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In part 3 of 4 of The Eye of the World, there is no doubt that fate is weaving itself around Rand and his friends – they will help determine the outcome for all of humanity. Will mankind splinter in this coming war? Will Moraine reveal her true intentions? Will Lan and NynaEve hook up? (jk, well not really). Will they be able to get to the Eye of the World? Find out what lies ahead in this episode.
Book Trailer – The Eye of the World pt.2
The wheel weaves as the wheel wills in the Eye of the World. As the journey continues, you’ll encounter creepy abandoned cities, play sharks and minnows with some Trollocs, and get freaked out by the Starks’ great, great granddaddy. (He could totally take the Lannisters.) Coming up on the REIGN of Books……
Seven travelers have set out from The Two Rivers, crossing a mysterious countryside pursued relentlessly by the Dark One’s forces from the sky and land….but not on water…… Man, rivers save those guys every time. Trollocs and Dark Riders are such babies when they get wet.
This episode: Chapters 19-30.
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Savagely pursued. Relentlessly hunted. At the brink of doom and despair. Perrin and Egwene take the starring role midway through The Eye of the World. An unlikely ally rescues them in the wild and pulls them ahead of the dark forces spies. This is one of the most unnerving parts of the book because….you….feel….every….heart-pounding….muscle-aching….gut-wrenching….eye-popping…. moment. The danger is more dire than they know, and evil lurks around every corner.
We get heaping layers of epic storytelling with clues about the Blight, the Aeilman, and The Eye of the World. For more, listen in to this episode of the REIGN.
“Book Trailer”…it’s totally funny
Prepare for the very first chapters of Book 1…
of a 14 Book series…
written over 23 years…
by two authors…
and hailed by legions of fans as some of the best fantasy ever written…there are millions of those fans, so we better not mess this up.
REIGN of Books presents the Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan (and that new guy), starting May 17.
Listen to the REIGN’s introduction of the epic Wheel of Time series, Book 1:
BOOK TRAILER: WOT – Eye of the World, part1 (4:35 minutes)
Come Explore a World where “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……”
Wait, are you saying that these ages repeat themselves and heroes are reborn and keep fighting the same battles against the forces of darkness for all eternity?
Weeell, that’s our guess based off the prologue…..listen to the podcast Saturday for our full breakdown of Chapters 1-18.
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It is a wild ride with our entry into the Wheel of Time series. This is a respected and long enduring fantasy series (14 books written over 23 years) that has been compared to the Lord of the Rings for its ambitious and rich world, built around a compelling epic narrative. The book delivers from page 1 with a prologue that sets the stakes high for a world at war between the Shadow and the Light. The characters are rich, funny, flawed and I can feel what they experience….we are constantly reminded that these characters must endure through many brutalities and hardships. This saga is off to a great start.
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Conan offers a raw, primal experience with incredible stories that rush at you with reckless abandon, even almost a century after Conan was first unleashed on Hyboria. The warrior’s battles and epic escapes from warlocks, monsters and shadows transcend mere pulp fiction and are timeless.
The two stories we take up here show this: The Phoenix on the Sword has Conan reaching his ultimate goal: king of Aquilonia. But he’s not ready for the civilized man’s warfare, with all the scheming and plotting. Give him a sword and a red-blooded enemy any day over vengeful politicians and serpent-tongued poets. A plot nearly succeeds in ending his reign as king…..and his life, but unexpected sorcery behind the scenes meets Conan head on, wrecking the political plot, and….almost his life. Only his desperation to survive and barbarian instincts save him yet again.
In The Scarlet Citadel, the story opens on Conan in absolute defeat surrounded by his enemies, but he will not yield. A wizard of untold evil, Tsotha, subdues him on the field of battle, rather than having Conan go down fighting. Trapped in the bowels of a lair of sheer terror, Conan fights his own superstitions and the dark to find his way out in a most improbable escape. More fantastical is his return to Aquilonia, having raised a small army to battle a force invading his land. The odds seem insurmountable, the fates of millions rest in his hands, but will Conan’s forces suffer the same fate as before? It’s a rousing finale and a showdown with Tsotha that will leave the barbarian wishing he had never heard of the Scarlet Citadel…..
News in this Episode:
MEET THE GODFATHER OF WEARABLES
Oyster Now Counts 500k Books in Subscription Collection
Literature’s Most Horrifying Mothers
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5 of 5 stars
Tweet Review: Gods at war, courage of warriors and poets, betrayal of machines, woman from the future and a pilgrimage; all lead to a new humanity.
This book forever changed the way I read science fiction. There is much to say, and even in these 100 minutes (!) of wrapping up the Fall of Hyperion, there are many things left unsaid. Everything is answered – yes, even where the Shrike comes from. All the complex threads and interweaving relationships are deftly tied up. The revelations hit so fast and so hard the characters in the book (and reader) have to adjust quickly in order to make it to the end.
News in this Episode:
Which books make you feel stupid?
I continue to be amazed at the complexity of the Hyperion universe. It is some of the best sci-fi I’ve come across. The insanely strong narrative continues in the second book of the series – Fall of Hyperion. I loved the first one (Hyperion), and have high hopes for the finale of the second. The end arrives next week and the mystery of the pilgrimage will be revealed! (Right, it’s got to!)
This book makes the reader face an ugly truth – even centuries in the future, we hold our self-preservation above everything else. We will destroy in order to maintain our supremacy. But the forces of the universe and our own creations outmatch us and we’ll have to scratch and claw our way out of the abyss in order to survive. But will we ever change, really?
Favorite moment so far – SPOILER – The war meeting after learning of the impending Ouster invasion where Meina Gladstone realized she couldn’t control the chaos she had unleashed. But she steeled herself against the coming end of Hegemony civilization with dignity and fierceness. While her joint chiefs buckled under pressure and senators moaned, she took command – she told the generals to defend the web worlds at all costs, the senators were to pass a unified war declaration with no political defectors, and Gladstone told the All Things liaison in a private meeting that she would declare open war against the TechnoCore, no matter if it meant plunging the web into the dark ages – better that than be a slave to the machines or the Ousters. That was her moment to shine.
Announcing the 2014 Hugo Award Nominees
Amazon Chooses ’100 Books to Read in a Lifetime: Mystery & Thriller’
The genre debate: Science fiction travels farther than literary fiction
What would you do on the last day of your life? What if the world as you knew it was about to end? Nope, this isn’t a zombie apocalypse. It’s the Fall of Hyperion, an action-packed and deeply meditative tale of mankind confronted by long separated space siblings now returning for war, man-made machines gambling on their supremacy in the universe and surrounding it all – seven pilgrims on a desolate planet close to death and discovery of the ultimate truth of our existence. Listen to the first part of the book here on the REIGN of Books podcast.
SAMSUNG & AMAZON TEAM ON NEW EBOOK CLUB
Interactive Game of Thrones Map
Goodreads Will Soon Let You Add Amazon Books to Your Shelves
We dive into some classic turn-of-the-century sci-fi from H.G. Wells, who helped define the genre. It’s impressive how Wells takes the ordinary things that surround us and turns them into tense terrifying mysteries. The tales are strange unwinding oddities filled with fantastic creatures and wondrous places. It takes me back to the roots of good ol’ campfire storytelling.
Amazon’s ComiXology Acquisition Has Some Readers Concerned
Zola Books Makes iOS App Social
Game of Thrones: how does the TV series compare to the books?
REIGN of Books 