Two new reviews of The Spirit Eater in one day!

Be warned, both contain some spoilers. So if you haven't read the first two books, run and do that first and then read these! :D

"It has been a pleasure to watch these characters grow as the series progresses, and the world around them has only become more fascinating as Aaron reveals different lands, peoples, and events in each of the books; these are the sort of books that prompt late night dashes to bookstores in order to secure the next adventure, for who can bear to be left out of such a good time?" - Book Geeks

"Rachel Aaron gives the impression that she simply enjoys writing, and that enjoyment is contagious. Her prose has a fun, sly tone to it that’s genuinely enjoyable to read... If you’ve read and enjoyed the first two books, you should have no problem with this and will probably love The Spirit Eater, as it’s the best book of the bunch so far." - Fantasy Literature

Can't ask for more than that on a Tuesday, can you?

House cleaning

The wonderful Devi has returned my edits for Book 4, so my little vacation is at a close. Le sigh. But, it's always great to get an editorial letter with the words "minor changes" on it. WOO. There is much much much to be done, but at least there's no moving mountains this time around.

I do want to take a sec here and dispell some weird mis-information about the series that's going on, for which I will use this handy bulleted list icon!

• The Legend of Eli Monpress is a 5 book series, not a trilogy. I can understand the confusion! Trilogies are a standard series size, and we did have 3 books coming out all together with matching covers. But no, there are more! The Spirit Eater would be a terrible book to end a series on anyway. I don't even want to think about all the questions left hanging. But fear not! There are 2 more books where all questions shall be answered!
• The Spirit Thief is not urban fantasy. Unless you count the fact that the book does take place in a city, the Spirit Thief could in no way be described as urban fantasy. I know it has a photo on the cover! I know it's blue-toned! But work with me, here. Take the book, turn it over. That's right, easy. There! What you are looking at is a blurb filled with kidnapped kings, wizards, and swords. Definitely fantasy, just not urban. Now, the book has been described as having urban fantasy pacing (which I will take any day over epic fantasy pacing), but it is not, in fact, urban. Deep felt apologies to anyone who was disappointed by the lack of vampires! 
• The Spirit Thief is not a romance. Again, I get it - photo cover of a cute, snarky guy, blue tones, but no. Though Eli does open his shirt in the climax (it makes total sense at the time! I promise!), there's no time for love, Doctor Jones. Of course, this doesn't mean characters don't fall in love over the course of the books, just that romance is not a central theme (unless you count Eli's romance with his bounty).

I'm sure there are more, but those are the three I keep hearing. Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with trilogies or urban fantasy or romance (I actually hope to write all three in the future), I'm just saying that's not what I've written this time around. So, gentle reader, if you hear/see anyone assuming any of the above, please do me a huge favor and gently correct them (and then send them over to my site so they can read the first chapters!).

<3 Rachel

The Spirit Eater eats reviews!

A mere nine days after launch and we've got some lovely reviews for the third novel in Eli's series - The Spirit Eater! I have gathered some choice samples below for your convenience...

"The latest Monpress Spirit fantasy (The Spirit Thief) is a super tale... However, even with Eli at his outrageously charming thieving best, what makes this a super tale is the internal conflict within Nico as the demon inside her battles for control with her essence in a sort of fantasy version of dissociative identity disorder." - Harriet Klausner, Genre Go Round

" Whilst this is the third (and sadly for now) final offering in this series/world to date, it’s definitely been one that’s been a real joy to read. Her descriptiveness is crisp; the characters a barrel load of fun to hang around and perhaps most importantly the type of people that you’d like to hang around the pub with." - Falcata Times

"This series has been one of my favorite this year. I can't think of a series where I've liked every single character as much as I do in these books. My concerns in the review of first volume of Rachel Aaron overusing magic and powerful characters in the series has come to seem silly to me as she has weaved her tale with a masterful balance. I couldn't recommend this book more to anyone interested in a fun fantasy adventure series." - Jeremy Shane, The Outhousers

And though the give away is sadly over, you can still read my full interview about The Spirit Eater and other tibits about the Eli world over at Bitten By Books!

Feel free to post in the comments if you see reviews I've missed, or if you want to leave one of your own ;)

Blog comment problems

I got an email today about problems posting on the blog, so I've made some changes to the permissions. Hopefully Blogger will now be less stupid. If you've had problems posting in the past this should hopefully fix them! Sorry about that.

Live Q&A today!

At Bitten By Books! Starting noon central time I'll be around all day to answer questions about the Eli books and generally gab. I'm also giving away a TON of books, so stop by, say hi, and win yourself something awesome!

See you there!