The Desert of Souls is One of the Best Fantasy Novels of 2011
Howard Andrew Jones’ first novel The Desert of Souls has been named one of the best fantasy novels of the year by Barnes & Noble.
Paul Goat Allen, a full-time genre book reviewer who’s reviewed thousands of titles over the past 20 years, posted his choices for the Best Fantasy Releases of 2011 at Explorations, the highly respected Barnes & Noble science fiction and fantasy Blog. In addition to Desert of Souls (#4), the list also includes Prince of Thorns by Black Gate blogger and author Mark Lawrence (at #5), and our good friend James L. Sutter’s first novel, Death’s Heretic (#3).
The top two books in the list were The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss and Farlander by Col Buchanan. Allen writes:
The sheer amount of noteworthy fantasy debuts in 2011 was remarkable. Besides Buchanan and Sutter’s stellar first novels, this year gave us The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones, Mark Lawrence’s Prince of Thorns, Stina Leicht’s Of Blood and Honey, Courtney Schafer’s The Whitefire Crossing, Paula Brandon’s The Traitor’s Daughter, The Emperor’s Knife by Mazarkis Williams, Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick, Michael J. Sullivan’s Theft of Swords, and Teresa Frohock’s Miserere.
You can read an exclusive excerpt from Prince of Thorns, Brian Murphy’s recent review of The Desert of Souls, and Andrew Zimmerman Jones’ review of Death’s Heretic, all right here at Black Gate. Don’t tell us we don’t point you to the best fantasy.
Congratulations to Howard, Mark and James!
HOWARD! OH MY GAWDS, THAT’S SO WONDERFUL!!!
I’ve not read a lot this year but I’ve read a bunch of the books mentioned here. Miserere, The Emperor’s Knife & Among Thieves – all deserve your attention IMOHO. Also heard good things about The Whitefire Crossing. And Mike Sullivan seems to be a good chap so I’m sure his work’s fine too 🙂 As to the rest, well Paul Goat Allen is _clearly_ a man of impeccable taste, so try them too!
Hey Mark,
Thanks for the recommendations — AMONG THIEVES is one I’ve had my eye on for a while.
And congratulations on having PRINCE OF THORNS included in the list. It is the first of many accolades for that book, of that I’m certain.
Harold Lamb, Santa, the elves and I are all very proud of you. Well done.
GC
Congratulations, Howard! I’ve enjoyed the Dabir and Asim short stories for about the last three years or so. I just totally loved The Desert of Souls. I’m looking forward to your next one. And mind you . . . I’ll be taking notes. Ol’ Dorgo the Dowser and Dabir and Asim have a lot in common. So as I enjoy your stories and the great characters you bring to life, I’m also learning a lot, too! You rock!
Woot! Congrats to Howard.
I downloaded it from B&N shortly before Christmas, but I haven’t got to it yet. (Waylaid by Vorkosigan novellas.)