Books In The Post! - 'Yawning, always yawning...' Edition

So, teething has hit Elana hard which, in turn, saw Hope wake me up at four this morning so she could climb into bed with me and get some sleep. I wouldn't have minded so much if Hope had gone to sleep straight away but life is never that simple is it...? I can see a whole lot of yawning in the immediate future then :o)

As far as books go though... After a couple of weeks of not many books arriving through the post, last week saw a whole load turn up and a couple of them have been eagerly anticipated. Have a look at the picture and see if you can guess which are which...

Okay, no prizes if you guessed 'The Dark Defiles', I started reading it over the weekend and it is already really hard not to put everything else to one side and just keep reading (that's what the commute is for). Looking forward to seeing if what I reckon will happen, happens. 'The Rhesus Chart' is the other 'pick up and read immediately'; I've been following the 'Laundry' series ever since I started blogging and the promise of a new book never fails to make me do a happy dance (where no-one can see me). All being well, look a review this week.
What else am I definitely going to read? Well, 'Drakenfeld' is a definite read as I seem to be attracted to fantasy detective tales these days. I'm also more than likely going to read 'A Kill In The Morning', purely because of this deliciously pulpy cover (not too sure about the blurb though),

'I don't like killing, but I'm good at it. Murder isn't so bad from a distance, just shapes popping up in my scope. Close-up work though - a garrotte around a target's neck or a knife in their heart - it's not for me. Too much empathy, that's my problem. Usually. But not today. Today is different . . . '

The year is 1955 and something is very wrong with the world. It is fourteen years since Churchill died and the Second World War ended. In occupied Europe, Britain fights a cold war against a nuclear-armed Nazi Germany.

In Berlin the Gestapo is on the trail of a beautiful young resistance fighter, and the head of the SS is plotting to dispose of an ailing Adolf Hitler and restart the war against Britain and her empire. Meanwhile, in a secret bunker hidden deep beneath the German countryside, scientists are experimenting with a force far beyond their understanding.

Into this arena steps a nameless British assassin, on the run from a sinister cabal within his own government, and planning a private war against the Nazis. And now the fate of the world rests on a single kill in the morning . . .

Samit Basu's 'Resistance' won't be read as I really didn't get on with his first book ('Turbulence') at all, couldn't finish it in fact. 'Moth and Spark' might be read, I'm kind of half and half over the whole thing and it's not like there aren't other book that I really want to read...

So what does that leave? Ah yes, J.F. Lewis' 'Grudgebearer', another book that I'm not sure about (will probably give it a go but am not in a huge hurry to get to it). A blurb crammed full of blatantly made up names always makes me wary...

Kholster is the first born of the practically immortal Aern, a race created by the Eldrennai as warrior-slaves to defend them from the magic-resistant reptilian Zaur.  Unable to break an oath without breaking their connection with each other, the Aern served the Eldrennai faithfully for thousands of years until the Sundering. Now, the Aern, Vael, and Eldrennai meet every hundred years for a Grand Conjunction to renew their tenuous peace.

While the tortures of slavery remain fresh in Kholster's mind, most of the rest of the world has moved on. Almost six hundred years after the Sundering, an Eldrennai prince carelessly breaks the truce by setting up a surprise museum exhibit containing sentient suits of Aernese armor left behind, never to be touched, lest Kholster kill every last Eldrennai. Through their still-existing connection with their ancient armor, the Aern know instantly, and Kholster must find a way to keep his oaths, even those made in haste and anger. While Kholster travels to the Grand Conjunction with his Freeborn daughter and chosen successor Rae'en, his troops travel by sea, heading for war. 

Not a bad little haul all in all :o) Have any of these books caught your eye?

What am I reading at the moment? A little bit of everything (again, I'm so flighty with my reading at the moment...) but mostly 'The Dark Defiles', 'The Rhesus Chart', 'Prince of Fools'. I've got some good reading in my very near future...