Another week begins.  I quickly slip into my business suit and head back into the office to save a few innocent people. But while I try to fool myself into being excited about the promise of a new year and the continuation of the regular grind, deep down, I’m not, so I’m going to escape dreary reality by reading some great books.

Damn I’m behind.  Whenever I try to catch up my reviews, my reading falls off.  Or vice versa.  Thankfully, though, this week is the family summer vacation, which means a beach week!

I’m going to try my best to catch up on the reading while I’m sitting around the pool or at the beach.  Wish me luck!

Stands a Shadow by Col Buchanan

Genre: Fantasy — Grimdark

Series: Heart of the World #2

Publisher:  Tor Books (July 1, 2011)

Author Information: Website 

Length: 416 pages

Still grieving the death of her son, the Holy Matriarch of Mann has ordered her troops to embark on a mission to the Mercian Free Ports. Riding at the head of her army she plans to finally conquer the city of Bar-Khos, whose walls have kept them at bay for ten long years.

Honored Enemy by Raymond E. Feist               and William R. Forstchen

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Legends of the Riftwar #1

Publisher:  Harper Voyager (June 27, 2006)

Authors Information: Website | Twitter | Twitter

Length: 416 pages

As the Riftwar tears Midkemia apart, enemies trapped in the frozen Northlands must trust each other to stay alive. . . .

In the sprawling, embattled land of Midkemia, fate can form strange alliances. Nine years into the bloody and ongoing Riftwar, Dennis Hartraft’s Marauders are cold, hungry, and exhausted. Having only just survived a disastrous encounter with their sworn enemy, the Tsurani, the soldiers are headed for a frontier garrison, where they will be able to rest and recover. But Hartraft’s company arrives at the same time as a Tsurani patrol, and both sides discover the stronghold overrun by a migrating horde of dark elves called moredhel, a foe so deadly and vicious the bitter enemies must band together and fight as one.

But can their hatred for their mutual enemy overcome their distrust of each other? As the two groups, bound to each other by their common foe, make their way across the unknown Northlands to freedom, they have to struggle with not only the elements and the enemy, but also their consciences. For, with both sides carrying painful scars from past wars, each man must ask himself what is more important: one’s life or one’s honor?

Read either of these?  What were your feelings?  Let us know!