Uncategorized

What Should Jim Read Next?

/ , , /

I finished the book I was reading for research purposes, which means it’s time to figure out what to start next. I’m torn between three ARCs, all of which I’m excited to read. So I decided I’d throw it open for a vote, because I’m just too damn lazy to make a decision.

Throne of the Crescent Moon [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] by Saladin Ahmed (February, 2012). The debut novel from a Nebula and Campbell award finalist.

The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, land of djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, Khalifs and killers, is at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron-fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince.  In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings.

Arctic Rising [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] by NYT bestselling author Tobias Buckell (February, 2012).

Global warming has transformed the Earth, and it’s about to get even hotter. The Arctic Ice Cap has all but melted, and the international community is racing desperately to claim the massive amounts of oil beneath the newly accessible ocean.

Enter the Gaia Corporation. Its two founders have come up with a plan to roll back global warming. Thousands of tiny mirrors floating in the air can create a giant sunshade, capable of redirecting heat and cooling the earth’s surface. They plan to terraform Earth to save it from itself—but in doing so, they have created a superweapon the likes of which the world has never seen.

Shadow Ops: Control Point [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] by Myke Cole (February, 2012). This is Cole’s first novel, described as “Black Hawk Down meets the X-Men.”

Across the country and in every nation, people are waking up with magical talents. Untrained and panicked, they summon storms, raise the dead, and set everything they touch ablaze.

Army officer Oscar Britton sees the worst of it. A lieutenant attached to the military’s Supernatural Operations Corps, his mission is to bring order to a world gone mad. Then he abruptly manifests a rare and prohibited magical power, transforming him overnight from government agent to public enemy number one.

So which one would you start with?