Reader Picks: Your favorite posts of 2014

Before I get into my favorite reads of 2014, I want to give my two loyal readers the spotlight. So, based on page views, here are the Top 10 reviews of 2014, according to readers of The Royal Library. There will be some overlap with my list, coming soon.

Thanks for reading the blog this year, and I hope to see you again in 2015.

10. "Raising Steam" by Terry Pratchett. Published May 7. It's hard to go wrong with Sir Pterry, even if there's not quite as much bite as there used to be in his work.

 9. The Legend of Drizzt: "The First Notch," read by Felicia Day. Published August 20. So, my experiment with Audiobooks got derailed quickly as I found it hard late in the year to spend an hour or so listening to a story. You guys seemed to enjoy the first installment (or maybe it just had to do with the flirty cosplay photo of Felicia Day?), so I may try to finish this series up in the new year.

Review: "Veil of the Deserters" by Jeff Salyards

Events begin to take shape and become a little more clear in Jeff Salyards’ second volume of Bloodsounder’s Arc, “Veil of the Deserters” ($24.99, Night Shade Books).

I was intrigued by the first book in the series, “Scourge of the Betrayer,” and the way that Salyards slowly doled out information to our viewpoint character, the scribe Arki. In this volume, Arki has gained more confidence from his commander Braylar Killcoin and the other soldiers and isn’t quite as in the dark.

In the midst of a plot to cause chaos in a neighboring kingdom, Braylar and his Syldoon warriors receive surprising visitors. A pair of Memoridons – memory witches – arrive to order the company back to their homeland in the name of the new emperor.

One of the Memoridons, Soffjian, just happens to be Braylar’s sister, but the reunion is not a happy one. The siblings are uneasy in each other’s company at best, and openly hostile toward each other at worst. Unfortunately, Soffjian may be Braylar’s only hope for surviving his cursed flail Bloodsounder.

Review: "Scourge of the Betrayer" by Jeff Salyards

When I was about 20 pages into Jeff Salyards’ “Scourge of the Betrayer” ($14.99, Night Shade Books), it seemed like a book I might abandon. After reading the final page of the story, I’m still kind of wondering how I feel about it. If nothing else, it’s an interesting approach to storytelling.

We view the action through the eyes of Arkamondos, a scribe that has been hired by a group of savage Syldoon warriors to chronicle their actions. Arki isn’t sure exactly why these rough-edged soldiers need a chronicler, and he knows nothing about what their mission is or where they might be headed. He knows, though, that it won’t be dull. And he’s right about that.

That’s really about the best that I can do for a plot synopsis. Any other details that I let you in on would kind of spoil the way that the book is set up, and that’s something I try hard not to do.