Blood and Masks by Alex Ziebart
My rating: [rating=4]
(Click here to see this review on Goodreads.)
If you’re a gamer, specifically MMOs like World of Warcraft, then you will enjoy this book. If you happen to read Blizzard Watch frequently then you should know this author. Alex Ziebart is the Editor-in-Chief and owner of the Blizzard Watch blog site. This book was his debut novel as a fantasy author.
I’d say, for a newbie author, his first book was well done. I haven’t read a lot of fantasy novels but the world he created in Blood and Masks seemed pretty unique to me. That’s not to say he didn’t borrow from the vast world of fantasy races, but he doesn’t violate any canon rules (i.e. elves). He does create his own class of fantasy race called “minari”, which does have some “demon hunter” influence but still remains unique. The minari world Ziebart creates is intriguing and I hope to learn more about their kind in future novels.
I hope this novel brings Alex success and motivation to continue writing fantasy. I think, with Blood and Masks, he is off to a great start.
Recommended for any fantasy reader.
Issue 119: E3 was this week in sunny California, what goodies were in store for us? Speaking of “store”, don’t forget that the Steam ‘Monster’ Summer Sale ends on the 21st (Father’s Day – which I don’t think is a coincidence … just sayin 😉 ). Despite the fact that this is usually a post about MMORPGs, usually during big conventions I make an exception so there are going to be posts about games that are not MMOs. 
Issue 115: The MMO Times is coming back. The gaming news just seemed to come to an abrupt halt where there just wasn’t anything interesting to share. I didn’t want to try to dig up menial stories that have little to no credibility just to keep providing a new post/email. I’m not interested in filling up your inboxes with junk. Of course then various real life events quickly exacerbated that hiatus; but hopefully we are back in full swing for a while. It has been about 6 weeks as the last MMO Times post was back when we lost our beloved Mr. Spock. 
Issue 114 – Welcome back, you “girlie and weak” gamers! It has been an interesting week for all the talented writers that were kicked to the curb by AOL last week. They quickly learned that while their employers had no support for their livelihoods, the gamer community demonstrated unfathomable support. Nicely done, everyone! It’s pretty extraordinary when you have so many people that have never met each other come together like we saw this past week for Blizzard Watch and Massively OP.