I Started My Own Book Review Blog!

I've been encouraged by my teachers in the editing and publishing program that I'm in to start my own blog. And since just about the only thing I know I can talk about endlessly is books, specifically fantasy, I started a blog called "Brian's Book Blog". Yay alliteration!

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/

I have a couple of posts up, the last being a quick rundown of six new fantasy series that made their debuts in 2013. Please check it out and spread the word to all your bookworm and fantasy-nerd buddies!

What happens when you take a brilliant plot, superb characters, and awesome action and battles, and drop a Hadron Collider into the middle? Check out my newest blog post to find out!

(It's a review of the Left Hand Of God fantasy trilogy written by Paul Hoffman)

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2013/12/review-left-hand-of-god-trilogy-by-paul.html

What? Who said I was whoring myself out for page hits by creating a list of my favourite fantasy series? Lies and slander, I say!

Now excuse me while I whore myself out for page hits by creating a list of my favourite fantasy series.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-one-list-to-rule-them-all.html

My only reason for not following along is because I'm afraid I'll get spoiled. LOL

I haven't really done a set review of any one book, which I'll probably get into soon. When I do I plan on trying not to post any spoilers, or if I do I'll try to find a way to hide them.

The two reviews I've done are on long established series, and kind of required spoilers for the sake of ranting.

What spoilers I do post do not give much away, I'll generally just refer to a person or an event that only someone who's read the books would be able to connect to what actually happened.

I wrote another review, and believe it or not this one isn't about a fantasy book! It's about Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips, a general fiction book. Check it out.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2013/12/review-gods-behaving-badly-by-marie.html

DuDZiK wrote:The two reviews I've done are on long established series, and kind of required spoilers for the sake of ranting.

Yes, both which I kind of want to give a shot (or another shot, in the case of ASOFAI. :p

Hello again ladies, gents, and degenerates of PI (I'm looking at you Austin ). I've written a new article for my blog. This time it's about what's in books that catch your heart and imagination, and make you realize that you're going to read the whole book. Even if you've only read a few pages.

You might have your own "Catches" that you find in books. These are mine, with some examples quoted.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-catch-when-and-how-does-book-grab.html

And just for you Austin, there are no spoilers. All I ever do is talk about the very beginning of books, which you know from the synopsis of books even before you read them.

Here is a rather long and gushing review of Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings. Along with Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind, it is my favourite fantasy book. It is seriously fantastic, and if you are a fan of fantasy... even just a little, it is a must-read.

So is my review. Read it.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2013/12/review-way-of-kings-by-brandon-sanderson.html

Here's my Christmas post, where I touch on a tradition my family and I had that probably helped kindle my love of books and reading. Did any of you have traditions like this?

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-night-before-christmas-story-of-two.html

In my latest blog post I review The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, which is tied with Way Of Kings as my favourite fantasy book. It is also a must-read for fantasy fans.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2013/12/review-name-of-wind-by-patrick-rothfuss_4701.html

Behold! My latest book review is about Lyndsay Faye's historical fiction mystery, set in New York City in the 1840s for the inception of the city's first regular police force: the NYPD. Cool book, if you like mysteries and/or historical fiction, this is a good read.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2013/12/review-gods-of-gotham-by-lindsay-faye.html

The last review of 2013, I review The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. If you like books with interesting characters, this is a doozy. Glotka is my favourite character from any book I've ever read... and I've read a lot of books!

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2013/12/review-blade-itself-by-joe-abercrombie.html

A new review! This one is of Anthony Rouaud's The Path of Anger. The first half of the book was fantastic. How was the second half? Well...

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/01/review-path-of-anger-by-anthony-rouaud.html

A new blog post! This one doesn't review a specific book, but looks at my five favourite covers of fantasy books. I also gripe a bit about the fact that North American covers are oftentimes inferior to other, international ones.

Check it out.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/01/my-top-5-fantasy-covers.html

My review for Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, a historical fiction, can be summarized like so:

This is without a shadow of a doubt the best all-round book I've ever read. It's easily a 10 out of 10 for me, and anyone who likes reading at all should read it. End scene.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/01/review-shadow-of-wind-by-carlos-ruiz.html

In recent years there has been more and more discussion and debate on the issue of women in fantasy. In this blog entry, I specifically look into why there have been so few female fantasy authors compared to men.

Spoilers: there should totally be more female fantasy authors, because those that already exist are kind of awesome.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/01/women-in-fantasy-part-one.html

In part one I looked at the relative lack of female authors in fantasy literature. In part two, I look at the issue of female characters written in the books themselves, whether the author was male or female.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/01/women-in-fantasy-part-two.html

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is the best disappointing book I've ever read. If you want that to make sense, you'll just have to read my review gosh darnit!

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/02/review-doctor-wait-jonathan-strange-and.html

On the first page of God's War by Kameron Hurley, the main character sells her womb to gene pirates to evade her pursuers, gets drunk on whisky and morphine chasers, wastes the money she made selling her womb by losing a bet on an underground boxing match, then goes home with the woman she had bet on... all to try and bring home the mark she's after as a bounty hunter. This book was awesome.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/02/review-gods-war-by-kameron-hurley.html

That moment when a book you ordered arrives can be the most wondrous experience in your life! Or... it can also be the most excruciating. This is for all the book lovers out there who will undoubtedly do this at least once in their lives.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/02/that-moment-when-book-that-you-ordered.html

I just wrote a review for House of Blades by Will Wight. It's probably not a book even most fantasy fans would know, but they should. It reminded me a lot of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn. I'd be tickled pink if you checked out my blog to see why.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/02/review-house-of-blades-by-will-wight.html

That moment when you finish the book you've been waiting for for years, and you have nothing to do but wait for the next one...

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/03/that-moment-when-new-book-edition.html

It's been a while, but I have a new post up that reviews a bunch of books I've read since my last entry. They're quick, two paragraph reviews that contain no spoilers!

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/04/catching-up.html

The first in a series of articles I plan on writing about books adapted into film. This post will outline the three main elements I consider to be important in determining the success or failure of any attempts.

http://briansbookblog.blogspot.ca/2014/05/books-adapted-into-film.html