Review Archive

Time and again I’ve had Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy recommended to me, and I can’t recall who it was that finally persuaded me to pick up and read Assassin’s Apprentice. In truth, it was probably Mark Lawrence, whose twitter feed I find delightfully entertaining. Anyway, I had just finished reading a short story he’d penned called During the Dance which, while it was a tiny morsel of a thing, was nevertheless an outstanding reading experience. Enormously different from his other work. Just after I finished it, Mr. Lawrence, announced on twitter that he can’t praise Robin Hobb highly enough, and so it was that I picked up the audiobook of Assassin’s Apprentice, and started my journey in the Six Duchies with Fitz Farseer. The world Robin Hobb has built in this trilogy (and in 12 subsequent books, I’ve since learned,) overflows with character and life. Told as it is, in first person, it is tinted with

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Adam from Inkshares, who wanted to know if I’d be willing to review an upcoming book from a Mr. Gary Whitta. Obviously, I accepted, because that is awesome. I hadn’t heard of Inkshares, so I headed to the site to check it out, and I was very pleased with what I found. So pleased, in fact, that as soon as I’ve got a finished project, I’m going to be submitting it to Inkshares for hopeful publication. The two-word pitch for Inkshares: crowdfunded publishing. Now, before you scoff and say “oh no, another Kickstarter clone,” let me assure you that Inkshares is doing this right. It seems to me to be the perfect intermediary between self publishing and going through the traditional agent/publisher route. If your book/article/whatever gets funded, Inkshares will provide editing, design, and publication services in both print and digital formats.

You may recall that I gave Mark Lawrence’s The Broken Empire trilogy some lofty praises last year in April. I warned you that the books were brutal, violent, enthralling, beautiful, and–perhaps most important–extraordinarily great reads. You may also recall that Mr. Lawrence is a research scientist by day, a fact that may be largely irrelevant when it comes to his fiction, but one that I nonetheless choose to mention because I think it’s rather impressive. It certainly stands as a reminder that no matter your work or home life, it’s possible to finish writing that damned book. You can do it, I can do it. So let’s do it. Bonus points for those of you with keen eyes who noticed that the quote on the cover is from none other than Peter V. Brett, whose novel The Warded Man I reviewed two Warbles since. Funny little coincidence, that. But, let us return to Prince of Fools, the opening

Brandon Sanderson is currently on tour, promoting Firefight, the second book in The Reckoners trilogy. I had the pleasure of seeing him at the Seattle Public Library, and I found his presentation to be absolutely riveting and inspiring. In fact, what he said lit a fire under me and I went home, wrote him a letter, and proceeded to put pen to paper on several new short story ideas. Before hopping into my review of Firefight, I’ll leave the last few lines of the email I sent Brandon here: I no longer fear to love the things I love, and I know I am a Writer, even if I haven’t gone pro yet. I have you to thank for that. I can’t thank you enough. […] Hopefully, some day, I’ll get to thank you properly, in one of my own published works. There’ll come a day on the Warbler when

Friend, you may have noticed a couple of small changes to this website since the last review was posted. Two changes, to be precise. Well, one is in two parts, but that’s neither here nor there. The first, is that I have rebranded! I’ve decided to go with “The Warbler” insert of “Collected Warblings.” I’ve added a little graphic to accentuate that change. Second, the links are now a beautiful blue! Wow. Talk about progress. Part of what spurred this change is that two of the websites I’m currently writing for on the side (www.2d-x.com and www.asktatjana.com) are both shutting down, and I needed to collect my posts from those sites for archiving purposes. While gathering those posts, I thought to myself: “self, maybe you should add some game reviews to The Warbler!”  Then I thought: “Hey, The Warbler is a way, way better name!” Good idea, self. Expect reviews

Folks, get ready, because it’s time for another edition of “praise Brandon Sanderson’s magnificent mind” here on the Warbler. I feel like at this point, I’d give a scribble he made on a napkin five stars, but hey, at least I’m being honest about it. If you’ve read my other reviews you know the spiel. Mr. Sanderson is a powerhouse capable of churning out massive, spectacular novels faster than I can walk from my bed to the desk. Words of Radiance is book two in what will be the 10-book epic Stormlight Archive series, and if the improvement over the already-fantastic first book is any indication, this will be one of the greatest fantasy series of all time. The best part? Brandon Sanderson is capable of putting out new novels so quickly that My hunger for his work is almost always satisfied. As I type this, a sequel to Steelheart

In my adventures as an aspiring writer, I find that I often read books that are incredibly similar to one another out of habit, which I think can be a detriment. It is advisable for me, therefore, to broaden my literary horizons in order to improve my vocabulary, both in literal and figurative terms. With more, and varied reading under my belt, new ideas will come to me, I will learn different storytelling techniques, atop which I get the added benefit of enjoying more books! This year, I set a goal for myself to read 30 books. I have included listening to audiobooks in that count, and I hope that none of you will qualify that as cheating the system. That being considered, I have officially read 32. #Win. Anyway… A series that came highly recommended by a friend was The Gentlemen Bastards, by Scott Lynch. It was described by

It’s amazing how time flies, isn’t it? My last post, which was in July, was written from my room in Oakland, California. Now, it’s late November, and I’ve quit my job, moved to Seattle, and completely neglected my book reviews, though I’ve still been reading with a voraciousappetite. (I managed to clear 30 books this year! Pretty proud of that.) Recently, I picked up Patrick Rothfuss’ The Slow Regard of Silent Things, being a novella set in the world of his magnificent Kingkiller Chronicles trilogy, of which I have read the first two, and deprived you, dear readers, of my lofty praises for his outstanding creativity and skill. The third (and final) installment of the Kingkiller Chronicles is forthcoming, and Mr. Rothfuss can take all the time he wants in producing a sequel, as far as I’m concerned. Many genre fiction fans are afroth with impatience, for more than just Mr. Rothfuss’