and adventure with lots of plot twists but don't mind a large amount of brutality and profanity, Heroes Die will work wonders for you. The plotting is stellar and consistent and will keep you turning the pages.

3.5 out of 5 Stars (really liked)

I base my rating in part on whether I can read a book again, and that just wouldn't happen in this case, but I will be continuing with the series.