Jacey Bedford's Journal

Audiobook Narrated by Peter Kenny

There’s a war raging throughout the Galaxy as the Iridians (and others) fight against the Culture. Horza, a human changer, an mercenary, works for the Iridians despite not believing in their gods or philosophy. He’s tasked with finding and securing the Mind, an autonomous super AI created by the Cuilture, which has ended up on Schar’s World, the planet of the dead. Balveda is a Culture agent with the same objective. They both end up on a ‘free trader’ ship the Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) and after a couple of disastrous raids directed by the captain Kraiklin, Horza takes over and persuades the crew, including his lover, Yalson, to go to Schar’s World, where they meet hostile Idirans in the tunnels deep below the world. I was disappointed with the ending, but it’s a cracking read – a fast-paced space-opera/adventure well read by Peter Kenney who does subtle accent changes and voices brilliantly.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Audiobook read by David Tennant

Hiccup and Fishlegs get lost in the fog on a 'How to Board an Enemy Boat' lesson and accidentally board a Roman galley full of dragon poachers. Hiccup, who understands a bit of Latin, learns that the Romans intend to kidnap the heirs of two opposing tribes (which includes him) in order to set the two tribes agains each other. Unfortunately, though he and Fishlegs escape to tell the tale, Toothless is captured by Romans. Hiccup's dad doesn't listen to his son (what's new?) and falls for the Romans' ploy, so Hiccup and Fishlegs are both kidnapped by Romans. An old enemy, Alvin the Treacherous, resurfaces. now posing as a Roman. Hiccup amd Fishlegs end up in the Roman arena along with the heir to the other tribe.  Yes, they get away but there's a bit of a cliffhanger to lead into the fourth book. Nicely read by David Tennant.

Audiobook read by David Tennant

Included in the Audible three-book collection.

I’m a big fan of the movies, both animated and live-action. But the book and the film are significantly different. There’s no dragon-riding in the book, and Toothless the dragon is small and is an ‘Ordinary’ not a ‘Night Fury’. Nevertheless, the story is sweet and is about the relationship between an ordinary Viking boy, Hiccup, and his stubborn, cranky dragon. David Tennant reads it beautifully.

This is a re-read via Audible. Audiobook read by Zara Ramm

Elizabeth Cage and Michael Jones are taking a well-earned holiday in Scotland to get away from anything supernatural. Unfortunately, the supernatural seems to come to them. Cage has a ghostly encounter with a burning cottage, and a ghost who looks just like her, and that’s just the start of it. Iblis turns up again, with the powerful yet mysterious Melek, Finally, we get some revelations about who Elizabeth really is, but if I told you, I’d have to shoot you. Let me say that this is well worth reading/lidstening, though you should really start from the beginning of the sequence with White Silence. Once again, Zara Ramm’s narration is impeccable.

Audiobook read by Steven Pacey

This is a revisit via Audible. I was surprised to note that I first read this (in dead-tree format) in 2009 or 2010. I was tempted to the Audible version because the reader is Steven Pacey, who is excellent, and indeed the quality of the reading keeps you engaged throughout. It’s a long book and, in truth, is only the first part of the story as the trilogy is really one long story split into three nooks. This one introduces all the characters and the political set up. The characters are all flawed in some way. Logan is an engaging character but when the ‘berserk’ is on him, he’s The Bloody Nine, and would kill his own grandmother if she got in his way, but he’s still my favourite character. Or maybe he shares first place with Glokta, once the golden boy of the Union army but after a spell in the enemy’s prison he’s a mangled wreck who lives with constant pain. But one thing the enemy’s torturers taught him, is how to be a effective inquisitor. He’ll get a confession from anyone, guilty or innocent. An excellent listen.

My 2009 review of the whole trilogy

Joe Abercrombie – The Blade Itself; Before They Are Hanged; Last Argument of Kings.

Wow... just WOW! I make no excuses for this trilogy taking from mid October to Mid December to read because it's big, it's densely packed and it's fascinating with a broad sweeping plot, a cast of complex characters and cataclysmic action. Like life it's not tidy, and like life nobody's perfect – even the heroes. In fact, perfection is far from the state any of this bunch of assorted misfits achieve and there are no heroes, though at times people do heroic things. Yet at other times they run away.

So, take a bunch of assorted people who barely know each other and like each other even less and throw them together for great purposes and at the end of the day you have a bunch of cohesive comrades? Yes? Well, actually no. At the end of the day, they might have achieved things, but they still hate each other and don't like looking in the mirror much.

So – first things first – or maybe second. This isn't really a trilogy, it's one huge book split into three volumes. Don't think you could pick up book 2 or 3 without reading book one. How many pages? 422 + 570 + 695 (1600 give or take a few and the first one was a trade paperback so at a rough word count I'd say something like 250k per book).

How many main characters? Well Abercrombie adds a few as we get into each new book, but for starters we have three, starting with Logen Ninefingers, the Bloody Nine, berserker barbarian. Logen is a humane, intelligent, uneducated warrior who will kill his enemies at the drop of a hat, but when Ninefingers takes over he'll kill anyone in his way – and that includes his friends, too. Then there's Glokta, once the Golden Boy of the Union, master swordsman and brave colonel in the Union army, but a few years on the receiving end of the masters in the torture chambers of Gurkhul soon changed him into a twisted cripple, living in constant pain, whose purpose in life is now to inflict pain on others in the name of the King's Inquisition. If you're guilty Glokta will make you confess. Actually, if you're innocent he'll make you confess, too. His latest swathe of victims may well have unearthed major corruption in the government, but if he exposes it he's pretty sure that he'll be the next body found floating in the harbour. Then there's Jezal dan Luthar, the Union's current Golden Boy, but if this is the best the Union has, it might as well give up now when the barbarians in the north attack at the same time as Gurkhul in the south. Luthar can swing a sword a bit, and he turns a pretty leg in a uniform, but he's never seen real action and would probably sprint a mile if he did.

As the books progress we get a series of additional characters unfolding which include Byaz, a master mage with a power complex and a determination to steer the Union to victory even if it kills everyone in the way – including the Union's own citizens. Ferro, carrying demon blood in her veins and a raging desire for vengeance over the Gurkhish which has consumed all she ever was or might be. The Dogman, left leading the Northmen's resistance in Logen's place against their new king who is bent on cutting the heart out of the Union and slapping down the resistance from his own people. Hard! Colonel West, honest soldier from common stock who has risen because of his talent, but he has a temper which will get him into trouble if he's not careful, especially with his sister, Ardee, a wilful, bored fish out of water, perpetually drunk and none too discrete with her favours.

And this is all there is to save the Union. Can they do it? Maybe they can, but there's a price – a terrible price. Good deeds have terrible consequences. Quests come to nought. Sieges bravely defended depend on money from shady sources, blackmail. The least trustworthy prove their resilience and the most trustworthy fail. Last minute rescues don’t exactly save anyone.

To say this is a dark work is an understatement of the word dark, but it's not without its quirky twisted humour and its sympathetic characters, foremost amongst these being Glokta whose world-weary commentary exposes wry humour and a deep intelligence. Despite his job and his willingness to detach body-parts from innocent men with rusty pincers, he may be the most honest and honourable soul in the hierarchy of government – which might not be saying much, but it might have to be enough.

It may have taken me two months to read 750,000 words of the 'First Law' trilogy, but it was worth it and I highly recommend it to anyone who's got a strong stomach. The Guardian quote says it's 'Delightfully twisted and evil,' and I reckon that's spot on the money.

Audiobook narrated by Zara Ramm.

I re-read (re-listened to) this because in the recent read of ‘Out of Time’ I had a question about Markham and whether Max knows the details of his origins. I was fairly sure she did, but I needed to remind myself. And yes, she does. So now I need to re-read Out of Time.

This is my original review: Following the plan to trap arch villain Ronan, and the unexpected twist at the end of the previous book, Hope for the Best, Max, Leon and their son Matthew (recently returned from the care of the Time Police) are trying to get on with the rest of their lives at St Mary's. Max is once more in charge of the historians and trying to impress their funders at Thirsk University, so she's planning a spectacular trip to ancient Crete, just before the huge volcanic eruption which heralded the end of the Minoan civilisation. But before that, Leon is arrested for murder by the dreaded Time Police, and Max, Peterson and Markham have to become private investigators. Then Doctor Bairstow (the boss) takes Mrs Brown (a government representative) on a jaunt to see the Princes in the Tower, accompanied only by Max. Everything goes wrong (of course) and Max is almost drowned, when the person she trusts with her life fails her. The betrayal leaves her shaken. Then there's the Crete trip. It's all going well until the volcano kicks off early and Ronan reappears at just the wrong moment. There's a satisfactory ending, and I did wonder whether this might be the final book, but then I checked and #12 is available for advance order. After a lot of hints in previous books we finally find out more about Markham, who is my second favourite character (after Max) and when the revelation comes, it's a doozy.

Barely recovered from their last adventure (on the train) Team 236 (Team Weird - Luke, Jane and Matthew) are tentatively back in business (though still under supervision), but things aren't going well for the Time Police in general. Construction work reveals (or rather re-reveals) a huge cover-up from that last days of the time war, before Commander Hay became the TP boss, but it's something she'll have to deal with one way or another. A dinosaur shows up in Wales, which causes Hay to request the assistance of Maxwell from St Mary's. No one is quite sure which is going to be the biggest problem, Max or the dinosaur. In Ancient Rome, a St Mary's mission is trying to find out what happened to the city's founder, Romulus, when TP officer Varma turns up and kidnaps him. There's a gnarly knot in the time map which Matthew spots, but can he unravel it? And then everything goes tits-up when a time pod AI starts screaming murder. When long-time antagonist Henry Plympton reappears with a scheme to kidnap and murder the Princes in the Tower, things can't get much worse for the beleaguered Time Police. This book does feature Luke, Jane and Matthew, but also hefty chunks of Commander Hay and her long-suffering adjutant, Charlie Farrenden, Lt. Grint and his usual team, plus the aforementioned Varma and assorted characters we've met before. This book was published on 9th and by 10th October I'd galloped through it. A new Jodi Taylor is always a drop-everything-and-grab-it moment. Glad I did. The only thing missing was Markham... or was he?

Audiobook narrated by Ray Porter

Joseph Bridgeman is drawn back into time travel via the Continuum, together with time-traveller Gabrielle, American, punky acerbic – and she hates Joe’s guts. They travel back to Paris 1873, the burning of the Opera House (a real event) in order to save a talented musician from life-changing injury, and to rescue another time-traveller, Nils, who is stuck in a kind of time-traveller-limbo courtesy of Scarlet (the mysterious antagonist from the second book in the series). Joe is still trying to fit into his new life and regain the trust of Alexia (his love in the first book) but he readily accepts the role of observer on Gabrielle’s mission to Paris and gets drawn into subsequent jumps. One thing leads to another as the pair acclimate to each other and work out how they can succeed. There are hair-raising moments of intrigue and danger. The burning opera house sequence is tense and exciting. Ray Porter does his usual good job of narration, and after three books I’ve stopped asking why an American narrator was chosen to read an English protagonist. It works. Happy to move on to the next book.

An original cast recording of a single episode length story in which the rest of the crew go in search of Dayna and Vila is left alone on board the liberator while ghostly figures stalk the corridors and get inside his head. Revenants? Demons? His alcohol-fuelled imagination? None of the above, but there is an answer. Paul Darrow (Kerr Avon), Michael Keating (Vila Restal) have very recognisably familiar voices, the others slightly less so. Published in 2015.

Audiobook narrated by David Morley Hale.
This was a revisit for me. I read the Kindle Version in February 2023, and thoroughly enjoyed it, but was tempted to the audiobook by the quality of the narrator. David Morley Hale does a marvellous job, voicing Thomas Piety as a gut-rough northerner. Piety returns to Ellinburg from a horrendous war, bringing back his surviving soldiers (including his second, Bloody Anne, and his war-damaged brother, Jochan) to take back his ‘streets’ and his businesses (brothels, gambling dens, taverns and protection rackets) only to find they’ve been taken over and his aunt (who was caretaking) has fled to a convent. Thomas has to take over his territory again, brutal blow by brutal blow. But it seems as though the threat of war is not over. There’s a fearsome Queen’s Man in town who can make life very uncomfortable, and short for him. When he’s informed that foreign infiltrators are responsible for the takeover, he’s pushed to do something about it lest they invade his city. His watchword is the right man for the job, and it seems as though Thomas is the right man to oust the foreigners, helped by the Queen’s Man (who happens to be a woman – very attractive, but lethal). This is a high body-count book, full of conflict and peril, but it also shows the effects of violence on men’s souls. Thomas is a great character, very human despite his criminality. My original review is on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37884491-priest-of-bones

Nial Sarnin is a twenty-one year old widow with a small talent to manipulate the ever-blowing wind. On the first anniversary of her husband's death, she is preparing to fly his spirit kite to carry his spirit to the stars when something changes in her own affinity with the wind. Her power grows and she becomes a kite-master. Shortly thereafter she's commandeered by the kiteship midnight Rain, whose captain has befriended the runaway Prince Vikaan, fleeing from his mother, Queen Kavaya who plans to use the power of dragons to destroy her enemy cities, and thus rule the world. Nial must learn to use her powers quickly in order to thwart Kavaya's plans and save the Captain and crew of the Midnight Rain and her own family, held as hostages for her good behaviour. Jim Hines always tells a good story. This is very readable, with good major characters and some excellent set pieces. And no, Nial doesn't find a second love. She remains a widow, true to the memory of her late husband.

Audiobook narrated by Tom Weiner

I read this post-apocalyptic novel years and years ago, in a different century, though it might well have been a different planet. Published in 1964 (but written before the USA's Civil Rights act of 1964 and the Voting Rights act of 1965) this deals with pressing issues of the day - the threat of nuclear war with the USSR, and the issue of race in what was still a partially segregated country.

Under the threat of war, Hugh Farnham builds a nuclear bunker, just in time. When the big one hits, the Farnhams (Hugh, his wife Grace, adult son, Duke, daughter Karen, and black employee, Joseph, together with Karen’s  friend, Barbara) are catapulted into a different time, where there are no signs of any other human beings. Initially Heinlein turns sections of this book into a survival manual. Farnham is a prepper, but still has to work out how to build a (small) aqueduct, and we're right there with him for a blow-by-blow account. There's a bit of Swiss Family Robinson in here - to start with, at least. And then everything changes when they discover that they've been catapulted 2000 years into the future where the African and Asian peoples who were not wiped out in the mutually destructive US-Russian war, are now a technically advanced civilisation which runs on slavery.

This has not aged well in the 65 years since publication, and was probably problematic, even then, with its racism and sexism. It has to be judged as a piece of history, possibly one that we would prefer to forget. I can see that Heinlein was trying to write something approaching satire, but in doing do, created blatant stereotypes. Bear in mind that he was writing this as Martin Luther King was making his ‘I have a dream’ speech. His reversal of racial roles is clumsy and (good grief!) the dark-skinned people have a penchant for cannibalism. (Yes, really!) All the characters are unlovable. Grace is permanently drunk, drugged insensible, or high, and is Klansman-level racist. The son, Duke, is not much better, racist-wise. Hugh prides himself on treating Joseph as an equal, which he does, but there's still a certain air of condescension. Karen, the daughter, is a bit of an air head, and Barbara, having fallen for Hugh (goodness knows why) only wants to do what he wants her to do in order to please him. The female characters are weak and dependent.

Also, stylistically it feels a bit stilted with people calling each other by their names in dialogue rather more than modern authors would allow. ("Well, Mr. Farnham, what do you think? "I think we're going to die, Barbara."). Dialogue - especially the women's - is stiff an unrealistic.

This is not an easy book to swallow. Tom Weiner is the narrator, and he reads it like it's written, i.e. somewhat stiff and formal, He does well with male voices, but less well with the female ones. The narration works as the period piece it is.

The book wouldn’t pass muster today.

What happens to slayers or Chosen Ones, when they start to age and want to retire? In this case, a former Hunter of Artemis (Jenny), a very elderly wizard (Temple), and a half-succubus former PI (Annette) settle down together to run Second Life Books in Salem, MA, in a sentient house. Annette's grandkids come to visit and all is cosy in this peaceful town until some of the locals start to summon things better left in the demon realms. Our three retired heroes have to try to save the world one more time, and while doing do save some misguided kids who've been turned to the demon side. Expect a haunted van, a cat with tentacles and a looming apocalypse.

The story is told in rotating chapters from all three main character viewpoints. It's quirky and fun despite being horror-adjacent. Jim C Hines can always be relied on to entertain.

Arcady and Everen. Everen and Arcady.

Dragons are long gone from the human world, trapped in another dimension and worshipped as gods, but Arcady, casts a spell and accidentally traps Everen in the human world, and the only answer to an insoluble problem is for the two to bond.  I started reading this but then got sidetracked and didn’t feel like going back to it. Not sure if that says something about the book, or about me. Sorry

Narrated by Elizabeth Bower and Tim Bruce

A slightly different take on Jane Eyre. In this version Jane Aire, age 30, teaches witchcraft at Lowood School and is sent to Thornfield Hall at the request of Edward Rochester because there is something wrong, maybe a curse. Some things play out in a familiar manner – Jane causing Rochester to be thrown from his horse etc. Some characters are familiar: Mrs Fairfax the housekeeper, Blanche Ingram the would-be second Mrs Rochester. There’s no mad woman in the attic, but the first Mrs Rochester is still in evidence, and instead of Grace Pool we have Dr Pool. There’s a supernatural mystery to solve, and Jane falls in love with Rochester (of course) while solving it. Nicely read by Elizabeth Bower with Tim Bruce reading occasional passages from Rochester’s point of view.

I listened to this via audiobook, some three years after the first reading. It's narrated by Amara Jasper. It's a love story on many levels, and I think that was more obvious on the second 'reading.' Amara Jasper manages the different character voices very well. Once again I loved it.

In my review of the Kindle version, I said: I love T. Kingfisher's writing. She's a buy on sight author for me, even her horror books (and generally I don't read horror). This is not horror, it's a fantasy with fairy tale elements: a princess (youngest of three); a dog made of bones; a dust wife who speaks with the dead; a steadfast knight rescued from a goblin market; a chicken inhabited by a demon; two godmothers (fairy variety); and a cruel prince. Marra's two older sisters have been married off (sequentially) to the cruel prince of a powerful northern kingdom. The first mysteriously died, and the second is wearing herself out, staying pregnant to avoid his beatings. Marra, hidden away in a convent in case the prince kills the second sister and needs a third wife, decides to do something about the situation, and sets off to murder the prince. She knows she can't do it alone so she enlists the help of the dust wife who sets her three impossible tasks. These are a nice bit of misdirection. This is not the story you think it's going to be. Marra and the dust wife set off to do the dirty deed (with the demon chicken and the bone dog) and pick up the steadfast knight and one fairy godmother along the way.

Audiobook narrated by Laurence Bouvard, Nathan Osgood & William Hope.

Rex is a Good Dog. He does what Master says and keep the pack in line. He's also a bioengineered killing machine. He knows he's not too bringht (not as bright as Honey, one of his pack and a bio-engineered bear - but he knows how to follow orders and thet makes him a Good Dog. When the pack is cut loose from Master, things begin to happen that Rex doesn't understand. Why do the villagers fear him and Bees and Dragon and Honey? They are not enemies, they have nothing to fear. And why are enemies attacking the defenceless village? And, oops, why is Master one of the people trying to wipe out the villagers? Though simple minded, Rex is caught up in a courtroom drama which will determine his right to live - his and all bioengineered beings. Good job his lawyer is smart, and Honey is smarter still. This is a fascinating look at the ethics of war and bioengineering, well narrated. Adrian Tchaikovsky's imagination is a wondrous thing.

Another Grimdark winner for Joe Abercrombie, well read by Stephen Pacey.

Europe is in turmoil, plague and famine go hand in hand, the church is split and her holiness the pope, a ten-year-old child, calls upon the services of her 'devils', tried and convicted transgressors. There's a vampire, a werewolf, an undying knight, a female soldier, an elf, and a necromancer, all shepherded by an unwilling monk who would rather be a librarian. Their task is to make sure Alexa, newly discovered heir to the empire of Troy, gets safely home and crowned. But there are complications. Alex has been brought up on the streets of the Holy City, living by her wits. She's a better thief than a princess, but her newly introduced Uncle Michael says she's the true heir, and it's better than being shredded by the shady folks she owes money to, so Alex goes along with it. They have many adventures on the way to Troy. They are attacked, shipwrecked and attacked again, mainly by Alexa's cousins who believe they hare the rightful Emperor.  And then... when they reach their destination, there are betrayals, from the highest, disguised as political expediency. The characters are fabulous, the plot twists, twisty. If anything, the fight scenes - which are well written - last a little too long. It does resolve but then there's a bit tagged on to the end that leads into a second book in the sequence. Not exactly a cliffhanger (thank goodness). Stephen Pacey does a marvellous job differentiating the voices and accents from a growly, insane werewolf to a cheerful elf with little to be cheerful about.