Hello readers, and welcome to August!
Quite a few things are going on over here at Darkeva’s Blog this month, including reviews, guest blogs from authors, the Book Bloggers and Authors Conference that runs from August 6 & 7 (sign up here if you haven’t already), and of course, the monthly “Top 5 Fantasy Picks” for the month 
Without further ado, here are my picks:
1) The Darkest Edge of Dawn (Book 2)by Kelly Gay, Pocket Books, 1439110042 – 08/31/2010
From the Publisher: It takes a strong woman to keep the peace in a city of endless night. . . .
Deep beneath Underground, a cunning bid for power and revenge has begun—one that threatens to make Atlanta the new battleground in the ultimate confrontation between good and evil. The powers of hellish Charbydon have the upper hand after plunging the city into primordial night. And under the cover of darkness, a serial killer targets the most powerful Elysians in the city, the angelic Adonai. For Detective Charlie Madigan and her siren partner Hank, tracking deadly predators is all in a day’s work . . . but this case will test the limits of their strength and friendship as it draws them into a deadly world of power plays, ancient myths, explosive secrets, and a race against time that risks all that Charlie holds dear.
2) The Demon Hunt : A Dark Storm Novel by Kris Greene, St. Martin’s Press, 0312944233 – 08/03/2010
From the Publisher: Soul-sucking demons. Half-human killers. Doomsday prophesies. No, this isn’t a late-night movie on cable TV. This is Gabriel’s life—or least, what’s left of it—ever since he discovered his true destiny as a warrior knight in the battle against darkness. Once an ordinary college kid studying lost legends in books, Gabriel now finds himself face to face with actual demons. As a warrior, he has no choice but to fight them. And if he screws it up, the world is toast…
A dimensional rift has opened between worlds. Which means more demons—and more death—than you could shake a proverbial stick at. Luckily, Gabriel has just the stick for the job, an ancient trident that gives him awesome demon-bashing powers. To watch his back he has the butt kicking half Demon De Mona and several unlikely heroes who he’s picked up along the way. To make matters more complicated two of Gabriel’s college buddies wind up dead and he finds that the demons aren’t the only ones who want a piece of his hide. The cops want him too—for murder…
3) Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong, Dutton Adult/Random House of Canada, 0525951784 – 08/03/2010
From the Publisher: Armstrong’s 11th Otherworld urban fantasy, her first book for Penguin since 2003′s Stolen, sends two paranormal investigators to the small town of Columbus, Wash. Savannah Levine, a 21-year-old witch from Portland, Ore., who’s itching to pursue her first solo case, teams up with half-demon PI Jesse Aanes to look into three slayings with supernatural overtones. Savannah, who displays an appealing mix of toughness and vulnerability, figures she can blast her way to the truth, but matters get complicated fast when her powers keep deserting her at key moments and more bodies pile up. Armstrong skillfully juggles her twisty plot, weaving in characters from previous novels as she builds to a fast-paced conclusion. This supernatural mystery is unabashedly aimed at fans of Charlaine Harris and Stephenie Meyer, and may well hit the mark.
4) The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive #1), TOR Books, 0765326353 – 08/31/10
From the Publisher: Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga, Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, one every bit as ambitious and immersive. Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains.
There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable. Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity. Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.
The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.
5) The Osiris Ritual by George Mann, TOR Books, 0765323214 – 08/03/10
From the Publisher: A steampunk mystery adventure featuring immortality, artifacts, and intrepid sleuths Sir Maurice Newbury and Miss Veronica Hobbes. Sir Maurice Newbury, Gentleman Investigator for the Crown, imagines life will be a little quieter after his dual successes solving The Affinity Bridge affair. But he hasn’t banked on his villainous predecessor, Knox, who is hell-bent on achieving immortality, not to mention a secret agent who isn’t quite what he seems…. So continues an adventure quite unlike any other, a thrilling steampunk mystery and the second in the series of Newbury & Hobbes investigations.
Other notable releases: Terry Brooks has another Shannara book called “Bearers of the Black Staff” as part of his Legends of Shannara series coming out on the 24th of August.
Rowen Cory Daniell’s third book in the King Rolen’s Kin trilogy, “The Usurper” comes out on the 31st of the month, and Marie Brennan’s third book in the Onyx Court series “A Star Shall Fall” which takes place during the Great Fire of 1666 comes out on the 31st, as well.
Which August release are you most looking forward to? Which one will you read first?
Happy Reading!
