There’s just waaaaaaay too much pulptastic awesomeness in this cover not to post it. It’s the UK paperback edition, for those curious. Cheers to Pan Macmillan for having nuggets and a funny bone.
Yay for consistency and impact. I love the progression over the course of the trilogy from the tired-and-overdone hooded figure to this figure, cockiness replaced by ambition and power. Great stuff, and perfect for Lawrence’s trilogy. I still don’t like the title font, but, hey, you can’t win ’em all, can you?
As reported by several websites, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, the second in a planned trilogy of games that will together form StarCraft II, is set for release in March, 2013, just a few months away. Polygon explains what fans have to look forward to in March:
Heart of the Swarm will be available at a suggested retail price of $39.99 both in stores and digitally from the official StarCraft 2 website. A collector’s Edition that includes digital and physical bonus items will also be available at select retail stores for $79.99. This includes a behind-the-scenes DVD and Blu-ray, a collector’s edition soundtrack, a hardcover art book and a Zerg Rush mousepad.
Users can receive both Heart of the Swarm and StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty from Battle.net for a discounted price of $59.99 — a 24 percent discount from its $79.98 price tag when purchased together.
Having not played the first in the StarCraft II trilogy (I guess?), the option of buying both games for sixty bucks is appealing, but it does chafe a bit to pay nearly full price for what is, ostensibly, the second/middle part of a game, regardless of how much content/how many missions are available in each ‘part.’ Just a matter of branding, though, I suppose. StarCraft: Wings of Liberty, StarCraft: Heart of the Swarm, and StarCraft: Legacy of the Void wouldn’t seem so bad, would it?
There’s a fine line between dark and compelling and horrifying and off-putting. When a story comes right up to the line without crossing it a certain dichotomy comes into existence whereby I want to look away and forget about it, but can’t. No author in recent memory walks this line better that Kameron Hurley whose second novel, Infidel, compliments that description perfectly.
Picking up some time after the end of God’s War, the centuries-long holy war between Nasheen and Chenja is taking its toll. Nyx is a bodyguard in Mustallah, the capital city of Nasheen,where shortages and rationing are causing the Queen to lose power and popularity. While protecting the daughter of a diplomat, Nyx is attacked by a group of assassins. She survives, but finds herself caught up in a whirl-wind of intrigue involving a plot against the monarchy. She has to figure out who’s trying to kill her, and the Queen, while avoiding the wrath of the person she’s trying to protect.
A continuation of Hurley’s brilliantly constructed characters, authentic and fully realized world building
Suffice to say the characters that survived God’s War are back in Infidel along with some new ones. There’s a significant jump in time between the two and Hurley does a solid job of filling in the details. Generally speaking, the narrative is much smoother, eschewing the choppiness and pacing issues that plagued God’s War in the early going. That, combined with a continuation of Hurley’s brilliantly constructed characters, authentic and fully realized world building, and pull no-punches style, makes Infidel not only a worthy addition to God’s War, but a wholesale improvement.
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While running away from home for reasons that are eminently defensible, Emilie’s plans to stow away on the steamship Merry Bell and reach her cousin in the big city go awry, landing her on the wrong ship and at the beginning of a fantastic adventure.
Taken under the protection of Lady Marlende, Emilie learns that the crew hopes to use the aether currents and an experimental engine, and with the assistance of Lord Engal, journey to the interior of the planet in search of Marlende’s missing father.
With the ship damaged on arrival, they attempt to traverse the strange lands on their quest. But when evidence points to sabotage and they encounter the treacherous Lord Ivers, along with the strange race of the sea-lands, Emilie has to make some challenging decisions and take daring action if they are ever to reach the surface world again.
Another in a string of great covers from Strange Chemistry, the YA spin-off of Angry Robot Books headed by Amanda Rutter, a former blogger and friend of this blog, and another great cover for Martha Wells, who seems blessed by the cover art Gods. I haven’t read any of Wells’ work, but with covers like these, I’m damn well tempted.
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