Dark Age by Pierce Brown

Dark Age by Pierce Brown - 776 pages
Red Rising Series Book Five

It's been ten years since Darrow took his dead wife's dream to the stars and broke the world.   As an outlaw trying to rescue the doomed Free Legions on Mars he faces insurmountable odds and the temptation to give into the darkness in order to achieve victory.  He is challenged by those within the Republic and the resurrection of the lost last heir to the empire, Lysander who is back to claim what he feels is rightfully his.

The first of this book is battle, battle and more battle which gets a bit wearying.  But the plot kicks in and the characters who have been so strong throughout the series bring their voices to the story and then things picked up for me.  It's not the best entry in the series but I'm still curious to see what happens next. 

The Art of War, by Kelly Roman

The Art of War, by Kelly Roman, 352 pages

This graphic novel is dark, gory, and very much adult.  Consider yourself warned! The story takes place in a dystopian America, where China controls the economy, day traders are vicious and often murderers, and Kelly Roman goes undercover to find out who murdered his brother- and why.  This puts him in the employ of the most ruthless broker of them all- Sun Tzu.  While the story isn't an adaptation of (the real) Sun Tzu's Art of War, it does juxtapose text from the classic war manual with the futuristic storyline- proving that war, strategy, cunning and deception are all timeless.
P.S., I got this book for free from a Goodreads giveaway- how cool is a free book??