YetiStomper Picks for December

First Lord's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 6) - Jim Butcher

A fantasy series that ends in a timely fashion. Wait what? Butcher's second series, after the stellar Dresden Files, wraps up in Book 6 of the Codex Alera. I've been reading these in paperback but I might make the jump to HC for the finale. If you have been reading these this is a December must buy.

Just Another Judgement Day (Nightside) - Simon R. Green

Book 9 of the Nightside novels. Yes 9. While Green isn't getting anywhere fast, he is writing a fun urban fantasy series. This book details John Taylor's efforts to take out The Walking Man, a righteous enforcer sent by God to clear the Nightside of the wicked and the guilty. Hint: If he succeeds, everything that makes the Nightside so fun will be eliminated. Again, fans of the Nightside take note.

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil: A Novel of the Old Republic - Drew Karpyshyn

Besides having the longest title ever, SW:DB:DoE:ANotOR is the third book in an extremely fun Star Wars series focusing on Darth Bane, the original Sith Lord who founded the Sith Order that gave birth to Sidious and Vader. The first two books (Path of Destruction and Rule of Two were extremely fun, showing Star Wars from the Dark Side. Bane is a very compelling anti-hero (or whatever you call a bad guy fighting other bad guys). This book might just tell of how the original apprentice kills the original master. If you like Star Wars and haven't checked out Karpyshyn's Bane books out, you really should.

Hidden Empire - Orson Scott Card

I am (or maybe was) a big Orson Scott Card fan (politics aside). Recently his novels seem to be shallower and seem very visual or movie based. I'm not sure if he is simply converting unsold movie treatments or video game plots but everything seems very action packed. Hidden Empire is the sequel to Empire which detailed a political/military coup in the US. I'm not sure it's something I will read or not but I always try and watch out for new OSC releases. As a side note, this is also a SciFi (SyFy) essential book. How the heck do they determine SciFi Essentials? It seems absolutely random to me.

---

If you want to read 1 book this month, you should probably revisit November's list. None of these books are stand-alones so if you haven't read the first books there aren't too many options for you. I'd recommend the series mentioned here but you should start at the beginning if you are interested. Not sure what's wrong with December. Probably the assumption that Christmas shopping is done earlier rather than later.

Anyway, as always, if you are interested in more details regarding any of the above books, just click on through the Amazon links. I'm more interested in telling you why I recommended them rather than simply what the books are about. out there. Anything that might have escaped my genre nets? There has to be something out there... Which one of these covers is your favorite?

You can view previous installments of YetiStomper Picks here