“The Blood Mirror” by Brent Weeks – Save the Rotten Empire

Series: Lightbringer
Release date: October 25, 2016
Publisher: Orbit
Pages: 704
Buy: Amazon(US) |  Amazon(CA) |  Amazon(UK)

Brent Weeks Powers On

Brent Weeks brought us the Lightbringer series a few years ago, and at the start it was supposed to be a trilogy. However, as is likely to happen with successful science-fiction series, Weeks chose to extend the story beyond what he had originally planned, and at the moment there are supposed to be five books to it... until further notice, of course. We've already looked at the other books in the trilogy (The Black Prism , The Blinding Knife and The Broken Eye) and so I'm not going to spend too much time talking about the kind of world we're being thrown into, but for the more forgetful ones among us, here's a brief recap of what the whole thing is about.

The universe created by Weeks is one where magic and technology merge together, where civilizations battle each other across intergalactic wars involving supremely powerful beings and more deceit, cunning, smoke and mirrors than a Copperfield show. There are many players involved in the plots and stories, but the real main characters are Gavin Guile, a former Prism and emperor, and his bastard son, Kip. Any how, let us go further into what this book has in store for us.

“Killing the Rising Sun” by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard – Triumph of the American Eagle

Release date: September 13, 2016
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Pages: 336
Buy: Amazon(US) |  Amazon(CA) |  Amazon(UK)

The Second World War is one of those historical periods that will undoubtedly be studied over and over again for decades, if not centuries to come. Even with all the memories and records that were lost to war and destruction we are still digging up more and more information to fill our textbooks and libraries with. For very good reasons, the European theatre of war is the primary subject of focus for most people who are interested in that period; after all, it's where everything began and many of the most important decisions were made. While America's conflict with Japan near the end of the war usually gets glossed over in general terms amounting to Pearl Harbour, Iwo Jima, and nuclear bomb.