Waiting on Wednesday 04/16/14

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can't wait to get our hands on!

Wendy's Pick: 

Dragon Age: Last Flight by Liane Mercial: August 12, 2014 (Tor Books)

I'm a sucker for game lore and I appreciate that Amazon is watching out for me. Not only did it remind me that the previous book in the Dragon Age series, The Masked Empire, was available, it pointed out that this one is on the way. AND OMG ARE THOSE GRIFFONS??? I TOLD YOU WYNNE! I TOLD YOU!!

Return to Thedas, the setting of BioWare's award-winning Dragon Age dark fantasy rpg, and discover what dark, forgotten secrets lurk in the history of the legendary Grey Wardens.

The Grey Wardens are heroes across Thedas once again: the Archdemon has been defeated with relative ease and the scattered darkspawn are being driven back underground.  The Blight is over.  Or so it seems.

Valya, a young elven mage recently recruited into the Wardens, has been tasked with studying the historical record of previous Blights in order to gain insight into newly reported, and disturbing, darkspawn phenomena.  Her research into the Fourth Blight leads her to an encoded reference scrawled in the margins of an ancient map, and to the hidden diary of Issenya, one of the last of the fabled griffon riders.  As the dark secrets buried in Isseyna's story unfold, Valya begins to question everything she thought she knew about the heroic Grey Wardens. . . . 

Mogsy's Pick:

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey: September 16, 2014 (Putnam Juvenile)

Two alien invasion novels in a row for my Waiting on Wednesdays! What can I say, I'm just in that kind of mood. The Infinite Sea is the sequel to Rick Yancey's The Fifth Wave, a young adult sci-fi thriller that provides a chilling look at what happens when E.T. doesn't want to play nice.

"The riveting follow-up to the New York Times bestselling The 5th Wave, hailed by Justin Cronin as “wildly entertaining.”

How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate."

Waiting on Wednesday 01/29/14

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can't wait to get our hands on!

Wendy's Pick 

It's 2014 and the countdown continues for Bioware's third installment of their Dragon Age video game series, Inquisition. The previous book, Asunder, set the stage for the mage/templar war, which is definitely going to have dire consequences within the world of Thedas, but Asunder also hinted at some significant problems for the Orlesian empress, Celene.

Dragon Age #4: The Masked Empire by Patrick Weekes - April 2014 (Tor Books)

Empress Celene of Orlais rose to the throne of the most powerful nation in Thedas through wisdom, wit, and ruthless manipulation. Now, the empire she has guided into an age of enlightenment is threatened from within by imminent war between the templars and the mages, even as rebellion stirs among the downtrodden elves To save Orlais, Celene must keep her hold on the throne by any means necessary.

Fighting with the legendary skill of the Orlesian Chevaliers , Grand Duke Gaspard has won countless battles for the empire and the empress But has he fought in vain? As the Circle fails and chaos looms, Gaspard begins to doubt that Celene’s diplomatic approach to the mage problem or the elven uprisings will keep the empire safe. Perhaps it is time for a new leader, one who lives by the tenets of the Chevalier’s Code, to make Orlais strong again.

Briala has been Celene’s handmaid since the two of them were children, subtly using her position to help improve the lives of elves across Orlais. She is Celene’s confidante, spymaster, and lover, but when politics force the empress to choose between the rights of Briala’s people and the Orlesian throne, Briala must in turn decide where her true loyalties lie.

Alliances are forged and promises broken as Celene and Gaspard battle for the throne of Orlais But in the end, the elves who hide in the forests or starve in the alienages may decide the fate of the masked empire.

Mogsy's Pick

Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell - March 6, 2014 (Jo Fletcher Books)

 

"Falcio is the first Cantor of the Greatcoats. Trained in the fighting arts and the laws of Tristia, the Greatcoats are travelling Magisters upholding King’s Law. They are heroes. Or at least they were, until they stood aside while the Dukes took the kingdom, and impaled their King’s head on a spike.

Now Tristia is on the verge of collapse and the barbarians are sniffing at the borders. The Dukes bring chaos to the land, while the Greatcoats are scattered far and wide, reviled as traitors, their legendary coats in tatters.

All they have left are the promises they made to King Paelis, to carry out one final mission. But if they have any hope of fulfilling the King’s dream, the divided Greatcoats must reunite, or they will also have to stand aside as they watch their world burn…"

New Dragon Age novel in the works for 2014

Tor books just announced the fourth book in the series based on Bioware's RPG, Dragon Age. My excitement over this announcement surprises me because, since Dragon Age 2, I've been skeptical about Bioware's focus in the series. However, the movie Dawn of the Seeker, wasn't as bad as I feared, solidifying the series' move away from Darkspawn and Blights, and firmly settling down with its mage/templar conflict.

I truly fell in love with gaming after playing Bioware's RPGs, Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age. From there, I've branched into reading their tie-in books and comics. Why? Because Bioware does such a fantastic job on their characters that I hunger to learn more about them. This book promises more of that fantastic characterization, focusing on Empress Celene as she struggles to maintain her throne - a common theme in the series. The mage/templar war continues with the added drama of an elf uprising, all taking place within Orlais, the land we've heard much about, but have only had glimpses of. The book will be released in April 2014 after the 2013 fall release of Dragon Age III: Inquisition.