Wandering into a bookstore last night, I found that the latest Anne Bishop book had been released: The Shadow Queen. I bought it and, after getting home from playing wargames with Randy, I read it. It’s not that long a book, despite the 400+ pages (there’s a lot of white space). It was very enjoyable, though. It meant I finally got to sleep a way past midnight, but it was worth it.
Although it is set in the world of her Black Jewels trilogy, it’s another stand-alone novel that continues telling tales in the world she’s created; yes, it has a fair deal of the main characters of Jewels, but it’s also got its own tale that links back to another stand-alone novel, The Invisible Ring. I’m really enjoying her books and I hope she keeps writing them! (I note that there is a sequel to The Shadow Queen planned for next year… yay!)
The book I read immediately before that was one I’ve read many times before: Darkspell, the first book of Katherine Kerr’s Deverry series. Now, this is a series I’ve been following since I first encountered it… ooh, it was probably in my first year at University, but perhaps even before that! Kerr used to contribute to Dragon magazine way in the past, but I know her much more through her writing. One of these days she’ll write the final book of the Deverry series, and I’ll be very happy (only one more to go! hooray!). Unfortunately, she’s had periods of illness which have slowed the series down. 14 books in 23 years? She has written other things as well; it’s just frustrating when you’re eagerly awaiting the next book.
Deverry is one of my all-time favourite series, and had a particular effect on my D&D campaigns: Meliander’s sister is named Gillian due to the hero of the early Deverry books, Jill. They’re not that much alike, but it’s where some of the inspiration for that character came from. I’ve terribly underused Gillian in my games, but she does lurk in the back of my mind wanting some time in the spotlight.
Speaking of D&D, Dungeon Delve and P3: Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress have finally arrived. I’ve no idea why it took Australia (well, MilSims) so long to get them, but I finally have them in my possession. I’m hoping the Sunday campaign will pick up once we reach the Paragon levels; it was going fairly well, but really began to drag in Pyramid of Shadows: 4 levels trapped in one structure is just too long.
The other thing mailed to me was Stalingrad, the second Battle Pack for Combat Commander: Europe, one of the easier wargames that Randy and I play. It’s fun and enjoyable, and Stalingrad is a rather impressive battlepack: 8 new maps, 10 scenarios, 88 counters, and a campaign game which probably spans 3-8 individual battles. Lots of fun! Of course, the campaign game will take a while to play through…
Randy and I were playing CC:E last night, well, CC:M (the Mediterranean expansion), which saw me losing by my casualty count just getting too high. It was close, though: there were a couple of Sudden Death rolls that went against me that might have ended the game with me in front, but it was not to be.
We also played a very short Memoir ’44 session (very short and bloody!) and a longer game of Twilight Struggle, again with the Chinese Civil War variant. That was a really good game; Randy won it by a fair amount (17 points!), but it felt close throughout.
My wife got me into the Black Jewel books when we started dating. I was at the bookstore last night and noticed Shadow Queen there, and considered picking it up, but decided to hold off. I did note that there was another book in the world, focusing on the character of Sureal, so you might keep your eyes open for that one.
Speaking of D&D, Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress hasn’t made it to my Borders (or it has and sold out fast). Not a big deal, as I’ve still got a good chunk of Demon Queen’s Enclave yet to go (getting back to that next weekend), but a little annoying.
Hope your game picks up post Pyramid. Trollhaunt does give more variety geographically, and plenty of room to stick in whatever you’d like.
Yeah, “Tangled Webs” came out late last year (which is why I’m surprised to see another book so soon). Good fun, although not perhaps as great as some of her others. 🙂
“Assault” is all shiny and new! I almost expect E1 to arrive before I’ve finished reading it…