FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

For aggregated book reviews, use dedicated sites like Goodreads...

I find that Amazon reviews are mostly helpful to know if the ebook has some technical issues, like bad formatting, bad OCR, or missing text.

In general, I prefer Amazon to Goodreads. Too many reviews on Goodreads are filled with images and memes due to the social nature of the site. Look at the reviews for a popular book that is on sale right now: The Shining Girls. Okay. The top review is a silly one by Stephen King and that is pretty badass. But then look at that second 'review' by someone named Karen. That is why I don't use Goodreads much.

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

In general, I prefer Amazon to Goodreads. Too many reviews on Goodreads are filled with images and memes due to the social nature of the site.

I hate those, too (on any website, especially when they're animated). But they're easy to scroll past.
I also follow several reviewers that I like, and their results are at the top.

It's funny you don't like these, as you sometimes flavor your posts here with stills from film adaptations.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

It's funny you don't like these, as you sometimes flavor your posts here with stills from film adaptations.

That's because these threads are light-hearted conversations and I enjoy being silly. A review is a different thing, where you are trying to convey useful information to someone seeking guidance.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

In general, I prefer Amazon to Goodreads. Too many reviews on Goodreads are filled with images and memes due to the social nature of the site. Look at the reviews for a popular book that is on sale right now: The Shining Girls. Okay. The top review is a silly one by Stephen King and that is pretty badass. But then look at that second 'review' by someone named Karen. That is why I don't use Goodreads much.

I couldn't stand Goodreads and the 'look-at-me' reviews covered in gif images, always about the reviewer instead of the book.

Haven't been back there in years.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

Rune Knight by M.R. Kelly is free on Kindle for a few days.

First of a series of course.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KGH4DM5

And now the second book in the series is free, Rune Stone.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NC74XM5

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

And now the second book in the series is free, Rune Stone.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NC74XM5

Have you read and enjoyed these books? It looks like they are self-published so, per the first post rules, I wanted to check.

Thanks.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Have you read and enjoyed these books? It looks like they are self-published so, per the first post rules, I wanted to check.

Thanks.

Self PROMOTED, not self published.
The Maniac is not the author / publisher.
EDITED (different spelling of Authors name)
And while I have not read that series, I have read some of that Authors work: very readable.

[Dr. Drib]

Scribbled Pages appears to be a website used by the author to promote his books. I do not know this for certain, [please notice my Bold face], but that's what it appears to be.

The website is designed SK Designs, and 'he' states:

"I want to give small business owners and individuals the right website to allow them to grow and prosper in the digital world." (Translation: He wants to make money.)

Further information on SK Designs:

'Scribbled Pages' are an independent publisher that needed to create a new modern website, that was fully responsive and had the ability to capture users email addresses.

I was given the freedom to create a slick minimal design, with the ability to rapidly scale up the site as more books are released.

Visit Scrobbled [sic]Pages > www.scribbledpages.co.uk


Back to Scribbled Pages [not Scribbled 'Page', which appears to be something different], the only author represented by this 'Publisher' is M.R. Kelly.

As CNN so often states, stay tuned for any additional Breaking News!

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by theducks

Self PROMOTED, not self published.
The Maniac is not the author / publisher.

And while I have not read that series, I have read some of that Authors work: very readable.

Thanks for the feedback on the author.

I know ReadingManiac is not the author, but self-published books are also supposed to be vetted prior to posting here. The publisher's page only has a single author listed and the About section is specifically about this author only. I'm 99% certain it's his own label, meaning "self-published", which is only supposed to be posted if you have direct experience with one of the books.

Really, I just missed the first book when it was free and don't want to get it unless there is a solid recommendation for it. I've read a lot of good self-published works and a lot that are not good. I'm trying to be more careful these days.

[salty-horse]

Fudoki by Kij Johnson is $4 on Amazon.com

In her skillful debut novel, Kij Johnson took the classic Japanese myth of the fox who dared to become a woman to win true love and created The Fox Woman, a luminous, lyrical tale of love, desire, joy, and the nature of the soul.

Set in the same universe as The Fox Woman, this time Kij Johnson takes on another animal totem and enters the world of the creature who comes to be known as Kagaya-hime, a sometime woman warrior, occasional philosopher, and reluctant confidante to noblemen.
And who may or may not be the figment of the imagination of an aging empress who is embarking on the last journey of her life, setting aside the trappings of court life and reminiscing as she follows the paths that are leading her to the nunnery and death.
Fudoki is the tale of a being who starts her journey on the kami, or spirit road, as a humble-if ever a being such as a Cat can be humble-small tortoiseshell feline. She has seen her family destroyed by a fire that decimated most of the Imperial city. This loss renders her taleless, the only one left alive to pass on such stories as The Cat Born the Year the Star Fell, the Cat with a Litter of Ten, the Fire-Tailed Cat. Without her fudoki-self and soul and home and shrine-she cannot keep the power of her clan together. And she cannot join another fudoki because, although she might be able to win a place within another clan, to do so would mean that she would cease to be herself.

So a small cat begins an extraordinary journey. Along the way she will attract the attention of old and ancient powers, including gods who are curious about this creature newly come to Japan's shores, and who choose to give the tortoiseshell a human shape.
And who set her on a new kami road, where Kagaya-hime will have to choose a way to find what happiness she can.

Weaving a haunting story of one being's transformation and journey of discovery with the telling of another's long life set against the backdrop of the courtly rituals of Imperial power, Kij Johnson has written a powerful novel about the nature of freedom and the redemptive power of transformation--if only one is brave enough to risk it all.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Thanks for the feedback on the author.



.

I edited my post. The Author was not who I had read. Different spelling

[ZodWallop]

The Iron Assassin by Ed Greenwood is $3.99 at Amazon US.

$4 is expensive for a bargain to share here, but it is the cheapest the book has gone. And I'm curious to see how the creator of The Forgotten Realms stands up outside of D&D. Reviews say: try again. But I'll buy it anyway.)

From Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood comes The Iron Assassin, a steampunk thriller.

Victoria never ascended the throne; the House of Hanover held England only briefly before being supplanted by the House of Harminster. It is a time of gaslamps and regularly scheduled airship flights, of trams and steam-driven clockwork with countless smoke-belching stacks. London, the capitol of the Empire of the Lion, is a filthy, crowded, fast-growing city where a series of shocking murders threatens the throne itself.

Energetic young inventor Jack Straker believes he has created a weapon to defend the Crown: a reanimated, clockwork-enhanced corpse he can control. He introduces "the Iron Assassin" to the highly placed Lords who will decide if Straker's invention becomes a weapon of the Lion-or something to be destroyed.

It quickly becomes apparent that the Iron Assassin is more self-willed than Straker intended, and that the zombie's past life is far more sinister than Straker thought. Has he created a runaway monster? Or the best guardian the Lion could ever hope for?

[salty-horse]

Tor has a bunch of $4 discounts. Feel free to post any that are of interest to you.

[tch65721]

Dune Saga Collection: Books 1-3 by Frank Herbert - $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PQCZX4Z

Loved Dune but never could get into the sequels.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by tch65721

Dune Saga Collection: Books 1-3 by Frank Herbert - $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PQCZX4Z

Wow! That's a great deal!

Except...

Loved Dune but never could get into the sequels.

Yeah, I never even tried. I'm probably missing out. But Dune was such a massive achievement and was not intended to be followed by sequels, so I feel like follow-ups are superfluous.

I have read other Herbert books. The White Plague and Hellstrom's Hive.