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A short story.
Max, Markham and Peterson are on a jump to investigate Victorian Christmas customs when Peterson manages to twist his ankle. Taking refuge frpm the snow in a nearby country house, they are given shelter by the Harewood family… but it transpires that the husband must undergo solstice night in a haunted room before he can claim his inheritance… the same haunted room that killed his father the previous year… Well, there's a Christmas custom that's too good to pass up, a good old locked room mystery/ghost story. Max poses as Peterson's sister – to make them seem respectable and Markham is supposedly Peterson's gentleman's gentleman, but this time it's Markham who solves the mystery - once again proving to be one of my all-time favourite St Mary's characters.. Another Christmas short story featuring the disaster magnets of St Mary's. This time their Christmas jump is not an illegal one, but it does have consequences.
Richard Kenworthy has less than a month to find a bride – though we don't know why until quite a way into the novel. He heads for London during the season. At the annual Smythe-Smith musicale he fixes his attention on Iris, gritting her teeth and playing her 'cello through the ordeal of performing in the worst quartet ever to torture willing listeners. Iris, pale skinned and pale haired, is used to being ignored, so when Richard pays her some attention she's flattered but suspicious. Then he proposes after barely a few days, and immediately (before she's even said yes) compromises her so the wedding will have to go ahead, and quickly. She freely admits to herself that she would probably have accepted the proposal, but she's miffed at HAVING to marry – just because of a kiss. Anyhow marry they do. Richard whisks Iris off to his country estate in Yorkshire and proceeds to be charming, but without consummating the marriage. Yes there's a reason. It's pretty bonkers and Iris eventually solves the problem. No spoilers. This does fit into the Smythe-Smith quartet, but the first three were woven in and around each other and this one is tagged on to the end and is pretty much a standalone. It's a light, fast read and up to Julia Quinn's usual standard.
I often save Julia Quinn books for when I'm reeling from reading a particularly mind-bending science fiction or grimdark fantasy but this is the year of Covid 19 and comfort reading is the thing, so I thought I'd read all Julia Quinn's four Smythe-Smith books back to back. I mean – four Regency romances in a row – what's that all about? This is the third Smythe-Smith book and concerns Hugh Prentice – seriously injured (ruined leg) in a duel in one of the previous books – and Lady Sarah Pleinsworth. Sarah hates Hugh on principle. The duel caused Sarah's cousin, Daniel, to flee the country for three years, and she blames the scandal on her lack of success at finding a husband.
The second in the Smythe-Smith quartet of books which are a spinoff from Ms Quinn's Bridgerton books. It's the Smythe-Smith musicale again, and Daniel Smythe-Smith returns from exile to see an unknown pianist taking part. He's instantly smitten, but he's an Earl and Anne is a governess with past she would prefer to keep hidden. But Daniel is not to be put off, even though someone keeps trying to kill him. But who is the real target? Again, a witty and bright read. The same core characters reappear, but this time the focus is on Daniel.
If you're familiar with Julia Quinn's Bridgerton Novels you'll remember that they are occasionally required to politely turn up and applaud at the worst concert ever featuring the unmarried Smythe-Smith girls in what their fond mama believes to be a musicale, but which most people would call torture. Daniel Smythe-Smith, Marcus Holroyd's best friend, had to flee the country after an unfortunate duel leaving Marcus to make sure his little sister, Honoria, doesn't make a bad marriage when the time comes. It takes Marcus and Honoria some time to realise what's right under their noses, of course, which is half the fun, Ms Quinn writes witty dialogue with plenty of comedic moments. This is the first of a new four-part series, and I decided to read them all in one go. Highly recommended.
A complex, quirky time travel novella which takes place (mostly) at the end of time, after the Causality War has destroyed pretty much everything. The first person narrator – I'm not sure we ever learn his name – is a survivor of the war determined never to let it happen again, however-many people he has to kill if they find their way to his idyllic farm. He lives pretty well. Robots do most of the work, though he amuses himself by looting different time-streams for whatever he needs. If he gets lonely he simply gets into his own time machine and pops out to the 1700s for a party at Versailles or goes to see a Shakespeare play – with the Bard himself. His pet allosaurus, Miffly, helps him to dispose of errant time travellers. He also goes gadding around the timestreams putting an end to anyone who might contemplate time travel. Then one day, visitors arrive from the future. How can that be when he's already at the end of time itself? Weldon and Smantha (that's not a typo) come to viisit, and suddenly he has a problem. It seems he might be their many greats-grandfather. How is he going to avoid a second epochalypse? Funny and poignant in turns this is as sharp as a tack and well worth reading even though it chucks your logic circuits into a blender and serves them back up to you with a side order of wheee! I loved it.
Jack Jones is a clone of the original Jack Jones who was murdered. Blessed with a fine voice, but missing thirty years of Old Jack's memories, young Jack ships on board the Shakespeare - a vessel of the Terran Cultural Committee and full of spies. He's posing as Old Jack's son and joining the performing company. Old Jack had been the captain of the ship and lead vocalist - he was also married to Gina, now the current captain. Oops, that's going to be awkward. Young Jack sets out to solve his own older self's murder while performing in concerts, Shakespeare, and Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas on alien worlds. he doesn't know who he can trust. He discovers Old Jack might have been mixed up in something none too savoury when he finds an illegal FTL drive and someone is killed in his cabin. Things get twisty and the mystery is finally resolved. I was almost sold on this, but I've been a professional singist and Jack's performances didn't quite sit right with me. He spends all his time reflecting on how brilliant he is, but we don't feel it. Also he has a libido the size of the Eiffel Tower, jumping into bed at the drop of an undergarment, and eventually having to ask the doc for drugs to tone down his massive sexual urges. Duh. I know young Jack is only 18, but even for an 18 year old he's pretty juvenile. The concept is interesting but the protagonist isn't very engaging (he just thinks he is) and on the whole this was a bit cheesy.
I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Chadwick's historical novels. This is set just three years after William, Duke of Normandy, invaded at Hastings, killed Harold and took the English crown, but the actual Conquest continues with the Harrying of the North which caused whole tracts of land to be listed as 'waste' in the Domesday Book because William's thugs had put down a potential rebellion with extreme prejudice. That's the background. The main characters are entirely fictional, but there are actual historical personages on the periphery. Lady Christen witnesses her elderly husband's murder when their manor is attacked, and barely a day later she's agreed to marry Miles Le Gallois, Lord of Milnham on Wye, because he's her best option for protecting the manor and the people in it. Miles has ambition. He marries Christen as a preemptive move to gain her lands, but in doing so angers those further up the food chain. As you might expect from a Chadwick novel, love grows, but there's also plenty of peril and action. It's a quick read with a good climax, but the final resolution happens off the page which rounds it off nicely, but is a little disappointing.
Annabel Winslow is from the poorest country branch of a good family, so when her grandmother invites her to London for a season, in order to find a husband who will fund her brothers' education and her sisters' dowries, Annabel has to agree. She doesn't realise she's being set up to marry the hideously lecherous old Earl of Newbury who wants nothing more than to get a male heir so that his nephew never inherits the title. The nephew in question is charmer, Sebastien Grey, rake about town, and the person most despised by Newbury. Of course Annabel and Grey fall for each other, but she still might have to marry the slobbery old earl because he's Grandfather's friend and they've done a deal. In the end it's Grandmother who comes to the rescue, but I'm not going to say any more for fear of spoilers. Yes, of course you know it's all going to work out, but the fun is in seeing how. I'm gradually reading my way through Ms Quinn's back catalogue. She strikes a good balance between romance, sex and fun, with a good line in witty dialogue.
Alex must face his dark side in his eleventh outing. It seems as though Alex, a light wizard by inclination, but long ago apprenticed to dark mage Richard Drach, has absorbed a lot of that darkness – even presuming it wasn't there all along. Throughout the series, the Light Council have been highly suspicious of him, while the Dark mages have either been trying to recruit him or trick him to their side. This time Alex takes drastic action to protect his friends. Anne has gone rogue and Alex wants to keep her safe but knows she's powerful enough to kill him on the spot if she wants to. Alex himself is more powerful now he has the Fateweaver, but he has to figure out a way to stop the Council's death squads from hunting them down. He needs a way to neutralise his old enemy Levistus without involving his previous master, Richard. It involves a lot of playing one person against the other and throwing his lot in with previous enemies. The Alex Verus books are buy on sight for me. This one did not disappoint.
This is the last of Paul Cornell's Lychford novellas and between them they form one continuous story. In other words, don't start here, but do seek out the whole lot and enjoy.
Alexander Ridgely, Duke of Ashbourne versus Emma Dunster, American shipping heiress. This does feel like a battle – of wills if nothing else. Alex does not want to marry until he absolutely must to ensure the succession. He's 29 now and is quite happy to have at least anther decade of carefree batchelorhood. Emma has been persuaded to travel to England to enjoy one London season with her cousins, but she fully intends to return to Boston to (eventually) take over her father's shipping business (even though her gender will put her at a serious disadvantage). So when the two fall instantly in lust this creates a big problem. Alex is a controlling arse at first – all he wants is sex and doesn't deem to mind that Emma is an innocent. (There were times when I really didn't like Alex.) Emma is young (20) in inexperienced, and she lets her hormones turn her brain to mush. Both families are desperately trying to match-make. There's also a second half plot that seems a bit unrealistic… but what am I talking about? Is Regency Romance ever realistic? This was Julia Quinn's first published novel (1995) so it's perhaps not surprising that her later ones are better. This is a bit unsubtle, with a few historical missteps, but nothing dreadful. It's interesting to see where she started out.
An author should be very careful about book titles which can be twisted by an unhappy reviewer, but I'll refrain from the obvious. I'm not entirely unhappy with this book, but most of it does seem to hinge upon the two main characters not talking to each other while each surmising (incorrectly) what the other is thinking. Though this is a fairly common trope in Regency romances it does seem to prop up most of the book despite a fairly thin attempted murder plot, which, I'm sorry to say, I guessed the outcome of from the get-go.
I had this as both a review copy and an audiobook from Netgalley. I usually listen to audiobooks on my phone. I'm not sure what the difference is between a Netgalley audio and an Audible audio, but while listening my phone got so hot that I had to switch it off. So I listened to the first half and read the second half. The audio was well read by Sophie Aldred, but I think I got more out of the text.
It's three hundred years ago in a small French village, Addie is doomed to marry a widower with children – a replacement for his recently deceased wife. Desperate to avoid her fate she calls upon the gods for help, but you should never call upon a god when it's dark. Instead of a benevolent daylight god, Addie gets the Dark himself, and does a deal. He can have her soul when she's finished with it in return for life… a long life… even immortality… until she decides it's time to surrender. It's a blessing, but it's also a curse. Throughout her long life Addie will not be able to make any mark upon the world, and everyone will forget her the instant she's out of their sight. It's a strange life. She can't make friends, have her own home, hold down a job, or take a lover for more than one night without starting afresh every morning. She learns to navigate the world invisibly, her three hundred years punctuated by visits from Dark to see if she's ready to surrender. And then, in modern New York, she meets Henry, the only one who doesn't forget her.
A short story in the Frogmorton Farm series. Joy, Russell and Jenny Checkland's now teenage daughter, is being – well – a teenager, and driving her parents mad. She's a teenager – it's in the job description. So when a friend invites her to a concert in the park, despite being grounded, Joy decides to go. Yes it's another glimpse into life at Frogmorton farm with all its wacky cast of characters, but also it's a warning against the perils of online-only friendships. And yes, Thomas the golden horse who smells of warm ginger biscuits, makes an appearance. Jodi Taylor is always readable, so this is enjoyable, if short.
A Regency romance mystery with Gothic overtones. Charity Halliwell arrives at Loxby Manor after five years in India. She intends to stay for a year while her parents are in the Americas. It's the home of her childhood friends, and yet… Seline Cavanaugh goes missing on her first night and everyone but Charity believes she's eloped with the stable boy. Piers, Seline's brother with whom Charity was once in love, and still might be, is the only one who understands her fears. They work together to figure out the scant clues, but Piers is mired in accusations of cowardice. There is certainly something secretive going on which might involve their best friends. A nice combination of romance and peril, though at times the action moves with glacial slowness as weeks go by in the plot-line, if not in the narrative. Eventually all is revealed, of course, but you'll have to read the book. I'm not giving away spoilers.
Gregory is the youngest of the eight Bridgerton siblings and the only unmarried one. He believes in true love - why not when all his siblings have found love-matches? So when invited to his oldest brother's houseparty he spots the incomparable Hermione Watson, he knows she's the one for him. Sadly Miss Watson doesn't seem equally smitten, so he turns to her friend Lady Lucinda Abernathy for help, not realising until it's almost too late that Lucy, with her sharp wit and sunny personality is the one for him. What a pity Lucy is already engaged and her cold-hearted uncle is not about to let her back out. What's a poor besotted gentleman to do?
Julia Quinn is always reliable. She writes witty regency romance that has now been filmed for television (as Bridgerton). Violet Bridgerton is the (widowed) mama to eight childen named in alphabetical order from Anthony to Gregory. This book is how the youngest female Bridgerton gets her man. Hyacinth Bridgerton is somewhat different. She's smart, outspoken and (to her siblings) somewhat annoying. She's had several seasons but failed to attract a suitable proposal of marriage (though there have been a few unsuitable ones). She's staunch friends with the eccentric and irascible Lady Danbury, so when Lady Danbury's rakish grandson, Gareth St Clair, is in need of a translator to unlock the secrets of his other grandmother's diary, Hyacinth volunteers. Gareth is hiding one family secret, but the diary contains another, and it holds the key to Hyacinth and Gareth's future, or does it?
This is Weird West as opposed to Wild West. I bought it because of a good review on Goodreads, but still can't make up my mind as to whether I like it, even though I think it's good. It's violent and grim. Wil Cutter, once a truly nasty piece of work forced into violence to defend his kind from the might of the Church, has settled down, but the wife who changed him is dead of the croup, and his farm is failing, not likely to be able to provide for him and his sons for much longer. So when an old friend offers him a bounty hunting job he cleans up his rusted pistol, leaves the boys in charge of the farm and rides off. It's all nail-bitingly downhill from there for Wil. Violence and pain are the two driving forces behind this, but the author really get's under Cutter's skin and we see not only the story going forward, but also what let up to it. The Church is all powerful and those who have talents that can't be harnessed are outside the law. Cutter is a null. He can counter other people's magic and also open gateways that can allow deadly creatures from a parallel dimension into his own world. But we discover the magical elements slowly. At first this reads like a regular western, but it's far from that as it pounds to its inevitable conclusion.
When her stepfather tries to sell her virginity to one of his seedy pals, Eliza Broad refuses. She's badly beaten and locked in a coal cellar but makes her escape and is found on the road by Sir Henry March, charmer and gentleman spy, and subsequently delivered into the hands of his housekeeper. During her long convalescence, Henry takes a fancy to her and introduces her to his world of culture. But Eliza's stepfather and his criminal connections are not far away, and soon Henry and Eliza are searching for a traitor to the crown whose hobby is maiming and killing virgins.
The cover copy says: 'This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting.' However I think once I'd read the first few pages it was pretty close to what I was expecting. This riffs off Sherlock Holmes, though the Holmes character is an angel called Crow (The Angel of London) and his doctor-sidekick (and narrator) is Dr Doyle who is hiding a couple of very big secrets. Set 
Though it's the ninth book, this is a Penric story that is fourth in the chronological sequence, between Penric's Fox and Penric's Mission. For those who have never read any of the Penric novellas, Pen hosts a chaos demon, Desdemona, who 'lives' inside him and has powers that Pen can call on. It's a symbiotic relationship which has gained him the position of temple sorcerer, and he's now in Lodi, a city with many canals. Penric is almost thirty, and has not yet met the love of his life who appears in later books. He's relatively recently left Martensbridge where he discovered that being a full time healer was not for him. In Lodi he's called upon to see what's really wrong with a mad man fished out of the sea, and discovers the young man has been possessed by a dangerously mad demon, Unlike Pen's demon this one has gained control of the young man and is too disturbed to be tamed. It must be expelled, and for that Penric needs the help of a saint. It's Bastard's Eve, carnival time in Lodi, so when the young man and his demon run wild into the city, Pen and Des have a problem.
A middle grade book that I thought might work well for my grandson for Christmas but on reading it myself, I'm not so sure. It's a retelling which riffs on A Christmas Carol. George's life has been turned upside down by the death of his mother, but more importantly by his father so lost in grief that he fails to step up for George. He's turning into a grey colourless man who hates Christmas, and only George can save him - with the help of gloriously colourful Nan, the magic of Marley's Christmas emporium and a purple reindeer. It's a lovely book but maybe not for my grandson who might be a bit sensitive about the dead mother.
This is the first of the four Greatcoat books which I read and loved, so decided to revisit as an audio book. I won't go into the actual book review, but you can read what I wrote about the Kindle edition here: 
My full review of the book is here: 
I review the full book here. https://jacey.dreamwidth.org/623655.html 
This is newly published (15th October). I read an advance copy on Kindle in September but had to wait until publication day for the audiobook. I won't go over my book review again because it was published here barely a month ago. It's here if you want to read it: 
I read this in paper format so this is a second visit via audiobook
This is Agatha Christie's classic murder-mystery set in Egypt, on a Nile steamer. There's a large cast of characters, a series of murders, a few missteps along the way. Hercule Poirot – who is in Egypt for a vacation – eventually solves the murders. The story is well known and I won't give anything away here. I bought this largely because of the glowing reviews of the narrator, Kenneth Branagh. They were right. He's marvellous, voicing all the characters admirably, so much so that you forget you're listening to one reader.
What happens when Max's husband meets her father. Max had an unhappy childhood, largely due to her father, and Leon knows all about this, so when Max's father decides Max is too feckless to bring up Matthew, she has a problem, which means Leon and the whole of St Marys has a problem. They can't kill him, but just imagine what a bunch of really inventive people can do to someone they really don't like. This is narrated from Leon's point of view, so we get a brief glimpse of Leon's past, how he lost his first family, and his first meeting with Max.
There are two audio versions of this. One is in the short story collection 'The Long and the Short of It' read by Zara Ramm. The second is a single-release version read by Piers Wehner. This is one of the Christmas Short Stories, and takes Max, Peterson and Markham away from the seasonal festivities at St Mary's (where Markham was planning to be the back end of a reindeer) to check on whether Alfred the Great really did burn the cakes. (Alfred didn't, Markham did!) For a change the whole thing is written from Markham's point of view, which is probably why Audible has released a version narrated by a man (Piers Wehner). I've listened to almost all of the Jodi Taylor's St Mary's books, and all have been read by Zara Ramm. She voices Markham beautifully, complete with his Bristol accent, and therefore she does an excellent job or narrating this whole story. Piers Wehner doesn't do a bad job of narrating the alternate version. He definitely has an accent but it's not quite (obvious) Bristol, more like a generic South East. He is, however a lovely dynamic reader. Which do I like best? I like both and either is well worth listening to.
The traditional St Mary's Christmas jump takes Major Ian Guthrie, together with Peterson and Markham to the Battle of Bannockburn for Guthrie's final retirement jump. When they fail to return on time, Max and Evans (security) go after them. They discover snipers (always come in pairs) and bounty hunters: Lady Amelia Smallhope, and her butler, Pennyroyal. Elspeth Grey, former historian, and Guthrie's partner, gets her mojo back. There's another tantalising glimpse of Markham's backstory. Having now read the book which reveals Markham's 'dirty little secret' as mentioned by Major Guthrie to Max at the beginning of this story, I can say that Jodi Taylor's hints offered here and in The Steam Pump Jump do eventually come to fruition. One fascinating observation (by Guthrie) is that though Markham has a Bristol accent now, he went through the army as a Geordie. 
A kind of prequel to all of the St Mary's books tells about the civil uprisings against the corrupt government, and how St Mary's stalwarts, Mrs Mack (catering), Mrs Shaw (PA), and Mrs Enderby (costume), ended up manning the Battersea Barricades on St George's Day on the decisive day of the civil war. The civil unrest has been referred to before in other stories, but this is the first timew we've seen any detail. The three of them have individual journeys and come together on that final day, to face down a helicopter gunship with nothing but their courage and each other. They tell their story to Max on the many-years-later anniversary. Zara Ramm narrates beautifully, as usual.
While Max, the usual viewpoint character of the St Mary's stories, is laid up in the infirmary with broken bones, having fallen off the roof in the previous St Mary's book, she has a brilliant idea which she leaves to Markham to carry out. 
I don't usually review non-fiction on this blog, but I thought I'd make an exception for this because it's a linear read (or rather, listen).
This is the first book in Jodi Taylor's Time Police series which is a spin off from her popular Chronicles of St Mary's and as you might expect there's some crossover. One of the three main characters is Matthew, son of Max and Leon from St Mary's. Matthew had a troubled childhood, spending his first eight years (after being kidnapped) dodging around the timeline being sold into squalid jobs and finally becoming a climbing boy for a cruel chimney sweep. Eventually rescued, he took a long time to adjust and spent part of his formative years at school with the Time Police, so maybe it was to be expected that eventually he'd join up. He's teamed up with mild, timid Jane who joined the time police to get away from her dragon of a grandmother, and rich playboy, Luke, who was delivered to the time police by his father's secretary to teach him a lesson. The Time Police were formed a long time ago in the future, their job was to protect the timeline from rogue time travellers trying to kill Hitler or save Richard III at Bosworth. You can't change history because history has a way of striking back. They spent many years shooting first and asking questions later, but times are changing. Most of the recruits fit the bullish pattern, but Matthew, Jane and Luke do things their own way. Eventually they bond to become 'Team Weird.' Like the St Mary's books this is narrated by Zara Ramm. She's an excellent reader for Ms Taylor's work, her reading bringing out the dry wit of the author's voice. Expect some of the St Mary's characters to pop up in the story.
I've read this before, but a long time ago. It's the opening book in the long running and much loved Harry Dresden series, about the only wizard in the Chicago phone book. It was fun to revisit as an audiobook, read very nicely by James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but this time with his own American accent). It's a good match for the story as Dresden is called in by Chicago cop, Murphy, to consult on a series of murders which seem to have been committed by magic. It's noir detective meets magic as Dresden's seemingly separate cases come together for a stormy finale.
Two thousand year old Iron Druid, Atticus, his wolfhound Oberon, and apprentice Druid, Granuaile are on the run from the gods of several pantheons, in particular the Norse lot whom Atticus severely upset a couple of books ago, and now the Greek gods as well. All Atticus wants to do is bind Granuaile to the earth to finish her training and make her into a full Druid. On top of that he has several enemies in Tir Na N'Og. Over the past few books he's amassed an enormous body count and it seems as though it's payback time. Twelve years ago he faked his and Granuaile's death so he could finish her Druid training in peace, but
This is a different version to the Audible narration by Zara Ramm that I listened to and loved a few months ago. (
The second book in the St Mary's spin off series featuring Luke, Jane and Matthew (who is the son of Max Maxwell and Leon Farrell from St Mary's). The three of them are still trainee Time Police officers, known as Team Weird for their unorthodox ways of tackling situations that alternately drive Commander Hay slightly bonkers, while actually appreciating their originality (though she'd never tell them that, of course). This time they are sent to the seventeenth century to rescue a politician's daughter who has been dumped by a team of illegal time tourists. Unfortunately she turns out to be one of Luke's exes and she's not happy to be rescued, especially by him. She does, however give away some details of the illegal time travel organisation and Luke and Jane go undercover to see what information they can ferret out while Matthew spends some quality time with the time map. Expect peril, timeslips, Marie Antoinette, and Luke's mouth on overdrive. There's a brief intervention from St Mary's, some familiar character (Officer North, Major Ellis) and a fast-paced adventure. Jodi Taylor is one of my favourite authors, and this does not disappoint. I had this as an advance review copy from Netgalley. Publication is 15th October 2020.
Medair is a royal herald who sets out to find the legendary Horn of Farak, the ultimate weapon against enemy invaders. She succeeds… and wakes (with the weapon) five hundred years later when the invaders, Ibisians, commonly called White Snakes by their enemies, have taken over and integrated. Unable to reveal her true identity, she's trapped into helping a 'White Snake' adept. Out of place and out of time, she struggles with/against her growing respect for what the White Snakes have become as another enemy threatens the borders. Medair has a magical bag with a set of magical artifacts as well as the horn, but does she want to use them to help the people who were once her country's enemies? There are some interesting philosophical conundrums. I was disappointed to get to the end of this, however, and discover it was part one of two books. Though there was an ending, not everything was resolved. There's a complicated (occasionally impenetrable) system of address - too complicated at times. My brain just glossed over most of it. There's also a deus ex machina change in the latter part of the book which was a bit strange. I liked this book, but I didn't love it and probably won't read the second volume. This is a self-published book and I feel that with some expert editing it could have been elevated from decent to excellent.
Read by Katy Sobey
Daniel Mackmain is the son of a dryad and a human man which gives him an affinity for wood. He can see creatures on the supernatural spectrum, he heals fast, and he's likely to have a long life, if nothing kills him first, but he doesn't have superpowers of instant magic. Since he keeps getting involved with supernatural problems, sometimes it seems as if almost everything is out to get him, but, as he's proved in the two previous Green Man books, he's a survivor. Now with a regular woodworking job at Blythehurst, and in a new-ish relationship with Fin, a swan maiden from a family of swan-folk, he's visiting the Fens at the invitation of Fin's mother. Payback time for their previous help with another problem. Fin and her mum are worried that the supernaturals who inhabit the area have been strangely quiet, recently and they hope that Dan can establish why. Together with Fin he has to contend with aggressive hobs and the sylphs – and they're just the good guys. It turns out that someone is searching for a crystal that will allow him to control the supers, who in turn will lead him to what he hopes is buried treasure. He's actually about to disturb something much more lethal that's lurking underground. Unfortunately, in the Fens, there are few trees and the Green Man, who has been a guiding a motivating presence in previous books, is strangely silent. There's a lot of rich detail here infused with day to day life, but we realise pretty quickly that Dan isn't going to get a holiday. The pace picks up gradually to a terrifying climax. Highly recommended. You could read this as a standalone but I recommend reading The Green Man's Heir and The Green Man's Foe first.
This is all internal court politics, and not much action, but it draws you in and keeps you there. Maia, fourth and youngest son of the emperor is so out of favour with his father that, after his mother dies, he is sent off to distant, impoverished Edonomee to be raised by his cousin/guardian, Setheris, also out of favour, and a cruel, careless tutor. The title might lead you to believe this is about an emperor of the goblins, but no. Maia's a half-goblin in a country of elves, forever set apart by his dark skin and orange eyes. His mother was a political bride from the goblin court who died when he was eight. Skip ahead ten years in the wilderness. Maia is eighteen when a courier arrives to inform him that his father and older brothers have been killed in an airship crash – he is now emperor of the Ethuveraz. He is crowned Edrehasivar VII, but the court is huge and confusing, and he has no friends. Who can he trust? How does he take the power that should be his from Chavar, an overbearing chancellor? He must secure the succession, but how can he choose a wife when he's hardly ever spoken to a woman? How does he become a good emperor? All these questions and more keep the book lively and interesting. There's a murder-mystery happening at one remove because the emperor himself can't do the investigating. Maia is a shy, diffident, but sympathetic character. The worldbuilding is interesting. A few reviews have mentioned steampunk aspects, but this is not true steampunk, even allowing for the presence of airships and a quiet industrial revolution going on in the background. 
This is what I wrote when I read this for the first time in 2016. 
In the fourth Iron Druid book Atticus and his apprentice Granuaile are on the run from the Norse gods Atticus thoroughly pissed off in the previous book, Hammered. In order to get away Atticus stages his own death with the help of tricksyer god, Coyote, but there's a price. Coyote wants Atticus to use his earth powers to seed a reservation with gold. He has a long term plan to improve the tribal economy. But things go awry when two local skin-walkers take offence and begin to attack the mining crew. Atticus has to fight them, and also a fierce vampire which is a hangover from the previous book. This book also features Atticus' talking wolfhound Oberon, who is one of my favourite characters. The narrator is Christopher Ragland. He does a pretty good job on all the voices, though I'm not so sure about his vocalisation of Oberon.
Eligible bachelor-about-town, Desford, takes pity on a young girl, Charity (known as Cherry). When she runs away from her aunt, who treats her like a Cinderella, he meets her on the road and agrees to take her to her skinflint grandfather in London, but when they get there Granddad is out of town. Taking care not to leave himself open to compromising Cherry he takes her to Henrietta, his childhood friend, for refuge while he goes in search of her grandfather, whom he eventually finds, but with no good outcome. In the meantime Cherry's father, long thought dead, reappears with no good intentions.
