Libromancer's Apprentice

Empire of Silence ( Sun Eater #1) / Christopher Ruocchio This month I got my hands on a pre-pub copy of Empire of Silence , Christopher Ruocchio's debut novel.   It is, at this point, already out and on bookstore shelves, but I've been busy and at about 600 pages it took a little longer to get through. As a side note, my copy has a quote from James S. A. Corey rather than David Drake on the cover as shown in the image here. Empire of Silence gives us an Space Opera with flavors of epic fantasy, starting us at the very end with our narrator awaiting execution.  I'd say it's a good read for fans of Pierce Brown's Red Rising. From the publisher: Hadrian Marlowe, a man revered as a hero and despised as a murderer, chronicles his tale in the galaxy-spanning debut of the Sun Eater series, merging the best of space opera and epic fantasy. It was not his war. The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remem...

The Girl in the Green Silk Gown (The Ghost Roads #2) / Seanan McGuire Previously Reviewed Sparrow Hill Road If you're reading The Girl in the Green Silk Dress you should already know all the major players.  Rose Marshall, Bobby Cross, Apple, Emma, Gary, Laura, the Ocean Lady, and even Persephone.  They all had their parts to play in Sparrow Hill Road This is in many ways the first true novel about Rose, Sparrow Hill Road being a collection of short stories.  As a protagonist Rose is a mix, she is a force to be reckoned with, but at the same time spends much of the story being pushed or pulled through obstacles (or by obstacles), while avoiding her primary goal of the story... defeating Bobby Cross.  In her defense, no one knows how to achieve that, and he's put her in a situation she doesn't have the tools to defeat him with until it's fixed. Rose also has growing pains, at the end of the last novel she was reunited with her teenage love, and the...

According to the bibliographic notes, that the "Fall of Gondolin" was the first story Tolkien wrote in this saga, putting it down during sick leave while in the Army.  We've read elements of this story already before, a theme that will remain consistent likely through this whole book.  Some elements will be new, others may contradict, as starting with the Silmarillion everything we're reading going forward is based on manuscripts and notes, not yet gone through a cohesive editing process by their creator to match for consistency. Tuor, son of Huor, was born with a Destiny hanging over his head just like his father before him.  Of men, raised by elves.  Captured and held thrall to the Easterlings for years, before making good his escape and seeking the Gate of the Noldor.  This story is one of the guiding hand of Fate on the life of a Bard.  A Doom hangs over him, one that he is not to fulfill ahead of time, so unknowing of the forces that steer him he tal...