The Waking Fire

This is Ryan's best book since his wonderful first book (The Blood Song) which took the world by storm and rang all the same bells that Patrick Rothfuss did in The Name of the Wind.The Waking Fire, in fact, has been one of my favorite reads this year. It's wonderfully written and brings us a new, inventive fantasy world. This one reads like a cross between Mistborn, Horatio Hornblower, and Pern.I'm not even sure how to describe what this book is. It seems like Anthony Ryan took a look at a dozen different genres and decided to mix them all together.We have:steampunkdragon fantasyepic fantasynavel fictionlost worldspirate fictionthief / underworld fantasyspecial agents & spy fictiona Mistborn-style magical systemOver the many pages of this novel, there's everything from magically powered steam ship to ship battles, power struggles in the  urban underworld among thieves, Mistborn-style action & magic, Arthur Conan Doyle style Lost World fiction, spy fiction, and of course, all of this wrapped up into an epic fantasy. And somehow, it works. This is one of the books this year that didn't let go of me. It's not perfect, but man is it a fun, fun read. Can't wait to see what happens in the next book.The magic system is a bit TOO similar to Sanderson's Allomancy, but Ryan changes things up slightly so it's still unique (though heavily inspired by Mistborn). The plot is pure fantasy adventure, full of super powered heroes, large wild landscapes, and powerfully dangerous wildlife, including dragons.Definitely pick this one up if you love Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson or The Lightbringer by Brett Weeks -- it has some of the same feeling.