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Em's Picks

Em EM
Em has a BA in English and Philosophy, and is currently working on her MA in Philosophy, because she's attracted to degrees that have a high likelihood of leaving her unemployed. She's been lost in Fantasy books ever since reading Mary Stanton's Unicorns of Balinor at age 12, and rarely remembers other genres exist. Her Fantasy author idols are Terry Goodkind, RA Salvatore, Anne Bishop, and Lilith Saintcrow. When not writing, reading, or attending class, she's secretly hoping to be sucked into an alternate dimension containing dragons and sorcerers, where she conveniently happens to be a sword-wielding warrior princess of some sort.
$26.95
ISBN-13: 9780393239775
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 5/2013
It has always struck me as a curious part of human nature that we should wonder, to the point of obsession, about the pasts of those we care most deeply about. Underneath this is the question of how much we really can know about another person, but perhaps more importantly how much we really have a right to know. The protagonist in our novel, Alex, finds himself faced with questions such as these after the murder of his wife, and learns from her death much more of her past than she would ever have told him in her life. Every Contact Leaves a Trace is the moving, honest, occasionally heartwrenching story of Alex’s journey to discover what really happened to his wife, and to reconcile what he learns with the love they held for each other.

Advent (Paperback)

$16.00
ISBN-13: 9781451661651
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 4/2013
Let me begin by saying this isn’t a novel to speed-read through. This is a novel to settle in with a cup of tea or some coffee, and take your time. The characters – from our teenage Gavin who talks to ghosts, to the legendary magician Johannes Faust and Cassandra of Troy – are people you’ll want to spend time with; you’ll wish some of them had made different choices, you’ll wish life wasn’t so difficult for others, but you’ll want to stay with all of them right to the end. Treadwell’s writing is beautiful and descriptive, creating a setting that is full of both mystery and charm, yet still utterly believable. Advent is a fantastic beginning to this new trilogy.

$17.99
ISBN-13: 9781595143570
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Razorbill, 4/2013
I've always been a fan of fairy tales, and when I saw my favorite author was taking on the Snow White legend it took more patience than I knew I had to wait for release day. Camille is Snow White as you’ve never seen her, complete with scars, a stutter, an immortal family hell-bent on protecting her, and a past so dark she can only remember it in her nightmares. But Cami can't escape her past forever, and when it — and the White Queen — catch up with her, it'll take her friends and her immortal fiancé, a stranger she doesn’t know if she can trust, to get her out alive. Oh, and those friends bear strong resemblances to Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, whose stories (if I've followed our author's blog correctly) you can expect to be coming along soon.

$26.95
ISBN-13: 9780451464965
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Roc Hardcover, 3/2013
I started this book on my day off, intending to read a couple of chapters and then go run some errands. Eight hours and several cups of coffee later, I'd read it straight through without stopping. Meg Corbyn is a blood prophet who sees visions when her skin is cut, visions her owner sells for exorbitant sums. After escaping with the most valuable thing she has — her own body — Meg takes asylum in the only place she can: a Courtyard of the Others, where human law does not apply. Meg knows she may have traded one danger for another, but when the Others grow attached to her and her owner comes looking to claim her, Meg may be just the thing to break the uneasy truce between humans and the Others. And when the Others go to war, entire species go extinct.

$25.00
ISBN-13: 9780345534057
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Del Rey, 2/2013
After finishing this book, I immediately knew I wanted to write a review, but there were so many fascinating aspects of the novel I wasn't quite sure which to focus on. More than just an entertaining sci-fi, Lord's novel explores many divergent facets of culture and human personality. When Dllenakh's home-world is destroyed, devastating the Sadiri population, he's sent to Cygnus-Beta and tasked with finding the remaining Sadiri suitable partners to repopulate the race. Delarua is assigned as liaison to help Dllenakh with his task. She's impulsive and strong-willed, the opposite of the fiercely controlled and mentally advanced Sadiri, yet she and Dllenakh get along oddly well. Their journeys raise interesting questions about intercultural interactions, along with the question of how much a culture can — or perhaps should — reasonably hold on to their past when they've lost nearly everything.

$26.95
ISBN-13: 9780670026579
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Viking Adult, 1/2013
Alright, I admit it, I picked the book up more because it had Sherlock Holmes in the title than out of any real desire to improve my thinking; still, I found the book both entertaining and useful. Konnikova points out how frequently we tend to operate on auto-pilot, largely unobservant (like Watson), and shows us how we can train ourselves to be better thinkers and observers (like Holmes). Through several examples from Holmes’ cases, Konnikova reveals the psychology and methodology behind Holmes’ thought process, allowing us to understand how he arrives effortlessly at conclusions we often think impossible. While I can’t promise you’ll be a master detective after reading this book, I can say that if you apply the proper methodology you’ll begin to notice more, and you might find everyday life a little less boring.

Throne of the Crescent Moon (Mass Market Paperback)

$7.99
ISBN-13: 9780756407780
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: DAW, 12/2012
I was first attracted to Ahmed's Throne of the Crescent Moon because of the unusual setting. As someone who likes to think I've read a good deal of fantasy, I'd yet to come across one set in a world bearing similarities to the Arabic/Egyptian region of our own world. I was intrigued and a little nervous. I shouldn't have been the latter. Ahmed creates a refreshingly new world, while keeping all of the best of a traditional fantasy epic. The old, would-be-retired Adoulla and his apprentice Raseed make a humorous pair, contrasting the world-weariness of the old master with the fervent fire of the young, new ghul hunter. I highly recommend this book to fantasy lovers looking for an interesting new take on the genre.

$20.00
ISBN-13: 9781935487777
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Adventures Unlimited Press, 2/2012
Think this is another one of those cutesy, humorous, but in the end essentially useless books about the apocalypse? Think again. This book is for those of you out there serious about being prepared in the event you find yourself stranded after some natural (or not-so-natural) world-altering event. Have the following concerns ever occurred to you: How to construct a temporary shelter out of the materials at hand? How to make river water safe to drink? What are the best plants/materials for emergency first aid and illness? Or perhaps you're wondering how to steer clear of hostile groups out to rob you of your supplies in the newly-lawless world? This book answers all of these concerns and more. Have it handy at all times — when the world ends, you're on the survival list.

The White Forest (Hardcover)

$25.00
ISBN-13: 9781451664256
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Touchstone, 9/2012
Remember that intense feeling of wonder you used to get reading books in your youth, when it felt like the world of the story opened up around you and pulled you right into it? Until I picked up this book I hadn't read a novel, as an adult, that made a setting come to life so intensely that I actually felt myself a part of it. The White Forest has a Gothic and, at times, almost phantasmagorical feel to it as the story progresses, inviting you to discover the secret behind Nathan Ashe’s disappearance, and the truth behind Jane Silverlake’s ability to perceive the souls of man-made objects. You won’t want to put this book down until you discover just what the white forest really is, and once you do, you might not be quite the same.

$13.99
ISBN-13: 9780316201261
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Orbit, 8/2012
The Iron Wyrm Affair is a fast-paced blend of mystery, magic, and steampunk. Set in an alternate-world Victorian London, prime sorceress Emma Bannon is tasked with protecting Archibald Clare, a mentath whose powers of deductive logic are legendary, and she’ll need his help if she’s to discover who’s been killing off mentaths in Londinium. Unfortunately they can barely stand each other, and a recent bout of boredom has left Clare’s sanity a little on the questionable side. Saintcrow proves her adeptness at world-building in this novel, creating a dazzling alternative London as the story progresses, so you aren’t bogged down with pages of descriptive text at a time. Clare pays a strong homage to Sherlock Holmes, and what detective couldn’t use a strong-willed sorceress on his side? I loved this book and can’t wait to see what Bannon and Clare are up to in their next adventure.

Fated (Mass Market Paperback)

$7.99
ISBN-13: 9781937007294
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ace, 2/2012
Alex Verus has issues. All he wants is to live a quiet life running an occult shop in London, and to be largely forgotten by the magical community. Unfortunately he's also the only diviner without the sense to go underground when the Council and the Dark Mages begin a war over a powerful precursor relic, and that makes him...useful. In the mage Alex Verus, Jacka introduces a character who's not just quirky, a bit sarcastic, and infinitely fun to spend time with, but who also has some startling insights into the human condition. Verus observes several things I've thought for a long time, but still many more that made me pause and think. Somewhere in between outwitting opposing factions and protecting his cursed (literally) would-be apprentice, he taught me a thing or two about dealing with the past as well. I couldn't ask for a more usefully-entertaining urban fantasy.

Working for the Devil (Mass Market Paperback)

$7.99
ISBN-13: 9780316003131
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Orbit, 9/2007
Working for the Devil is one of the more interesting takes I’ve seen on the working relationship between Earth and Hell. In this urban fantasy, Dante Valentine is your average necromancer trying to pay a mortgage, until she’s forced into taking a job from Lucifer that ends up planting her square in the middle of the first serious uprising Hell has ever seen. Saintcrow’s characters tend to be flawed or damaged in ways that make them more easy to relate to, and Dante Valentine is no exception. She has a dark sense of humor and a bit of a suicidal streak, but she takes you on an incredible journey.

Homeland (Mass Market Paperback)

$7.99
ISBN-13: 9780786939534
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Wizards of the Coast, 11/2005
Drizzt Do'Urden is one of the most interesting characters I've run across in modern fantasy; born among the dark elves in the underground world of Menzoberranzan, where the only steadfast moral law is to have the strength to back up your actions, Drizzt's refusal to abandon his own sense of right and wrong makes him an outsider among his own kin, and nearly results in his death. Homeland begins Drizzt's journey out of Menzoberranzan, and his eventual quest to be accepted in the world aboveground. At turns funny, sad, and philosophical, The Legend of Drizzt series is a great deal more than just your typical sword-and-sorcery adventure. This is RA Salvatore at his best.

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