Reviewing the Mail: Week of 8/16

These are the books that appeared without warning on my doorstep this week. All of them are just published or publishing soon; I haven't read any of them yet. But I haven't let that stop me from doing these weekly posts for the past few years, so it won't stop me today. So here's what looks interesting about this week's four books:

Grudgebearer is the first book in a trilogy by J.F. Lewis, who you might remember from the four-book urban fantasy "Void City" series a few years back. (If not, don't feel down: he's got a new book, and you've got a new chance to try him out.) This is secondary-world epic fantasy, focused on the vengeance-driven nearly immortal firstborn of a sorcerously engineered race of warrior-slaves, who in this book finally has a chance to live up to his vow to destroy the race that created and enslaved his people for thousands of years -- or to keep his world from falling into a horrible war. It's a Pyr trade paperback, hitting stores September 2nd.

Resurrection is the third book in a trilogy by Mandy Hager -- called Blood of the Lamb -- and I deduce that it's dystopian YA from the price point ($17.99 hardcover) and the tone of the flap copy ("religious stranglehold," "ruling elite," "orchestrated ritual before a hysterical and brainwashed crowd," "listen to her plea that they start thinking for themselves"). The first book in the series is The Crossing, which is probably the place to start. But, if you have been following the trilogy, you're probably very happy to know that Resurrection is available right now as a Pyr hardcover.

Patricia Briggs has a new book in her "Mercy Thompson" urban fantasy series: Shifting Shadows, a collection of short stories (four new, six reprinted from anthologies). It's an Ace hardcover, available September 2nd.

And last for this week is the big new book in the Richard and Kahlan series by Terry Goodkind, Severed Souls. I'm not entirely clear on how the rejuvenated series connects to the original twelve-book Sword of Truth series -- I believe it's a continuation, but it could easily be more complicated than that -- mostly because I only read the first few Sword of Truth books, probably. Severed Souls doesn't give away any of the plot of the book -- the flap copy is an excerpt from the very beginning -- but it does claim to be the "unforgettable story of Richard Rahl's final battle," which I expect a huge number of Goodkind readers will want to know more about. It's a Tor hardcover, available right now.