Rules of Ascension

Rules of Ascension by David B Coe. A book I picked out of a library shelf one day because it sounded intriguing, and it is – it's the first volume in an epic about political machinations across several fantasy continents, and about a race war between two species, one of which is basically human, one of which is a frailer, magic-wielding species. I'm a sucker for political complexity, and I love that fantasy lets authors invent hypothetical scenarios for me to delve into. I just wish the book's marketers would have respected it a bit more. The cover is of a long-haired man with an earring and a sword walking away from a burning castle, and it makes me feel a little bit cheesy carrying it around. I dislike smart books with deceptively stupid covers about as much as I dislike stupid books with deceptively smart covers.