Did Not Finish. Can’t really day why not – a mixture of not engaging with the story and not getting along with the American accented narrator, Romy Nordlinger. It wasn't terrible, just not for me.
Narrated by Kate Rawson
Competent outlaw Scarlett McCain is a bank robber and (when she needs to be) killer in a fragmented future England dotted with fortified cities wit a whole lot of dangerous wild nothing inbetween. Running from the scene of a successful bank robbery she finds a wrecked coach, with a whole lot of dead bodies and only one survivor, gangly Albert Browne, himself on the run from implacable hunters from the Faith Houses. It turns out that Albert is way more than he seems and Scarlett is, reluctantly, stuck with him. The reluctance gradually turns to respect throughour various adventures, and this isobviously a set-up for further adventures. This moves a bit slowly at first (despite the characters being chased through inhospitable countryside full of monsters). Kate Rawson narrated Sarah Painter’s Crow Investigations books, and while her style works well for them, it works less well for this. This might be a book better read than listened to.
Audiobook narrated by Humphrey Bower.
The final book in the Chaos Walking trilogy whicfh follows Todd and Viola, sometimes together, sometimes apart, as they get sucked into the politics of New Prentisstown and a manufactured war with the Spackle. Whether he wishes it or not Todd gets semi-adopted by the mayor (now President) Prentiss, and begins to follow a dark path even though he resists as much as he can. Viola is swept up in a rebellion of sorts as the women healers go on the rampage, using terror tactics against the mayor and his army. Add to that the arrival of a new scout ship with two of Viola’s old friends, and the impending arrival of thousands of settlers with no other option but to make the planet their home. Complicate all this with the mayor’s mental powers, and the ‘noise’ that all men acquire on exposure to the planet, and this is an excellent conclusion to the trilogy. Humphrey Bower’s reading is excellent. He switches accents and voices seamlessly. There’s a bonus short story, Snowscape, tagged on to the end of this recording.
This is the BBC audio adaptation in four short parts. It’s much truncated from the full novel, but it works. Eric, an aspiring teenage demonologist conjures a demon, but instead of a regular demon he gets wizard Rincewind who’d been previously trapped in the demon dimensions. Rincewind suddenly has the ability to grant Eric’s three wishes, but as most ‘three-wishes’ stories, things don’t go as expected.
Narrated by Humphrey Bower.
This picks up where the Knife of Never Letting Go ended. Todd and Viola have arrived in Haven, where they hoped to get help, only to find that Mayor Prentiss and his army got there first, and that they have galloped headlong into a trap.
Todd and Viola. Separated, the two must do what they can to survive the increasingly authoritarian town run by the mayor (now the president). There’s a resistance movement, the Answer, which seems more benign, but when do freedom fighters become terrorists. There are no good sides here, just bad and worse. And in a war nobody wins. Once again, Humphrey Bower does an amazingly good reading a broad cast of characters.
Narrated by Humphrey Bower
In Prentisstown there are no women, and all men leak thoughts involuntarily all the time. It’s known as noise, and is a feature of this planet with what appears to be a failing human colony. Todd, almost but not quite a man until his upcoming birthday, is in the swamp with his talking dog Manchee, when he finds a crashed scout ship and a girl whose parents have been killed. Thus starts the story of a boy’s journey to manhood. Todd has been deliberately kept innocent of some terrible facts, and misinformed about others. Why did the women die, and what happened in the war against the spackle, the planet’s indigenous beings? Answers to these questions are hard-won as Todd ends up fleeing with the girl, Viola, pursued by Mayor Prentiss. It seems as though Todd and Viola can’t catch a break as they run from danger headlong into trouble. This is well read by Humphrey Bower who differentiates between the characters with a selection of voices and accents which are pitch perfect. I’m only disappointed that it has a cliffhanger ending – and I’ve said in other reviews how much I hate those. In this case it worked because I moved straight on to the next book.
Narrated by Nicola Barber
Narrated by Catherine Ho
Narrated by Rupert Degas
I avoided this book for years, knowing that it was the first in a trilogy which the author is struggling to finish, however I really enjoyed this. The reading by Rupert Degas was terrific (excellent vocalisations) and the whole thing kept me hooked. This is a story within a story with the occasional smaller story inset. Kote is an inkeeper, or is he? When the Chronicler arrives in search of a hero's story, he gets Kote to open up, for Kote is really Kvothe, something of a legend. Kvothe himself says: 'I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the university at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.' But this story is about Kvothe's early life. We don't even get as far as his expulsion from the university. We see Kvothe's early life with his parents in a group of travelling players. That part of his life ends suddenly, in a massacre and young Kvothe ends up living hand to mouth on the streets of a pitiless city, eventually gaining entrance to the university where his troubles continue, but so does his absorption of knowledge and of magic. It's a good story, full of ups and downs, and barely takes us to Kvothe aged about 16 or 17. It doesn't really come to an ending, but it stops in a reasonable place and there is a second book, which, again, I'm reluctant to read because the third seems stuck in its author's head and isn't appearing on the page any time soon, if ever, which is a great pity because this is a magnificent beginning. There's an epilogue which teases that the story Chronicler has heard so far is barely the beginning and is set to hook the reader into the next book.
Audiobook narrated by Zachary Quinto
Tony Valdez is a dispatcher. He kills people for a living. No, not like that. In this world those people murdered (as opposed to those who die naturally, or by accident, or suicide) come back to life, reappearing in the place they’ve always felt safest. So, licensed dispatchers can kill those maimed in an accident or on the verge of death because of (say) surgery that’s gone wrong, and they’ll reappear (probably in their own beds) to have another chance of living, restored to the condition they were in a few hours earlier. Tony is busy doing his job in a hospital (which includes counselling families about when dispatch is not right for their loved ones – ones with terminal illness for instance) when he’s called to the emergency room, to an old friend who has been badly injured falling out of a car on the freeway. Before the friend is dispatched, he secretly gives Tony a crypto-wallet, and from then on Tony is involved in a world of schemes and billion-dollar plots with vast cryptocurrency accounts in the balance, and some of Chicago’s wealthiest billionaires vying with each other for both the crypto-wallet and Tony’s friend. It’s a tightly-knitted plot and Zachary Quinto is perfect to voice Tony Valdez. In fact, if they ever film this, he IS Tony Valdez – and I’d like to see that.
Audiobook read by Kate Reading & Michael Kramer
This is the final book in a trilogy chronicling the story of four parallel Londons (Grey, Red, White and Black) begun in A Darker Shade of Magic and continued in A Gathering of Shadows. My review of the second book said it was plot-light, and on consideration I think the events in the second and third books could have been covered in one book. There's plenty happening in A Conjuring of Light but the narrative jumps around to various different viewpoints, many of them unnecessary characters you are neither interested in nor care about. Lila and Kell, the main protagonists, are together, and Captain Alucard's love affair with Prince Rhy is more to the fore. Holland, in White London, has been inhabited by Black London's Osaron, a powerful being, a god-like entity who wants to be a king. Osaron seems pretty much set to subsume Red London. He's taken the city, all except for the warded palace, and so Kell, Lila, Alucard and Holland (in chains) set off for the floating market to acquire a device which they hope will trap and destroy him. This is the final book in a trilogy so you can pretty much guarantee peril followed by success. Unfortunately by the time I got half-way through this book I was losing the will to live, and then I followed an advert and read the blurb for The Fragile Threads of Power, set seven years on from the trilogy - and the blurb told me who lived, who died and what the two main protagonists did afterwards. It somewhat took the shine off listening to the rest of the story, but I'm no quitter, so I upped the reading speed to 1.3 and kept going. Schwab's writing style is elegant, but by the end neither Kell nor Lila had really developed much. We never found out about their origins, so questions asked earlier in the trilogy were left unanswered. Prince Rhy, Kells adoptive brother, grew up out of necessity, but the most convincing character arc was Holland's. He is, in fact, the hidden hero of the trilogy. The first book was read by Steven Crossley. The second and third were read by Kate Reading & Michael Kramer, depending on whether we're in a male or female point of view. I actually preferred the narrator of the first book, as I always prefer a single voice telling the story.
Murphy Lawless, pseudonym for C.E. Murphy, has written a whole series of shapeshifter romances. This is the first. Anna is a conservationist who spends her time on expeditions observing and protecting rare animal species. She's mostly funded by the Gladiator Foundation owned by the reclusive Garius Beren, who just happens to be a bear shapeshifter tied into the tradition of Roman gladiators. Within hours of meeting (at a gala for the foundation) Garius and Anna fall instantly in love and are kidnapped together by Remus, a wolf-shifter and Garius' enemy, who runs illicit arena games on a secret island off the Italian coast. Anna proves up to the task of outwitting Remus and releasing Garius (in bear form) from the arena. But that's just the start. It seems that Anna and Garius are fated mates (that's a thing in the shifter world) but Garius is overprotective and it nearly causes disaster. This is a fun read, tightly written and a real page-turner. Lawless is an assured writer and not a word is wasted. I read it on kindle which meant I could ignore the tacky half-naked male torso on the cover. I hate those kind of covers, but I guess the reader knows exactly what they're getting.
Before I start a review I have to say that this has one of those cringeworthy covers that I hate: the half-naked, well muscled male torso with a dipping waistband and no face. It also has a title that doesn't reflect the story. I don't recall much lace at all. However, having said that, I was in the mood for something light and this fitted the bill. It's a time-travel-to-17th-century-Scotland story which owes something to Outlander and pays its debt with a plethora of pop-culture references. Widowed Andrew McIver, head of his clan in his mid twenties, needs to remarry quickly to provide an heir before his grasping uncle steps in to take over at the upcoming clan gathering. Modern American geek Evangeline (Van for short) goes off to a SCA event and wades into a pond, nearly drowning and emerging four centuries earlier and half a world away. Andrew rescues her from drowning and from then on is stuck with her because she's having way too much fun to attempt to go home. She manages at once to be an annoying motor-mouth and the saviour of the castle kitchen. Expect an unconventional heroine, a family feud, interference from the local Fae, and the unexpected invention of a 17th century bicycle.
Narrated by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer
This continues the story of four parallel Londons (Grey, Red, White and Black) begun in A Darker Shade of Magic. The first book was complete initself. This, being the middle book of a trilogy, doesn't feel complete (it's plot-light) and it has a cliffhanger ending. Lila and Kell parted at the end of the first book, though it was pretty obvious that their story would continue. They spend the first half of this book just missing each other as Lila (feeling special for no justifiable reason) returns to Red London, having spent four months aboard a privateer ship with Captain, Alucard (who is actually one of the better characters) . She's learning the unfamiliar language and also learning magic. Kell has spent the intervening four months missing Lila and frowning. He doesn't have much character development in this book apart from brooding. There's a contest for magicians, organised by Kell's adopted brother, the prince, Rhy. In the first book Rhy died, only to be brought back by Kell tying his own life-force to Rhy's, but that means if anything happens to Kell, Rhy suffers, too (and vice-versa) so the king and queen are restricting Kell unbearably. When both Kell and Lila enter the magic competition, in disguise, sparks fly. ( I should point out here that Lila is a novice and all the other mages are the best of the best, so she should have been mincemeat on Day One, but because she's special she seems to get all the luck. That bit isn't very realistic. Yeah, OK, it's fantasy, but you know what I mean.) (I should probably also point out that the magic competition takes up a lot of page space without moving the story forward.) At the same time something is happening in White London as, freed from its previous cruel rulers, it begins to regenerate under Holland's kingship. (Spoiler: Holland did not die at the end of book one after all.) But Holland is being ridden by a darker power from Black London, and Red London is in danger. Unfortunately, just as this segment of the story seems about to resolve, something happens which pushes the story towards the third book and Book Two simply stops. Have I said how much I hate cliffhangers? Fortunately, I already had the third book waiting, ready to go. The first book was read by Steven Crossley. The second is read by Kate Reading & Michael Kramer depending on whether we're in a male or female point of view. The viewpoint characters are mostly (but not exclusively, Kell and Lila. This works well, but I'm glad I had a bit of a gap between the first and second book, otherwise the change of reader would have been jarring.
Audiobook narrated by Kyle McCarley
Khat is a krisman, one of a race of engineered humanoids built to survive in the Waste. Separated from his people, by choice, he’s considered less than human by most people, except for his (human) partner, Sagai and Sagai’s family. Khat and Sagai survive by hunting and trading relics (potentially magical) of a previous civilisation. Though wary, Khat is tempted to join an expedition to the Waste organised by the Warders, mages who serve the Elector of Charisat. Khat and Elen, a minor Warder, are the only survivors of that expedition and both get caught up in a deadly game of upper-class politics. Though this is a solidly written, second-world fantasy, it’s not easily comparable with Wells’ brilliant Murderbot books. It’s complex and twisty, but the narration is a bit stodgy.
I had this book as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) from the publisher via NetGalley and was very pleased to be able to take a peek before publication. I've read all the other Elizabeth Cage book (and every Jodi Taylor book I can get my hands on) so I was really looking forward to this - and it did not disappoint. Note for new readers, this in NOT the place to start. Go back and read White Silence, Dark Light and Long Shadows before tackling this one. Elizabeth Cage can read people's auras. She sees them as colours and can tell their mood and whether they are lying or not. No one can keep a secret from her. In White Silence, this led to a great deal of trouble via Doctor Sorensen in the wake of the sudden death of Elizabeth's husband, Ted. Incarcerated in Sorensen's clinic, Elizabeth met Michael Jones, a somewhat shady character with dark governmental connections. In the previous three books they saved each other (a lot), and as this fourth book opens Elizabeth is living a quiet life, which is exactly how she likes it - or does she? Things are changing. Something happened last Christmas that she can't quite remember, and on top of that she might have accepted a freeelance job from an unnamed government department that Jones seems very familiar with. And then she finds blood on her doorstep. Iblis and his mangy dog, Nigel turn up. Iblis speaks in eighteenth century cadences and likes to eat fish and chips, drink Elizabeth's beer and watch her TV. His partner, Melek, is something of an enigma and might or might not have powers, but certainly knows a lot more about Elizabeth than she's telling. Then Elizabeth gets a note, apparently in her own handwriting: 'I always send the serpent...' Elizabeth doesn't know what's going on which, apparently, is for her own good. Yeah, right. During the course of this book she finds out. Written in Jodi Taylor's quirky style this is a supernatural thriller. Expect danger, magic, revisiting the scenes of former adventures and - oh yes - a serpent. Something is trying to rise from the darkness under a bad moon. Highly recommended.
Audiobook narrated by Emma Newman.
No one wins a war, and that's especially true in the war between Lascanne and Denland. Emily Marshwic stands by as, first, her brother-in-law and then her little brother are called to the front to protect Lascanne from the Denlanders who have killed their own king and are now trying to force their republican politics on fiercely royalist Lascanne. First the men and when Lascanne runs out of soldiers, the women are called up, one female from each household. Emily has two ssters but one has a baby and the other is an air-head who wouldn't last two minutes in the army, so rather than send one of the female servants, she goes herself - one of the few upper class 'ladies' to go through basic training and arrive at the front- a battleground of swamps and jungles. It's grim and she's had barely enough training to wield a musket, but she learns, and learns who she can trust - a small company of officers known as the Survivors Club which includes her brother-in-law and a young battlefield warlock. Emily's perceptions of the war and who/what started it are called into question and it's only after the fighting is over that the peace can be won. Expect a lot of blow-by-blow battle scenes, emerging (steampunky) tech versus magic, and an unusual love triangle. There's not a lot of magic, just enough to make this into a secondary-world fantasy. There are some excellent supporting characters, and Emily Marshwic is a believable heroine. Emma Newman's narration is excellent.
Narrated by Harrie Dobby
Tamsyn Pride returns to her Grandmother's house, Rosemount Cottage, in Much Wenlock on the death of the old lady, but gradually realises that something unnatural is going on. Her grandma didn't die of a heart attack, but who killed her and why? Gradually Tam begins to remember a magic she's been spelled to forget, but even her grandmother's best friend, Bridie, isn't telling everything she knows. There's a 'magical' council and the chairman is making a bid for power. This is a halfway decent story but there are a few plot-holes and a bit of a weird ending. It's designed to lead on to a second book, but I probably won't pick that up immediately. It's very well read by Harrie Dobby.
Audiobook read by Steven Crossley
There are Four Londons: Grey, our own, where George III rules over a land almost devoid of magic; Red where magic is commonplace; White where danger lurks and rulers claw their way to the top with cruel magic; Black, of which the least said, the better. Kell's home city is Red London, but he is one of the rare magicians who can travel between realities. Officially he's the king's envoy, unofficially he's a smuggler of dangerously illicit goods. His smuggling catches up with him when he's set up to smuggle a magical stone across the border between Londons. It immediately puts him in danger and in Grey London he meets Delilah Bard, pickpocket and small-time criminal with a thirst for adventure. First she robs him, then she saves him, and he saves her. They end up working together to get the dangerous stone safely back to Black London where it can do no harm to the other realms, but there are others chasing the stone, and their magics might be stronger than Kell's. This is tightly written and engrossing. I thoroughly enjoyed both the story and Steven Crossley's excellent narration.
What if Prince Charming is not only devastatingly handsome and as charming as his name, but also a con-man, liar and fraud? That’s what the first book in this series explores, together with the princesses he’d duped (Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rapunzel etc.) who were hot on his trail and out for payback. In the follow-up book Charming himself is caught up in another twisted fairy tale as he ends up in the stately home of an ensorcelled beast along with two other hapless victims, Hans and Will. The beast is as much a prisoner as they are, and only solving the riddle can save her. Charming might even have feelings for her, but he has a date with Mephistopheles, and time is running out. Our princesses need to free him. They come across two potential enemies, or maybe powerful allies, in the Bear Witch and Red Cap (analogues of Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood). More delightful grown-up fairy tale nonsense from the assured pen of Jade Linwood. And though this has a satisfying ending there’s obviously another book to come. Looking forward to it.
