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Did Not Finish. Can’t really day why not – a mixture of not engaging with the story and not getting along with the American accented narrator, Romy Nordlinger. It wasn't terrible, just not for me.

Audiobook narrated by Aiden Gillen

All you need to know to succeed in war, providing you don’t have to take air warfare into consideration. How to position your chariots. When to fight and when to run away. How to keep your supply lines and your army coordinated. How to turn the terrain to your advantage. How to treat your soldiers (firmly but without cruelty). Plus all sorts of handy hints and tips. Including when not to listen to your emperor. (American military take note.) Amazing little book, beautifully read by Aiden Gillen, who most people will remember as the tricky Peter Baylish (Littlefinger) in Game of Thrones.

Narrated by Kate Rawson

Competent outlaw Scarlett McCain is a bank robber and (when she needs to be) killer in a fragmented future England dotted with fortified cities wit a whole lot of dangerous wild nothing inbetween. Running from the scene of a successful bank robbery she finds a wrecked coach, with a whole lot of dead bodies and only one survivor, gangly Albert Browne, himself on the run from implacable hunters from the Faith Houses. It turns out that Albert is way more than he seems and Scarlett is, reluctantly, stuck with him. The reluctance gradually turns to respect throughour various adventures, and this isobviously a set-up for further adventures. This moves a bit slowly at first (despite the characters being chased through inhospitable countryside full of monsters). Kate Rawson narrated Sarah Painter’s Crow Investigations books, and while her style works well for them, it works less well for this. This might be a book better read than listened to.

Narrated by Wil Wheaton
Fantasy, science fiction or pure absurdist literature? You’ll need to make your own mind up about that. It’s probably all three. The premise is that the moon, all of a sudden, turns to cheese. What kind of cheese? Not sure, but because cheese is less dense than rock and because the moon’s mass has not altered, it’s suddenly bigger and brighter and everyone notices. Rather than following one main character this book works as a series of interspersed stories as people from different walks of life react differently. First we meet the staff of a museum which holds a piece of moon rock; rock until it isn’t. Then there’s an academic turned pop-science author, a bunch of NASA astronauts whose dreams have been shattered, three retirees who meet in a diner to put the world to rights, a young girl who simply wants to write her great fantasy novel, and a tech-bro billionaire who manages to stowaway on his own rocket -- not to mention the American top-brass and the president of the United States. This is quirky and absurd. Wil Wheaton’s reading is at once serious and funny. Maybe this isn’t for everyone, but I enjoyed the listen.

Audiobook narrated by Humphrey Bower.

The final book in the Chaos Walking trilogy whicfh follows Todd and Viola, sometimes together, sometimes apart, as they get sucked into the politics of New Prentisstown and a manufactured war with the Spackle. Whether he wishes it or not Todd gets semi-adopted by the mayor (now President) Prentiss, and begins to follow a dark path even though he resists as much as he can. Viola is swept up in a rebellion of sorts as the women healers go on the rampage, using terror tactics against the mayor and his army. Add to that the arrival of a new scout ship with two of Viola’s old friends, and the impending arrival of thousands of settlers with no other option but to make the planet their home. Complicate all this with the mayor’s mental powers, and the ‘noise’ that all men acquire on exposure to the planet, and this is an excellent conclusion to the trilogy. Humphrey Bower’s reading is excellent. He switches accents and voices seamlessly. There’s a bonus short story, Snowscape, tagged on to the end of this recording.

This is the BBC audio adaptation in four short parts. It’s much truncated from the full novel, but it works. Eric, an aspiring teenage demonologist conjures a demon, but instead of a regular demon he gets wizard Rincewind who’d been previously trapped in the demon dimensions. Rincewind suddenly has the ability to grant Eric’s three wishes, but as most ‘three-wishes’ stories, things don’t go as expected.

Narrated by James Macpherson

A collection of short stories featuring Edinburgh cop Rebus through all stages (and ranks) of his career. Each story features a crime and a solution, sometimes unexpected in that the victims are not always what they appear to be, and neither are the criminals. Extremely engaging, and beautifully read by James Macpherson in a gentle Scottish accent.

Narrated by Humphrey Bower.

This picks up where the Knife of Never Letting Go ended. Todd and Viola have arrived in Haven, where they hoped to get help, only to find that Mayor Prentiss and his army got there first, and that they have galloped headlong into a trap.

Todd and Viola. Separated, the two must do what they can to survive the increasingly authoritarian town run by the mayor (now the president). There’s a resistance movement, the Answer, which seems more benign, but when do freedom fighters become terrorists. There are no good sides here, just bad and worse. And in a war nobody wins. Once again, Humphrey Bower does an amazingly good reading a broad cast of characters.

Narrated by Humphrey Bower

In Prentisstown there are no women, and all men leak thoughts involuntarily all the time. It’s known as noise, and is a feature of this planet with what appears to be a failing human colony. Todd, almost but not quite a man until his upcoming birthday, is in the swamp with his talking dog Manchee, when he finds a crashed scout ship and a girl whose parents have been killed. Thus starts the story of a boy’s journey to manhood. Todd has been deliberately kept innocent of some terrible facts, and misinformed about others. Why did the women die, and what happened in the war against the spackle, the planet’s indigenous beings? Answers to these questions are hard-won as Todd ends up fleeing with the girl, Viola, pursued by Mayor Prentiss. It seems as though Todd and Viola can’t catch a break as they run from danger headlong into trouble. This is well read by Humphrey Bower who differentiates between the characters with a selection of voices and accents which are pitch perfect. I’m only disappointed that it has a cliffhanger ending – and I’ve said in other reviews how much I hate those. In this case it worked because I moved straight on to the next book.

Audiobook narrated by Roy Mcmillan

Just having seen the excellent movie, and with a Roman Catholic Conclave happening to elect a new pope in real life, it seemed an appropriate time to listen to this book. Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel 118 cardinals are hoping to be guided by God to make the right choice, but though no one will admit it some cardinals have more ambition than others to become the head of the church. There are factions and rivalries, and through it all Cardinal Jacopo Lomeli, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, must keep order and direct the proceedings. This is a thriller filled with old men in robes, with no action sequences and no sex and violence, but tightly plotted and riveting all the same. Highly recommended.

Narrated by Nicola Barber
The war is over. Celestaine has killed the Kinslayer, and is accounted a hero, but the land and its many and varied people are devastated. This is a story of consequences. Still carrying (and using) the magic sword which did the killing, Celest sets off to make reparations, to put things right for the people who've suffered. She sets off together with two orc-like, brutal Yorughan (one of whom is her lover), and a prince of the beautiful flying people who have been stripped of their wings. On the way they collect an undead bard, and the Undefeated, who is not what he seems. They are shadowed by a pair of artifact collectors, who are also not what they seem - or at least one of them isn't. They are looking for the Kinslayer's Crown, a magical artifact that Celest hopes will restore wings to the flightless. Their quest takes them through a bleak collection of places where people are just scraping by, some of them seeking revenge, some trying to rebuild. They have a string of adventures, each a set piece, and, of course, the ending is not quite what we expect, and is certainly not a fairy tale happy-ever-after, however there is some redemption, for more than just Celestaine. She's a good character, though tends to lengthy introspection, and she's voiced well by Nicola Barber, who manages all the voices very well.

Narrated by Catherine Ho
Jessamyn Teoh, raised in the USA by Malaysian parents, goes back to the land she left when she was a toddler. Her father has been ill, but he goes to work for a relative while Jess and her mother are closeted with family. Jess future plans have been scuppered, she daren't tell her parents she's gay, and keeps ker girlfriend secret. So when she starts hearing voices, she puts it down to stress, but it's just one voice. Jess is being haunted by the ghost of her dead maternal grandmother Ah Ma, who was a spirit mediun and avatar for Black Water Sister, a mysterious and fearsome deity. Ah Ma needs to settle a score with a rich and powerful gang boss and she intends that Jess help her to do it. This is a story about spirits, gods, ghosts and family secrets and Jess needs to sort it all out before she can get her life back on track. The reading is good, the story interesting, and the contemporary Malaysian setting is fascinating.

Narrated by Rupert Degas

I avoided this book for years, knowing that it was the first in a trilogy which the author is struggling to finish, however I really enjoyed this. The reading by Rupert Degas was terrific (excellent vocalisations) and the whole thing kept me hooked. This is a story within a story with the occasional smaller story inset. Kote is an inkeeper, or is he? When the Chronicler arrives in search of a hero's story, he gets Kote to open up, for Kote is really Kvothe, something of a legend. Kvothe himself says: 'I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the university at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.' But this story is about Kvothe's early life. We don't even get as far as his expulsion from the university. We see Kvothe's early life with his parents in a group of travelling players. That part of his life ends suddenly, in a massacre and young Kvothe ends up living hand to mouth on the streets of a pitiless city, eventually gaining entrance to the university where his troubles continue, but so does his absorption of knowledge and of magic. It's a good story, full of ups and downs, and barely takes us to Kvothe aged about 16 or 17. It doesn't really come to an ending, but it stops in a reasonable place and there is a second book, which, again, I'm reluctant to read because the third seems stuck in its author's head and isn't appearing on the page any time soon, if ever, which is a great pity because this is a magnificent beginning. There's an epilogue which teases that the story Chronicler has heard so far is barely the beginning and is set to hook the reader into the next book.

Full cast recording featuring Stephen Mangan, Matt Lucas and many more.

I don’t generally like full cast recordings, but this was done well, more like a radio play, which, indeed, was its first incarnation. This is a revised edition, ten years on from the first one. Twelve years after the events in Dickens’ original book, Oliver Twist is back on the streets of London, penniless because his inheritance from the recently deceased Mr Brownlow, his adoptive father, has been blocked by missing papers. He meets up with Jack Dawkins, the Artful Dodger, an enters a scheme to get his rightful money, even though it means jointing a plan to steal the world’s most valuable diamond from a safe in the British Museum. There are returning characters and new ones (Nancy’s sister). Just when Oliver starts to trust Dodger, the ghost of Fagin, in Dodger’s head, twists plans. It’s not just wealth Dodger is after, but revenge – for Fagin. Things get really dodgy and twisty before the final showdown.

Narrated by Shaun Grindell.

Handry is severed from his village and his twin sister by an unfortunate incident and forced to wander from village to village as a starving outcast, suddenly unable to stomach most of his world’s regular food. Eventually he stumbles across a village willing to offer food in return for work, and there he meets another outcast, but one who seems to know what’s going on. The world is not what it seems. Their origins are far stranger, almost unbelievable, except there is proof. Things come to head when Hendry’s sister follows him. The story is interesting, though it’s a bit of a slow starter, revelations not coming until well into the book. When they do come, it all makes sense. However, what makes it difficult to like is the narrator, Shaun Grindell. Sorry to say I found his reading lifeless to the extent that, had it not been a short book, I might have given up, or at least found a written version instead of an audio one.

Audiobook narrated by Zachary Quinto

Tony Valdez is a dispatcher. He kills people for a living. No, not like that. In this world those people murdered (as opposed to those who die naturally, or by accident, or suicide) come back to life, reappearing in the place they’ve always felt safest. So, licensed dispatchers can kill those maimed in an accident or on the verge of death because of (say) surgery that’s gone wrong, and they’ll reappear (probably in their own beds) to have another chance of living, restored to the condition they were in a few hours earlier. Tony is busy doing his job in a hospital (which includes counselling families about when dispatch is not right for their loved ones – ones with terminal illness for instance) when he’s called to the emergency room, to an old friend who has been badly injured falling out of a car on the freeway. Before the friend is dispatched, he secretly gives Tony a crypto-wallet, and from then on Tony is involved in a world of schemes and billion-dollar plots with vast cryptocurrency accounts in the balance, and some of Chicago’s wealthiest billionaires vying with each other for both the crypto-wallet and Tony’s friend. It’s a tightly-knitted plot and Zachary Quinto is perfect to voice Tony Valdez. In fact, if they ever film this, he IS Tony Valdez – and I’d like to see that.

Audiobook read by Kate Reading & Michael Kramer

This is the final book in a trilogy chronicling the story of four parallel Londons (Grey, Red, White and Black) begun in A Darker Shade of Magic and continued in A Gathering of Shadows. My review of the second book said it was plot-light, and on consideration I think the events in the second and third books could have been covered in one book. There's plenty happening in A Conjuring of Light but the narrative jumps around to various different viewpoints, many of them unnecessary characters you are neither interested in nor care about. Lila and Kell, the main protagonists, are together, and Captain Alucard's love affair with Prince Rhy is more to the fore. Holland, in White London, has been inhabited by Black London's Osaron, a powerful being, a god-like entity who wants to be a king. Osaron seems pretty much set to subsume Red London. He's taken the city, all except for the warded palace, and so Kell, Lila, Alucard and Holland (in chains) set off for the floating market to acquire a device which they hope will trap and destroy him. This is the final book in a trilogy so you can pretty much guarantee peril followed by success. Unfortunately by the time I got half-way through this book I was losing the will to live, and then I followed an advert and read the blurb for The Fragile Threads of Power, set seven years on from the trilogy - and the blurb told me who lived, who died and what the two main protagonists did afterwards. It somewhat took the shine off listening to the rest of the story, but I'm no quitter, so I upped the reading speed to 1.3 and kept going. Schwab's writing style is elegant, but by the end neither Kell nor Lila had really developed much. We never found out about their origins, so questions asked earlier in the trilogy were left unanswered. Prince Rhy, Kells adoptive brother, grew up out of necessity, but the most convincing character arc was Holland's. He is, in fact, the hidden hero of the trilogy. The first book was read by Steven Crossley. The second and third were read by Kate Reading & Michael Kramer, depending on whether we're in a male or female point of view. I actually preferred the narrator of the first book, as I always prefer a single voice telling the story.

Murphy Lawless, pseudonym for C.E. Murphy, has written a whole series of shapeshifter romances. This is the first. Anna is a conservationist who spends her time on expeditions observing and protecting rare animal species. She's mostly funded by the Gladiator Foundation owned by the reclusive Garius Beren, who just happens to be a bear shapeshifter tied into the tradition of Roman gladiators. Within hours of meeting (at a gala for the foundation) Garius and Anna fall instantly in love and are kidnapped together by Remus, a wolf-shifter and Garius' enemy, who runs illicit arena games on a secret island off the Italian coast. Anna proves up to the task of outwitting Remus and releasing Garius (in bear form) from the arena. But that's just the start. It seems that Anna and Garius are fated mates (that's a thing in the shifter world) but Garius is overprotective and it nearly causes disaster. This is a fun read, tightly written and a real page-turner. Lawless is an assured writer and not a word is wasted. I read it on kindle which meant I could ignore the tacky half-naked male torso on the cover. I hate those kind of covers, but I guess the reader knows exactly what they're getting.

Before I start a review I have to say that this has one of those cringeworthy covers that I hate: the half-naked, well muscled male torso with a dipping waistband and no face. It also has a title that doesn't reflect the story. I don't recall much lace at all. However, having said that, I was in the mood for something light and this fitted the bill. It's a time-travel-to-17th-century-Scotland story which owes something to Outlander and pays its debt with a plethora of pop-culture references. Widowed Andrew McIver, head of his clan in his mid twenties, needs to remarry quickly to provide an heir before his grasping uncle steps in to take over at the upcoming clan gathering. Modern American geek Evangeline (Van for short) goes off to a SCA event and wades into a pond, nearly drowning and emerging four centuries earlier and half a world away. Andrew rescues her from drowning and from then on is stuck with her because she's having way too much fun to attempt to go home. She manages at once to be an annoying motor-mouth and the saviour of the castle kitchen. Expect an unconventional heroine, a family feud, interference from the local Fae, and the unexpected invention of a 17th century bicycle.

Narrated by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer

This continues the story of four parallel Londons (Grey, Red, White and Black) begun in A Darker Shade of Magic. The first book was complete initself. This, being the middle book of a trilogy, doesn't feel complete (it's plot-light) and it has a cliffhanger ending. Lila and Kell parted at the end of the first book, though it was pretty obvious that their story would continue. They spend the first half of this book just missing each other as Lila (feeling special for no justifiable reason) returns to Red London, having spent four months aboard a privateer ship with Captain, Alucard (who is actually one of the better characters) . She's learning the unfamiliar language and also learning magic. Kell has spent the intervening four months missing Lila and frowning. He doesn't have much character development in this book apart from brooding. There's a contest for magicians, organised by Kell's adopted brother, the prince, Rhy. In the first book Rhy died, only to be brought back by Kell tying his own life-force to Rhy's, but that means if anything happens to Kell, Rhy suffers, too (and vice-versa) so the king and queen are restricting Kell unbearably. When both Kell and Lila enter the magic competition, in disguise, sparks fly. ( I should point out here that Lila is a novice and all the other mages are the best of the best, so she should have been mincemeat on Day One, but because she's special she seems to get all the luck. That bit isn't very realistic. Yeah, OK, it's fantasy, but you know what I mean.) (I should probably also point out that the magic competition takes up a lot of page space without moving the story forward.) At the same time something is happening in White London as, freed from its previous cruel rulers, it begins to regenerate under Holland's kingship. (Spoiler: Holland did not die at the end of book one after all.) But Holland is being ridden by a darker power from Black London, and Red London is in danger. Unfortunately, just as this segment of the story seems about to resolve, something happens which pushes the story towards the third book and Book Two simply stops. Have I said how much I hate cliffhangers? Fortunately, I already had the third book waiting, ready to go. The first book was read by Steven Crossley. The second is read by Kate Reading & Michael Kramer depending on whether we're in a male or female point of view. The viewpoint characters are mostly (but not exclusively, Kell and Lila. This works well, but I'm glad I had a bit of a gap between the first and second book, otherwise the change of reader would have been jarring.

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Audiobook narrated by Kyle McCarley

Khat is a krisman, one of a race of engineered humanoids built to survive in the Waste. Separated from his people, by choice, he’s considered less than human by most people, except for his (human) partner, Sagai and Sagai’s family. Khat and Sagai survive by hunting and trading relics (potentially magical) of a previous civilisation. Though wary, Khat is tempted to join an expedition to the Waste organised by the Warders, mages who serve the Elector of Charisat. Khat and Elen, a minor Warder, are the only survivors of that expedition and both get caught up in a deadly game of upper-class politics. Though this is a solidly written, second-world fantasy, it’s not easily comparable with Wells’ brilliant Murderbot books. It’s complex and twisty, but the narration is a bit stodgy.

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I had this book as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) from the publisher via NetGalley and was very pleased to be able to take a peek before publication. I've read all the other Elizabeth Cage book (and every Jodi Taylor book I can get my hands on) so I was really looking forward to this - and it did not disappoint. Note for new readers, this in NOT the place to start. Go back and read White Silence, Dark Light and Long Shadows before tackling this one. Elizabeth Cage can read people's auras. She sees them as colours and can tell their mood and whether they are lying or not. No one can keep a secret from her. In White Silence, this led to a great deal of trouble via Doctor Sorensen in the wake of the sudden death of Elizabeth's husband, Ted. Incarcerated in Sorensen's clinic, Elizabeth met Michael Jones, a somewhat shady character with dark governmental connections. In the previous three books they saved each other (a lot), and as this fourth book opens Elizabeth is living a quiet life, which is exactly how she likes it - or does she? Things are changing. Something happened last Christmas that she can't quite remember, and on top of that she might have accepted a freeelance job from an unnamed government department that Jones seems very familiar with. And then she finds blood on her doorstep. Iblis and his mangy dog, Nigel turn up. Iblis speaks in eighteenth century cadences and likes to eat fish and chips, drink Elizabeth's beer and watch her TV. His partner, Melek, is something of an enigma and might or might not have powers, but certainly knows a lot more about Elizabeth than she's telling. Then Elizabeth gets a note, apparently in her own handwriting: 'I always send the serpent...' Elizabeth doesn't know what's going on which, apparently, is for her own good. Yeah, right. During the course of this book she finds out. Written in Jodi Taylor's quirky style this is a supernatural thriller. Expect danger, magic, revisiting the scenes of former adventures and - oh yes - a serpent. Something is trying to rise from the darkness under a bad moon. Highly recommended.

Audiobook narrated by Ric Jerrom

I really couldn't get into this. It was slow to get going and I had no sympathy for the characters. I kept hoping it would get better. I decided to speed up the narration to 1.2 and give it another go. Sadly, though it was a little better I still couldn't get on with it., so I gave up at Chapter 6. Sorry. Trying to work out why, I think it was the time taken to set up the bad guys that made me decide I simply didn't want to spend any more time with them. Cormac himself was quite interesting, but didn't seem to feature much at the beginning.

Audiobook narrated by Emma Newman.

No one wins a war, and that's especially true in the war between Lascanne and Denland. Emily Marshwic stands by as, first, her brother-in-law and then her little brother are called to the front to protect Lascanne from the Denlanders who have killed their own king and are now trying to force their republican politics on fiercely royalist Lascanne. First the men and when Lascanne runs out of soldiers, the women are called up, one female from each household. Emily has two ssters but one has a baby and the other is an air-head who wouldn't last two minutes in the army, so rather than send one of the female servants, she goes herself - one of the few upper class 'ladies' to go through basic training and arrive at the front- a battleground of swamps and jungles. It's grim and she's had barely enough training to wield a musket, but she learns, and learns who she can trust - a small company of officers known as the Survivors Club which includes her brother-in-law and a young battlefield warlock. Emily's perceptions of the war and who/what started it are called into question and it's only after the fighting is over that the peace can be won. Expect a lot of blow-by-blow battle scenes, emerging (steampunky) tech versus magic, and an unusual love triangle. There's not a lot of magic, just enough to make this into a secondary-world fantasy. There are some excellent supporting characters, and Emily Marshwic is a believable heroine. Emma Newman's narration is excellent.

Narrated by Carolina Hoyos.

This is Elizabeth Bear's debut novel from 2004. It's 2062 and Jenny Casey, ex Canadian Special Forces, ekes out a living at the dangerous end of Hartford Connecticut, her only friends a crimelord and a rogue cop. She's in constant pain from the artificial body parts she acquired after a heli-crash when she was twenty five. She's almost double that, now, and, despite being engineered for combat, her body is breaking down. She's hiding from the government in general and Colonel Vallance in particular, but he's tracking her to use her special skills for a new high-stakes project. The story moves from Hartford to Toronto and there are things afoot that Jenny hadn't ever dreamed of, but the people running the project have let her down before and Jenny daren't let herself trust them again - but there are a couple of people she might be able to trust, one, in particular, from her past. Carolina Hoyos's narration is decent, if not sparkling, but I was sorry to realise this book doesn't really resolve. I don't mind reading series books, but I like a reasonable resolution at the end of each book. This seems to just stop on the point of something interesting, and there are unanswered questions about characters left behind that i feel should have been addressed here instead of (hopefully) in future books. Though I enjoyed this for what it is, I'm disappointed about the loose ends.

Audiobook narrated by Aoifa McMahon
The beautiful Aoife MacMurchada is 14 years old when her father Diarmit, King of Leinster, is deposed by a new Irish high king and flees with his family to the England of Henry II. A mutual acquaintance suggests an alliance with Richard de Clare of Striguil on the Welsh Borders. Because of his support of Stephen during the Stephen/Mathilda conflict, Richard has recently been divested of Pembroke on the death of King Stephen and the accession of Henry, so he's open to new opportunities, even if it means fighting for them. An alliance between Diarmit and Richard means a wedding, but Aoife isn't about to be a pawn in anyone's game. If she does this, she'll do it on her own terms. Though the marriage is successful, it's short, and Aoife consistently works to protect her future and her children's inheritance through her guarded friendship with Henry II. Her daughter Isabelle de Clare will eventually resurface as the teen bride of William the Marshal in one of Chadwick's books, The Scarlet Lion, and Marshal has a tiny walk-on part in this book. But The Irish Princess is quite firmly Aiofe's story. Not, perhaps, my favourite Chadwick, but readable and entertaining. Aoifa McMahon's narration works well.

Narrated by Christian Rodska

Falco and Helena set off for Greece to investigate two deaths, three years apart, that have occurred to travellers journeying with Seven Sights Travel, a somewhat seedy company. The current batch of customers are an odd lot, but don’t seem capable of murder – though they might be victims. Marcus thrashes around fruitlessly before finally solving the case (or cases). Christian Rodska voices Falco very well, though the storyline gets a bit lost in the middle.

Narrated by Harrie Dobby

Tamsyn Pride returns to her Grandmother's house, Rosemount Cottage, in Much Wenlock on the death of the old lady, but gradually realises that something unnatural is going on. Her grandma didn't die of a heart attack, but who killed her and why? Gradually Tam begins to remember a magic she's been spelled to forget, but even her grandmother's best friend, Bridie, isn't telling everything she knows. There's a 'magical' council and the chairman is making a bid for power. This is a halfway decent story but there are a few plot-holes and a bit of a weird ending. It's designed to lead on to a second book, but I probably won't pick that up immediately. It's very well read by Harrie Dobby.

Audiobook read by Steven Crossley

There are Four Londons: Grey, our own, where George III rules over a land almost devoid of magic; Red where magic is commonplace; White where danger lurks and rulers claw their way to the top with cruel magic; Black, of which the least said, the better. Kell's home city is Red London, but he is one of the rare magicians who can travel between realities. Officially he's the king's envoy, unofficially he's a smuggler of dangerously illicit goods. His smuggling catches up with him when he's set up to smuggle a magical stone across the border between Londons. It immediately puts him in danger and in Grey London he meets Delilah Bard, pickpocket and small-time criminal with a thirst for adventure. First she robs him, then she saves him, and he saves her. They end up working together to get the dangerous stone safely back to Black London where it can do no harm to the other realms, but there are others chasing the stone, and their magics might be stronger than Kell's. This is tightly written and engrossing. I thoroughly enjoyed both the story and Steven Crossley's excellent narration.

Narrated by Rebecca Norfolk

The human race has left Earth in a huge fleet of arks, all travelling in a loose convoy. Eryn and her sister, Shay, are navigators. When Shay goes missing on the planet Candidate-623, Eryn insists on being part of the rescue crew on a trailblazer ship, only to discover that Shay and her team are all dead, and the thing that killed them is terrifying, powerful, and implacable. When whatever it is follows her back to the fleet, people start dying and Eryn, having rescued Shay's teenage daughter from her home ark ship, is sent to find the ancient recluse who might be able to communicate with a powerul alien and this save humanity. This is fast-paced, intriguing and well worth a listen or read.

The narration is easy on the ear, but, of dear, why can't Rebecca Norfolk pronounce some common English words? Bow, when it's the front end of a ship, rhymes with plough, not toe. A trimaran (ship with three hulls) is pronounced TRY-maran not trimmer-an. Someone's middle is their midriff, not mid-rift. Habitable is HAbitable, not haBITable. Ochre - as in the colour - is pronounced o-ker, not okra (which is something completely different). And those are just five mispronunciations that I jotted down within about ten minutes while I happened to have a pen and paper handy. There were loads more. It didn't exactly spoil the story but it did niggle. Even the preview has 'cobblt' instead of cobalt. Why didn't the producer spot all these mistakes? I did wonder if the narrator was American with a good English accent, but no, I looked her up and RP English is her native accent. I also notice that her voicecall-online page says she has a home studio, so this might have been recorded without a producer, in which case... pity about the ultimate quality control. Mispronunciation aside, the vocal quality is excellent and she voices the characters well.

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What if Prince Charming is not only devastatingly handsome and as charming as his name, but also a con-man, liar and fraud? That’s what the first book in this series explores, together with the princesses he’d duped (Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rapunzel etc.) who were hot on his trail and out for payback. In the follow-up book Charming himself is caught up in another twisted fairy tale as he ends up in the stately home of an ensorcelled beast along with two other hapless victims, Hans and Will. The beast is as much a prisoner as they are, and only solving the riddle can save her. Charming might even have feelings for her, but he has a date with Mephistopheles, and time is running out. Our princesses need to free him. They come across two potential enemies, or maybe powerful allies, in the Bear Witch and Red Cap (analogues of Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood). More delightful grown-up fairy tale nonsense from the assured pen of Jade Linwood. And though this has a satisfying ending there’s obviously another book to come. Looking forward to it.

Narrated by David Monteath

Jonas Flynt, ex soldier, ex-highwayman, has been blackmailed into the Company of Rogues, run by government spymaster Nathaniel Charters. Set in 1715 – at the time of the first Jacobite rising - the late Queen Anne’s papers have gone missing and Charters fears the papers might have included a will which will upset the Hanoverian succession. Jonas is sent to seek out the will – but when the trail leads him from the shady streets of London back to his native Edinburgh, his estranged family, and the woman he once loved, life gets complicated. Weaving a fictional story around real events and historical characters, this is a fascinating tale well told. Expect riots, skullduggery, unexpected revelations (and one twist you can see coming a mile off).

Narrated by Neil Hellegers
Erich is a near-genius tech-engineer eking out a living in his repair shop, so when he gets a broken-down suit of power armour he intends to sell it quickly to pay off his debts. Unfortunately things don't go the way he planned and he ends up working for a supervillain, his two crazed daughters and their gang of crooks. He gets dragged into the criminal underbelly of his city and discovers that he has a talent for it, though he ends up fighting off a gang of neo-nazis when he knows he should be running away. And how come the bad-guy supervillain - even worse than his current boss - knows his real name and more about his past that Erich wants to reveal? This is a fun listen.

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Audio drama performed by Peter Dinklage and others
Poirot is in Kent, as a refugee from Belgium during the First World War. Lawrence, recovering from war wounds and still suffering from PTSD, goes to stay with old friends at Styles - a grand country house. When the matriarch of the family, Mrs Inglethorpe, is poisoned, all the signs point to her unpopular American husband, Alfred. Poirot, an old friend of Lawrence, happens to be staying in the village and is called in to consult. This is not a reading, but an audio drama featuring Peter Dinklage as Poirot. Sometimes the background music and sound effects are a little intrusive, but this is largely a good interpretation of a classic Agatha Christie story with several possible culprits and lots of little clues.

Audiobook read by Travis Baldree.
Tane Carver faked his way through magical university to prove a point - that the flaw in magic lies in the mage - but when he revealed his secret (that he personally had no magic at all) he was expelled. Now the dean has called him in because one of the students (someone Tane was close to) has been murdered using magic, and Tane's unique skills - of spotting the flaw - are needed. He accidentally acquires a sidekick/partner when Kadka, a half-orc ex guard, attaches herself to the investigation. Life gets complicated when an old flame turns out to be the Blue Cap in charge of solving the crime. This is fast-paced though Traviss Baldree (who I usually like as a narrator) does tend to drawl, and occasionally sounds a little bored, but the narration works well enough to keep the story interesting.

Audiobook read by Amber Benson.

Ashley Perrin, fresh out of college, takes a job as Community Liaison for the Thi8rd District - the only area of the city with more aliens than humans. Right from Day One she's fielding weird complaints and strange requests from requests to cancel the annual Lupidian parade to a Kamikaze chicken con against the city's buses. She's just about keeping up with things when an illegal alien import, a swarm of dangerous, flesh-eating hornets, threatens the whole city at parade time. (Note: and the chicken is not what she seems.) Ashley has to come up with a Plan B when there isn'r even a Plan A - either that or lose her job. Short and quirky, this is nicely read.

Read by Stephen Fry With introductions by Stephen Fry.

Fry's voice is perfect for the Holmes stories and his introductions are fascinating. This is a L_O_N_G audiobook encompassing several stories, so I'm reviewing them one at a time. The Sign of Four is the second Holmes book in which Watsom meets Mary Morestan, the love of his life. Mary comes to Holmes (and Watson) for back-up in the matter of a strange letter received from a stranger. Holmes is at a loose end, falling back into his drug habit due to boredom, but Mary's case snaps him out of it. It seems that Mary's missing father, an ex army officer, had come into some treasure, but had been cheated out of it and now John Sholto, the son of the now deceased 'cheater', wishes to restore Mary's half of the jewel box lately belonging to an Indian Maharajah. But John's brother Bartholomew is killed in deeply mysterious circumstances and the jewel box is stolen. Inspector Athelney Jones immediately gets the wrong man while Holmes and Watson track down the right one. This all goes as you might expect with a few twists and turns, and yes, Watson gets the girl in the end.

Read by Stephen Fry with introductions by Stephen Fry.

Fry's voice is perfect for the Holmes stories and his introductions are fascinating. This is a L_O_N_G audiobook encompassing several stories, so I'm reviewing them one at a time. A Study in Scarlet covers Holmes and Watson's meeting and their first case together where Holmes is using his powers of forensic investigation to the full. Holmes and Watson are introduced and agree to share a suite of rooms at 221B Baker St. Shortly after, Holmes is called in to help solve the murder of an American name Drebber and then Stangerson. There's obviously a connection. Holmes find the murderer, Jefferson Hope and then we are treated to a long digression to Salt lake City, Utah, where we discover Hope's motive for the killings. When Inspectors Gregson and Lestrade are credited with solving the crime, Watson determines to put it right in print and this the adventures of London's only consulting detective begin.

Written and narrated by Tom Baker, as you would expect this audio version brings the 4th Doctor to life beautifully. There's a framing story. The Doctor is being interrogated on Gallifrey and is being asked to account for his actions. The main story emerges in which the Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry land on a remote island where people are turning into scarecrows. But this quickly turns into something more surreal as the Doctor, Sarah and Harry end up in a strange dimension where the enemy is the Scratchman, i.e. the Devil. I'm a little perturbed when the narrative focus slips. This is largely written in the Doctor's first person point of view, but sometimes shifts into what Harry and Sarah Jane (and secondary characters) are getting up to and thinking. Am I being too persnickity? Is it something only an author would notice? To be honest it doesn't really spoil the enjoyment, but it is noticeable.

Audiobook read by Derek Jacobi. I love the Cadfael stories about the gentle but perceptive monk who has a crusading past. This one is especially intriguing as Cadfael goes to rescue the adult son he learned about in a previous story. He hadn't revealed himself previously, so this time you're wondering when/if all will be revealed. The son was fighting on the side of the Empress Maude/Mathilda in the Stephen/Mathilda war for the crown, and when a castle he was in was given over to the enemy he 'disappeared' and was not listed for ransom as other knights were. There's a peace meeting in Coventry which comes to nothing, but a murder impacts Cadfael's search. Suffice it to say there's a satisfying ending. Derek Jacobi is the perfect narrator for the Cadfael books. That’s not to say I disliked Philip Madoc narrating earlier books, but Jacobi brings Cadfael to life. He is Cadfael.

Narrated by Wil Wheaton.

When a human diplomat creates an international incident by killing an alien diplomat in a highly unusual way, the government of Earth must scramble to find a way to placate the Needu. They agree to find and provide a rare breed of sheep – the Android’s Dream – which is an essential component in the Needu coronation ceremony for their new ruler. It should be simple, but it isn’t. It turns out all the sheep in question have been (illicitly) killed and the nearest DNA sample that can be found is part of the ‘junk’ DNA in a human woman – Robin Baker. The job of sorting the mess falls to Harry Creek, war hero, hacker, and ex-cop, together with his dead friend, now a computer intelligence, Brian Javna, Harry goes up against both government departments and alien antagonists, not to mention the acolytes of a weird religion invented by a science fiction author. Harry has to not only protect Robin and a boat-load of veterans on a tourist trip, but also save Earth and humanity. Wil Wheaton (yes, that Wil Wheaton – once Wesley Crusher in Star Trek TNG) narrates Scalzi’s books with just the right amount of dry humour.

The Christmas Day round of cooking, eating, unwrapping, snoozing, and watching Dr Who on TV is over for another year and I have enough pre-prepped food in the fridge to make kitchen duties fairly easy between Christmas and New Year. So there are a few spare hours on my horizon, and I managed to settle down with Jodi Taylor’s new Christmas short story, Lights! Camera! Mayhem!, on my Kindle.

I still have the audiobook version of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s City of last Chances unfinished, and I might well finish it before New Year’s Eve, but realistically, if I do, it will be my last read of 2024.

Counting the last one, as yet unfinished, I will have read 116 books this year, (including a couple of DNFs – did not finish – after giving them a fair try). Many of them I’ve consumed in Audiobook format, which is convenient and enables me to keep up with my reading when doodling around the house, in the kitchen, or in bed at night when any kind of light (even Kindle-light) disturbs my husband’s sleep. In the past I’ve mostly listened to audiobooks as re-reads, but this year I’ve consumed a fair few as first time reads. I’ve written a bit about some of my favourites on the Milford blog, and blogged all of them here. This is my full reading list for 2024. Roll on 2025. As before I will be trying some new-to-me authors as well as reading favourite authors.

Booklog 2024

Jodi Taylor: Christmas Pie – St Mary’s 14.5 – Audiobook
Sarah Hawkswood: Too Good to Hang – Bradecote & Catchpoll – Audiobook
Sophie Keetch: Morgan is my Name – Morgan Le Fay #1 – Audiobook
Cherryh, C.J.: Pride of Chanur – Chanur #1 – Audiobook
T. Kingfisher: Paladin’s Faith – Saint of Steel #4 – Audiobook
Sarah Hawkswood: Blood Runs Thicker – Bradecote & Catchpoll #8 – Audiobook
C.S. Forester: A Ship of the Line – Hornblower #7 – Audiobook
C.S. Forester: Flying Colours – Hornblower #9 – Audiobook
Kevin Hearne: Trapped – Iron Druid #5– Audiobook
Ben Aaronovitch and others: Blake’s 7: A Rebellion Reborn – Audiobook
Sebastien de Castell: Crucible of Chaos – Greatcoats #5
Dennis E. Taylor: All These Worlds – Bobiverse #3 – Audiobook
Travis Baldree: Legends and Lattes – Legends and Lattes #1 – Audiobook
Martha Wells: Fugitive Telemetry – Murderbot #6
James Lovegrove: Firefly: magnificent Nine – Firefly #2 – Audiobook
Kim Newman: Secrets of the Drearcliff Grange School (DNF)
Lois McMaster Bujold: Demon Daughter – Penric and Desdemona – Audiobook
Martha Wells: Network Effect – Murderbot #5 – Audiobook
Neil Gaiman: Fragile Things – Audiobook
James Logan: The Silverblood Promise – The Last Legacy #1
Jim Butcher: Summer Knight – Harry Dresden #4
Stan Lee’s Alliances – A Trick of the Light – Audiobook (DNF)
Dennis E. Taylor: Outland – Quantum Earth #1 – Audiobook
Dennis E. Taylor: Earthside – Quantum Earth #2 – Audiobook
S.J. Bennett: Murder Most Royal – Her Majesty the “Queen Investigates #3 – Audiobook
Dennis E. Taylor: Roadkill – Audiobook
Dennis E. Taylor: Singularity Trap – Audiobook
Sebastien de Castell: Play of Shadows – Greatcoats
Joshua Dalzelle: Warship – Black Fleet Trilogy #1– Audiobook
Dennis E Taylor: Heaven’s River – Bobiverse #4 – Audiobook
Dennis E Taylor: A Change of Plans, Audiobook
Amber Benson and Chris Golden: Slayers – Buffyverse – Audiobook
Tamsin Muir: Gideon the Ninth; Locked Tomb Trilogy #1 – Audiobook
Terry Pratchett: Monstrous Regiment – Discworld #31 – Audiobook
Sarah Painter: The Night Raven- Crow investigations #1 – Audiobook
K.J. Parker: Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead – Saevus Corax #1
Sarah Painter: The Silver Mark – Crow Investigations #2 – Audiobook
Sarah Painter: The Fox’s Curse – Crow Investigations #3 – Audiobook
Sarah Painter: The Pearl King – Crow Investigations #4 – Audiobook
Sarah Painter: The Copper Heart – Crow Investigations #5 – Audiobook
Sarah Painter: The Shadow Wing– Crow Investigations #6 – Audiobook
R.S. Ford: A Demon in Silver – War of the Archons #1 – Audiobook
C.S. Forester: The Happy Return – Hornblower – Audiobook
K.J. Parker: Saevus Corax Captures the Castle – Saevus Corax #2
Lindsey Davis: A Body in the Bath House – Marcus Didius Falco #13 – Audiobook
K.J. Parker: Saevus Corax Gets away with Murder – Saevus Corax #3
Lindsey Davis: The Jupiter Myth – Marcus Didius Falco #14 – Audiobook
Lois McMaster Bujold: The Sharing Knife #1 Beguilement – Audiobook
Lois McMaster Bujold: The Sharing Knife #2 Legacy – Audiobook
Lindsey Davis: Shadows in Bronze – Marcus Didius Falco #2 – Audiobook
Lindsey Davis: Venus in Copper – Marcus Didius falco #3 – Audiobook
Lindsey Davis: Poseidon’s Gold – Marcus Didius Falco #5 – Audiobook
Jodi Taylor: The Something Girl: Frogmorton Farm #2 – Audiobook
Lindsey Davis: A Dying Light in Corduba – Marcus Didius Falco #8 – Audiobook
Mercedes Lackey: Beyond – The Founding of Valdemar – Valdemar #1 – Audiobook
Sarah Painter: The Broken Cage – Crow Investigations #7 – Audiobook
Sarah Painter: The Magpie Key – Crow Investigations #8 – Audiobook
Jodi Taylor: Killing Time – Time Police #5
Anthony Hope: The Prisoner of Zenda – Audiobook
Lois McMaster Bujold: Penric’s Demon – Penric #1 – Audiobook
Juliet E. McKenna: Green Man’s Heir – Green Man #1 – Audiobook
Lois McMaster Bujold: The Hallowed Hunt – Five Gods #3 – Audiobook
Lindsey Davis: The Iron Hand of Mars – Falco #2 – Audiobook
Alexander Kent: Richard Bolitho, Midshipman – Bolitho #1 – Audiobook
Alexander Kent: Midshipman Bolitho and the Avenger – Bolitho #1 – Audiobook
Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time – Alan Grant #5 – Audiobook
Charles de Lint: Jack the Giant Killer – Jack of Kinrowan #1 DNF
Jennifer Roberson: Sword Dancer – Tiger and Del #1 – Audiobook
Genevieve Cogman: Scarlet – The Scarlett Revolution ‘#1
Beverley Watts: Grace – Shackleford Sisters #1
Robin McKinley: Dragonhaven – Audiobook
Jodi Taylor: Storm Christopher – Frogmorton Farm #4
A.C.Riddle: Lost in Time – Eddie LaCrosse #1 – Audiobook
Alex Bledsoe: The Sword-Edged Blonde – Audiobook
C.J.Archer: Honour Bound – Witch Born #1 – Audiobook
Lindsey Davis: Last Act in Palmyra – Marcus Didius Falco #6 – Audiobook
C.S. Forester: Hornblower and the Atropos – Hornblower #5 – Audiobook
C.J. Sansome: Dark Fire – Shardlake #2 – Audiobook
Sarah Hawkswood: Wolf at the Door – Bradecote & Catchpoll #9 – Audiobook
Sarah Hawkswood: A Taste for Killing – Bradecote & Catchpoll #10 – Audiobook
Guy Gavriel Kay, Ysabel – Audiobook
David D. Levine: The Kuiper Belt Job – Cannibal Club #1
Lois McMaster Bujold: Penric and the Bandit – Penric and Desdemona #13
Hazel Cushion: Reading Companion and History Briefings for Just One Damned Thing After Another
Naomi Novik: Throne of Jade – Temeraire #2 – Audiobook
Adrian Tchaikovsky: Service Model – Audiobook
T. Kingfisher: A Sorceress Comes to Call – Audiobook
Martha Wells: System Collapse – Murderbot Diaries #7
C.L.Polk: The Midnight Bargain – Audiobook
Andre Norton: Moon of Three Rings – Moon Magic #1 – Audiobook
T Kingfisher: Bryony and Roses – Audiobook
Adrian Tchaikovsky: Alien Clay – Audiobook
Marshall Ryan Maresca: The Imposters of Aventil –
Jodi Taylor: The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal – Chronicles of St Mary’s
A.G. Riddle: The Extinction Trials – Audiobook
Dana Chamblee Carpenter: Bohemian Gospel – Bohemian Gospel #1 Audiobook
Dennis E Taylor: Not Till We Are Lost – Bobiverse #5 – Audiobook
Elizabeth Bear: Dust – Jacob’s Ladder #1 – Audiobook
Lindsey Davies: Two for the Lions – Marcus Didius Falco #10 – Audiobook
Benedict Jacka: An Inheritance of Magic – Inheritance of Magic # – Audiobook
Benedict Jacka: An Instruction in Shadow – Inheritance of Magic # – Audiobook
C.S. Forester: Hornblower and the Crisis – Hornblower #4 – Audiobook
Juliet E McKenna: The Green Man’s War – Green Man #6
Kesia Lupo: We are Blood and Thunder.
Alexandra Walsh: The Wind Chime – Audiobook
Anne McCaffrey: Dragonsong – Harper Hall (Pern) #1 – Audiobook
James Felton: 52 Times Britain was a Bellend – Audiobook
Robin McKinley: Rose Daughter – Audiobook
The Infinite Monkey Cage – Series 1 – 5 – Audiobook
The Infinite Monkey Cage – Series 6 – 9 – Audiobook
Rebecca Fraimow: Lady Eve’s Last Con
Joe Haldeman: The Forever War – Forever War #1 – Audiobook
Elizabeth Chadwick: The Greatest Knight – William Marshal #2 – Audiobook
James Lovegrove: Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon – Audiobook
Jodi Taylor: Lights! Camera! Mayhem! # A Chronicles of St Mary short story
Adrian Tchaikovsky: City of Last Chances – Tyrant Philosopher #1 – Audiobook

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Calvin Cutter, film maker extraordinaire, returns to St Mary’s to make a new series of Tempora the Time Travelling Tourist, and Max is tasked with babysitting Astrid Gustafssen, the series star. What could possibly go wrong? Well, for starters Adrian, one of the teapot time travelling siblings, takes Astrid to Troy, and loses her. Unfortunately most of St Mary’s staff were in Troy at that time, so since you can’t go back to a time you’ve already visited, only Max, Markham, Adrian and Evans can form a search party and both Max and Markham will die at midnight if they don’t get out of Troy before their younger selves arrive. No pressure then. And while they’re at it they encounter Odysseus and Diomedes on a secret mission to steal the Palladium which ultimately leads to the fall of Troy. Once again, history hangs in the balance. I love Jodi Taylor's St Mary's books.

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Audiobook narrated by Dennis Kleinman.

Set in 1890, this new Sherlock Holmes story travels to Yorkshire when Eve Allerthorpe asks Holmes and Watson to investigate supernatural goings on at her family home near Bridlington where the demonic Black Thurrick has been sighted. Eve will inherit a fortune on her 21^st birthday, but only if she’s of sound mind. Her obsession with the Thurrick is threatening that. And then a scullery maid is murdered… Holmes and Watson get a cool reception from Eve’s family but nevertheless manage to sort out not one, but two crimes. The reading is (deliberately) a little stiff – it being mock-Victorian. I stuck with it, but it was not particularly gripping.

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

I like Elizabeth Chadwick’s historical fiction, and this is a listen to a book I’ve previously read, but it’s a story I like, a fictionalised version of the real-life William the Marshal (1146-1219), a younger son who rose to serve not only Eleanor of Aquitaine, but also five kings of England from Henry the Young King (son of Henry II), Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, John and John’s son, Henry III, for whom he was guardian and regent when Henry became king at the age of nine. This is the second book featuring William (the first being focused on his father) and this follows William through his early training as a knight in Normandy, his success on the tourney field, his positions in the households of Henry the Young King, Henry II and Richard the Lionheart, for whom he held England while the Lionheart was off playing at crusaders. On marrying Isabel de Clare, more than twenty years his junior, he took over the extensive de Clare lands but wasn’t made Earl of Pembroke until later. The story ends while Richard is still alive and the next part of the story is picked up in The Scarlet Lion (which I read some years ago). And the very end of his story, plus the backstory of his time in Jerusalem is told in Templar Silks. Rosalyn Landor is a decent narrator.

Narrated by George Wilson
First published in 1974, this book has been hailed as a classic. William Mandella is a physics student and a conscripted human soldier in the ongoing war against the Taurans. It begins in 1997, which might have seemed like the far future when Haldeman was writing this. Taking time dilation into account, William lives his life in his own subjective time while centuries are passing on Earth, and technology, language and attitudes are changing (rapidly, it seems, though not when you consider the timeline). It has lots to say about the futility of war (from the author's own Viet Nam experiences, I believe) but it hits homosexuality on the head with a hammer, which was perhaps right for the time it was written, but seems like a blunt instrument now. It uses the idea of relativity and technology well, and even manages a happy ending.

When her sister, Jules, is left let-down and pregnant by a wealthy young man on a space-tourist liner, Ruth Johnson, an experienced con artist, poses as Lady Evelyn Ojukwu to con Esteban Mendez-Yuki out of some of his family fortune in order to give her sister and impending baby some financial security. Arriving on the artificial world of New Monte, Lady Eve sets about wooing Esteban, but she has reckoned without Sol Mendez-Yuki, Esteban’s unconventional half-sister with whom she is developing an interesting relationship. Unfortunately, Sol has borrowed a substantial sum from the shady Alfred Alonzo for a business venture that’s hours away from failing, and Alonzo recognises Lady Eve for who she really is, so things get complicated. Alonzo wants Sol to be in debt over her head, but Ruth is not so sure she’s happy with that idea. Sol is not the spoilt rich kid that she expected a Mendez-Yuki to be. To be honest this book took me a while to chew through, but that says more about my personal circumstances than it does about the book.

Not exactly books, but an amusing listening experience. Professor Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince ramble through various aspects of science with a varied panel of comedic and academic guests for each (approx.) 30-minute show as first broadcast on BBC Radio4. Fascinating facts presented in an amusing way, and can be consumed in small bites.

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Read by Bianca Amato

Another Beauty and the Beast retelling and since I read T Kingfisher's Briony and Roses recently, it's hard not to compare and contrast. Both writers are excellent storytellers. Rose Daughter might be slightly lighter in tone though both focus on Beauty as a gardener. In this version we follow three sisters and their bankrupt father. The sisters are fully rounded characters in their own right, whichis a nice touch. They all have skills. Beauty's skill happens to be growing things are there are hints that she might actually bee a green witch. When Beauty ends up in the Beast's palace, she tries to save the Beast's roses which are slowly dying an an enormous glass house. It's a very pleasant listen with just the hint of the narrator's English accent sometimes defaulting to orff instead of off. I checked and she's South African so considering her English accent is probably learned, she does quite well. It does worry me sometimes that they don't have English narrators doing English accents. Surely there are enough English readers available.

Audiobook. History you didn’t learn in school. A wry account of the awful things Britain has done over the centuries from hanging monkeys to massacring nations, causing famines, and starting the opium wars in order to get access to tea. It would be funny if it were not so tragic, but James Felton reads it well, and it fairly zips along. Yes, fellow Brits, our ancestors were really this awful, collectively if not individually.