Princess Alethea’s Magical Elixir

New reviews are up at Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactc Medicine Show!

Title: The Winds of Khalakovo
Author: Bradley P. Beaulieu
EAN: 978-1-59780-218-5

If your reading habits are anything like mine, difficult pronunciation in a book can be a real turn off. If I scan down a book’s jacket and find that the main characters’ names are long strings of apostrophes and consonants, nine times out of ten I’ll put it right back on the shelf and move on. This is not the case for all books, of course — I shudder to think who would I be right now if I had never picked up Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain, but discussion over the pronunciation of “Eilonwy” often kept my best friend and me awake into the wee hours.

From the very front cover (the author’s last name is pronounced “bowl-yer”), The Winds of Khalakovo can appear daunting — so I will tell you right away that this is an excellent, epic, Russian-based fantasy about airships and elemental spirits… (Read more)

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Also, for a unique spin this month, I talked a little bit about the dangers of being a book reviewer, and did several mini reviews!
Hexbound by Chloe Neill
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
Starbound by Joe Haldeman
Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles by Michael Moorcock
Night School by Mari Mancusi
Ghost Town by Rachel Caine