Jacey Bedford's Journal

Booklog 30/26: S.M. Hardy: The Evil Within: Dark Devon Mysteries #1 Audiobook

2026-04-01T21:38:27Z

Audiobook narrated by Joe Jameson.

Jim Hawkes retreats to Devon on the brink of a breakdown. His fiancee died two years earlier, in traumatic circumstances, and he's held it together so far, but he's had enough. He quits his well-paid banking job and flees to a cottage in Slyford St James. But instead of the peace he was seeking there are things that go bump in the night, the ghost of a murdered girl, objects that won'r stay where they should be, and s dead vicar. His new village friends, Jed and Emma hold a seance and Jim discovers a talent for seeing the spirit world, which he very much doesn't want. But it seems he must solve the mystery of the child's murder, while protecting tose around him (including the pub landlord's charming daughter. I enjoyed this supernatural mystery. Joe Jameson is always a reliable narrator and was one of the reasons I picked the in the first place.

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Booklog 22/26: Sarah Painter: The Guilded Nest – Crow Investigations #9 – Audiobook

2026-03-08T22:50:46Z

Audiobook narrated by Kate Rawson.

This is the ninth instalment of the Crow Investigations series featuring Lydia Crow who - in previous books - has gone from being a lone private detective living in a flat above a greasy-spoon cafe with a resident ghost (Jason) to ousting wicked Uncle Charlie and taking his place as head of the Crow (slightly magical) crime family in their particular 'manor' in London. The family members are somewhat perturbed that her boyfriend, Fleet, is a copper. In this book. In the previous book Lydia lost some of her Crow powers and she's struggling to keep control (of herself and the family), and Fleet is also struggling at work, since his bosses are just as sceptical of his choice of girlfriend as the family is about Lydia's choice of boyfriend. Lydia's previous home burned down in the previous book and she's now living in Uncle Charlie's very nice house, but she doesn't feel comfortable there. A series of murders lands on bith Lydia's and Fleet's doorsteps. There are links to Jack the Ripper, except the victims are male. Paul Fox Lydia's one-time boyfriend and now head of the rival Fox (magical) crime family, looms quite large in this book. There is still some residual attraction, but Lydia doesn't trust him. Murders to be solved, families to be sorted. There's a lot in this book, but I'm not sure it moves the whole series story on. Kate Rawson narrates it in her usual slightly breathy little-girl-voice, which seems to work for Lydia, but I'm glad these books are fairly short.

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Booklog 17/26: R.B. Croft: The River Man – Audiobook

2026-02-10T22:18:36Z

Audiobook narrated by Dominic West.

Clem used to be in charge of policing in the sleepy northern village of Watersmeet, now he’s 62 and a special constable, working under a boss who hates him. The feeling is mutual, but Clem gets on with being a community copper and puts up with it for the sake of his job. It’s all he has left since his wife died. A pair of grisly murders within a few days of each other sets the whole village in an uproar. Regional police get involved and there’s a lot of posturing and media preening from Clem’s superiors. They’re sure it’s a drug-gang to blame, but Clem knows better. A little girl sees a monster lurking in her back garden and Clem goes in search of answers. Could a local legend be true? Is the River Man on the prowl, and if so how can Clem prevent more deaths? Suspended from his job over a disagreement, he takes matters into his own hands. It’s his village and he’s going to sort it whatever the challenges. This is a murder mystery with supernatural elements. Dominic West reads this brilliantly; the characters are well delineated and the pacing is spot-on. An excellent listen.

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Booklog 16/26: Scott Lynch: The Lies of Locke Lamora – Gentlemen Bastards #1 - Audiobook

2026-02-10T22:17:09Z

Audiobook narrated by Michael Page

This is a revisit of one of my favourite books via Audible. Set is a second-world in a city not unlike pre-industrial Venice with alchemy and one specific type of magic, the Gentlemen Bastards are thieves with a difference, and Locke Lamora, The Thorn of Camorr, is their leader. He’s got a devious mind and a talent for deception and false-facing. Unlike the other cutpurse gangs, the Gentlemen Bastards have been educated by (the late) Father Chains to be more ambitious, and to run elaborate cons. This they hide from Capa Barsavi, the city’s crime boss and their supposed overlord, but when the Grey King starts to murder Barsavi’s gang-leaders, Locke and his little gang are dropped in it up to their necks and beyond. While trying to run a con to part a wealthy Don from his money Locke gets involved in both sides of the Grey King’s plans, and the Grey King has a Bonds Mage at his beck and call, a man so powerful that he can kill with a thought. Caught between the Grey King and the city’s Spider (head of the Duke’s Midnighters) Locke and his gang are in big trouble. There are plenty of exciting twists, and Locke goes through the mill (several times). Michael Page reads this well enough, though I could have wished for a little more excitement in the voice, to match Locke’s mercurial personality.

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Booklog 13/26: T Kingfisher: The Seventh Bride – Audiobook

2026-02-10T22:11:47Z

Audiobook narrated by Kaylin Heath

Fairy-tale-ish story about Rhea, a low-born miller’s daughter, who is engaged to be married to sorcerer Lord Crevan against her wishes. When he demands she come to his strange house in the woods she discovers he already has six wives, only one of which is dead. Befriended by the wife-cook who used to be a witch, Rhea discovers that Crevan takes something from each wife, witchy power from the cook, sight from one of the others. He’s planning to take Rhea’s youth just as soon as they are married. However she can put off the awful day if she completes each of the strange tasks he gives her. This strains Rhea’s resourcefulness to the limits as, aided by a clever hedgehog, she completes task by task – until there’s one she will not complete and the wedding looms. Rhea has to rally the remaining wives and visit the Clock Wife in order to defeat Crevan. Kaylin Heath does a good job on the narration.

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Booklog 11/26 Danielle L Jensen: The Traitor Queen – Bridge Kingdom #2 - Audiobook

2026-01-23T16:07:44Z

Audiobook narrated by Lauren Fortgang and James Patrick Cronin

Ah, maybe I should have started by reading The Bridge Kingdom. This is the second book in the sequence, but the stortytelling is a bit muddled and at nearly 1/3^rd of the way in I’m giving up. The narrators are OK, but not spectacular.

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Booklog 9/2026: Sebastien de Castell: Tales of the Greatcoats - Audiobook

2026-01-18T14:08:04Z

Audiobook
Narrated by Joe Jameson, Kristin Atherton and Chris Humphries
Eight short stories set in the world of De Castell's Greatcoats, mostly set after the events in the first four Greatcoats novels, witrh one interesting exception. Falcio - the main character in the novels - only appears in two of these stories, but he's mentioned a lot. We're introduced to Estevar Boros, whom we meet again in another (later) book, Crucible of Chaos. Kest (one of Falcio's companions from the novels) also appears, this time in an advisory capacity rather than as a duellist/magistrate. There's plenty of swash and buckle and some deep introspection. Plus there's an interesting epilogue containing the author's notes on the stories and his rationale behind them. All the readers are excellent, especially Joe Jameson.

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Booklog 6/2026: Zoe Chant: The Griffin’s Mate – Hideaway Cove #1 – Audiobook

2026-01-12T19:14:49Z

Audiobook narrated ny Kat Riley and Ash Beverly

Lainie Eaves returns to Hideaway Cove after the death of her grandparents. She’s inherited the family house, but, being human, she knows nothing about shifters, which is a bit unfortunate as it turns out. She needs to see what's left of her inheritance, a crumbling house and a missing fortune in jewels. She doesn't know the cove and doesn't know that it's a sanctuary for shifters, having been sent away when it became obvious that she was 100% human. Then she meets Harrison Galway, a carpenter/builder when in human form - and also a griffin shifter. The premise is that shifters instantly recognise their one true mate - and Harrison sees Lanie and 'knows'. The rest plays out as you might expect with a spiteful member of the shifter community trying to eject Lanie from the town. These Hideaway Cove books guarantee a happy ending so I needn't outline the plot. It's lightweight, and at 4 hours 49 minutes, is a quick listen. The readers make a decent job of it.

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Booklog 5/2026: Gregory Frost: Rhymer – Audiobook

2026-01-09T02:13:26Z

Narrated by Alex Wyndham

Sadly, I couldn’t get on with this, though I got about halfway through it before I gave it up. It mixes the traditional Scottish ballads of Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin with aliens instead of the fae being the bad guys. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for these two ballads in particular, but this didn’t hit the mark for me. I also didn’t get on well with the narrator who seemed to be reading it all with a kind of sneer in his voice. I’ve listened to other samples of his work and when reading non-fiction, I don’t hear that at all.

<select ... ><option ... >Detect language</option><option ... >Afrikaans</option><option ... >Albanian</option><option ... >Amharic</option><option ... >Arabic</option><option ... >Armenian</option><option ... >Azerbaijani</option><option ... >Basque</option><option ... >Belarusian</option><option ... >Bengali</option><option ... >Bosnian</option><option ... >Bulgarian</option><option ... >Catalan</option><option ... >Cebuano</option><option ... >Chichewa</option><option ... >Chinese (Simplified)</option><option ... >Chinese (Traditional)</option><option ... >Corsican</option><option ... >Croatian</option><option ... >Czech</option><option ... >Danish</option><option ... >Dutch</option><option ... >English</option><option ... >Esperanto</option><option ... >Estonian</option><option ... >Filipino</option><option ... >Finnish</option><option ... >French</option><option ... >Frisian</option><option ... >Galician</option><option ... >Georgian</option><option ... >German</option><option ... >Greek</option><option ... >Gujarati</option><option ... >Haitian Creole</option><option ... >Hausa</option><option ... >Hawaiian</option><option ... >Hebrew</option><option ... >Hindi</option><option ... >Hmong</option><option ... >Hungarian</option><option ... >Icelandic</option><option ... >Igbo</option><option ... >Indonesian</option><option ... >Irish</option><option ... >Italian</option><option ... >Japanese</option><option ... >Javanese</option><option ... >Kannada</option><option ... >Kazakh</option><option ... >Khmer</option><option ... >Korean</option><option ... >Kurdish</option><option ... >Kyrgyz</option><option ... >Lao</option><option ... >Latin</option><option ... >Latvian</option><option ... >Lithuanian</option><option ... >Luxembourgish</option><option ... >Macedonian</option><option ... >Malagasy</option><option ... >Malay</option><option ... >Malayalam</option><option ... >Maltese</option><option ... >Maori</option><option ... >Marathi</option><option ... >Mongolian</option><option ... >Myanmar (Burmese)</option><option ... >Nepali</option><option ... >Norwegian</option><option ... >Pashto</option><option ... >Persian</option><option ... >Polish</option><option ... >Portuguese</option><option ... >Punjabi</option><option ... >Romanian</option><option ... >Russian</option><option ... >Samoan</option><option ... >Scots Gaelic</option><option ... >Serbian</option><option ... >Sesotho</option><option ... >Shona</option><option ... >Sindhi</option><option ... >Sinhala</option><option ... >Slovak</option><option ... >Slovenian</option><option ... >Somali</option><option ... >Spanish</option><option ... >Sundanese</option><option ... >Swahili</option><option ... >Swedish</option><option ... >Tajik</option><option ... >Tamil</option><option ... >Telugu</option><option ... >Thai</option><option ... >Turkish</option><option ... >Ukrainian</option><option ... >Urdu</option><option ... >Uzbek</option><option ... >Vietnamese</option><option ... >Welsh</option><option ... >Xhosa</option><option ... >Yiddish</option><option ... >Yoruba</option><option ... >Zulu</option></select>

<select ... ><option ... >Afrikaans</option><option ... >Albanian</option><option ... >Amharic</option><option ... >Arabic</option><option ... >Armenian</option><option ... >Azerbaijani</option><option ... >Basque</option><option ... >Belarusian</option><option ... >Bengali</option><option ... >Bosnian</option><option ... >Bulgarian</option><option ... >Catalan</option><option ... >Cebuano</option><option ... >Chichewa</option><option ... >Chinese (Simplified)</option><option ... >Chinese (Traditional)</option><option ... >Corsican</option><option ... >Croatian</option><option ... >Czech</option><option ... >Danish</option><option ... >Dutch</option><option ... >English</option><option ... >Esperanto</option><option ... >Estonian</option><option ... >Filipino</option><option ... >Finnish</option><option ... >French</option><option ... >Frisian</option><option ... >Galician</option><option ... >Georgian</option><option ... >German</option><option ... >Greek</option><option ... >Gujarati</option><option ... >Haitian Creole</option><option ... >Hausa</option><option ... >Hawaiian</option><option ... >Hebrew</option><option ... >Hindi</option><option ... >Hmong</option><option ... >Hungarian</option><option ... >Icelandic</option><option ... >Igbo</option><option ... >Indonesian</option><option ... >Irish</option><option ... >Italian</option><option ... >Japanese</option><option ... >Javanese</option><option ... >Kannada</option><option ... >Kazakh</option><option ... >Khmer</option><option ... >Korean</option><option ... >Kurdish</option><option ... >Kyrgyz</option><option ... >Lao</option><option ... >Latin</option><option ... >Latvian</option><option ... >Lithuanian</option><option ... >Luxembourgish</option><option ... >Macedonian</option><option ... >Malagasy</option><option ... >Malay</option><option ... >Malayalam</option><option ... >Maltese</option><option ... >Maori</option><option ... >Marathi</option><option ... >Mongolian</option><option ... >Myanmar (Burmese)</option><option ... >Nepali</option><option ... >Norwegian</option><option ... >Pashto</option><option ... >Persian</option><option ... >Polish</option><option ... >Portuguese</option><option ... >Punjabi</option><option ... >Romanian</option><option ... >Russian</option><option ... >Samoan</option><option ... >Scots Gaelic</option><option ... >Serbian</option><option ... >Sesotho</option><option ... >Shona</option><option ... >Sindhi</option><option ... >Sinhala</option><option ... >Slovak</option><option ... >Slovenian</option><option ... >Somali</option><option ... >Spanish</option><option ... >Sundanese</option><option ... >Swahili</option><option ... >Swedish</option><option ... >Tajik</option><option ... >Tamil</option><option ... >Telugu</option><option ... >Thai</option><option ... >Turkish</option><option ... >Ukrainian</option><option ... >Urdu</option><option ... >Uzbek</option><option ... >Vietnamese</option><option ... >Welsh</option><option ... >Xhosa</option><option ... >Yiddish</option><option ... >Yoruba</option><option ... >Zulu</option></select>

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Booklog 3/2026: Christina Baehr: Wormwood Abbey – Secrets of Ormdale #1 - Audiobook

2026-01-09T02:09:53Z

Narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden

Edith Worms, secret writer of detective fiction, is the oldest daughter of a Victorian clergyman who learns he has inherited Wormwood Abbey, in Ormsdale, Yorkshire, currently inhabited by his two nieces after the sudden and tragic deaths of their father and brother. The family travels to the Abbey to view it and make provision for the two orphaned girls, not intending to stay there, but there are obvious secrets that Edith begins to unravel. Who is the clingy neighbour, Drake, and why is he always hanging around? What is the lawyer who comes up from Londoin looking for? And what is the salamander-like creature that Edith makes into a pet? Ye clue is in the family name, Worm, or should that be Wyrm? The reader is very plummy, which probably suits the character of Edith perfectly, but after a while it was a bit wearing on the ear, but at a few seconds under five and a half hours, it works. I probably won’t read on in the series.

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Booklog 2/2026: Sarah Painter: The Island God – Unholy Island #3 – Audiobook

2026-01-09T02:08:30Z

Audiobook narrated by Katie Villa

This is the third Unholy Island book, following on from The Ward Witch and the Book Keeper. It's set in the same universe as her Crow Investigations books and there is a little bit of crossover, but not enough to confuse a new reader. THe island, Unholy Island, is off the coast of Northumberland, joined to the mailland at low tide by a causeway. It's a sanctuary for magical misfits and people hiding from their past. In the first book. Luke came to Unholy Island looking for his missing brother, and met a whole cast of characters including Esme Gray. In the second book he became a permanent resident, taking over the island's magical bookshop. In this book, the island's mayor goes missing, Luke's twin, Lewis, finally turns up, but he's not quite what he seems to be. Esme and Luke's new relationship comes under strain when she seems to be the only one on the island immune to Lewis's particular form of attraction. I've enjoyed this whole trilogy. It has a certain cosiness without sacrificing tension. Katie Villa's reading is easy on the ear.

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Booklog 1/2026: Sally Green: Half Bad – Half Bad #1 – Audiobook

2026-01-09T02:06:35Z

Audiobook narrated by Carl Prekopp,

Nathan Byrn is half Blood Witch and half Fairborn. His father is the world's most dangerous Blood Witch and has always been absent from Nathan's life. After the death of his mother, Nathan has been raised by his gran along with three half-siblings. The council of Fairborn witches wants to use Nathan to trap and kill his father, and as a result they make Nathan's life a misery. He ends up fostered out to a council witch, kept in a cage while being 'educated.' If Nathan doesn't receive three gifts on his 17th birthday he won't come into his powers, and will likely go mad and die. He must escape and find the Blood Witch Mercury, but her price for helping him might be more than he's willing to pay. Carl Prekopp reads this well, and voices Nathan vry realistically. Unfortunately much of this is Nathan being beaten, tortured or otherwise made miserable, and there's a bit too much of that before he finally makes his escape. Even so life is not easy. This is the first in a trilogy. It was an interesting listen but I probably won't seek out the other two books.

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Booklog 100/2025: Jodi Taylor: Murder at Martingale Manor – Chronicles of St Mary’s 14.8

2026-01-01T04:19:38Z

Jodi Taylor always drops a new short story on Christmas Day and I usually manage to read it same day, but we got a dinner invitation so I just managed to squeeze this in before New Year. It’s charming and funny, based on the Agatha Christie style of murder mystery. Leon takes Max back to the 1920s for a week of R&R in a country house hotel. Food, rest, tea, and more food. It’s all going terribly well until a body falls at Max’s feet – literally – and despite the fact that the house is full of (deliberately) cliché Christie-esque characters with dark secrets, Leon is the only one without an alibi. A short read, but a fun one.

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Booklog 99/2025: Lois McMaster Bujold: The Testimony of Mute Things – Penric and Desdemona #4

2025-12-31T01:39:42Z

This is fourth in chronological order, though fifteenth in publication order. It dips back to Penric's earlier days when, as assistant to Princess Archdivine Llewen, he's involved (along with his resident demon, Desdemona, in a conclave in Occo, to decide which border towns belong to which duchy after a war in which the borders became so flexible there are arguments on both sides. A murder leads Penric to investigate what the murdered woman had been trying to tell Llewen the evening before she died. This leads to twisty revelations involving long-time financial hanky-panky and a final revelation and satisfying conclusion.

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Booklog 98/2025: Lois McMaster Bujold: The Adventure of the Demonic Ox - Penric & Desdemona #15

2025-12-29T15:28:36Z

Penric is called to a building project because his son (helping his uncle) has quite rightly diagnosed an ox as being possessed of a demon. Things get complicated when the ox goes missing and Pen and his kids (natural and adopted) track it into the mountains. Pen is injured and the kids have to take charge. This one is more about the kids than it is about Penric. Though young, each one is thinking about their future. The point of view is divided between Pen and each of the kids. It’s always nice to get a further glimpse into the life of Penric and his growing family, though (injuries notwithstanding) this is more about Penric’s personal life than momentous events.

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Booklog 96/2025: Andrzej Sapkowski: The Last Wish – Witcher #1 – Audiobook

2025-12-28T19:56:43Z

Audiobook narrated by Peter Kenny.

This introduces Geralt of Rivia, the Witcher with powers and training that enable him to kill monsters (for money). I can understand how this made a good TV series as it's very episodic in nature, which fits the TV format perfectly, but there are no continuing consequences. It’s first-this-happens-and-then-that-happens, but it’s not first-this-happens-and-because-this-happens-that-happens. In other words, this is a series of novellas, unrelated except for the main character. It's not a novel with a single storyline, and characterisation remains at a surface level throughout. Peter Kenny does a good job on the narration, but I won’t be reading any more of these. Watching the TV series is better

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Booklog 95/2025: Sarah Painter: The Book Keeper – Unholy Island #2 – Audiobook

2025-12-28T19:54:15Z

Audiobook read by Katie Villa.

Luke Taylor has been accepted by the mysterious Unholy Island and the islanders, and has become the keeper of the island’s only bookshop, a position he’s inherited. The bookshop itself seems sentient, not revealing all it’s secrets until it trusts Luke. He’s just setting in when a box of books arrives from a bookshop in York. It contains a curse which strikes at Luke, and he’s only saved by the intervention of one of the three (scary) witch sisters who love on the island. He discovers that the York bookshop has since burnt down, killing the owner. And then he finds another cursed book in an Edinburgh bookshop. Who is sending the cursed objects and why? Luke’s feelings for Esme, the island’s B&B host, are deepening, but a newcomer to the island is determined to muscle in. More magical goings-on. Expect peril, magic and a touch of romance. Katie Villa reads well.

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Booklog 94/2025: Sarah Painter: The Ward Witch – Unholy Island #1 – Audiobook

2025-12-28T19:51:42Z

Audiobook read by Katie Villa.

Luke Taylor has been looking for his missing twin brother for eighteen months with no success. A vague clue leads him to Unholy Island, a little further off the Northumbrian coast than Lindisfarne, and accessible only by a causeway at low tide. The locals, all with their own secrets, don’t like tourists and the island itself usually ensures that visitors spend no more than two nights there, but Luke is determined to stay longer and – surprise – the island lets him. He stays at Esme Gray’s B&B. Esme, who has run away from a troubled past with a controlling partner, is the island’s ward witch. She’s drawn to Luke, but still very wary of him. When Luke finds one of the villagers dead on the shore, suspicion falls on him, though Esme doesn’t believe he’s guilty. Gradually the truth is revealed, and Luke finds himself accepted by the suspicious islanders. This is set in the same world as Sarah Painter’s Crow Investigations books, which I very much enjoyed, but it’s a completely new sequence and can be read without having read the Crow books. Nicely read by Katie Villa

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Booklog 91/2025: Travis Baldree: Bookshops & Bonedust – Legends & Lattes #2 – Audiobook

2025-12-14T01:57:47Z

Audiobook, read by the author. This prequel to Legends and lattes is a light-hearted, cosy fantasy about an unexpected interlude, friendship, the power of fiction, and first love. Viv is an Orc mercenary who is injured in a battle against a necromancer and is deposited in the quiet port town of Murk to recover, with the promise that her mercenary pals, Rackham's Ravens, will come back for her.. Bored, she finds a scruffy bookshop, and ends up with a book she can't put down. The bookshop owner, Fern, is struggling, but Viv sticks around, inadvertently falling for the local baker. When one of the necromancer's former operatives comes looking for a place to hide a valuable stolen artifact, Viv gets involved. She rescues a satchel that hosts a bony homunculus, enslaved by the necromancer. Yes, the necromancer fially puts in an appearance and Viv does wat must be done, leaving to rejoin the mercenaries with some regrets. I was in the mood for cosy and light after tackling Consider Phlebas, and this was just the ticket. Expect orcs, gnomes, elves and a whole load of skeletons. Very enjoyable.

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Booklog 89/2025: Jodi Taylor: The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal – Audiobook

2025-12-09T04:43:37Z

Re-read via Audible. Audiobook Narrated by Zara Ramm

Hugely enjoyable revisit via audible recounting the origins of Smallhope and Pennyroyal, recovery agents extraordinaire. Beautifully read by Zara Ramm.

Original review of the Kindle version: This is the origin story of Lady Amelia Smallhope and Pennyroyal, butler of many talents. When Millie Smallhope's brother George marries a fortune hunter and her family falls apart, she's shuffled off to a finishing school. Trying to get her diamonds back from her sister-in-law, she comes nose to nose with a burglar who turns out to be much better at thievery than she is, and she ends up throwing her lot in with him - Pennyroyal - who just happens to have a time-travelling pod, and be a product of Butler school, though Millie suspects he learned all he knows in the nick. The two embark on a career as bounty hunters - err - recovery agents - and we follow their exploits, including where their story intersects with the St Mary's crew of disaster-magnet historians, and the Time Police, especially Team Weird. This is very engaging, and I stayed up far too late into the night because I couldn't put it down. Shades of Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin with a time pod.

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Booklog 88/2025: Shawn Wyatt: How to be a Farmer in a Fantasy World – Audiobook

2025-12-09T04:41:23Z

Audiobook Narrated by Ryan Kennard Burke

I should have been pickier before buying this, but it was part of an Audible Twofer deal. Clueless Drake decides to become a farmer without knowing anything about farming. I gave up at Chapter five. By that time he’d bought lettuce and cucumber seeds for planting (so it’s spring?) and picked ripe blackberries – an autumn fruit. And not much else had happened.

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Booklog 86/2025: Adrian Tchaikovsky: City of Last Chances – Tyrant Philosophers #1 – Audiobook

2025-12-09T03:53:32Z

Audiobook narrated by David Thorpe

The city of Ilmar is the main character in this book. Occupied by the heavy-handed Palleseen, its wretched poor and its seedy underworld struggle to survive. And next to the city is the Anchorwood, a primeval grove of trees that becomes a portal to other worlds when the moon is full. There’s an ensemble cast, a poverty-stricken priest, an innkeeper with two hidden cellars, a sorcerous pawnbroker and a pair of students with rebellion on their mind, but ultimately no single character comes to the fore. This is the city’s story.

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Booklog 84/2025: Juliet E McKenna: The Green Man’s Holiday – Green Man #8 – Kindle

2025-11-22T23:38:40Z

Dan Mackmain has Greenwood-blood, due to being the son of a dryad and a mortal man. His girlfriend, Fin is a swan maiden, and in the previous seven books, they’ve developed a network of friends of the magical persuasion (a sylph, cunning men, wise women stc.) who have helped with the various magical problems the Green Man has sent Dan to solve. In this book, Dan and Fin decide enough is enough and they decide to take a West Country holiday, renting a nice little cottage for a week. Unfortunately within an hour of arriving they find a newborn baby girl abandoned on their doorstep. Doing the right thing, Dan calls the police and the child is quickly reunited with her parents, who live in the same village. All good then? No, of course not. Dan realises the baby is a change child, probably a tiny baby hag. When Dan and Fin set off to find the real stolen child things get complicated. They find the child, but Fin is trapped in a kind of netherworld, leaving Dan with the problem of exchanging the real human child for the changeling… and then the problem of dealing with the changeling baby. But the real problem is the hag who engineered the whole problem in the first place. She’s banjaxed Dan and Fin’s phones and their car won’t start, so they aren’t able to ask their friends for help. So Dan ends up with the problems of feeding and changing the baby while trying to rescue Fin and then… but that would be telling. Suffice it to say that Dan and Fin don’t get much of a holiday. I recommend you read the book. Excellent tale from the pen of Ms McKenna.

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Booklog 83/2025: T Kingfisher: Hemlock and Silver

2025-11-22T23:36:41Z

Anja is nominally a healer, but she’s mainly an expert in poisons, or rather, antidotes. The king calls on her services when his daughter, Snow, is exhibiting signs of an illness that might be poison-related. The king seems quite benign for a wife-murderer. It transpires he caught his queen cutting out the heart of Snow’s sister, and ran her through on the spot, though too late to save the child. Snow is all the family he has left. Anja is swept off to a remote country estate with her lab equipment, a chime-adder and two bodyguards. The young princess is obviously not well, and is getting worse, but Anja eliminates all the obvious causes… until Snow’s strange silver-coloured apple appears to have an otherworldly origin. Helped by a talking cat and one of her bodyguards Anja discovers the strange silver world through the mirror, one in which some reflections take on a life of their own. There are echoes of Snow White with a touch of Rose-Red, but this is not a straight fairy tale retelling. The story, though fairy-tale-like, has a life and logic of its own. It’s dark fantasy told with a light touch. T. Kingfisher is one of my favourite authors.

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Booklog 82/2025: Terry Pratchett: Wintersmith – Tiffany Aching #3 – Audiobook

2025-11-18T11:33:01Z

Audiobook read by Indira Varma

I read this when it first came out, but this is a revisit via Audible. First of all, the reading is excellent. Indira Varma's pacing is pretty well perfect, and Bill Nighy reads the footnotes. It all started when fledgeling witch, Tiffany Aching, allowed her feet to dance with the Wintersmith one fateful night, and captured his frozen elemental heart. From that moment the Wintersmith sought Tiffany, intending her to be his bride, but first he has to make himself into a man - using ingredients from a children's rhyme. In the meantime Tiffany continues to learn witchcraft from elder witches in Lancre, far away from her home territory (the Chalk). We meet Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg again, and Granny has a plan, though it's not obvious to Tiffany, who has to work out how to defeat the Wintersmith herself. The Feegles are everywhere, especially good when trying to turn Roland (Tiffany's 'friend') into a hero to rescue the Lady of Summer. Oh, yes, and there's a sentient cheese.

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