Mach's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 26 Jan 2025 10:03:58 -0800 60 Mach's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)]]> 9251500 Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out that 'everyday' world is full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in.

Harry is the best at what he does - and not just because he's the only one who does it. So whenever the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they look to him for answers. But business isn't just slow, it stinks.

So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get . . . interesting.

MAGIC - IT CAN GET A GUY KILLED.]]>
318 Jim Butcher 0356500276 Mach 4
Harry is so funny, at the same time he is a gentleman with a good heart and a really tough guy. The combination makes him a character that you just have to like. The writing was simple and easy to read, Butcher is good at writing with a good flow, every chapter comntinues where the last one ended but he does not use cliffhangers to much. A very fast paced, action packed, funny book. I look forward to reading the sequel.]]>
3.68 2000 Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Mach
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2011/10/06
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:
I would give this book 4,5 stars.

Harry is so funny, at the same time he is a gentleman with a good heart and a really tough guy. The combination makes him a character that you just have to like. The writing was simple and easy to read, Butcher is good at writing with a good flow, every chapter comntinues where the last one ended but he does not use cliffhangers to much. A very fast paced, action packed, funny book. I look forward to reading the sequel.
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<![CDATA[Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)]]> 55401
Set in a brilliantly realized world ravaged by dark, uncontrollable magic, Deadhouse Gates is a novel of war, intrigue and betrayal confirms Steven Eirkson as a storyteller of breathtaking skill, imagination and originality--a new master of epic fantasy.]]>
604 Steven Erikson 0765310023 Mach 2 4.27 2000 Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)
author: Steven Erikson
name: Mach
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2000
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves:
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Pirates of Venus (Venus, #1) 40372
Illustrations by Thomas Floyd, the original frontispiece by J. Allen St. John, an afterword by Phillip Burger, a glossary of Amtor terms by Scott Tracy Griffin, a map of Amtor drawn by Edgar Rice Burroughs that appeared in the first edition, and an introduction by acclaimed science fiction and horror novelist F. Paul Wilson.]]>
179 Edgar Rice Burroughs 0803261837 Mach 0 3.70 1935 Pirates of Venus (Venus, #1)
author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
name: Mach
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1935
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/27
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<![CDATA[Assassin's Fate (The Fitz and the Fool, #3)]]> 30688013
Fitz’s young daughter, Bee, has been kidnapped by the Servants, a secret society whose members not only dream of possible futures but use their prophecies to add to their wealth and influence. Bee plays a crucial part in these dreams—but just what part remains uncertain.

As Bee is dragged by her sadistic captors across half the world, Fitz and the Fool, believing her dead, embark on a mission of revenge that will take them to the distant island where the Servants reside—a place the Fool once called home and later called prison. It was a hell the Fool escaped, maimed and blinded, swearing never to return.

For all his injuries, however, the Fool is not as helpless as he seems. He is a dreamer too, able to shape the future. And though Fitz is no longer the peerless assassin of his youth, he remains a man to be reckoned with—deadly with blades and poison, and adept in Farseer magic. And their goal is simple: to make sure not a single Servant survives their scourge.]]>
847 Robin Hobb 0553392956 Mach 5 4.61 2017 Assassin's Fate (The Fitz and the Fool, #3)
author: Robin Hobb
name: Mach
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/06/20
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Skull Throne (Demon Cycle, #4)]]> 13630171
Built from the skulls of fallen generals and demon princes, it is a seat of honor and ancient, powerful magic, keeping the demon corelings at bay. From atop the throne, Ahmann Jardir was meant to conquer the known world, forging its isolated peoples into a unified army to rise up and end the demon war once and for all.

But Arlen Bales, the Warded Man, stood against this course, challenging Jardir to a duel he could not in honor refuse. Rather than risk defeat, Arlen cast them both from a precipice, leaving the world without a savior, and opening a struggle for succession that threatens to tear the Free Cities of Thesa apart.

In the south, Inevera, Jardir’s first wife, must find a way to keep their sons from killing each other and plunging their people into civil war as they strive for glory enough to make a claim on the throne.

In the north, Leesha Paper and Rojer Inn struggle to forge an alliance between the duchies of Angiers and Miln against the Krasians before it is too late.

Caught in the crossfire is the duchy of Lakton--rich and unprotected, ripe for conquest.

All the while, the corelings have been growing stronger, and without Arlen and Jardir there may be none strong enough to stop them. Only Renna Bales may know more about the fate of the missing men, but she, too, has disappeared...]]>
681 Peter V. Brett 0345531485 Mach 0 to-read 4.11 2015 The Skull Throne (Demon Cycle, #4)
author: Peter V. Brett
name: Mach
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/06/09
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Fool's Quest (The Fitz and The Fool, #2)]]> 23157777 Acclaimed and bestselling author Robin Hobb continues her Fitz and the Fool trilogy with this second entry, following Fool’s Assassin, ramping up the tension and the intrigue as disaster continues to strike at Fitz’s life and heart.

After nearly killing his oldest friend, the Fool, and finding his daughter stolen away by those who were once targeting the Fool, FitzChivarly Farseer is out for blood. And who better to wreak havoc than a highly trained and deadly former royal assassin? Fitz might have let his skills go fallow over his years of peace, but such things, once learned, are not so easily forgotten. And nothing is more dangerous than a man who has nothing left to lose…]]>
768 Robin Hobb 0553392921 Mach 5 4.48 2015 Fool's Quest  (The Fitz and The Fool, #2)
author: Robin Hobb
name: Mach
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2015/09/01
date added: 2016/06/09
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Promise of Blood (Powder Mage, #1)]]> 15790883
It's a bloody business overthrowing a king...
Field Marshal Tamas' coup against his king sent corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brought bread to the starving. But it also provoked war with the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics, and the greedy to scramble for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the Church, workers unions, and mercenary forces.

Stretched to his limit, Tamas is relying heavily on his few remaining powder mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also happens to be his estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector whose loyalty is being tested by blackmail.

But when gods are involved...
Now, as attacks batter them from within and without, the credulous are whispering about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods waking to walk the earth. No modern educated man believes that sort of thing. But they should...

In a rich, distinctive world that mixes magic with technology, who could stand against mages that control gunpowder and bullets?]]>
545 Brian McClellan 0316219037 Mach 0 to-read 4.13 2013 Promise of Blood (Powder Mage, #1)
author: Brian McClellan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/08/28
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Inheritance Trilogy (Inheritance, #1-3.5)]]> 21481566
In this omnibus edition of N.K. Jemisin's brilliantly original award-winning fantasy series, a young woman becomes entangled in a power struggle of mythic proportions.

A REALM OF GODS AND MORTALS.
Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle.
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1462 N.K. Jemisin 0316334006 Mach 0 to-read 4.24 2014 The Inheritance Trilogy (Inheritance, #1-3.5)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Mach
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/04/10
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow, #2)]]> 18138189
Vaelin Al Sorna, warrior of the Sixth Order, called Darkblade, called Hope Killer. The greatest warrior of his day, and witness to the greatest defeat of his nation: King Janus’s vision of a Greater Unified Realm drowned in the blood of brave men fighting for a cause Vaelin alone knows was forged from a lie. Sick at heart, he comes home, determined to kill no more.

Named Tower Lord of the Northern Reaches by King Janus’s grateful heir, he can perhaps find peace in a colder, more remote land far from the intrigues of a troubled Realm. But those gifted with the blood-song are never destined to live a quiet life. Many died in King Janus’s wars, but many survived, and Vaelin is a target, not just for those seeking revenge but for those who know what he can do.

The Faith has been sundered, and many have no doubt who their leader should be. The new King is weak, but his sister is strong. The blood-song is powerful, rich in warning and guidance in times of trouble, but is only a fraction of the power available to others who understand more of its mysteries. Something moves against the Realm, something that commands mighty forces, and Vaelin will find to his great regret that when faced with annihilation, even the most reluctant hand must eventually draw a sword.]]>
608 Anthony Ryan 0425265625 Mach 4 4.14 2014 Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow, #2)
author: Anthony Ryan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2015/04/10
date added: 2015/04/10
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Mad Ship (Liveship Traders, #2)]]> 353478
"If Patrick O'Brian were to turn to writing fantasy, he might produce something like this," raves Booklist , and truer words have never been spoken. This is a tale of the Old Traders of Bingtown and their rare magic ships--carved from sentient wizardwood that bonds them mystically with those who sail them. Theirs is an ancient tradition, but one that is slowly eroding under the harsh realities of a cold new order.

For these once proud Traders, it is a humbling lesson to learn that the foundations of their world, which had seemed immutable, are resting on shifting sands. Their corrupt ruler is deeding away their ancestral lands to upstart newcomers, and a growing traffic in human flesh is eroding the boundaries of civilized society. A plague of sea serpents and pirates off the coast is destroying the established trade routes, and ancient fortunes are dwindling. Old debts are coming due, and talk of rebellion is growing. And added to this uneasy mix, ancient powers are stirring on the banks of the mysterious Rain Wild River.

At the center of the conflict lies the Vestrit clan and their liveship Vivacia. The Vestrits long for the Vivacia to make port, certain that her arrival will restore the family fortunes. And Althea Vestrit, beautiful and dauntless, yearns more deeply than any. For she lives only to reclaim the liveship as her lost inheritance and captain her on the high seas.

But unknown to Althea, the lovely magical vessel has been seized for a slave galley and a privateer by the ruthless pirate captain Kennit, and now the Vivacia sails, her decks washed with blood, through the perilous southern passages of the Pirate Isles. Held captive onboard is Althea's nephew, Wintrow, who has made a desperate he has promised to heal Kennit of a mortal wound using arts learned in his monastic boyhood--or forfeit his life and that of his father.

Meanwhile, in Bingtown, Althea finds her onetime sea mate Brashen still struggling to redeem his wild past and out to prove himself a ship's master. Though wary of each other since their brief, ill-fated flare of passion, they now make common cause in a quest to find the Vivacia. But should they risk all they possess to rescue a liveship who may not want to be rescued? For the Vivacia is far from unhappy in her new life--and for Althea and Brashen, the method of Vivacia's liberation may prove more dangerous than leaving her in Kennit's ambitious grasp.

Mad Ship is a rich, tapestried epic of enchantment that will set your imagination ablaze, proving that Robin Hobb is a writer not only working at the top of her form, but constantly surpassing it.]]>
647 Robin Hobb 0553103334 Mach 5 favorites 4.17 1999 Mad Ship (Liveship Traders, #2)
author: Robin Hobb
name: Mach
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2011/01/11
date added: 2015/01/21
shelves: favorites
review:

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<![CDATA[Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1)]]> 16144869 The Sixth Order wields the sword of justice and smites the enemies of the Faith and the Realm.

Vaelin Al Sorna was only a child of ten when his father left him at the iron gate of the Sixth Order. The Brothers of the Sixth Order are devoted to battle, and Vaelin will be trained and hardened to the austere, celibate, and dangerous life of a Warrior of the Faith. He has no family now save the Order.

Vaelin’s father was Battle Lord to King Janus, ruler of the unified realm. Vaelin’s rage at being deprived of his birthright and dropped at the doorstep of the Sixth Order like a foundling knows no bounds. He cherishes the memory of his mother, and what he will come to learn of her at the Order will confound him. His father, too, has motives that Vaelin will come to understand. But one truth overpowers all the rest: Vaelin Al Sorna is destined for a future he has yet to comprehend. A future that will alter not only the realm, but the world.]]>
582 Anthony Ryan 0425267695 Mach 5 Wow. Just wow. 4.33 2011 Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1)
author: Anthony Ryan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2015/01/02
date added: 2015/01/02
shelves:
review:
Wow. Just wow.
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<![CDATA[Fool's Assassin (The Fitz and the Fool, #1)]]> 19288321
But behind the facade of respectable middle-age lies a turbulent and violent past. For Tom Badgerlock is actually FitzChivalry Farseer, bastard scion of the Farseer line, convicted user of Beast-magic, and assassin. A man who has risked much for his king and lost more�

On a shelf in his den sits a triptych carved in memory stone of a man, a wolf and a fool. Once, these three were inseparable friends: Fitz, Nighteyes and the Fool. But one is long dead, and one long-missing.

Then one Winterfest night a messenger arrives to seek out Fitz, but mysteriously disappears, leaving nothing but a blood-trail. What was the message? Who was the sender? And what has happened to the messenger?

Suddenly Fitz's violent old life erupts into the peace of his new world, and nothing and no one is safe.]]>
688 Robin Hobb 0553392425 Mach 5 4.33 2014 Fool's Assassin (The Fitz and the Fool, #1)
author: Robin Hobb
name: Mach
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2014/12/15
date added: 2014/12/15
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)]]> 17332218 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance, Book Two of the Stormlight Archive, continues the immersive fantasy epic that The Way of Kings began.

Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status "darkeyes." Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.

The Assassin, Szeth, is active again, murdering rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin's master has much deeper motives.

Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there proves more difficult than she could have imagined.

Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.]]>
1088 Brandon Sanderson 0765326361 Mach 0 to-read 4.76 2014 Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Mach
average rating: 4.76
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/12/07
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 49852
And yet �

As in all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate, and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.

So it's the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here at Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort - and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.]]>
652 J.K. Rowling 0439784549 Mach 4 4.64 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mach
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/06/22
shelves:
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<![CDATA[World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)]]> 2891804
World Without End takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge, but this sequel stands on its own. This time the men and women of an extraordinary cast of characters find themselves at a crossroads of new ideas—about medicine, commerce, architecture, and justice. In a world where proponents of the old ways fiercely battle those with progressive minds, the intrigue and tension quickly reach a boiling point against the devastating backdrop of the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race—the Black Death.]]>
1014 Ken Follett Mach 0 to-read 4.25 2007 World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)
author: Ken Follett
name: Mach
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/04/29
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Legends 2 (Legends 1, Volume 2of3)]]> 43895
Second volume of the three volume mass market reprint of the first Legends anthology.

Debt of Bones (1998) Terry Goodkind
The Hedge Knight (1998) George R. R. Martin
Runner of Pern (1998) Anne McCaffrey]]>
379 Robert Silverberg 0812575237 Mach 4 3.88 1999 Legends 2 (Legends 1, Volume 2of3)
author: Robert Silverberg
name: Mach
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2012/03/20
date added: 2014/03/15
shelves:
review:
I have only read two of the stories here, none of the other's interested me. The ones i read are by Robin Hobb and George RR Martin.
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Stormrider (The Rigante, #4) 1030384
For immense armies of darkness are advancing on the highlanders, and it seems as if nothing will stop them. They crush their victims with ease, until only a few thousand men stand before them, with no help in sight. But these are not ordinary men they face. They are clansmen, and more than that, they are Rigante. . . .]]>
489 David Gemmell 0345445864 Mach 0 4.21 2002 Stormrider (The Rigante, #4)
author: David Gemmell
name: Mach
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at: 2013/08/29
date added: 2013/09/10
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Midnight Falcon (The Rigante, #2)]]> 568093
Hounded from the country of his birth, Bane found acceptance across the seas–only to have it stripped away in an instant by a cruel and deadly swordsman. Now fighting as a gladiator in the blood-soaked arenas of the Empire, Bane lives for one revenge. And he pursues his goal with the same single-minded determination that won his father a crown.

But more is at stake than a young warrior’s quest for vengeance. The armies of the Stone are preparing to march on the lands of the Rigante. The fate of human and Seidh alike will be decided by the clash of swords–and by the bonds of twisted love and bitterness between a father and a son . . .]]>
430 David Gemmell 0345432363 Mach 0 4.27 1999 Midnight Falcon (The Rigante, #2)
author: David Gemmell
name: Mach
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at: 2013/08/25
date added: 2013/09/10
shelves:
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<![CDATA[American Gods (American Gods, #1)]]> 4407
Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.

Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. You'll be surprised by what - and who - it finds there...

This is the author's preferred text, never before published in the UK, and is about 12,000 words longer than the previous UK edition.

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635 Neil Gaiman Mach 0 4.10 2001 American Gods (American Gods, #1)
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Mach
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at: 2013/08/20
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Flesh and Spirit (Lighthouse, #1)]]> 7519943 432 Carol Berg 1429557435 Mach 0 3.50 2007 Flesh and Spirit (Lighthouse, #1)
author: Carol Berg
name: Mach
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at: 2013/08/20
date added: 2013/08/20
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<![CDATA[Blood of Dragons (Rain Wilds Chronicles #4)]]> 13109291
The dragons and their dedicated band of keepers have at last found the lost city of Kelsingra. The magical creatures have learned to use their wings and are growing into their regal inheritance. Their humans, too, are changing. As the mystical bonds with their dragons deepen, Thymara, Tats, Rapskal, and even Sedric, the unlikeliest of keepers, have begun transforming into beautiful Elderlings raked with exquisite features that complement and reflect the dragons they serve.

But while the humans have scoured the empty streets and enormous buildings of Kelsingra, they cannot find the mythical silver wells the dragons need to stay health and survive. With enemies encroaching, the keepers must risk "memory walking"- immersing themselves in the dangerously addictive memories of long-deceased Elderlings - to uncover clues necessary to their survival.

And time is of the essence, for the legendary Tintaglia, long feared dead, has returned, wounded in a battle with humans hunting dragon blood and scales. She is weakening and only the hidden silver can revive her. If Tintaglia dies, so, too, will the ancient memories she carries - a devastating loss that will ensure the dragons' extinction.]]>
448 Robin Hobb 0062116851 Mach 3 4.14 2013 Blood of Dragons (Rain Wilds Chronicles #4)
author: Robin Hobb
name: Mach
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2013/05/25
date added: 2013/06/01
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Ravenheart (The Rigante, #3) 505352 427 David Gemmell 0345432282 Mach 0 4.26 2001 Ravenheart (The Rigante, #3)
author: David Gemmell
name: Mach
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at: 2013/05/24
date added: 2013/05/30
shelves:
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<![CDATA[The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)]]> 7235533 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, book one of The Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

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.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.
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1007 Brandon Sanderson 0765326353 Mach 2 4.66 2010 The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Mach
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2013/04/27
date added: 2013/04/27
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Daylight War (Demon Cycle, #3)]]> 16163983 808 Peter V. Brett 0007276192 Mach 2 4.20 2013 The Daylight War (Demon Cycle, #3)
author: Peter V. Brett
name: Mach
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2013/03/10
date added: 2013/03/10
shelves:
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Wizard of the Pigeons 418173 214 Megan Lindholm 0441894674 Mach 2 3.75 1986 Wizard of the Pigeons
author: Megan Lindholm
name: Mach
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1986
rating: 2
read at: 2013/02/19
date added: 2013/02/19
shelves:
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Tigana 104089
Tigana is the magical story of a beleaguered land struggling to be free. It is the tale of a people so cursed by the black sorcery of a cruel despotic king that even the name of their once-beautiful homeland cannot be spoken or remembered...

But years after the devastation, a handful of courageous men and women embark upon a dangerous crusade to overthrow their conquerors and bring back to the dark world the brilliance of a long-lost name...Tigana.

Against the magnificently rendered background of a world both sensuous and barbaric, this sweeping epic of a passionate people pursuing their dream is breathtaking in its vision, changing forever the boundaries of fantasy fiction.]]>
676 Guy Gavriel Kay 0451457765 Mach 3 4.07 1990 Tigana
author: Guy Gavriel Kay
name: Mach
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at: 2013/02/18
date added: 2013/02/18
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<![CDATA[A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time, #14; A Memory of Light, #3)]]> 7743162
In the Field of Merrilor the rulers of the nations gather to join behind Rand al’Thor, or to stop him from his plan to break the seals on the Dark One’s prison � which may be a sign of his madness, or the last hope of humankind. Egwene, the Amyrlin Seat, leans toward the former.

In Andor, the Trollocs seize Caemlyn.

In the wolf dream, Perrin Aybara battles Slayer.

Approaching Ebou Dar, Mat Cauthon plans to visit his wife Tuon, now Fortuona, Empress of the Seanchan.

All humanity is in peril � and the outcome will be decided in Shayol Ghul itself. The Wheel is turning, and the Age is coming to its end. The Last Battle will determine the fate of the world . . .

For twenty years The Wheel of Time has enthralled more than forty million readers in over thirty-two languages. A MEMORY OF LIGHT brings this majestic fantasy creation to its richly satisfying conclusion.

Working from notes and partials left by Robert Jordan when he died in 2007, and consulting with Jordan’s widow, who edited all of Jordan’s books, established fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson has recreated the vision Jordan left behind.]]>
909 Robert Jordan 1841498726 Mach 5 leaving memories that become legend.
Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten
when the Age that gave it birth comes again.
In one Age called the 21th century by some, a wind blew in through a teenager's window and ruffled some pages of a book. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings
nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of time.

But it was a beginning.

It is almost like a part of my life has ended, i have been reading these books for 10 years and there will never be anymore of them. I'm saddened but at the same time happy for a conclusion. People either love or hate this series, and i understand why. It has it's negative sides but for me the positive totally outweigh the negative.

The introduction of Androl was awesome, i loved his part of the story and was always looking forward to his chapter's. Egwene and Elayne no longer annoyed me, Rand, Perrin and Mat were great as always. I felt there was too much battle and war in the book but what else could i expect this is The Last Battle.

What surprised me the most was the people that died, i was totally shocked that Sanderson killed people i have been reading about for a decade. I somehow imagined all the main character's to survive and live happily ever after. But some of them don't and i was shocked, but pleased because that's how a story should end. Sanderson said that Jordan had written the final pages years ago and always knew how it was going to end. I actually noticed that the writing changed a little the wording was different and i knew that Jordan had written the end. It was beatiful and poetic. RIP Robert Jordan, you will not be forgotten.

5 full stars for this book, 4 stars for the entire series. ]]>
4.58 2013 A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time, #14; A Memory of Light, #3)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2013/01/28
date added: 2013/01/29
shelves:
review:
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass,
leaving memories that become legend.
Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten
when the Age that gave it birth comes again.
In one Age called the 21th century by some, a wind blew in through a teenager's window and ruffled some pages of a book. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings
nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of time.

But it was a beginning.

It is almost like a part of my life has ended, i have been reading these books for 10 years and there will never be anymore of them. I'm saddened but at the same time happy for a conclusion. People either love or hate this series, and i understand why. It has it's negative sides but for me the positive totally outweigh the negative.

The introduction of Androl was awesome, i loved his part of the story and was always looking forward to his chapter's. Egwene and Elayne no longer annoyed me, Rand, Perrin and Mat were great as always. I felt there was too much battle and war in the book but what else could i expect this is The Last Battle.

What surprised me the most was the people that died, i was totally shocked that Sanderson killed people i have been reading about for a decade. I somehow imagined all the main character's to survive and live happily ever after. But some of them don't and i was shocked, but pleased because that's how a story should end. Sanderson said that Jordan had written the final pages years ago and always knew how it was going to end. I actually noticed that the writing changed a little the wording was different and i knew that Jordan had written the end. It was beatiful and poetic. RIP Robert Jordan, you will not be forgotten.

5 full stars for this book, 4 stars for the entire series.
]]>
<![CDATA[Towers of Midnight (The Wheel of Time, #13)]]> 8253920 The end draws near....

The Last Battle has started. The seals on the Dark One’s prison are crumbling. The Pattern itself is unraveling, and the armies of the Shadow have begun to boil out of the Blight.

The sun has begun to set upon the Third Age.

Perrin Aybara is now hunted by specters from his past: Whitecloaks, a slayer of wolves, and the responsibilities of leadership. All the while, an unseen foe is slowly pulling a noose tight around his neck. To prevail, he must seek answers in °Ő±đ±ô’a°ů˛ą˛Ô’rłóľ±´Ç»ĺ and find a way--at long last--to master the wolf within him or lose himself to it forever

Meanwhile, Matrim Cauthon prepares for the most difficult challenge of his life. The creatures beyond the stone gateways--the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn--have confused him, taunted him, and left him hanged, his memory stuffed with bits and pieces of other men’s lives. He had hoped that his last confrontation with them would be the end of it, but the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. The time is coming when he will again have to dance with the Snakes and the Foxes, playing a game that cannot be won. The Tower of Ghenjei awaits, and its secrets will reveal the fate of a friend long lost.

This penultimate novel of Robert Jordan’s #1 New York Times bestselling series--the second of three based on materials he left behind when he died in 2007--brings dramatic and compelling developments to many threads in the Pattern. The end draws near.

Dovie’andi se tovya sagain. It’s time to toss the dice.]]>
863 Robert Jordan 0765325942 Mach 5 4.46 2010 Towers of Midnight (The Wheel of Time, #13)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2013/01/17
date added: 2013/01/17
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Nine Princes in Amber (The Chronicles of Amber, #1)]]> 92121 175 Roger Zelazny 0380014300 Mach 0 to-read 4.07 1970 Nine Princes in Amber (The Chronicles of Amber, #1)
author: Roger Zelazny
name: Mach
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1970
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time, #12; A Memory of Light, #1)]]> 6053426 783 Robert Jordan 1841491659 Mach 4 4.43 2009 The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time, #12; A Memory of Light, #1)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2013/01/06
date added: 2013/01/06
shelves:
review:

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Red Country 13521459 They stole her brother and sister.
But vengeance is following.

Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she'll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she's not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step father Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb's buried a bloody past of his own. And out in the lawless Far Country the past never stays buried.

Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into an alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust . . .
RED COUNTRY takes place in the same world as the First Law trilogy, Best Served Cold, and The Heroes. This novel also sees the return of one of Abercrombie's most beloved characters.]]>
469 Joe Abercrombie 0316214442 Mach 0 to-read 4.31 2012 Red Country
author: Joe Abercrombie
name: Mach
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, #9)]]> 13891
Mazrim Taim, leader of the Black Tower, is revealed to be a liar. But what is he up to?

Faile, with the Aiel Maidens, Bain and Chiad, and her companions, Queen Alliandre and Morgase, is prisoner of Savanna's sept.

Perrin is desperately searching for Faile. With Elyas Machera, Berelain, the Prophet and a very mixed "army" of disparate forces, he is moving through country rife with bandits and roving Seanchan. The Forsaken are ever more present, and united, and the man called Slayer stalks Tel'aran'rhiod and the wolfdream.

In Ebou Dar, the Seanchan princess known as Daughter of the Nine Moons arrives--and Mat, who had been recuperating in the Tarasin Palace, is introduced to her. Will the marriage that has been foretold come about?

There are neither beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it is a beginning....]]>
780 Robert Jordan 081257558X Mach 2 3.94 1994 Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, #9)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1994
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2012/12/29
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Sword in the Storm (The Rigante, #1)]]> 62292
The Seidh--a magical race as old as time--take note of the young warrior and cast a malignant shadow across his life. For soon a merciless army will cross the water, destroying forever the timeless rhythms of life among the Rigante.

Swearing to protect his people, Connavar embarks on a quest that will take him into the heart of the enemy. Along the way, he receives a gift: a sword as powerful and deadly as the Seidh who forged it. Thus he receives a name that will strike fear into the hearts of friend and foe alike--a name proclaiming a glorious and bitter destiny . . .

Demonblade.]]>
439 David Gemmell 0345432347 Mach 3 4.28 1998 Sword in the Storm (The Rigante, #1)
author: David Gemmell
name: Mach
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2012/12/27
date added: 2012/12/29
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)]]> 9969571 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

IN THE YEAR 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.

But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.]]>
480 Ernest Cline 030788743X Mach 0 to-read 4.21 2011 Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)
author: Ernest Cline
name: Mach
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/12/28
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War]]> 8908
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, "By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn't the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as 'the living dead'?"

Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.]]>
342 Max Brooks 0307346609 Mach 0 to-read 4.02 2006 World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
author: Max Brooks
name: Mach
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/12/24
shelves: to-read
review:

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Norwegian Wood 11297
A magnificent blending of the music, the mood, and the ethos that was the sixties with the story of one college student's romantic coming of age, Norwegian Wood brilliantly recaptures a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love.]]>
296 Haruki Murakami 0375704027 Mach 3 4.01 1987 Norwegian Wood
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Mach
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1987
rating: 3
read at: 2012/12/24
date added: 2012/12/24
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Prince of Thorns (Broken Empire, #1)]]> 9579634
From being a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg has the ability to master the living and the dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father's castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him.

Mark Lawrence's debut novel tells a tale of blood and treachery, magic and brotherhood and paints a compelling and brutal, and sometimes beautiful, picture of an exceptional boy on his journey toward manhood and the throne.]]>
373 Mark Lawrence 0007423292 Mach 4
The only negative thing is that the editing feels a bit jarred at times and sentences could have been longer, more commas and less periods would make the reading flow better. Since this is the author's first book i can forgive that. Hopefully in the sequel it will be better.]]>
3.83 2011 Prince of Thorns (Broken Empire, #1)
author: Mark Lawrence
name: Mach
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2012/12/17
date added: 2012/12/17
shelves:
review:
The main character is a rapist and a sosiopath, if you still want to read this knowing that, you will most likely enjoy this novel. The world is pretty much based on ours and even have some cultural references from it. After finishing the novel i realised that the main character is actually no less evil then his main enemy and for me this was a shock. I was so accusomed to the whole "good guy versus big evil force'" type of fantasy. Which made this a refreshing read. It almost felt like i was reading a fantasy novel from the bad guys perspective. Weird.

The only negative thing is that the editing feels a bit jarred at times and sentences could have been longer, more commas and less periods would make the reading flow better. Since this is the author's first book i can forgive that. Hopefully in the sequel it will be better.
]]>
Echoes of the Great Song 568094
As the cities face imminent destruction, three heroes emerge. Talaban, a warrior haunted by tragedy; Touchstone, the mystic tribesman seeking his lost love; and Anu, the Holy One, the Builder of Time. And when all seems lost, two others enter the fray: Sofarita, the peasant girl who will inspire a legend, and the madman, Viruk, who will become a god. . . .]]>
437 David Gemmell 0345432320 Mach 4 4.06 1997 Echoes of the Great Song
author: David Gemmell
name: Mach
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2012/12/12
date added: 2012/12/12
shelves:
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Dark Moon 568092
One awesome night, the sadistic, seemingly invincible Daroth vanished from the face of the earth. Gone were their cities, their armies, their reigns of terror. Not a trace of this conquering race remained. Until a thousand years later. . . . With the rising of a dark moon above the Great Northern Desert, comes a black tidal wave that sweeps across the land. Suddenly, the desert vanishes beneath lush fields and forests and a great city glitters in the morning light. From this city reemerges the blood-hungry Daroth, powerful and immortal, immune to spear and sword. They have only one to rid the world of humankind forever. Now the fate of the human race rests on the talents of three Karis, warrior-woman and strategist; Tarantio, the deadliest swordsman of the age; and Duvodas the Healer, who will learn a gruesome truth.

“Gemmell’s great reading; the action never lets up; he’s several rungs above the good—right into the fabulous!”—Anne McCaffrey ]]>
405 David Gemmell 0345458370 Mach 4 3,5 stars 4.07 1996 Dark Moon
author: David Gemmell
name: Mach
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2012/11/18
date added: 2012/12/05
shelves:
review:
3,5 stars
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<![CDATA[Foundation and Earth (Foundation, #5)]]> 29582
But is it the right choice for the destiny of mankind? While Trevize feels it is, that is not enough. He must know.

Trevize believes the answer lies at the site of humanity's roots: fabled Earth . . . if it still exists. For no one is sure where the planet of Gaia's first settlers is to be found in the immense wilderness of the Galaxy. Nor can anyone explain why no record of Earth has been preserved, no mention of it made anywhere in Gaia's vast world-memory. It is an enigma Trevize is determined to resolve, and a quest he is determined to undertake, at any cost.

[ Original description here:
ГорŃтка Ńмельчаков пытаетŃŃŹ найти ĐżŃ€Đ°Ń€ĐľĐ´Đ¸Đ˝Ń Ń‡ĐµĐ»ĐľĐ˛ĐµŃ‡ĐµŃтва - Землю, чтобы полŃчить Ń€Đ°Đ·ĐłĐ°Đ´ĐşŃ Ń‚Đ°ĐąĐ˝ иŃтории Галактики.
= A handful of brave souls trying to find humanity's ancestral home—the Earth, to get answers to the mysteries of the history of the Galaxy.]]]>
499 Isaac Asimov 0553587579 Mach 3 4.06 1986 Foundation and Earth (Foundation, #5)
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Mach
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1986
rating: 3
read at: 2012/12/04
date added: 2012/12/04
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Forward the Foundation (Foundation, #7)]]> 76679 Librarian's Note: Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

Here, from a grand master of science fiction, is the long awaited final novel of the greatest series ever told. Completed just before his death, Forward The Foundation is the crowning achievement of a great writer's life, a stirring testament to the creative genius of Isaac Asimov.

As Hari Seldon struggles to perfect his revolutionary theory of psychohistory and ensure a place for humanity among the stars, the great Galactic Empire totters on the brink of apocalyptic collapse. Caught in the maelstrom are Seldon and all he holds dear, pawns in the struggle for dominance. Whoever can control Seldon will control psychohistory—and with it the future of the Galaxy.

Among those seeking to turn psychohistory into the greatest weapon known to man are a populist political demagogue, the weak-willed Emperor Cleon I, and a ruthless militaristic general. In his last act of service to humankind, Hari Seldon must somehow save his life's work from their grasp as he searches for his true heirs—a search the begins with his own granddaughter and the dream of a new Foundation.]]>
464 Isaac Asimov 0553565079 Mach 4 4.15 1993 Forward the Foundation (Foundation, #7)
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Mach
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2012/11/10
date added: 2012/12/03
shelves:
review:

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Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1) 22328 Alternate cover for ISBN: 9780441569595

Case was the sharpest data thief in the Matrix, until an ex-employer crippled his nervous system. Now a new employer has recruited him for a last-chance run against an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence. With a mirror-eyed girl street-samurai riding shotgun, he's ready for the silicon-quick, bleakly prophetic adventure that upped the ante on an entire genre of fiction.]]>
271 William Gibson Mach 0 3.87 1984 Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1)
author: William Gibson
name: Mach
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at: 2012/11/16
date added: 2012/11/16
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Game of Kings (The Lymond Chronicles, #1)]]> 112077 543 Dorothy Dunnett 0679777431 Mach 0 to-read 4.15 1961 The Game of Kings (The Lymond Chronicles, #1)
author: Dorothy Dunnett
name: Mach
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1961
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/10/21
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Sailing to Sarantium (The Sarantine Mosaic, #1)]]> 104097 448 Guy Gavriel Kay 0743450094 Mach 3 4.18 1998 Sailing to Sarantium (The Sarantine Mosaic, #1)
author: Guy Gavriel Kay
name: Mach
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2012/10/07
date added: 2012/10/07
shelves:
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Stardust 16793 Alternate cover edition can be found here

Young Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that old stone wall, Tristran learns, lies Faerie—where nothing not even a fallen star, is what he imagined.]]>
248 Neil Gaiman 0061142026 Mach 3 4.11 1998 Stardust
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Mach
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2012/09/29
date added: 2012/09/29
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Path of Daggers (Wheel of Time, #8)]]> 1111615
In Illian, Rand vows to throw the Seanchan back as he did once before. But signs of madness are appearing among the Asha'man.

In Ghealdan, Perrin faces the intrigues of Whitecloaks, Seanchan invaders, the scattered Shaido Aiel, and the Prophet himself. Perrin's beloved wife, Faile, may pay with her life, and Perrin himself may have to destroy his soul to save her.

Meanwhile the rebel Aes Sedai under their young Amyrlin, Egwene al'Vere, face an army that intends to keep them away from the White Tower. But Egwene is determined to unseat the usurper Elaida and reunite the Aes Sedai. She does not yet understand the price that others—and she herself—will pay.]]>
655 Robert Jordan 185723569X Mach 4 3.77 1998 The Path of Daggers (Wheel of Time, #8)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2012/09/24
date added: 2012/09/24
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Lord of Chaos (Wheel of Time, #6)]]> 865324
The White Tower in Tar Valon, under the Amyrlin Elaida, has decided that Rand must be controlled - gentled, if need be - immediately. And in Salidar, among the Aes Sedai in exile, Egwene al'Vere, although summoned to high office, faces the knowledge that her colleagues also wish to bind him.

Drought and summer heat linger into winter, and Nynaeve al'Maera and Elayne, the Daughter-Heir of Andor, begin a desperate search for the fabled ter'angreal that may enable them to bring normal weather - a search that takes them among Whitecloaks bent on exterminating Aes Sedai.

And across half a continent, Perrin Aybara feels Rand's pull, ta'veren to ta'veren, and for the first time in a thousand years the bowmen of the Two Rivers march to war.]]>
1035 Robert Jordan 185723300X Mach 5 favorites 4.00 1994 Lord of Chaos (Wheel of Time, #6)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at: 2012/08/16
date added: 2012/09/17
shelves: favorites
review:

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Forest Mage (Soldier Son, #2) 45106 Forest Mage.

The sequel to 2005's Shaman's Crossing finds protagonist Nevare Burvelle -- the second son of a nobleman and destined for a career in the military -- with his world turned upside down. After surviving a plague that wiped out many of the students and instructors at the king's military academy, Nevare returns home for his brother's wedding, only to learn that he has been medically discharged from the school. The plague usually leaves its survivors skeletally thin, but Nevare, inexplicably, has begun to gain massive amounts of weight. With his family believing he's a glutton, Nevare is disowned by his father and eventually ends up finding work as a lowly cemetery guard in a frontier town near the border with the Specks, a race of dapple-skinned forest dwellers who possess powerful natural magic. But in a world where technology never stops advancing, can the Specks survive? And what does the suddenly bloated Nevare have to do with their struggle?]]>
718 Robin Hobb 0060757639 Mach 3 3.42 2006 Forest Mage (Soldier Son, #2)
author: Robin Hobb
name: Mach
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2012/09/07
date added: 2012/09/17
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Shaman's Crossing (Soldier Son #1)]]> 45110 591 Robin Hobb 0060758287 Mach 4 3.51 2005 Shaman's Crossing (Soldier Son #1)
author: Robin Hobb
name: Mach
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2012/08/31
date added: 2012/09/17
shelves:
review:

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The Last Light of the Sun 104080
There is nothing soft or silken about the north. The lives of men and women are as challenging as the climate and lands in which they dwell. For generations, the Erlings of Vinmark have taken their dragon-prowed ships across the seas, raiding the lands of the Cyngael and Anglcyn peoples, leaving fire and death behind. But times change, even in the north, and in a tale woven with consummate artistry, people of all three cultures find the threads of their lives unexpectedly brought together...

Bern Thorkellson, punished for his father's sins, commits an act of vengeance and desperation that brings him face-to-face, across the sea, with a past he's been trying to leave behind.

In the Anglcyn lands of King Aeldred, the shrewd king, battling inner demons all the while, shores up his defenses with alliances and diplomacy-and with swords and arrows-while his exceptional, unpredictable sons and daughters pursue their own desires when battle comes and darkness falls in the woods.

And in the valleys and shrouded hills of the Cyngael, whose voices carry music even as they feud and raid amongst each other, violence and love become deeply interwoven when the dragon ships come and Alun ab Owyn, chasing an enemy in the night, glimpses strange lights gleaming above forest pools.

Making brilliant use of saga, song and chronicle, Kay brings to life an unforgettable world balanced on the knife-edge of change in The Last Light of the Sun.]]>
501 Guy Gavriel Kay 0743484231 Mach 4 3.95 2004 The Last Light of the Sun
author: Guy Gavriel Kay
name: Mach
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2012/08/11
date added: 2012/09/17
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Renegade's Magic (Soldier Son, #3)]]> 1593623


The people of Gettys town believe their cemetery soldier, Nevare Burve, guilty of unspeakable crimes. They also recall beating him to death.


But Nevare didn't die that day. A power far more intractable than an angry mob seized control of his life and swept him away. The magic of the Speck people has claimed Nevare, and is shaping him into a weapon to halt the Gernian expansion into Speck lands.


As his efforts to find a peaceful solution fail, Nevare realizes he can no longer suppress his ruthless Speck self, Soldier's Boy. He is determined to stop the Gernian expansion at all costs, and unlike Nevare, has no sympathy for his spirit-twin's world.]]>
691 Robin Hobb 006147312X Mach 3 3.51 2007 Renegade's Magic (Soldier Son, #3)
author: Robin Hobb
name: Mach
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2012/09/17
date added: 2012/09/17
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Crown Conspiracy (The Riyria Revelations, #1)]]> 4345290 They killed the king. They pinned it on two men. They chose poorly.

There is no ancient evil to defeat, no orphan destined for greatness, just two guys in the wrong place at the wrong time. Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles until they become the unwitting scapegoats in a plot to murder the king. Sentenced to death, they have only one way out...and so begins this tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.]]>
296 Michael J. Sullivan 0980003431 Mach 0 to-read 4.21 2008 The Crown Conspiracy (The Riyria Revelations, #1)
author: Michael J. Sullivan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/08/19
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Hobbit, or There and Back Again]]> 5907 Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001).]]> 366 J.R.R. Tolkien Mach 5 favorites 4.29 1937 The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Mach
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at: 2012/07/30
date added: 2012/07/30
shelves: favorites
review:

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<![CDATA[Dragon Haven (Rain Wilds Chronicles #2)]]> 7011403 508 Robin Hobb Mach 4 4.07 2010 Dragon Haven (Rain Wilds Chronicles #2)
author: Robin Hobb
name: Mach
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2011/05/09
date added: 2012/07/18
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1984 5470 328 George Orwell Mach 4 4.15 1949 1984
author: George Orwell
name: Mach
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1949
rating: 4
read at: 2012/07/10
date added: 2012/07/10
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The Inheritance 8739264 Notwithstanding its author credits, this short story collection was written by one person. "Robin Hobb" and "Megan Lindholm" are both pseudonyms used by California-born Margaret Ogden, who from 1983 to 1992, published exclusively as Lindholm. This generous, 400-page hardcover original brings together short stories and novellas penned under both authorial bylines. As Hobb herself notes, "their" writing and styles differ in significant ways. (P.S. This collection includes stories previously unpublished in the United States.)

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400 Robin Hobb 0007273770 Mach 4 3.95 2011 The Inheritance
author: Robin Hobb
name: Mach
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2012/06/07
date added: 2012/06/07
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<![CDATA[Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1)]]> 77566 500 Dan Simmons 0553283685 Mach 1 The writing is too convoluted for me and there are way to many made up words for me to understand anything. If i had stuck with it i might have become more interested but i don't have the time for that.]]> 4.26 1989 Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1)
author: Dan Simmons
name: Mach
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1989
rating: 1
read at: 2012/06/01
date added: 2012/06/01
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I only read some pages before my head started spinning.
The writing is too convoluted for me and there are way to many made up words for me to understand anything. If i had stuck with it i might have become more interested but i don't have the time for that.
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<![CDATA[Warlord (Hythrun Chronicles: Wolfblade Trilogy, #3)]]> 3092784 696 Jennifer Fallon 1841496545 Mach 3 4.27 2005 Warlord (Hythrun Chronicles: Wolfblade Trilogy, #3)
author: Jennifer Fallon
name: Mach
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2012/05/18
date added: 2012/05/18
shelves:
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The Art of War 10534 170 Sun Tzu Mach 0 3.98 -400 The Art of War
author: Sun Tzu
name: Mach
average rating: 3.98
book published: -400
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/05/06
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<![CDATA[Warrior (Hythrun Chronicles: Wolfblade Trilogy, #2)]]> 3247001 709 Jennifer Fallon 1841496537 Mach 5 4.22 2005 Warrior (Hythrun Chronicles: Wolfblade Trilogy, #2)
author: Jennifer Fallon
name: Mach
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2012/05/01
date added: 2012/05/01
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<![CDATA[Wolfblade (Hythrun Chronicles: Wolfblade, #1)]]> 384355 Marla Wolfblade of Hythria is determined to restore her family's great name, but conspirators surround her: the Sorcerers' Collective, the Patriots -- even members of her own family. She must make sure her son Damin lives to be old enough to restore the Wolfblade name to its former glory.

Elezaar the Dwarf is a small man with big secrets -- but that doesn't matter to Marla Wolfblade. Her brother is the High Prince of Hythria, and, in this fiercely patriarchal society, her fate will be decided on his whim. She needs someone politically astute to guide her through the maze of court politics -- and Elezaar the Dwarf knows more than he lets on.

As Elezaar teaches Marla the Rules of Gaining and Wielding Power, Marla starts on the road to becoming a tactician and a wily diplomat -- but will that be enough to keep her son alive?]]>
640 Jennifer Fallon 0765348691 Mach 5 4.06 2004 Wolfblade (Hythrun Chronicles: Wolfblade, #1)
author: Jennifer Fallon
name: Mach
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2012/04/22
date added: 2012/04/22
shelves:
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<![CDATA[City of Dragons (Rain Wilds Chronicles #3)]]> 11801463 City of Dragons. Continuing the enthralling journey she began in her acclaimed Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven, Hobb rejoins a small group of weak, half-formed and unwanted dragons and their displaced human companions as they search for a legendary sanctuary. Now, as the misfit band approaches its final destination, dragons and keepers alike face a challenge so insurmountable that it threatens to render their long, difficult odyssey utterly meaningless. Touching, powerful, and dazzlingly inventive, Hobb’s City of Dragons is not to be missed—further proof that this author belongs alongside Raymond E. Feist, Terry Brooks, and Lois McMaster Bujold in the pantheon of fantasy fiction’s true greats.]]> 334 Robin Hobb 0061561630 Mach 4 4.07 2011 City of Dragons (Rain Wilds Chronicles #3)
author: Robin Hobb
name: Mach
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2012/04/10
date added: 2012/04/10
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<![CDATA[Last Argument of Kings (The First Law, #3)]]> 944076
Logen Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him, but it's going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the King of the Northmen still stands firm, and there's only one man who can stop him. His oldest friend, and his oldest enemy: it's time for the Bloody-Nine to come home.

With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war. A secret struggle in which no-one is safe, and no-one can be trusted. And, as his days with a sword are far behind him, it's fortunate that he's deadly with his remaining weapons: threats, blackmail and torture.

Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is too painful an undertaking and turned his back on soldiering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too � and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it.

While the King of the Union lies on his deathbead, the peasants revolt and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No-one believes that the shadow of war is about to fall across the heart of the Union. Only the First of the Magi has a plan to save the world � as he always does � but this time there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, after all, than to break the First Law...]]>
536 Joe Abercrombie 0575077905 Mach 3 4.35 2008 Last Argument of Kings (The First Law, #3)
author: Joe Abercrombie
name: Mach
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2012/04/02
date added: 2012/04/02
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<![CDATA[Black Sun Rising (The Coldfire Trilogy, #1)]]> 36159 496 C.S. Friedman 0756403146 Mach 3 june-july 3 and a half. 3.94 1991 Black Sun Rising (The Coldfire Trilogy, #1)
author: C.S. Friedman
name: Mach
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at: 2012/03/21
date added: 2012/03/21
shelves: june-july
review:
3 and a half.
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<![CDATA[Grave Peril (The Dresden Files, #3)]]> 8171449 Alternate Cover for 9780451458445

HARRY DRESDEN � WIZARD
Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden’s faced some pretty terrifying foes during his career. Giant scorpions. Oversexed vampires. Psychotic werewolves. All par for the course for Chicago’s only professional wizard.

But in all of Harry’s years of supernatural sleuthing, he’s never faced anything like this: the spirit world’s gone postal. All over Chicago, ghosts are causing trouble—and not just of the door-slamming, â€booâ€�- shouting variety. These ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly.

Someone—or something—is stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc. But why? And why do so many of the victims have ties to Harry? If Harry doesn’t figure it out soon, he could wind up a ghost himself....
From the back cover of ISBN 0451458443 / 9780451458445]]>
378 Jim Butcher Mach 4 june-july 3.84 2001 Grave Peril (The Dresden Files, #3)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Mach
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2011/11/21
date added: 2012/03/05
shelves: june-july
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<![CDATA[Lord of the Shadows (Second Sons, #3)]]> 274416
Meanwhile, Alenor, Queen of Dhevyn, betrayed by her husband, Kirsh, and Tia Veran, deceived by Dirk, set out for revenge and to finally free their people at any cost. As the second sons and the rest of their generation pursue different paths to survival and freedom, they discover that the will of the Goddess - and of men - works in mysterious ways. And as Dirk’s old enemies join with new ones, his attempt to save Ranadon may cost him his friends, his love...and his life.]]>
592 Jennifer Fallon 055358670X Mach 4 4.26 2003 Lord of the Shadows (Second Sons, #3)
author: Jennifer Fallon
name: Mach
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2012/02/26
date added: 2012/02/26
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<![CDATA[Eye of the Labyrinth (Second Sons, #2)]]> 55443
Suddenly widowed, Morna Provin, Duchess of Elcast, has lost her only protector. With her son banished for an unspeakable crime, she faces a horrifying fate at the hands of the Lion of Senet as retribution for her relationship with the heretic Johan Thorn. But it is only part of a cunning scheme to lure her son, Dirk Provin, back into the fold so Antonov can consolidate his power once and for all.

With his mother's life at stake, Dirk Provin must emerge from hiding in the Baenlands and return to Elcast-- setting in motion a rebellion that will expose long-buried secrets and ignite festering hatreds. For a ruler's fears and a madman's prophecy will start Dirk on a quest for truth that will spark a fierce battle between two very different men: one who believes only what his five senses tell him, the other obsessed by his faith in the divine. It is a clash that will bring to light a revelation that may shatter them all.]]>
528 Jennifer Fallon 0553586696 Mach 5 4.20 2003 Eye of the Labyrinth (Second Sons, #2)
author: Jennifer Fallon
name: Mach
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2012/02/18
date added: 2012/02/18
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<![CDATA[Legends : Short Novels By The Masters Of Modern Fantasy]]> 752499 New Spring by Robert Jordan
The Burning Man by Tad Williams
The Wood Boy by Raymond E. Feist
The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin
Runner of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
Dragonfly by Ursula K. Le Guin
Grinning Man by Orson Scott Card
Debt of Bones by Terry Goodkind
The Sea and Little Fishes by Terry Pratchett
The Little Sisters of Eluria by Steven King
The Seventh Shrine by Robert Silverberg]]>
602 Stephen; Jordan King 0002256665 Mach 3 3.75 1998 Legends : Short Novels By The Masters Of Modern Fantasy
author: Stephen; Jordan King
name: Mach
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2012/02/15
date added: 2012/02/15
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<![CDATA[Lion of Senet (Second Sons, #1)]]> 384352
A volcanic eruption rocks the seas separating the Kingdom of Dhevyn and the mainland Kingdom of Senet, and a mysterious sailor is shipwrecked on the island of Elcast. Badly wounded, his arrival stirs up old hatreds and unravels old secrets. His presence is enough to even bring Antonov, the powerful Lion of Senet, to the island and fear to the Keep of the Duke of Elcast.

A strong friendship develops between Dirk, second son of the Duke, and Kirshov Latanya, second son of the Lion of Senet. But will they, and their friendship, survive the chain of events set in motion by the ambitions of the ruthless High Priestess of the Shadowdancers and the domineering Lion of Senet?

This first book of the Second Sons Trilogy establishes Jennifer Fallon as one of the most unique voices in fantasy fiction, as she creates full characters, and takes intelligent plotting to a whole new level in order to establish unparalleled complexity and tension.]]>
561 Jennifer Fallon 0553586688 Mach 4 4.04 2004 Lion of Senet (Second Sons, #1)
author: Jennifer Fallon
name: Mach
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2012/02/01
date added: 2012/02/01
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<![CDATA[A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)]]> 10664113 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B004XISI4A

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance—beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.

Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. But his newest allies in this quest are not the rag-tag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who could undo Daenerys’s claim to Westeros forever.

Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone—a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.

From all corners, bitter conflicts reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all.]]>
1125 George R.R. Martin Mach 4 the best fantasy series out there. This book is not quite as good as Storm of Swords but better then Feast for Crows. If you have come this far in the series nothing is going to stop you from continiung.

The rest of the review is full of spoilers so read at your own risk.



[spoilers removed]

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4.33 2011 A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Mach
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2011/07/14
date added: 2012/01/16
shelves:
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I have finished this tome, after days of spending all of my free time reading. The story was fast paced and exciting. Martin has introduced new characters this late which i think is a mistake, you are not supposed to be introducing new characters in the fifth book. How will he ever finish this story if he keeps adding new storylines without closing the old ones? I still think this series is one of the best if not the best fantasy series out there. This book is not quite as good as Storm of Swords but better then Feast for Crows. If you have come this far in the series nothing is going to stop you from continiung.

The rest of the review is full of spoilers so read at your own risk.



[spoilers removed]


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Unfinished Tales 7329
Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring, and provides those who have read The Lord of the Rings with a whole collection of background and new stories from the twentieth century’s most acclaimed popular author.

The book concentrates on the realm of Middle-earth and comprises such elements as Gandalf’s lively account of how it was that he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End, the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before the eyes of Tuor on the coast of Beleriand, and an exact description of the military organization of the Riders of Rohan.

Unfinished Tales also contains the only story about the long ages of Numenor before its downfall, and all that is known about such matters as the Five Wizards, the Palantiri and the legend of Amroth. The tales were collated and edited by JRR Tolkien’s son and literary heir, Christopher Tolkien, who provides a short commentary on each story, helping the reader to fill in the gaps and put each story into the context of the rest of his father’s writings.]]>
452 J.R.R. Tolkien 026110215X Mach 0 4.00 1980 Unfinished Tales
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Mach
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1980
rating: 0
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The Children of Húrin 2969785 The Children of Húrin is the first complete book by J.R.R. Tolkien since the 1977 publication of The Silmarillion. Six thousand years before the One Ring is destroyed, Middle-earth lies under the shadow of the Dark Lord Morgoth. The greatest warriors among elves and men have perished, and all is in darkness and despair. But a deadly new leader rises, Túrin, son of Húrin, and with his grim band of outlaws begins to turn the tide in the war for Middle-earth—awaiting the day he confronts his destiny and the deadly curse laid upon him.

The paperback edition of The Children of HĂşrin includes eight color paintings by Alan Lee and a black-and-white map.]]>
317 J.R.R. Tolkien 0547086059 Mach 0 4.06 2007 The Children of HĂşrin
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Mach
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, #4)]]> 91478 For the 1st printing edition of this ISBN, see here.

HARRY DRESDEN -- WIZARD

Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment

Ever since his girlfriend left town to deal with her newly acquired taste for blood, Harry Dresden has been down and out in Chicago. He can't pay his rent. He's alienating his friends. He can't even recall the last time he took a shower.

The only professional wizard in the phone book has become a desperate man.

And just when it seems things can't get any worse, in saunters the Winter Queen of Faerie. She has an offer Harry can't refuse if he wants to free himself of the supernatural hold his faerie godmother has over him--and hopefully end his run of bad luck. All he has to do is find out who murdered the Summer Queen's right-hand man, the Summer Knight, and clear the Winter Queen's name.

It seems simple enough, but Harry knows better than to get caught in the middle of faerie politics. Until he finds out that the fate of the entire world rests on his solving this case. No pressure or anything...]]>
446 Jim Butcher 0451458923 Mach 4 4.26 2002 Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, #4)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Mach
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2012/01/05
date added: 2012/01/05
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By the Light of the Moon 15752
All he's told is that he's the "carrier," not of a disease, but of something wondrous that will transform his life in remarkable ways - if it doesn't kill him in the next twenty-four hours.

Now Dylan, his autistic brother, Shep, and another "carrier," a young woman, are swept into a desperate search for the shattering truth of what they are and what they might become.

But first they must elude those sent to destroy them.

Their only chance to survive is to discover the meaning of the messages that Shep, with precious time running out, begins to repeat, about a man who does his work...]]>
460 Dean Koontz 0553582763 Mach 4 3.87 2002 By the Light of the Moon
author: Dean Koontz
name: Mach
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2011/12/24
date added: 2011/12/24
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<![CDATA[New Spring (The Wheel of Time, #0)]]> 187065 Wheel of Time series - a fantasy phenomenon

The city of Canluum lies close to the scarred and desolate wastes of the Blight, a walled haven from the dangers away to the north, and a refuge from the ill works of those who serve the Dark One. Or so it is said. The city that greets Al'Lan Mandragoran, exiled king of Malkier and the finest swordsman of his generation, is instead one that is rife with rumour and the whisperings of Shadowspawn. Proof, should he have required it, that the Dark One grows powerful once more and that his minions are at work throughout the lands.

And yet it is within Canluum's walls that Lan will meet a woman who will shape his destiny. Moiraine is a young and powerful Aes Sedai who has journeyed to the city in search of a bondsman. She requires aid in a desperate quest to prove the truth of a vague and largely discredited prophecy - one that speaks of a means to turn back the shadow, and of a child who may be the dragon reborn.]]>
423 Robert Jordan 1841492612 Mach 3 4.07 2004 New Spring (The Wheel of Time, #0)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/11/21
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<![CDATA[The Fires of Heaven (The Wheel of Time, #5)]]> 13895
In The Fires of Heaven, the fifth novel in Robert Jordan’s #1 New York Times bestselling epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time, four of the most powerful Forsaken band together against the Champion of Light, Rand al’Thor.

Prophesized to defeat the Dark One, Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, has upset the balance of power across the land. Shaido Aiel are on the march, ravaging everything in their path. The White Tower's Amyrlin has been deposed, turning the Aes Sedai against one another. The forbidden city of Rhuidean is overrun by Shadowspawn.

Despite the chaos swirling around him, Rand continues to learn how to harness his abilities, determined to wield the One Power--and ignoring the counsel of Moiraine Damodred at great cost.

Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters. The last six books in series were all instant #1 New York Times bestsellers, and The Eye of the World was named one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read.

The Wheel of Time®
New Spring: The Novel
#1 The Eye of the World
#2 The Great Hunt
#3 The Dragon Reborn
#4 The Shadow Rising
#5 The Fires of Heaven
#6 Lord of Chaos
#7 A Crown of Swords
#8 The Path of Daggers
#9 Winter's Heart
#10 Crossroads of Twilight
#11 Knife of Dreams

By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
#12 The Gathering Storm
#13 Towers of Midnight
#14 A Memory of Light]]>
912 Robert Jordan 1857232097 Mach 4 4.19 1993 The Fires of Heaven (The Wheel of Time, #5)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2011/11/13
date added: 2011/11/13
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, #2)]]> 91477 Harry Dresden � Wizard

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn't been able to dredge up any kind of work � magical or mundane.

But just when it looks like he can't afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise.

A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses--and the first two don't count...]]>
424 Jim Butcher 0451458125 Mach 4 3.98 2001 Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, #2)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Mach
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2011/11/08
date added: 2011/11/08
shelves:
review:
What an action packed adventure! I stayed up late in the night to finish this one, it was one hell of a ride. Looking forward to the next one. 2 down 12 to go.
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<![CDATA[The Shadow Rising (Wheel of Time, #4)]]> 6586957
In Tar Valon, Min sees portents of hideous doom. Will the White Tower itself be broken?

In the Two Rivers, the Whitecloaks ride in pursuit of a man with golden eyes, and in pursuit of the Dragon Reborn.

In Cantorin, among the Sea Folk, High Lady Suroth plans the return of the Seanchan armies to the mainland.

In the Stone of Tear, the Lord Dragon considers his next move. It will be something no one expects, not the Black Ajah, not Tairen nobles, not Aes Sedai, not Egwene or Elayne or Nynaeve.

Against the Shadow rising stands the Dragon Reborn.....]]>
1056 Robert Jordan Mach 5 4.05 1992 The Shadow Rising (Wheel of Time, #4)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2011/11/02
date added: 2011/11/02
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<![CDATA[Conan the Unconquered (Conan, #3)]]> 1738684 Book by Jordan, Robert 288 Robert Jordan 0523480539 Mach 3 3.80 1983 Conan the Unconquered (Conan, #3)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/10/30
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<![CDATA[Conan the Defender (Conan, #2)]]> 152243 288 Robert Jordan 0812513940 Mach 3 3.72 1982 Conan the Defender (Conan, #2)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/10/30
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<![CDATA[Conan the Invincible (Conan, #1)]]> 152231 288 Robert Jordan 0812542258 Mach 3 3.79 1982 Conan the Invincible (Conan, #1)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/10/30
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<![CDATA[Crossroads of Twilight (The Wheel of Time, #10)]]> 113435 The Wheel of Time from the New York Times #1 bestselling author Robert Jordan, the world and the characters stand at a crossroads, and the world approaches twilight, when the power of the Shadow grows stronger.

Fleeing from Ebou Dar with the kidnapped Daughter of the Nine Moons, whom he is fated to marry, Mat Cauthon learns that he can neither keep her nor let her go, not in safety for either of them, for both the Shadow and the might of the Seanchan Empire are in deadly pursuit.

Perrin Aybara seeks to free his wife, Faile, a captive of the Shaido, but his only hope may be an alliance with the enemy. Can he remain true to his friend Rand and to himself? For his love of Faile, Perrin is willing to sell his soul.

At Tar Valon, Egwene al'Vere, the young Amyrlin of the rebel Aes Sedai, lays siege to the heart of Aes Sedai power, but she must win quickly, with as little bloodshed as possible, for unless the Aes Sedai are reunited, only the male Asha'man will remain to defend the world against the Dark One, and nothing can hold the Asha'man themselves back from total power except the Aes Sedai and a unified White Tower.

In Andor, Elayne Trakland fights for the Lion Throne that is hers by right, but enemies and Darkfriends surround her, plotting her destruction. If she fails, Andor may fall to the Shadow, and the Dragon Reborn with it.

Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn himself, has cleansed the Dark One's taint from the male half of the True Source, and everything has changed. Yet nothing has, for only men who can channel believe that saidin is clean again, and a man who can channel is still hated and feared-even one prophesied to save the world. Now, Rand must gamble again, with himself at stake, and he cannot be sure which of his allies are really enemies.
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704 Robert Jordan 0312864590 Mach 3 3.77 2003 Crossroads of Twilight (The Wheel of Time, #10)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/10/21
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<![CDATA[The Desert Spear (Demon Cycle, #2)]]> 10545010
Betrayal has turned the two friends into fierce adversaries, and only time will tell who is strong enough to withstand the might of the demons as they strive to obliterate humanity's defences once and for all.]]>
761 Peter V. Brett 0007276176 Mach 4
The story was fast paced with lots of action and fighting. I considered giving it 5 stars but i did not get the ending that i was waiting for. It was a very entertaining story and i am eagerly awaiting The Daylight War.]]>
4.33 2010 The Desert Spear (Demon Cycle, #2)
author: Peter V. Brett
name: Mach
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2011/10/17
date added: 2011/10/18
shelves:
review:
The Desert Spear is a novel full of strong female characters. My favorite character was Jardir, after reading the first couple of hundred pages from only his point of view, i could not help but root for him in the rest of the book. He is a tough and hard man with a strong will and like his fellow warriors is not afraid to use violence. The violence was one of the problems i had with the Krasians, i understand they are a warrior race but there was alot of unneccesary violence towards others, everytime someone disagrees or have another point of view, someone gets beat up. But they unlike the Thesans actually fight every night against the demons. It seemed like Brett pretty much copy pasted arab/muslim culture and called them Krasians. They wear veils, they live in the desert, their god is called Ala. There is a strong male hierarchy and they have an honor system. I don't mind this but he could have tried to create a culture more original.

The story was fast paced with lots of action and fighting. I considered giving it 5 stars but i did not get the ending that i was waiting for. It was a very entertaining story and i am eagerly awaiting The Daylight War.
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Xenocide (Ender's Saga, #3) 8648
On Lusitania, Ender found a world where humans and pequininos and the Hive Queen could all live together; where three very different intelligent species could find common ground at last. Or so he thought.

Lusitania also harbors the descolada, a virus that kills all humans it infects, but which the pequininos require in order to become adults. The Starways Congress so fears the effects of the descolada, should it escape from Lusitania, that they have ordered the destruction of the entire planet, and all who live there. The Fleet is on its way, a second xenocide seems inevitable.

Xenocide is the third novel in Orson Scott Card's The Ender Saga.]]>
592 Orson Scott Card 0312861877 Mach 2 3.81 1991 Xenocide (Ender's Saga, #3)
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Mach
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1991
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2011/10/12
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Blackgod (Children of the Changeling, #2)]]> 91970 512 Greg Keyes 1857236637 Mach 3 3.87 1997 The Blackgod (Children of the Changeling, #2)
author: Greg Keyes
name: Mach
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/10/10
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Waterborn (Children of the Changeling, #1)]]> 91971
Everywhere he touched, the River God held dominion. And in Nhol, the fabled city at the heart of the world, an emperor ruled as the living aspect of the god, presiding over the splendors and intrigues of a prosperous land and a glittering court.

Hezhi was an imperial princess; her blood carried the seeds of the River's power. When her favorite cousin disappeared, Hezhi searched throughout the sumptuous palace with its ghosts and priests, giants and courtiers, and frightening creatures of wizardry. And the magic within her began to grow; soon it must attract dangerous attention. Hezhi's anxious quest ripened into a desperate fight for her own life--a battle she could not hope to win alone.

Small wonder that the princess wished for a hero.

And far away, a hero's journey began...]]>
436 Greg Keyes 0345403932 Mach 3 3.85 1996 The Waterborn (Children of the Changeling, #1)
author: Greg Keyes
name: Mach
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/10/10
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Oath of Gold (The Deed of Paksenarrion, #3)]]> 17316
Oath of Gold is the climactic final volume of the epic that Judith Tarr calls "the first work of high heroic fantasy I've seen that has taken the work of Tolkien, assimilated it totally and deeply and absolutely, and produced something altogether new and yet incontestably based on the master... [Moon's] military knowledge is impressive, her picture of life in a mercenary company most convincing. I'm deeply impressed."]]>
501 Elizabeth Moon 0671697986 Mach 3 4.26 1989 Oath of Gold (The Deed of Paksenarrion, #3)
author: Elizabeth Moon
name: Mach
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1989
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/10/01
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Divided Allegiance (The Deed of Paksenarrion, #2)]]> 887858 522 Elizabeth Moon 0671697862 Mach 3 4.18 1988 Divided Allegiance (The Deed of Paksenarrion, #2)
author: Elizabeth Moon
name: Mach
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/10/01
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Sheepfarmer's Daughter (The Deed of Paksenarrion, #1)]]> 1223573
And so her adventure begins...]]>
506 Elizabeth Moon 1857236408 Mach 3 3.91 1988 Sheepfarmer's Daughter (The Deed of Paksenarrion, #1)
author: Elizabeth Moon
name: Mach
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/10/01
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Dragon Reborn (The Wheel of Time, #3)]]> 34897 The Dragon Reborn—the leader long prophesied who will save the world, but in the saving destroy it; the savior who will run mad and kill all those dearest to him—is on the run from his destiny.

Able to touch the One Power, but unable to control it, and with no one to teach him how—for no man has done it in three thousand years—Rand al'Thor knows only that he must face the Dark One. But how?

Winter has stopped the war—almost—yet men are dying, calling out for the Dragon. But where is he?

Perrin Aybara is in pursuit with Moiraine Sedai, her Warder Lan, and Loial the Ogier. Bedeviled by dreams, Perrin is grappling with another deadly problem—how is he to escape the loss of his own humanity?

Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve are approaching Tar Valon, where Mat will be healed—if he lives until they arrive. But who will tell the Amyrlin their news—that the Black Ajah, long thought only a hideous rumor, is all too real? They cannot know that in Tar Valon far worse awaits...

Ahead, for all of them, in the Heart of the Stone, lies the next great test of the Dragon reborn....
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624 Robert Jordan 0765305119 Mach 5 4.27 1991 The Dragon Reborn (The Wheel of Time, #3)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mach
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at: 2011/10/01
date added: 2011/10/01
shelves:
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<![CDATA[The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #1)]]> 91981
Simon, a kitchen boy from the royal castle unknowingly apprenticed to a member of this League, will be sent on a quest that offers the only hope of salvation, a deadly riddle concerning long-lost swords of power. Compelled by fate and perilous magics, he must leave the only home he’s ever known and face enemies more terrifying than Osten Ard has ever seen, even as the land itself begins to die.

After the landmark Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy, the epic saga of Osten Ard continues with the brand-new novel, The Heart of What Was Lost. Then don’t miss the upcoming trilogy, The Last King of Osten Ard, beginning with The Witchwood Crown!]]>
672 Tad Williams 0756402697 Mach 0 back-burner 3.96 1988 The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #1)
author: Tad Williams
name: Mach
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at: 2011/09/30
date added: 2011/09/30
shelves: back-burner
review:

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Neverwhere (London Below, #1) 14497
"Neverwhere" is the London of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Strange destinies lie in wait in London below - a world that seems eerily familiar. But a world that is utterly bizarre, peopled by unearthly characters such as the Angel called Islington, the girl named Door, and the Earl who holds Court on a tube train.

Now a single act of kindness has catapulted young businessman Richard Mayhew out of his safe and predictable life - and into the realms of "Neverwhere." Richard is about to find out more than he ever wanted to know about this other London. Which is a pity. Because Richard just wants to go home...]]>
370 Neil Gaiman 0060557818 Mach 0 back-burner 4.17 1996 Neverwhere (London Below, #1)
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Mach
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at: 2011/09/30
date added: 2011/09/30
shelves: back-burner
review:

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<![CDATA[A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)]]> 13642
Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.]]>
183 Ursula K. Le Guin Mach 3 4.02 1968 A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Mach
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1968
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/09/27
shelves:
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<![CDATA[A Darkness At Sethanon (The Riftwar Saga, #4)]]> 13813
Here be dragons and sorcery, swordplay, quests, pursuits, intrigues, stratagems, journeys to the darkest realms of the dead and titanic battles between the forces of good and darkest evil.

Here is the final dramatic confrontation between Arutha and Murmandamus - and the perilous quest of Pug the magician and Tomas the warrior for Macros the Black. A Darkness at Sethanon is heroic fantasy of the highest excitement and on the grandest scale, a magnificent conclusion to one of the great fantasy sagas of our time.]]>
527 Raymond E. Feist 0586066888 Mach 3 4.19 1986 A Darkness At Sethanon (The Riftwar Saga, #4)
author: Raymond E. Feist
name: Mach
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1986
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/09/25
shelves:
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<![CDATA[First King of Shannara (The Original Shannara Trilogy, #0)]]> 92855 489 Terry Brooks 1857236556 Mach 3 3.97 1996 First King of Shannara (The Original Shannara Trilogy, #0)
author: Terry Brooks
name: Mach
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/09/25
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Lord Valentine's Castle (Lord Valentine, #1)]]> 252838
Valentine's journey is a long one, a tour through a series of magnificent environments. Fields of predatory plants give way to impossibly wide rivers, chalk-cliffed islands and unforgiving deserts. The prose is unrelentingly dreamlike—no accident given that on Majipoor, dreams rule the minds of great and humble alike.

Originally serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in four parts: November 1979, December 1979, January 1980 and February 1980.]]>
506 Robert Silverberg 0061054879 Mach 4 3.89 1980 Lord Valentine's Castle (Lord Valentine, #1)
author: Robert Silverberg
name: Mach
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/23
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<![CDATA[The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology]]> 24658 'What was the beginning, or how did things start? What was there before?'

The Prose Edda is the most renowned of all works of Scandinavian literature and our most extensive source for Norse mythology. Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, it tells ancient stories of the Norse creation epic and recounts the battles that follow as gods, giants, dwarves and elves struggle for survival. It also preserves the oral memory of heroes, warrior kings and queens. In clear prose interspersed with powerful verse, the Edda provides unparalleled insight into the gods' tragic realisation that the future holds one final cataclysmic battle, Ragnarok, when the world will be destroyed. These tales from the pagan era have proved to be among the most influential of all myths and legends, inspiring modern works as diverse as Wagner's Ring Cycle and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

This new translation by Jesse Byock captures the strength and subtlety of the original, while his introduction sets the tales fully in the context of Norse mythology. This edition also includes detailed notes and appendices.]]>
224 Snorri Sturluson 0140447555 Mach 0 4.17 1220 The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology
author: Snorri Sturluson
name: Mach
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1220
rating: 0
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date added: 2011/09/17
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<![CDATA[Harpy's Flight (Windsingers, #1)]]> 401427 320 Megan Lindholm 0007112521 Mach 0 to-read 3.65 1983 Harpy's Flight (Windsingers, #1)
author: Megan Lindholm
name: Mach
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/09/14
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 Mach 5 4.56 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mach
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2011/09/01
shelves:
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Alien Earth 1597016 400 Megan Lindholm 2753300321 Mach 0 to-read 4.03 1992 Alien Earth
author: Megan Lindholm
name: Mach
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/08/27
shelves: to-read
review:

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