The Basket of Thaddeus

I’ve just finished the second of three volumes of Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and have gotten about three-quarters through a modern fantasy book I’ve been reading. I tend not to be without a book for long, so I’ve started looking ahead to future purchases and releases.

Found it quite difficult to decide on any immediate purchases. There are some good prospects, with Restorer of the World: The Emperor Aurelian by John White and Gladiator: The Roman Fighter’s (Unofficial) Manual by Philip Matyszak standing out on the history side.

However, I’m not really in a historical mood, perhaps because I’m deeply ensconced in Gibbon’s excellent work and want a slight change. Already released are a large number of tempting tales of fantastical escapades, including Scott Lynch’s Red Seas Under Red Skies (the follow up to the slow-starting but thrilling The Lies of Locke Lamora) and lots of stuff by Brandson Sanderson (I haven’t read his work yet but it sounds good).

In terms of games, there’s one excellent future release (Skyrim, and here I must berate the filthy mind of a certain Joe Abercrombie for his unique take on the name) but a yawning chasm of a wait for it to come out in November.

The picture’s rather rosier for books. Next month (the 12^th, specifically) sees the long awaited release of A Dance With Dragons, the latest instalment in the epic A Song of Ice and Fire Series penned by the delightful George RR Martin. I’ll be pre-ordering that in the near future.

After that, 20^th October sees the release of The Iron Jackal, by Chris Wooding. This is a Tales of the Ketty Jay book, the third, and follows the adventures of assorted misfits, drunkards and psychologically unstable characters aboard the eponymous airship. Unlike A Song of Ice and Fire, which is a bit like epic fantasy mixed with Roman/Byzantine-style power struggles, the Tales of the Ketty Jay are in a more technologically advanced world with bullets and aircraft. Wooding does a great job of mixing arcane powers with a more scientific world and I’ll certainly buy The Iron Jackal at some point.

In November Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch, will be out. It follows The Lies of Locke Lamora which, after a somewhat slow and steady start, was a gripping read.

Now all I need to do is acquire the money with which to make the aforementioned purchases…

Thaddeus