last reads

The Revenant by Micheal Punke Publishing Information: Paperback; 272pages Publisher: Picador; 6 Jan 2002 ISBN: 9781250066626 Standalone Copy: Out of pocket Reviewer: Tyson Amazon Synopsis: "The year is 1823, and the trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company live a brutal frontier life. Trapping beaver, they contend daily with the threat of Indian tribes turned warlike over the white men's encroachment on their land, and other prairie foes—like the unforgiving landscape and its creatures. Hugh Glass is among the Company's finest men, an experienced frontiersman and an expert tracker. But when a scouting mission puts him face-to-face with a grizzly bear, he is viciously mauled and not expected to survive. The Company's captain dispatches two of his men to stay behind and tend to Glass before he dies, and to give him the respect of a proper burial. When the two men abandon him instead, taking his only means of protecting himself—including his precious gun and hatchet— w...

The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue Publishing information: Paperback; 288 pages Publisher: Picador; 13 October 2015 ISBN: The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue Standalone Copy: Provided by publisher Reviewer: Tyson Amazon Synopsis: "From the New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Child comes a "classically hypnotic horror story" (Time Out New York) about a young boy trapped inside his own world, whose drawings blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Ever since he nearly drowned in the ocean three years earlier, ten-year-old Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to leave his home in a small coastal town in Maine. Instead, Jack Peter begins to draw monsters, and when those monsters take on a life of their own, no one is safe from the terror they inspire. His mother, Holly, begins to hear strange sounds in the night coming from the ocean. When she seeks answers from the local Catholic priest and his Japanese housekeeper, they fill her head with...

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson Publishing information: Hardback; 400 pages Publisher: Tor; 15 Sept 15 ISBN: 978-0765380722 Standalone Copy: Provided by publisher Reviewer: Tyson Amazon Synopsis: "In Seth Dickinson's highly-anticipated debut The Traitor Baru Cormorant, a young woman from a conquered people tries to transform an empire in this richly imagined geopolitical fantasy. Baru Cormorant believes any price is worth paying to liberate her people-even her soul. When the Empire of Masks conquers her island home, overwrites her culture, criminalizes her customs, and murders one of her fathers, Baru vows to swallow her hate, join the Empire's civil service, and claw her way high enough to set her people free. Sent as an Imperial agent to distant Aurdwynn, another conquered country, Baru discovers it's on the brink of rebellion. Drawn by the intriguing duchess Tain Hu into a circle of seditious dukes, Baru may be able to use her position to help. As she ...

Another year has come to a close and so it is time for the year's best. I have to admit that the SPFBO took a lot of my reading time and a winner has been chosen (see last Tuesday's post). With that said, there weren't a lot of other books read even though I managed to get another 70+ books read this year. Without further ado, here are my top 5 books read in 2015: 5. The Devil's Only Friend by Dan Wells It was welcome return to the world of John Wayne Cleaver. While not the best book in the series, it does have it's charms. Cleaver has grown up a bit in this latest novel and become responsible. However, all that growth doesn't seem to help him much as he tackles his most dangerous foe yet. 4. Half the World by Joe Abercrombie The second book in the Shattered Sea trilogy. Still haven't gotten around to picking up the third book in the series but Half the World introduces us to a few new and compelling characters and picks up where Half a King left off. Not ...