Sunday, December 09, 2012

Books in the Mail (W/E 2012-12-08)

Only a few books this week, and two of them from the same author in the same series...


The Orphaned Worlds (Book Two of Humanity’s Fire) by Michael Cobley (Orbit Mass Market Paperback 10/30/2012) – I read the first in this trilogy a couple of months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it so I’m looking forward to where Cobley takes the series. This here’s book two with more great Steve Stone cover art.

The fight is on. So let the battle begin.

Darien is no longer a lost outpost of humanity, but the prize in an intergalactic struggle. Hegemony forces control the planet, while Earth merely observes, rendered impotent by galactic politics. Yet Earth's ambassador to Darien will become a player in a greater conflict as there is more at stake than a turf war on a newly discovered world.

An ancient temple hides access to a hyperspace prison, housing the greatest threat sentient life has never known. Millennia ago, malignant intelligences were caged there following an apocalyptic struggle, and their servants work on their release. Now a new war is coming.




The Ascendant Stars (Book Three of Humanity’s Fire) by Michael Cobley (Orbit Mass Market Paperback 11/20/2012) – I read the first in this trilogy a couple of months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it so I’m looking forward to where Cobley takes the series. This here’s book three with more great Steve Stone cover art.

War erupts in the depths of space...


Battle-ready factions converge above Darien, all with the same objective: to control this newly discovered planet and access the powerful weapons at its heart. Despotic Hegemony forces dominate much of known space and they want this world too, but Darien's inhabitants are determined to fight for their future.

However, key players in this conflict aren't fully in control. Hostile AIs have infiltrated key minds and have an agenda, requiring nothing less than the destruction or subversion of all organic life. And they are near to unleashing their cohorts, a host of twisted machine intelligences caged beneath Darien. Fighting to contain them are Darien's hidden guardians, and their ancient ally the Construct, on a millennia-long mission to protect sentient species. As the war reaches its peak, the AI army is roaring to the surface, to freedom and an orgy of destruction.


Darien is first in line in a machine vs. human war -- for life or the sterile dusts of space.

Called to Darkness (A Pathfinder Tales novel) by Robin Laws (Paizo Mass Market Paperback 01/13/2013) – These Pathfinder novels have been coming out regularly and seem to capture the world fairly well. Byers has penned quite a few Forgotten Realms novels so he’s got the chops to handle a setting like Pathfinder.

Kagur is a warrior of the Blacklions, fierce and fearless hunters in the savage Realm of the Mammoth Lords. When her clan is slaughtered by a frost giant she considered her adopted brother, honor demands that she, the last surviving Blacklion, track down her old ally and take the tribe’s revenge. This is no normal betrayal, however, for the murderous giant has followed the whispers of a dark god down into the depths of the earth, into a primeval cavern forgotten by time. There, he will unleash forces capable of wiping all humans from the region—unless Kagur can stop him first.

From acclaimed author Richard Lee Byers comes a tale of bloody revenge and subterranean wonder, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

2 comments:

Bob/Sally said...

Cobley's saga sounds interesting on its own, and your comparison to Weber's Safehold saga pretty much seals the deal. The Seeds of Earth is going on the TBR list for 2013.

RobB said...

Cobley is lots of fun. Unlike Weber (thankfully) he doesn't go with phonetic spelling for all of his characters. Cobley also populates his universe with many diverse alien species.