A Book Haul Post

Nathan Book Haul

Wow.  April already.  And so many new books to read!  Lets look at the books that will continue to push me hopelessly behind on the old reading list.

Physical Review Copies

Tyrant’s Throne by Sabastien de Castell –  Don’t be jealous, this is not the full book.  This was a weird one.  It contains a letter from the author, a summery of the series, and the first chapter.  Apparently ARCs were not published due to scheduling issues but I will be honest, not sure what the point was.  Plus I am one book behind on the series (though I do OWN book 3 so that is fixable).

The Star Thief by Lindsey Becker – Again, I forget how random book mail can be so…random?  I review very little YA, and even less ‘Middle Grade’ or what ever it is being called.  Pretty cover though, it goes on the maybe pile because it is short enough to probably get a chance.

The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden –  LOOK AT THAT COVER!!  The only one I requested.  It doesn’t come out until June but it looks completely awesome and I won’t be able to wait that long to start reading it.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman –  Another random book mail.  Of a book I have read at least five times.  At one time we had two copies of this in the house because it was something both my wife and I owned when we moved in together.  Are they telling me I need to do a reread?  Again?

Digital Review Copies

I was good this month, didn’t press that request button too often.

The Ship by Antonia Honeywell – I thought it looked interesting with a Noah’s Ark of humanities survivors.  But I admit early reviews are scaring me a bit.

Pawn by Timothy Zahn –  Everyone had a favorite in high school and Zahn was easily mine.  I started with his Star Wars books but read everything else i could.  Not all of it has stood up great but they were always fun.  So I had to grab this one for nostalgia sake.

The Empire’s Ghost by Isabelle Steiger – A true epic fantasy debut.  It almost seems rare anymore with all the (awesome) genre bending releases.  It looks interesting so on the list it goes.

Brother’s Ruin by Emma Newman – Another Tor.com novella.  Who cares what it is about?  These are so short I read them in a couple of sittings.

Digital Copy Bought

The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone –  It was a super good deal and I love this series.  It is nice to have it all in one place.

Well, what do you think?  What would you read first?  What should I read first?  How many copies of American Gods does the average fantasy blogger really need?

 

41 thoughts on “A Book Haul Post”

  1. You can have my copy of American Gods if you like. It’s not that I disliked it, but it is easily my least favourite Gaiman to date (although I find him hit and miss) so I can’t imagine rereading it. Although I may watch some of the tv show and change my mind I guess 😉

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      • That would make an interesting topic for a post, *hint hint*. “Books I have the most copies of”.

        For me, I think it’s The Hobbit. My ‘own’ one, a random one I don’t know the origin of (probably bought in a box of books; seems to be ex-library), and one in Russian (which I don’t speak) and one in Latin (which I can only read a little of).

        Off-hand, I also have two copies of the first Covenant trilogy (an omnibus volume where the ink rubs off, and a nice boxed set I think someone bought be at some point), the complete Wilde (an old inherited one and a new one), Shakespeare (a very old omnibus and a more modern 9-volume set) and Shaw (don’t know why – haven’t read any and didn’t buy either). Also at one point at least a randomm Dragonlance book, because I made the mistake of ordering it from a bookshop, in the days when it took 6 months or a year for TSR books to be ordered to a local bookshop and in the interim i’d given up and gone to London…

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      • The most I have of anything is two; several discworld novels I was given a hardback to while already owning the paperback. A couple bibles kept for family reasons rather than religious. And one series that I have blurb quotes in both the trade and hard back so I bought both of the damn things.

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      • That’s a point: bibles. Don’t know how many of those things I’ve got, or which are ‘mine’ exactly. But I’ve definitely got a Good News (which we were all given in primary school) and at least one Gideon (which we were all given in secondary school, repeatedly iirc), and I’ve probably got some inherited ones lying around too, because you don’t throw out nice old books your family has had for years…

        Repeatedly given the hardback when you already had the paperback? The opposite seems much more likely!

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      • My wife’s uncle cleared out his old Pratchett books and he had some really cool hardbacks (not originals or anything but at least they had some of the UK artwork. And yes, my bible count may be low now that I think about it.

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      • (meanwhile, we wait with bated respiration for the big reveal tomorrow: which Discworld assassin will you pick for Tough Travelling? Or will you just make it all-Discworld this time? Leading contenders would seem to be Pteppic, Lord Downey, Inigo Skimmer, and Jonathan Teatime. Longshots might be Vetinari (hey, he counts! We even see him assassinate someone!), Arthur Ludorum (or his fathr, Ludo Ludorum), Dr Cruces, Jocasta Wiggs… or Zlorf Flannelfoot (hey, you had TCOM last week…)

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      • Nope! Tough Travelling went to once a month in the new format. So you have much longer to wait. Myself I would have taking the odds on Vetinari as he is my favorite from the series for so many reasons. My hatred of Hogfather discludes Teatime, and spoilers kind of take out anything from Men at Arms.

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      • Darn it, that means fewer excuses to fail to participate…
        I’d put Vetinari lower down the odds because I don’t think of him as an assassin, although he used to be one.

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  3. Ah, the “tie in” edition of American Gods. Because advertising. I have a digital copy of Prey of Gods, pretty excited about that! And the new Zahn!

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  4. I’m expecting a copy of that weird Tyrant’s Throne volume myself. Can’t wait to read the final book – it’s one of those series that just gets better with each book.

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  6. “American Gods” has been languishing on my shelf for several years now, and I’ve been promising myself I would pick it up “one of these days”. Now that there are great expectations for the tv series drawn from this book, it might finally be the time for me to read the book. 🙂

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    • I don’t know if I am as YOU MUST READ THIS as I once was about it but I still think it is a damn fine book. A bit slow at times if i remember but still well worth reading.

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  7. I still need to read American Gods and really I need to do so quickly because it’s being adapted – hence why they’ve probably sent you a new version (I think I heart it was being updated somehow although I can’t remember in what way).
    I like the look of The Empire’s Ghost and will look out for your review of that one.
    The Ship – I read that quite a while ago – it didn’t really work out for me so will be keen to see what you make of it.
    And how could I not comment on the cover for Prey of Gods – yet, it is gorgeous. WANTS
    Lynn 😀

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  9. That cover to The Prey of Gods definitely made me want to know more about the book. When I saw it pop up at Edelweiss, it was an epic battle to resist the temptation. Looking forward to hear what you think!

    I kinda want to check out that Zahn book too!

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  10. I also have THE SHIP and THE EMPIRE’S GHOST, but I’ve been slack about keeping up with ARCs so I hadn’t noticed any scary reviews for the former . . . Now I will have to go check them out. B/c schadenfreude.

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  11. I think owning a copy of American Gods in owning one too many since I really disliked it however, I don’t know if I gave it a fair chance since I read it just after one of my favorite book of all time The Luminaries AND I read it in French.

    The Prey of Gods sounds awesome, I mean, with this cover, of course I want to read it! 😛

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  12. Your random book mail made me laugh! READ AG AGAIN NATHAN! Lol. Are you going to watch the show? I don’t have Starz, but I’m sooo curious because I enjoyed the book.

    I have the Pawn ARC, too! It will be my first Zahn, so I’m excited to dig in.

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  13. How do you even get all this stuff? Do you have to write begging letters to each company, or has someone somewhere in the publishing industry shouted “quick, lit up the Nathan signal! Nathan’s blogging again!”

    [the real books, I mean. I know free digital copies are relatively easy to come by. (I’m told. Newfangled contraptions…)]

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    • I want to write pages about this but I am not the best informed. The fact is I am not entirely sure? My first go around I had contacts with almost every publisher and a virtual pick of the litter on new releases. I only requested one of these books though; and only a couple since January (Kings of the Wyld, Amberlough, and Prey of Gods from the physical pile. I have always got books unannounced though it slowed through the hiatus it never really stopped despite sending emails to all my contacts.

      But it has picked up again. Obviously being in the U.S. helps, postage is fairly cheep and I think it is worth a copy if the blogosphere gets the hype train going (a la Ancillary Justice’s rise to the top).

      I don’t think I was every that big of a player but I was once told I was ‘influential’ to other bloggers though I credit Tough Travels for that much more than my reviews.

      It is why I have started these posts though. In a way it makes me a free ad outlet for the publishing industry but at the same time giving authors an extra shout out isn’t something that upsets my morals; I want more authors to be successful and therefore write more books.

      Probably too many tangents to be a coherent answer, especially written from my phone so I can’t really proofread, but there it is.

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      • So, someone DOES have a Nathan Signal somewhere that they’ve lit up! With your physical address details attached!

        (Part of me is jealous of all your free stuff and would like to try to get some myself. The more sensible part of me, however, knows that if I did get given free books, I’d feel pressure to actually read the damn things, and that would be no good. Plus, my book shelves would feel pressure to collapse into little exploded pieces… seriously, if that’s what you get in a month, I can only imagine you either live like a hoarder or else are throwing books out your window to dickensian urchins every sunday…)

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  14. The Prey of Gods does have an awesome cover, and I like that cover of American Gods even though I’ve never read it (and I probably should). The Ship too has me curious, although iffy reviews make me a little less sure. I’ll have to go check Goodreads and see what people are saying.

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