The Emperor's Blades Wins 2014 Gemmel Award for Best Fantasy Debut Novel

The David Gemmel Awards for Fantasy are internet-based awards that have been given out since 2009. There are three categories: the Legend Award (Best Novel), Morningstar Award (Best Debut Novel) and, somewhat inexplicably to me since I care less about book covers, the Ravenheart Award (Best Cover Art).

Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance won both the Legend award and the Ravenheart award. Words of Radiance is the sequel to The Way of Kings which won the Legend award in 2011. However, more interesting to me (since I haven't read Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series yet even though I do a copy of the first two books in the house) is the fact that Brian Staveley won the Morninngstar award for The Emperor's Blades which I read recently and enjoyed greatly (review still in progress). The Emperor's Blades is Book 1 of the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne and Book 2, The Providence of Fire came out earlier this year, while the last book in the trilogy  is on tap for release in March 2016. It's called The Last Mortal Bond. If you like fast-paced fantasy with intricate plots and characters that you care  about you will like these Staveley books. I just discovered him about a month ago, but with these first two books he is now right up there on a short list of my favorite fantasy authors that includes Brent Weeks (The Lightbringer), Daniel Abraham (The Dagger and the Coin) and Richard Morgan (A Land Fit For Heroes). He's no George R.R. Martin (yet) but that may be a good thing.