Epic Fantasy Books

Author Spotlight! - Karen Azinger

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 04:26:13 GMT

Author Spotlight! - Karen Azinger

Karen L Azinger has always loved fantasy fiction, and always hoped that someday she could give back to the genre a little of the joy that reading has always given her. Ten years ago on a hike in the Columbia River Gorge she realized she had enough original ideas to finally write an epic fantasy. She started writing and never stopped. The Steel Queen is her first book, born from that hike in the gorge. Before writing, Karen spent over twenty years as an international business strategist, eventually becoming a vice-president for one of the world's largest natural resource companies. She's worked on developing the first gem-quality diamond mine in Canada's arctic, on coal seam gas power projects in Australia, and on petroleum projects around the world. Having lived in Australia for eight years she considers it to be her second home. She's also lived in Canada and spent a lot of time in the Canadian arctic. She lives with her husband in Portland Oregon, in a house perched on the edge of the forest.

The first three books of The Silk & Steel Saga, The Steel Queen, The Flame Priest, and The Skeleton King, are published in both e-format and trade paperback and are getting great reviews. The fourth book, The Poison Priestess, will be published in Nov 2012.

The Steel Queen

Product Description

Azinger's series is fast-paced action-packed fantasy. In a medieval world of forgotten magic, mortals are lured to the chessboard of the gods where an epic struggle of lives, loves and crowns hang in the balance, yet few understand the rules....Read More

The Flame Priest

Product Description

Heralded by a red comet, the Mordant is Reborn. A thousand years of evil hidden beneath a young man's face, the Mordant returns in the guise of his oldest enemy. Keen to regain his fullpowers, he weaves his way north, sowing a trail of death and deceit.... Read More

The Skeleton King

Product Description

Destinies collide in the far north. Kath and her companions chase a trail of death across the steppes. The endless grassland seems benign, but they soon fall prey to an ambush of tricks and traps. ... Read More

Vote for Your Favorite Harry Potter (Book 1) Passage

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 04:01:02 GMT

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10 Popular Fantasy Series

Sun, 22 May 2011 02:27:00 GMT

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Sword of Truth Terry Goodkind

1: Debt of Bones	2: Wizard's First Rule	3: Stone of Tears
4: Blood of the Fold	5: Temple of the Winds	6: Soul of the Fire
7: Faith of the Fallen	8: The Pillars of Creation	9: Naked Empire
10: Chainfire	11: Phantom	12: Confessor
13: The Omen Machine

Wheel of Time Robert Jordan

1: The Eye of the World	2: The Great Hunt	3: The Dragon Reborn
4: The Shadow Rising	5: The Fires of Heaven	6: Lord of Chaos
7: A Crown of Swords	8: The Path of Daggers	9: Winter's Heart
10: Crossroads of Twilight	11: Knife of Dreams	12: The Gathering Storm
13: Towers of Midnight	14: A Memory of Light

Original Shannara Trilogy & The Herritage of Shannar Tetralogy Terry Brooks

1: The Sword of Shannara	2: The Elfstones of Shannara	3: The Wishsong of Shannara
1: The Scions of Shannara	2: The Druid of Shannara	3: The Elf Queen of Shannara
4: The Talismans of Shannara

Malazan Book of the Fallen Steven Erikson

1: Gardens of the Moon	2: Deadhouse Gates	3: Memories of Ice
4: House of Chains	5: Midnight Tides	6: The Bonehunters
7: Reaper's Gale	8: Toll the Hounds	9: Dust of Dreams
10: The Crippled God

His Dark Materials Philip Pullman

1: The Golden Compass

2: The Subtle Knife

3: The Amber Spyglass

Farseer Trilogy Robin Hobb

1: Assassin's Apprentice

2: Royal Assassin

3: Assassin's Quest

Runelords David Farland

1: The Runelords(The Sum of All Men)	2: Brotherhood of the Wolf	3: Wizardborn
4: The Lair of Bones	5: Sons of the Oak	6: Worldbinder
7: The Wyrmling Horde	8: Chaosbound

Book of Words J.V. Jones

1: The Baker's Boy

2: A Man Betrayed

3: Master and Fool

Crown of Stars Kate Elliott

1: King's Dragon	2: Prince of Dogs	3: The Burning Stone
1: Child of Flame	2: The Gathering Storm	3: In the Ruins
1: Crown of Stars

Kushiel's Legacy Jacqueline Carey

1: Kushiel's Dart	2: Kushiel's Chosen	3: Kushiel's Avatar
1: Kushiel's Scion	2: Kushiel's Justice	3: Kushiel's Mercy

Starman by Sara Douglass: Book Review

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 01:35:00 GMT

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Publisher: Tor Fantasy

Pages: 670

Genre: High Fantasy

The Wayfarer Redemption series began with a good start as the author, Sarah Douglass, introduces us to a world under the rule of the Seneschal and the way of the plow. There exist an ancient powerful magic deeply concealed that threatens to change the way of the plow and unveil secrets and truths that are bound by the way of a prophecy.

This series starts with the first three books in the series known as the Axis Trilogy. Starman is the concluding book to this trilogy. Axis, the hero and protagonist of the story, has discovered much about himself on his journey including his hidden powers, true bloodline, and a history that had been shielded from him. Now, he must follow the foretelling of his prophecy which ends by him going into battle with his evil half brother Gorgrael in a final battle where only one of them can walk away alive.

Author Sarah Douglass’s flow of writing in this book takes you step by step through the prophecy and how it coincides with the life of Axis. This process starts from the onset of the book making the story very predictable and leaves little surprise to the reader of the final outcome. The prophecy foretells that Axis will defeat Gorgrael if he is not distracted by his beloved. For Gorgrael, his challenge is to choose between two women Axis loves and use her to distract him in the final battle. Will he choose a woman that will bring Axis' downfall or his own? While reading the book it is very obvious whom Axis true beloved is and Gorgrael's ignorance is both ridiculous and unrealistic. This, however, is only the beginning of the aggravation that stem from within this book.

The first book began with Axis starting out as a great warrior. He was a man that would become even more powerful, strong, and eventually would become a leader to bring together three races. However, as the story progresses into the second and third book, Axis is overshadowed by a character named Azure. Azure is a woman who, for the most part, replaces the position Axis should have had in the story. Azure becomes very powerful in a short time and makes every challenge look like a trifle task. Although I applaud Douglass for creating a powerful female character and diverting from the damsel in distress theme, she does this in the least favorable way and leaves you feeling unwilling to applaud for anyone. Douglass appears to have fallen so in love with her character Azure that she uses her at every opportunity to save the day. Thus, Azure is the one that saves everyone from danger and becomes the hero that everyone, even Axis, depends upon.

While there are several disappointments in this book a good writer can almost always redeem themselves and please the reader by the very way that they write. In fact a well written book can be the turning point in determining its appeal. Sadly, Douglass was not able to do this in Starman. Some of the fault may be given to the editor, but either way, the writing in these books are lacking in caliber. There are parts of the book, for example, where characters are talking in their normal speech pattern and then suddenly take on a biblical / fable-like dialect. Even the narrative takes on a redundant nature in the form of repetitive and cheesy speech.

While this book was full of disappointments and flaws I'd still like to list the pros and cons. So here it goes; the good, the bad and the breakdown!

The Good: There are a few heart-pulling parts in the book that may almost make you cry. Also great cover art by Luis Royo for anyone who is a collector or just fancies that sort of thing.

The Bad: Poor writing and plot work. It lacks depth and the element of surprise.

The Breakdown: I would not recommend this book because the faults greatly outweigh the highlights. Nevertheless, it is not so bad that one would have trouble in finishing it.

A New Journey

Wed, 28 Dec 2005 07:00:00 GMT

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Much like Rand al'thor, Matrim Couthon, and Perrin Aybara started on their outside journey to a world beyond the Two River and Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee set out from the Shire into adventure and fear of the unknown, so too will Skid-Z in its quest to make Epic Fantasy Books reach the Pillars of Creation and become a guiding star in the worlds of fantasy, magic, adventure.

So we invite you to join us on our quest for without you we don't think we'll get very far. Don't you know you are just as important to this mission? How far do you think Frodo would have gotten if he lost the ring? So now you see that you must brave the dragons, go beyond the blight, fall in love, and become more then you thought you could be on the other side.

We at Epic Fantasy Books will like to explore the unknown and remember the old and embrace the new. It is become our goal to create a place where fantasy and science fiction book lovers can purchase books, socialize, and join a community embracing what they love to read, see, and hear about. We hope to bring you new information of authors, books, and other related news, as well as keeping you informed of what you are looking for. Remember we are new at this. We might make some mistakes along the way, but it is all in the process of learning and becoming better at what we do. The important thing is to keep moving forward even when the last candle has burned out. Thank you for joining us.