Gary's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 27 Mar 2025 09:06:59 -0700 60 Gary's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air (The Frost Files #2)]]> 52356156
A young boy with the ability to cause earthquakes has come to Los Angeles � home to the San Andreas, one of the most lethal fault lines in the world. If Teagan can’t stop him, the entire city � and the rest of California � could be wiped off the map.]]> 480 Jackson Ford 0356510468 Gary 3 3.87 2020 Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air (The Frost Files #2)
author: Jackson Ford
name: Gary
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[City in Ruins (Danny Ryan, #3)]]> 196968157
Danny Ryan is rich. Beyond his wildest dreams rich.

The former dock worker, Irish mob soldier and fugitive from the law is now a respected businessman � a Las Vegas casino mogul and billionaire silent partner in a group that owns two lavish hotels. Finally, Danny has it all: a beautiful house, a child he adores, a woman he might even fall in love with.

Life is good. But then Danny reaches too far.

When he tries to buy an old hotel on a prime piece of real estate with plans to build his dream resort, he triggers a war against Las Vegas power brokers, a powerful FBI agent bent on revenge and a rival casino owner with dark connections of his own.

Danny thought he had buried his past, but now it reaches up to him from the grave to pull him down. Old enemies surface, and when they come for Danny they vow to take everything � not only his empire, not just his life, but all that he holds dear, including his son.

To save his life and everything he loves, Danny must become the ruthless fighter he once was � and never wanted to be again.]]> 400 Don Winslow 006307947X Gary 0 4.29 2024 City in Ruins (Danny Ryan, #3)
author: Don Winslow
name: Gary
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/10
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]]> <![CDATA[City of Dreams (Danny Ryan #2)]]> 61713802
The city where dreams are made.

On the losing side of a bloody East Coast crime war, Danny Ryan is now on the run. The Mafia, the cops, the FBI all want him dead or in prison. With his little boy, his elderly father and the tattered remnants of his loyal crew of soldiers, he makes the classic American migration to California to start a new life.

A quiet, peaceful existence.

But the Feds track him down and want Danny to do them a favor that could make him a fortune or kill him.

And when Hollywood starts shooting a film based on his former life, Danny demands a piece of the action and begins to rebuild his criminal empire.

Then he falls in love.

With a beautiful movie star who has a dark past of her own.

As their worlds collide in an explosion that could destroy them both, Danny Ryan has to fight for his life in a city where dreams are born.

Or where they go to die.

From the shores of Rhode Island to the deserts of California where bodies disappear, from the power corridors of Washington where the real criminals operate to the fabled movie studios of Hollywood where the real money is made, City of Dreams is a sweeping saga of family, love, revenge, survival and the fierce reality behind the dream.]]> 352 Don Winslow 0062851233 Gary 0 3.97 2023 City of Dreams (Danny Ryan #2)
author: Don Winslow
name: Gary
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/10
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]]> Frontier 220391140
Earth, the distant future: climate change has reduced our verdant home into a hard-scrabble wasteland. Saints and sinners, lawmakers and sheriffs, travellers and gunslingers and horse thieves abound. People are as diverse and divided as they've ever been - except in their shared suspicions when a stranger comes to town.
One night a ship falls from the sky, bringing the planet's first visitor in three hundred years. She's armed, she's scared... and she's looking for someone.

Love, loss, and gunslinging in this dazzling debut novel by Grace Curtis. For fans of Sam J. Miller, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Becky Chambers, Frontier is a heartfelt queer romance in a high noon standoff with our planet's uncertian future, full of thrills, a love story, and laser guns.]]> 256 Grace Curtis 1529390567 Gary 5 3.78 2023 Frontier
author: Grace Curtis
name: Gary
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/10
date added: 2025/03/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Ninth Life (The Factus Sequence, #3)]]> 183994438
Hav is a true soul, trying to uphold what is right in the heedless wastes. Hav is determined to see justice done. And Hav could sure use that 20-million bounty�

But escorting the most dangerous fugitive in the system across the stars is no easy task, especially when decades of fire and destruction are catching up with her, and every gutspill with a pistol wants that payday. So when Ortiz offers a deal � to keep them both alive, as long as Hav listens to the stories of her lives � Hav can’t refuse.

There’s just one catch: everywhere they go, during every brawl and gunfight and explosive escape, people say the same thing � don’t let her talk…]]> 416 Stark Holborn 1803362987 Gary 5 4.28 2024 Ninth Life (The Factus Sequence, #3)
author: Stark Holborn
name: Gary
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/10
date added: 2025/03/10
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review:

]]> Big Sky (Jackson Brodie, #5) 43130601
Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son and an aging Labrador, both at the discretion of his ex-partner Julia. It’s picturesque, but there’s something darker lurking behind the scenes.

Jackson’s current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful husband for his suspicious wife, is fairly standard-issue, but a chance encounter with a desperate man on a crumbling cliff leads him into a sinister network—and back across the path of his old friend Reggie. Old secrets and new lies intersect in this breathtaking novel by one of the most dazzling and surprising writers at work today.]]> 352 Kate Atkinson 0857526103 Gary 4 4.00 2019 Big Sky (Jackson Brodie, #5)
author: Kate Atkinson
name: Gary
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/10
date added: 2025/03/10
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]]> Why Me? (Dortmunder, #5) 598330 229 Donald E. Westlake 0446403466 Gary 5 4.06 1983 Why Me? (Dortmunder, #5)
author: Donald E. Westlake
name: Gary
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/10
date added: 2025/03/10
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]]> Meantime 60066611
Their investigation sends them on a bewildering expedition that takes in Scottish radical politics, Artificial Intelligence, cults, secret agents, smugglers and vegan record shops.]]> 359 Frankie Boyle Gary 0 currently-reading 3.54 Meantime
author: Frankie Boyle
name: Gary
average rating: 3.54
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Karla's Choice 205899901 An extraordinary new novel set in the world of John le Carré's most iconic spy, George Smiley, written by acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway

It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West’s spy war with the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only for a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumor in Whitehall—unconfirmed and a little scandalous—that George Smiley might almost be happy.

But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple interview Szusanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead. But, as Smiley well knows, even the softest step in the shadows resounds with terrible danger. Soon, he is back there, in East Berlin, and on the trail of his most devious enemy’s hidden past.

Set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in the George Smiley saga, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Nick Harkaway’s Karla’s Choice is an extraordinary, thrilling return to the world of spy fiction’s greatest writer, John le Carré.]]> 320 Nick Harkaway Gary 5 3.99 2024 Karla's Choice
author: Nick Harkaway
name: Gary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
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]]> The Kingdoms 54680112 A time twisting alternative history that asks whether it's worth changing the past to save the future, even if it costs you everyone you've ever loved.

Joe Tournier has a bad case of amnesia. His first memory is of stepping off a train in the nineteenth-century French colony of England. The only clue Joe has about his identity is a century-old postcard of a Scottish lighthouse that arrives in London the same month he does. Written in illegal English—instead of French—the postcard is signed only with the letter “M,� but Joe is certain whoever wrote it knows him far better than he currently knows himself, and he's determined to find the writer. The search for M, though, will drive Joe from French-ruled London to rebel-owned Scotland and finally onto the battle ships of a lost empire's Royal Navy. In the process, Joe will remake history, and himself.]]> 448 Natasha Pulley 1635576083 Gary 4 4.01 2021 The Kingdoms
author: Natasha Pulley
name: Gary
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
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]]> Wool - Holston (Wool, #1) 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]> 56 Hugh Howey Gary 4 4.14 2012 Wool - Holston (Wool, #1)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Gary
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2014/06/25
date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Cleaners Wanted : A rip roaring gangster comedy]]> 222108839 In Alex Franklyns second novel she moves into a comedy, gangster crime caper, where we meet John and Billy (Biben), who are quite the disaster area when asked to perform most duties let alone taking on board the role of cleaners for a rouge hitman Daniel.

Both dissatisfied with only being warehouse workers for the London Docklands lady mobster Ruby Girthwaite (who wouldn’t trust them to handle a door knob let alone a deal) they look for additional work to pay the bills. The local hood pub landlord puts them in contact with his old mate Daniel who is desperate for a couple of people to ‘work after hours�.

Things start to go awry when they realise that their rouge hitman turns out to have his vendetta against their main boss Ruby due to some unfinished business, definitely resulting in a conflict of interest for them.

With the long suffering police detective chasing after Ruby for years they hope to catch her via the pub landlord, John and Billy. With the hits going wrong and information being leaked, the confusion leads to some ridiculous and unexpected turns of events.

Trigger profanity, some inappropriate comments, stupid, brain candy and absolutely no intellectual nutritional value in this book whatsoever� like chocolate cake.

]]> 225 Alex Franklyn Gary 4 4.34 Cleaners Wanted : A rip roaring gangster comedy
author: Alex Franklyn
name: Gary
average rating: 4.34
book published:
rating: 4
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date added: 2025/01/06
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]]> <![CDATA[The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)]]> 40275288
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction � but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.]]> 845 Samantha Shannon 1408883457 Gary 3 4.18 2019 The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)
author: Samantha Shannon
name: Gary
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Master Assassins: The Fire Sacraments, Book One]]> 43614654 2018 BookNest Fantasy Awards Finalist for Best Novel

“This book has everything I love: Clean, crisp worldbuilding. Characters that live and breathe. A story that teases and surprises me. I like Master Assassins so much I wish I'd written it, but deep down, I know I couldn't have written it this well.”�#1 New York Times bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss

Two village boys mistaken for assassins become the decisive figures in the battle for a continent in the thrilling new desert-based epic fantasy by the author of The Red Wolf Conspiracy.

Kandri Hinjuman was never meant to be a soldier. His brother Mektu was never meant for this world. Rivals since childhood, they are drafted into a horrific war led by a madwoman-Prophet, and survive each day only by hiding their disbelief. Kandri is good at blending in, but Mektu is hopeless: impulsive, erratic—and certain that a demon is stalking him. Is this madness or a second sense? Either way, Kandri knows that Mektu’s antics will land them both in early graves.

But all bets are off when the brothers� simmering feud explodes into violence, and holy blood is spilled. Kandri and Mektu are taken for contract killers and must flee for their lives—to the one place where they can hope to disappear: the sprawling desert known as the Land that Eats Men. In this eerie wilderness, the terrain is as deadly as the monsters, ghouls, and traffickers in human flesh. Here the brothers find strange allies: an aging warlord, a desert nomad searching for her family, a lethal child-soldier still in her teens. They also find themselves in possession of a secret that could bring peace to the continent of Urrath. Or unthinkable carnage.

On their heels are the Prophet’s death squads. Ahead lie warring armies, sandstorms, evil spirits and the deeper evil of human greed. But hope beckons as well—if the “Master Assassins� can expose the lie that has made them the world’s most wanted men.]]> 542 Robert V.S. Redick Gary 2 4.16 2018 Master Assassins: The Fire Sacraments, Book One
author: Robert V.S. Redick
name: Gary
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Night Passage: The first Jesse Stone novel (A Jesse Stone Mystery Book 1)]]> 18952163
This exciting departure for "the reigning champion of the American tough-guy detective novel" (Entertainment Weekly) has landed him on the New York Times bestseller list once again...and thrilled readers and critics alike.]]> 433 Robert B. Parker Gary 0 4.14 1997 Night Passage: The first Jesse Stone novel (A Jesse Stone Mystery Book 1)
author: Robert B. Parker
name: Gary
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2024/12/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens]]> 152034931 A rollicking history of England's earliest kings and queens, a story of narcissists, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and more, from award-winning British actor and comedian David Mitchell

Think you know the kings and queens of England? Think again.

In Unruly , David Mitchell explores how early England’s monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects� destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky bastards who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear to us today in their portraits.

Taking us right back to King Arthur ( he didn’t exist), Mitchell tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I ( she dies), as the monarchy began to lose its power. It’s a tale of bizarre and curious ascensions, inadequate self-control, and at least one total Cnut, as the English evolved from having their crops stolen by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed King.

How this happened, who it happened to, and why the hell it matters are all questions Mitchell answers with brilliance, wit, and the full erudition of a man who once studied history—and is damned if he’ll let it off the hook for the mess it’s made of everything. 

A funny book that takes history seriously, Unruly is for anyone who has ever wondered how the monarchy came to be—and who is to blame.]]> 433 David Mitchell 0593728491 Gary 5 4.13 2023 Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens
author: David Mitchell
name: Gary
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/12/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Queen B: The Story of Anne Boleyn, Witch Queen (Her Majesty's Royal Coven, #0.5)]]> 200555208
BOW DOWN WITCHES

It’s 1536 and the Queen has been beheaded.

Lady Grace Fairfax, witch, knows that something foul is at play � that someone had betrayed Anne Boleyn and her coven.

Wild with the loss of their leader � and her lover, a secret that if spilled could spell Grace’s own end � she will do anything in her power to track down the traitor.

But there’s more at stake than revenge: it was one of their own, a witch, that betrayed them, and Grace isn’t the only one looking for her. King Henry VIII has sent witchfinders after them, and they’re organized like they’ve never been before under his new advisor, the impassioned Sir Ambrose Fulke, a cold man blinded by his faith. His cruel reign could mean the end of witchkind itself.

If Grace wants to find her revenge and live, she will have to do more than disappear.

She will have to be reborn.

In this gripping, propulsive, sultry novella, Juno Dawson takes us back to the bloody beginnings of Her Majesty’s Royal Coven to show us the strength, steel and sacrifice it takes to make a sisterhood.
©2024 Juno Dawson (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers]]> 224 Juno Dawson 0143138340 Gary 0 3.63 2024 Queen B: The Story of Anne Boleyn, Witch Queen (Her Majesty's Royal Coven, #0.5)
author: Juno Dawson
name: Gary
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/18
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]]> Murphy's Revenge 143803262 0 Colin Bateman Gary 3 4.50 2005 Murphy's Revenge
author: Colin Bateman
name: Gary
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/29
date added: 2024/11/28
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]]> The Book Eaters 58724745
Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairy tales and cautionary stories.

But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.]]> 298 Sunyi Dean 1250810183 Gary 5 3.60 2022 The Book Eaters
author: Sunyi Dean
name: Gary
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/20
date added: 2024/11/20
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]]> <![CDATA[We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)]]> 212070192 A brand new series. An iconic new detective duo. And a puzzling new murder to solve...

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...

Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?]]> 464 Richard Osman 0241608368 Gary 4 4.13 2024 We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Gary
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/11
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]]> Hit and Run 164624442
But enough is enough. He's got money in the bank and just one last job standing between him and retirement. So he carries it out with his usual professionalism, and he heads home, and guess what?

One more job. Paid in advance, so what's he going to do? Give the money back?In Des Moines, Keller stalks his designated target and waits for the client to give him the go-ahead. And one fine morning he's picking out stamps for his collection (Sweden 1-5, the official reprints) at a shop in Urbandale when somebody guns down the charismatic governor of Ohio.

Back at his motel, Keller's watching TV when they show the killer's face. And there's something all too familiar about that face. . . .

Keller calls his associate Dot in White Plains, but there is no answer. He's stranded halfway across the country, every cop in America's just seen his picture, his ID and credit cards are no longer good, and he just spent almost all of his cash on the stamps.

Now what?]]> 0 Lawrence Block Gary 5 5.00 2008 Hit and Run
author: Lawrence Block
name: Gary
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/21
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves:
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Classic Lawrence Block! Keller, the curious stamp collector hitman takes his last ride. What’s not to like?
]]> The Familiar 133286777 From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.]]> 387 Leigh Bardugo 125088425X Gary 5 3.74 2024 The Familiar
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Gary
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/30
date added: 2024/10/30
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]]> <![CDATA[System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)]]> 65211701 Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast.

Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.]]> 245 Martha Wells 1250826977 Gary 5 4.19 2023 System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)
author: Martha Wells
name: Gary
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6)]]> 53205854 No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall.

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?)

Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!

Again!]]> 168 Martha Wells 1250765374 Gary 5 4.25 2021 Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6)
author: Martha Wells
name: Gary
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)]]> 36223860 alternate cover for ISBN 9781250186928

It has a dark past � one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A� stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.]]> 158 Martha Wells Gary 5 4.23 2018 Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)
author: Martha Wells
name: Gary
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3)]]> 35519101
And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good.

]]> 158 Martha Wells 1250191785 Gary 5 4.21 2018 Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3)
author: Martha Wells
name: Gary
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5)]]> 52381770
It worries about the fragile human crew who've grown to trust it, but only where no one can see.

It tells itself that they're only a professional obligation, but when they're captured and an old friend from the past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action.

Drastic action it is, then.

]]> 350 Martha Wells 1250229863 Gary 5 4.44 2020 Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5)
author: Martha Wells
name: Gary
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4)]]> 35519109
Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah—its former owner (protector? friend?)—submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit.

But who’s going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue?

And what will become of it when it’s caught?]]> 163 Martha Wells Gary 5 4.38 2018 Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4)
author: Martha Wells
name: Gary
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> Hummingbird Salamander 53359447 Annihilation, a brilliant speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things.

Security consultant “Jane Smith� receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, is a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control.

Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina’s footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As she desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out—for her and possibly for the world.

Hummingbird Salamander is Jeff VanderMeer at his brilliant, cinematic best, wrapping profound questions about climate change, identity, and the world we live in into a tightly plotted thriller full of unexpected twists and elaborate conspiracy.]]> 351 Jeff VanderMeer 0374173540 Gary 3 3.23 2021 Hummingbird Salamander
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Gary
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/22
date added: 2024/10/22
shelves:
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I have liked his previous books but this one is trying too hard to be edgy and relevant. I found myself skipping passages quite often and that’s not a good sign.
]]> My Brother's Keeper 101161569
This is a ghost story. It is a story about werewolves, and things that go bump in the night. It is a story of an ill-fated land, the pathless moors of Northern England so well chronicled in Wuthering Heights . And it is the story of a real family whose destiny it is to deal with this darkly glamorous and dangerous world.

When young Emily Brontë helps a wounded man she finds at the foot of an ancient pagan shrine in the remote Yorkshire moors, her life becomes contentiously entwined with his. He is Alcuin Curzon, embittered member of a sect working to eradicate the resurgent plague of lycanthropy in Europe and northern England.

But Emily’s father, curate of the Haworth village church, is responsible for having unwittingly brought a demonic werewolf god to Yorkshire forty years ago—and it is taking possession of Emily’s beloved but foolish and dissolute brother. Curzon must regard Emily’s family as a dire threat.

In spite of being at deadly odds, Emily and Curzon find themselves thrown together in fighting werewolves, confronting pagan gods, even saving each other from the lures of moorland demons. And in a final battle that sweeps from the haunted village of Haworth to a monstrous shrine far out on the moors, the two of them must be reluctant allies against an ancient power that seems likely to take their souls as well as their lives.]]> 320 Tim Powers 1982192860 Gary 5 3.63 2023 My Brother's Keeper
author: Tim Powers
name: Gary
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/11
date added: 2024/10/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1)]]> 36662022 The first book in the stunning and strange debut fantasy series that's receiving major praise from some of fantasy's biggest authors such as Mark Lawrence and Django Wexler.

The Tower of Babel is the greatest marvel in the world. Immense as a mountain, the ancient Tower holds unnumbered ringdoms, warring and peaceful, stacked one on the other like the layers of a cake. It is a world of geniuses and tyrants, of airships and steam engines, of unusual animals and mysterious machines.

Soon after arriving for his honeymoon at the Tower, the mild-mannered headmaster of a small village school, Thomas Senlin, gets separated from his wife, Marya, in the overwhelming swarm of tourists, residents, and miscreants.

Senlin is determined to find Marya, but to do so he'll have to navigate madhouses, ballrooms, and burlesque theaters. He must survive betrayal, assassins, and the long guns of a flying fortress. But if he hopes to find his wife, he will have to do more than just endure.

This quiet man of letters must become a man of action.]]> 389 Josiah Bancroft 0356510816 Gary 4 4.11 2013 Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1)
author: Josiah Bancroft
name: Gary
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/11
date added: 2024/10/11
shelves:
review:

]]> Murphy's Revenge 1542835 trade edition paperback, new 375 Colin Bateman 0755309243 Gary 3 3.88 2005 Murphy's Revenge
author: Colin Bateman
name: Gary
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/29
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The City of Mirrors (The Passage, #3)]]> 26891429
The Twelve have been destroyed and the terrifying hundred-year reign of darkness that descended upon the world has ended. The survivors are stepping outside their walls, determined to build society anew—and daring to dream of a hopeful future.

But far from them, in a dead metropolis, he waits: Zero. The First. Father of the Twelve. The anguish that shattered his human life haunts him, and the hatred spawned by his transformation burns bright. His fury will be quenched only when he destroys Amy—humanity’s only hope, the Girl from Nowhere who grew up to rise against him.

One last time light and dark will clash, and at last Amy and her friends will know their fate.]]> 602 Justin Cronin 034550500X Gary 3 4.16 2016 The City of Mirrors (The Passage, #3)
author: Justin Cronin
name: Gary
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/20
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves:
review:
It’s the end of a massive trilogy but could have been 150 pages shorter. Gets slow from time to time and I found myself skipping passages that seemed more like ‘filler� than essential to the narrative.
]]> More Walls Broken 41223646 136 Tim Powers 1596068868 Gary 0 to-read 3.70 2019 More Walls Broken
author: Tim Powers
name: Gary
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Stolen Skies (Vickery and Castine #3)]]> 59776585
Sebastian Vickery has learned something about UFOs that he shouldn’t have—and Naval Intelligence, desperate to silence him, orders his old partner, Agent Ingrid Castine, to trap him.

But Castine risks career, liberty, and maybe even life, to warn Vickery—and now they’re both fugitives, on the run from both the U.S. government and agents of the Russian GRU Directorate, which has its own uses for the UFO intelligence.

With the unlikely aid of a renegade Russian agent, a homeless Hispanic boy, and an eccentric old Flat-Earther, Vickery and Castine must find an ancient relic that spells banishment to the alien species, and then summon the things and use it against them—in a Samson-like confrontation that looks likely to kill them as well.

Sweeping from the Giant Rock monolith in the Mojave Desert to a cultist temple in the Hollywood Hills, from a monstrous apparition in the Los Angeles River to a harrowing midnight visitation on a boat off Long Beach Harbor, Stolen Skies is an alien-encounter novel like no other.]]> 304 Tim Powers 1625798504 Gary 0 to-read 4.00 Stolen Skies (Vickery and Castine #3)
author: Tim Powers
name: Gary
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Forced Perspectives 49359980 A BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF HAUNTED LOS ANGELES

Why did Cecil B. DeMille really bury the Pharaoh’s Palace set after he filmed The Ten Commandments in 1923?

Fugitives Sebastian Vickery and Ingrid Castine find themselves plunged into the supernatural secrets of Los Angeles � from Satanic indie movies of the �60s, to the unqiet La Brea Tar Pits at midnight, to the haunted Sunken City off the coast of San Pedro . . . pursued by a Silicon Valley guru who is determined to incorporate their souls into the creation of a new and predatory World God.]]> 372 Tim Powers 1982124407 Gary 0 to-read 3.78 2020 Forced Perspectives
author: Tim Powers
name: Gary
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Secret (Jack Reacher #28) 62983544
That attention comes from the Secretary of Defence, who promptly calls for an inter-agency task force to investigate. Jack Reacher is assigned as the Army's representative.

Reacher may be an exceptional soldier, but sweeping other people's secrets under the carpet isn't part of his skill set. As he races to discover the link between these victims, and who killed them, he must navigate around the ulterior motives of his new 'partners'. And all while moving into the sight line of some of the most dangerous people he has ever encountered.

His mission is to uncover the truth. The question is: will Reacher bring the bad guys to justice the official way . . . or his way?]]> 400 Lee Child 1984818597 Gary 0 4.13 2023 The Secret (Jack Reacher #28)
author: Lee Child
name: Gary
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spark City (Spark City Cycle, #1)]]> 44300799 An alternate cover edition of this ASIN can be found here.

His name was Magnus.
He once conquered the Four Factions.  He brought the world to its knees, annihilating all who opposed him. Even in retirement, they still fear his army’s march. But this is not his tale, for he is the past.



His name is Erroh.
He is nothing like his warmonger father. He is happier gambling, drinking and wandering the wastes, escaping the shadow cast by his legendary family. But fate has other plans for him, for he is the present.



He doesn’t know her name yet.
She is a warrior destined for greatness and heartbreak. She’s never belonged in the city of light. Every step in her life has been a struggle. This next step will bring them both towards war, for she is the future.



Spark City is a heart wrenching fantasy adventure that will leave you craving more. Perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie and David Gemmell, prepare to be swept away by Robert J Power's masterful storytelling as you join Erroh on a quest that will test his every strength in a world teetering on the brink of war.



The Completed Spark City Series
Spark City
The March of Magnus
The Outcasts
The Actions of Gods

]]> 532 Robert J. Power Gary 2 4.07 2018 Spark City (Spark City Cycle, #1)
author: Robert J. Power
name: Gary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
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]]> The Brothers Boswell 6631660 337 Philip Baruth 1569477477 Gary 2 2.80 2009 The Brothers Boswell
author: Philip Baruth
name: Gary
average rating: 2.80
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2010/07/19
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves:
review:
I was disappointed by this book. It has some good feel for Georgian London but the storyline is thin really and I am unable to stop myself thinking about what a writer like Neal Stephenson would have done with the story - much more depth and complexity of characters and action. Baruth spins the story of John and James Boswell far too thin for my liking and the twist at the end is no twist at all - on a par with Bobby Ewing's 'it all happened in a dream' calamity from Dallas in the 80's. I can't recommend anyone buying the book but if you borrow it there's no great loss involved.
]]> <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a human-centered planet]]> 55922802 A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 293 John Green 1529109876 Gary 5 I give the Anthropocene reviewed 5 stars�.]]> 4.31 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a human-centered planet
author: John Green
name: Gary
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/18
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves:
review:
Strong insight into what makes John tick..
I give the Anthropocene reviewed 5 stars�.
]]> The Twelve (The Passage, #2) 13281368 The Passage, Justin Cronin constructed an unforgettable world transformed by a government experiment gone horribly wrong. Now the scope widens and the intensity deepens as the epic story surges forward with The Twelve.

In the present day, as the man-made apocalypse unfolds, three strangers navigate the chaos. Lila, a doctor and an expectant mother, is so shattered by the spread of violence and infection that she continues to plan for her child’s arrival even as society dissolves around her. Kittridge, known to the world as “Last Stand in Denver,� has been forced to flee his stronghold and is now on the road, dodging the infected, armed but alone and well aware that a tank of gas will get him only so far. April is a teenager fighting to guide her little brother safely through a landscape of death and ruin. These three will learn that they have not been fully abandoned—and that in connection lies hope, even on the darkest of nights.

One hundred years in the future, Amy and the others fight on for humankind’s salvation...unaware that the rules have changed. The enemy has evolved, and a dark new order has arisen with a vision of the future infinitely more horrifying than man’s extinction. If the Twelve are to fall, one of those united to vanquish them will have to pay the ultimate price.]]> 592 Justin Cronin 0345504984 Gary 0 3.99 2012 The Twelve (The Passage, #2)
author: Justin Cronin
name: Gary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bookshops & Bonedust (Legends & Lattes, #0)]]> 65213543 When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn't always what we seek.

In Bookshops & Bonedust, a prequel to Legends & Lattes, author Travis Baldree takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books.

Viv's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam's Ravens isn't going as planned.

Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she's packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to it.

What's a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?

Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn't possibly imagine.

Still, adventure isn't all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.]]> 336 Travis Baldree 1250886104 Gary 5 4.13 2023 Bookshops & Bonedust (Legends & Lattes, #0)
author: Travis Baldree
name: Gary
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/03
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves:
review:
It’s just such a fun read! What’s not to like?
]]> Sunbringer (Fallen Gods, #2) 124941442 Godkiller in this thrilling sequel to the #1 internationally bestselling fantasy debut, where Kissen and her companions must navigate lands of gods and demons to unravel a dark truth at the heart of their world.

Professional godkiller Kissen and her companions—young noble Inara and knight Elogast—return in a winding adventure in a world overflowing with magic, beauty, and danger.]]> 370 Hannah Kaner 0008521514 Gary 4 3.88 2024 Sunbringer (Fallen Gods, #2)
author: Hannah Kaner
name: Gary
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves:
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]]> The Trees 200765395 352 Percival Everett 1035036614 Gary 4 4.19 2021 The Trees
author: Percival Everett
name: Gary
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves:
review:
Funny and shocking . Not too many books manage that but Everett has an easy style that races on through to a (for me) disappointing ending. I’ll certainly try his other books on the back of this one though.
]]> Next 847993 415 Michael Crichton 0007240996 Gary 3 3.53 2006 Next
author: Michael Crichton
name: Gary
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/01
date added: 2024/08/01
shelves:
review:
Enjoyable pseudo thriller. It’s science based fun and the transgenic characters are amusing, especially Gerard. It’s a quick read.
]]> The Bee Sting 62039166 From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart.

The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under―but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife Imelda is selling off her jewelry on eBay, while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way through her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home.

Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favor to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil―can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written―is there still time to find a happy ending?]]> 645 Paul Murray 0374600309 Gary 3 3.92 2023 The Bee Sting
author: Paul Murray
name: Gary
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/30
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves:
review:
I just didn’t find the characters believable. Funny in parts but overblown- could have been 30% shorter with no problem.
]]> The Android's Dream 7081
A sheep.

That's right, a sheep. And if you think that's the most surprising thing about this book, wait until you read Chapter One. Welcome to The Android's Dream.

For Harry Creek, it's quickly becoming a nightmare. All he wants is to do his uncomplicated mid-level diplomatic job with Earth's State Department. But his past training and skills get him tapped to save the planet--and to protect pet store owner Robin Baker, whose own past holds the key to the whereabouts of that lost sheep. Doing both will take him from lava-strewn battlefields to alien halls of power. All in a day's work. Maybe it's time for a raise.

Throw in two-timing freelance mercenaries, political lobbyists with megalomaniac tendencies, aliens on a religious quest, and an artificial intelligence with unusual backstory, and you've got more than just your usual science fiction adventure story. You've got The Android's Dream.]]> 396 John Scalzi 0765309416 Gary 4 3.97 2006 The Android's Dream
author: John Scalzi
name: Gary
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/23
date added: 2024/07/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Argylle 58517554
Enter Argylle. His life came to a crashing halt as a teenager. Since then he has been treading water, building barriers between himself and the world. Until one moment of compassion and brilliance will bring him to the attention of the most powerful woman in the secret world.

Coffey knows all about Argylle's dark past. She knows it haunts him. But she also knows it may give him the skills to join the team going up against one of the most powerful men in the world. His crash course in espionage will take him from the jungles of Thailand to the boulevards of Monaco, from the monasteries of Mount Athos to a forgotten cavern buried deep in the mountains.

It is a deathly rollercoaster ride that will either make him - or break him...]]> 384 Elly Conway 1787635910 Gary 3 3.21 2024 Argylle
author: Elly Conway
name: Gary
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/23
date added: 2024/07/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Godkiller (Fallen Gods, #1) 61244268
Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, they must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favour.

Pursued by demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning � something is rotting at the heart of their world, and only they can be the ones to stop it.]]> 304 Hannah Kaner 0008521468 Gary 5 3.85 2023 Godkiller (Fallen Gods, #1)
author: Hannah Kaner
name: Gary
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/26
date added: 2024/06/26
shelves:
review:
Very decent fantasy novel. Tick’s all the boxes. Waiting on the next one to be passed on to me�
]]> Wild About Harry 95457 257 Colin Bateman 0007105975 Gary 3 3.65 2001 Wild About Harry
author: Colin Bateman
name: Gary
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/20
date added: 2024/06/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms]]> 43726517
"A beautifully accessible guide.…One of the best books yet written on data and algorithms." � Times (UK) When it comes to artificial intelligence, we either hear of a paradise on earth or of our imminent extinction. It’s time we stand face-to-digital-face with the true powers and limitations of the algorithms that already automate important decisions in healthcare, transportation, crime, and commerce. Hello World is indispensable preparation for the moral quandaries of a world run by code, and with the unfailingly entertaining Hannah Fry as our guide, we’ll be discussing these issues long after the last page is turned.]]> 256 Hannah Fry 0393357368 Gary 3 4.11 2018 Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms
author: Hannah Fry
name: Gary
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/20
date added: 2024/06/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Empire of the Vampire (Empire of the Vampire, #1)]]> 56269205 From holy cup comes holy light;
The faithful hand sets world aright.
And in the Seven Martyrs� sight,
Mere man shall end this endless night.

It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness.

Gabriel de León is a silversaint: a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defending realm and church from the creatures of the night. But even the Silver Order could not stem the tide once daylight failed us, and now, only Gabriel remains.

Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the Wars of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope:

The Holy Grail.

From author Jay Kristoff comes Empire of the Vampire, the first illustrated volume of an astonishing new dark fantasy saga.]]> 739 Jay Kristoff 1250245281 Gary 5 4.29 2021 Empire of the Vampire (Empire of the Vampire, #1)
author: Jay Kristoff
name: Gary
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/20
date added: 2024/06/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Gogmagog (The Chronicles of Ludwich #1)]]> 154433984
Past plants on the mud-flats that send up brief, man-shaped clouds of seeds to lure you out, past shanty towns full of old sailors and pilots scraping a living from the dregs of the passenger trade, between the wicker effigies in the Wodwo graveyards this is a journey at once familiar from folk tales and country customs and utterly strange and alien.

Cady, back on her boat and feeling every day of her 1,600 years; the tight-lipped but beautiful little girl and her rubber-stitched-faced, mechanical companion are an odd but warmly imagined and compelling cast to accompany the reader on a quest into a world of mysteries and terrors that leave the reader with an inkling that this world is perhaps more familiar than it first appears.

Can Cady find her youth again?]]> 333 Jeff Noon Gary 4 3.64 2024 Gogmagog (The Chronicles of Ludwich #1)
author: Jeff Noon
name: Gary
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/19
date added: 2024/06/19
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]]> <![CDATA[If on a Winter's Night a Traveller]]> 52513609 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino. You like it. But there's a printer's error in your copy. You take it back to the shop and get a replacement. But the replacement seems to be a totally different story. You try to track down the original book you were reading but end up with a different narrative again. This remarkable novel leads you through many different books including a detective adventure, a romance, a satire, an erotic story, a diary and a quest. But the hero of them all is you, the reader.]]> 260 Italo Calvino Gary 3 3.83 1979 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller
author: Italo Calvino
name: Gary
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1979
rating: 3
read at: 2021/05/29
date added: 2024/06/11
shelves:
review:
3 stars for cleverness but really this book is the progeny of Kafka and Jarre - labyrinthine and absurdist breaking the 4th wall with the reader. It’s a translation from the Italian and that can sometimes make the text stilted but I think this narrative was written to be particular and exasperating. Obviously some people love the book but not me. I will have to read another of Calvino’s books to judge his quality properly- all his books can’t be like this surely?
]]> <![CDATA[Purple Cane Road (Dave Robicheaux, #11)]]> 44766
While helping out an old friend, Dave is stunned when a pimp looks at him sideways and asks him if he is Mae Guillory's boy, the whore a bunch of cops murdered 30 years ago. The pimp goes on to insinuate that the cops who dumped her body in the bayou were on the take and continue to thrive in the New Orleans area.

Dave's search for his mother's killers leads him to the darker places in his past and solving this case teaches him what it means to be his mother's son. Purple Cane Road has the dimensions of a classic-passion, murder, and nearly heartbreaking poignancy-wrapped in a wonderfully executed plot that surprises from start to finish.]]> 387 James Lee Burke 0440224047 Gary 5 4.11 2000 Purple Cane Road (Dave Robicheaux, #11)
author: James Lee Burke
name: Gary
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves:
review:
I know the Dave and Clete act can get repetitive but it’s somehow comfortable when you read these books. You know what you are going to get and they never fail to deliver. I like ‘em and that’s as much as I can say really. You’ll either want to read more or stop after a couple I suspect. I am in the former camp. Give them a go.
]]> The Bedlam Stacks 31450615
There he meets Raphael, a priest around whom the villagers spin unsettling stories of impossible disappearances, cursed woods, and living stone. Merrick must separate truth from fairy tale, and gradually he realizes that Raphael is the key to a legacy left by generations of Tremayne explorers before him, one which will prove more valuable than quinine, and far more dangerous.]]> 352 Natasha Pulley 1620409674 Gary 5 Gentle and gorgeous prose. Highly recommended.]]> 3.99 2017 The Bedlam Stacks
author: Natasha Pulley
name: Gary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/06/02
shelves:
review:
Natasha Pulley simply writes beautifully about humans and history and in this book superbly blends fact with fiction in a delightful feat of imagination. I have read several of her books and not been disappointed once.
Gentle and gorgeous prose. Highly recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Wired Dark (Paradise Crime, #4)]]> 39927977 USA Today bestselling author Toby Neal, whose work Kirkus calls "masterful," comes a new adventure with Sophie Ang!

Paradise can’t contain a thirst for revenge.

Tech security specialist Sophie Ang returns to Maui, working alongside dynamic partner Jake Dunn to solve a series of bizarre and escalating threats against a rocker with a beach mansion. But soon, catching a crazed stalker becomes the least of Sophie’s problems: a deadly enemy is hell-bent to take her down along with anyone she cares about. Sophie’s very identity is tested as she grapples with issues of conscience and survival in a struggle that takes her to the edge of heartbreak, and beyond.

"One of the year's best books!" ~KC, ŷ]]> 242 Toby Neal 0997308974 Gary 0 4.29 Wired Dark (Paradise Crime, #4)
author: Toby Neal
name: Gary
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/07
date added: 2024/05/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity, #2)]]> 32075662
August Flynn once yearned to be human. But no longer. He has a part to play. And he will play it, no matter the cost.

The war has begun.

The monsters are winning.

Kate will have to return to Verity. August will have to let her back in. And a new monster is waiting -- one that feeds on chaos and brings out its victims' inner demons.

Which will be harder to conquer: the monsters they face, or the monsters within?]]> 528 Victoria E. Schwab 0062380885 Gary 5 4.13 2017 Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity, #2)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Gary
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/06
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves:
review:
This is a writer who never fails to provide a story that is both imaginative and delightful. She writes so well it’s always a real pleasure to find a new book from her. Obviously read part 1 first but do read them. I don’t think you’ll regret the time spent.
]]> How to Kill Your Family 50224049
When I think about what I actually did, I feel somewhat sad that nobody will ever know about the complex operation that I undertook. Getting away with it is highly preferable, of course, but perhaps when I’m long gone, someone will open an old safe and find this confession. The public would reel. After all, almost nobody else in the world can possibly understand how someone, by the tender age of 28, can have calmly killed six members of her family. And then happily got on with the rest of her life, never to regret a thing.

When Grace Bernard discovers her absentee millionaire father has rejected her dying mother’s pleas for help, she vows revenge, and sets about to kill every member of his family. Readers have a front row seat as Grace picks off the family one by one � and the result is as and gruesome as it is entertaining in this wickedly dark romp about class, family, love� and murder.

But then Grace is imprisoned for a murder she didn’t commit.

Outrageously funny, compulsive and subversive, perfect for fans of Killing Eve and My Sister, the Serial Killer.]]> 355 Bella Mackie Gary 3 3.49 2021 How to Kill Your Family
author: Bella Mackie
name: Gary
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/04/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Poor Things 72355 Poor Things is a postmodern revision of Frankenstein that replaces the traditional monster with Bella Baxter - a beautiful young erotomaniac brought back to life with the brain of an infant. Godwin Baxter's scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realized when he finds the drowned body of Bella, but his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless's jealous love for Baxter's creation.

The hilarious tale of love and scandal that ensues would be "the whole story" in the hands of a lesser author (which in fact it is, for this account is actually written by Dr. McCandless). For Gray, though, this is only half the story, after which Bella (a.k.a. Victoria McCandless) has her own say in the matter. Satirizing the classic Victorian novel, Poor Things is a hilarious political allegory and a thought-provoking duel between the desires of men and the independence of women, from one of Scotland's most accomplished authors.]]> 318 Alasdair Gray 0747562288 Gary 4 3.92 1992 Poor Things
author: Alasdair Gray
name: Gary
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/25
date added: 2024/04/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)]]> 46016436 Alternate cover edition can be found here

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?]]> 377 Richard Osman 0241425441 Gary 5 3.95 2020 The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Gary
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/04/19
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves:
review:
Just a lovely read... very English and very clever. I just hope Steven Spielberg doesn’t set the film in the USA and use American actors. My money is on Bradley Walsh to play Ron....
]]> <![CDATA[Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1)]]> 61298799 High fantasy, low stakes � with a double-shot of coffee.

After decades of adventuring, Viv the orc barbarian is finally hanging up her sword for good. Now she sets her sights on a new dream � for she plans to open the first coffee shop in the city of Thune. Even though no one there knows what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the past behind her, she can’t go it alone. And help might arrive from unexpected quarters. Yet old rivals and new stand in the way of success. And Thune’s shady underbelly could make it all too easy for Viv to take up the blade once more.

But the true reward of the uncharted path is the travellers you meet along the way. Whether bound by ancient magic, delicious pastries or a freshly brewed cup, they may become something deeper than Viv ever could have imagined.

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree is a cosy, heartwarming slice-of-life fantasy about found families and fresh starts � perfect for fans of TJ Klune, Katherine Addison and T. Kingfisher.]]> 318 Travis Baldree Gary 5 A welcome change to blood and guts fantasy!

This is a sweet little book that is set in a D&D environment but is not all swords and slashing. It’s a cosy story of Orcish endeavour that is charming and simple. Reminds me a little of Jack Vance in its storytelling. I look forward to the next one.]]> 4.08 2022 Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1)
author: Travis Baldree
name: Gary
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/25
date added: 2024/03/25
shelves:
review:
A welcome change to blood and guts fantasy!

This is a sweet little book that is set in a D&D environment but is not all swords and slashing. It’s a cosy story of Orcish endeavour that is charming and simple. Reminds me a little of Jack Vance in its storytelling. I look forward to the next one.
]]> Hel's Eight (Ten Low #2) 72076792
Who controls the future, controls it all...

Ten “Doc� Low is a medic with a dark past, riding the wastes of the desert moon Factus, dispensing medicine to the needy and death to those who cross the laws of the mysterious Seekers. Cursed by otherworldly forces, she stays alone to keep herself safe, and to keep others safe from her...

But when she experiences a terrifying vision of conflict and the deaths of those she once called friends, she must drag herself back to the land of the living to stop a war before it begins. With rebellion brewing, the Accord’s grip on the Outer Moons weakening and a sinister tycoon buying up all land in sight, Ten must find allies where she can and face the past in order to save the future. The cost will be greater than she could ever have imagined...

A wild, adrenaline-packed, whip-smart crash of storytelling and shoot-outs, ideal for fans of Becky Chambers' Wayfarers and Alex White's Salvagers .]]> 352 Stark Holborn 1803362294 Gary 5 3.94 2023 Hel's Eight (Ten Low #2)
author: Stark Holborn
name: Gary
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/21
date added: 2024/03/21
shelves:
review:
Just as good as the first book and I’d advise reading them in order to get the most enjoyment out of this space western sf series.
]]> Starter Villain 61885029
Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.]]> 264 John Scalzi 0765389223 Gary 5 4.09 2023 Starter Villain
author: John Scalzi
name: Gary
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/15
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Shadow Cabinet (Her Majesty's Royal Coven, #2)]]> 62366354 In the second installment of Juno Dawson's irresistable fantasy trilogy (Lana Harper), a group of childhood friends and witches must choose between what is right and what is easy if they have any hope of keeping their coven--and their world--from tearing apart forever.

Niamh Kelly is dead. Her troubled twin, Ciara, now masquerades as the benevolent witch as Her Majesty's Royal Coven prepares to crown her High Preistess.

Suffering from amnesia, Ciara can't remember what she's done--but if she wants to survive, she must fool Niamh's adopted family and friends; the coven; and the murky Shadow Cabinet--a secret group of mundane civil servants who are already suspicious of witches. While she tries to rebuild her past, she realizes none of her past has forgotten her, including her former lover, renegade warlock Dabney Hale.

On the other end of the continent, Leonie Jackman is in search of Hale, rumored to be seeking a dark object of ultimate power somehow connected to the upper echelons of the British government. If the witches can't figure out Hale's machinations, and fast, all of witchkind will be in grave danger--along with the fate of all (wo)mankind.

Sharp, funny, provocative, and joyous, Juno Dawson's sequel reimagines everything you think you knew about her coven and her witches in a story that spans continents and dives deep into the roots of England and its witchcraft. Ciara, Leonie, Elle, and Theo are fierce, angry, sexy, warm--and absolutely unapologetic as they fight for what they believe in, all in the name of sisterhood.]]> 528 Juno Dawson 0143137158 Gary 3 4.20 2023 The Shadow Cabinet (Her Majesty's Royal Coven, #2)
author: Juno Dawson
name: Gary
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/13
date added: 2024/03/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bounty Hunter (Desa Kincaid, #1)]]> 44891064
Blessed with the power to transform ordinary objects into devastating weapons, she journeys through trading ports, backwater towns, forests, deserts and the haunted remains of a dead city.

But can she stop her enemy before he unleashes something terrible on the world?]]> 532 R.S. Penney Gary 3 3.84 2019 Bounty Hunter (Desa Kincaid, #1)
author: R.S. Penney
name: Gary
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/10
date added: 2024/03/10
shelves:
review:

]]> The Red Badge of Courage 4837779 184 Stephen Crane 1592247938 Gary 5 3.45 1895 The Red Badge of Courage
author: Stephen Crane
name: Gary
average rating: 3.45
book published: 1895
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/03/07
shelves:
review:
The American Civil War comes terribly alive in this terrific book.
]]> The Midnight Library 52578297
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 0525559477 Gary 4 3.96 2020 The Midnight Library
author: Matt Haig
name: Gary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/06
date added: 2024/03/06
shelves:
review:
Matt Haig’s light and rhythmical writing style pushes this story about finding the good in your life along at a brisk pace. It’s a quick read and who doesn’t love a story that has quantum theory at its heart, oh and hope too�
]]> Masters of Death 38311338 From Olivie Blake, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes Masters of Death, a story about vampires, ghosts, and death itself!

Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the house has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on.

Fox D’Mora is a medium, and though is also most-definitely a shameless fraud, he isn’t entirely without his uses—seeing as he’s actually the godson of Death.

When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with her ghost-infested mansion, he becomes inextricably involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects (or wants). But with the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and a few high-functioning creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn’t nearly as distinct as they thought.]]> 349 Olivie Blake Gary 4 3.64 2018 Masters of Death
author: Olivie Blake
name: Gary
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves:
review:
My initial feeling was that this was a cross between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and it definitely has overtones of these authors. I enjoyed it and rate this author highly for originality and style. It won’t be for everyone but get your local library to stock it and have a go!
]]> <![CDATA[The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2)]]> 57912066 Five are now members of the Society.
Two paths lie before them.

All must pick a side.

Alliances will be tested, hearts will be broken, and The Society of Alexandrians will be revealed for what it is: a secret society with raw, world-changing power, headed by a man whose plans to change life as we know it are already under way.]]> 560 Olivie Blake 1250855128 Gary 3 3.51 2022 The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2)
author: Olivie Blake
name: Gary
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves:
review:

]]> Heavy Weather 359386
Forty years from now, Earth's climate has been drastically changed by the greenhouse effect. Tornadoes of almost unimaginable force roam the open spaces of Texas. And on their trail are the Storm Troupers: a ragtag band of computer experts and atmospheric scientists who live to hack heavy weather -- to document it and spread the information as far as the digital networks will stretch, using virtual reality to explore the eye of the storm.

Although it's incredibly addictive, this is no game. The Troupers' computer models suggest that soon an "F-6" will strike -- a tornado of an intensity that exceeds any existing scale; a storm so devastating that it may never stop. And they're going to be there when all hell breaks loose.]]> 310 Bruce Sterling 055357292X Gary 5 3.69 1994 Heavy Weather
author: Bruce Sterling
name: Gary
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/02/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Widespread Panic 55539740
Freddy Otash is the man in the know and the man to know in '50s L.A. He operates with two simple rules - he'll do anything but commit murder and he'll never work with the commies.

Freddy is an ex-L.A. cop on the skids. He snuffed a cop killer in cold blood - and it got to him bad. So Chief William H. Parker canned him. Now he's a sleazoid private eye, a shakedown artist, a - and, most notably, the head strongarm goon for Confidential magazine. Confidential presaged the idiot internet - and delivered the dirt, the dish, the insidious ink and the scurrilous skank on the feckless foibles of misanthropic movie stars, sex-soiled socialites and potzo politicians. Freaky Freddy outs them all!

In Widespread Panic , we traverse the depths of '50s L.A. and dig on the inner workings of Confidential. You'll go to Burt Lancaster's lushly appointed den ... You'll groove overhyped legend James Dean as Freddy's chief stooge ... You'll be there for Freddy's ring-a-ding rendezvous with Liz Taylor ... You'll be front and centre as Freddy anoints himself the 'Tattle Tyrant Who Held Hollywood Hostage'.]]> 320 James Ellroy 1785152580 Gary 3 3.03 2021 Widespread Panic
author: James Ellroy
name: Gary
average rating: 3.03
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/05
date added: 2024/02/18
shelves:
review:
Reading this one is like reading a ‘Beat� poem that is 200 pages too long! His use of alliteration mimics the style of the scandal rag Confidential but for me the style being used throughout the book wears thin. It’s impressive to be able to write such a book but not as enjoyable to read as many of his earlier stories.
]]> Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) 204551092
Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College, Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet's already wondering how she'll get through. It's not just that it's grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it's designed to stretch the riders' capacity for pain beyond endurance. It's the new vice commandant, who's made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is - unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet's body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else's, she still has her wits, and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won't be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College - and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.]]> 640 Rebecca Yarros 0349437025 Gary 5 4.32 2023 Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Gary
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/17
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> The Empathist 199482085 Amy is in her thirties, has her own house and a successful a career. To the outside world Amy has it all.

What they don’t know, Is that Amy is running from a past that she does not want to remember� that she had forgotten. The years of medication have helped at the price of a small side effect that she welcomes.

But a triggering sequence of events leading up to her Father’s death have started to scratch again at the wall holding back her repressed memories.

The feelings creep back in so slowly, she isn’t aware of her own mind as her carefully constructed life begins to unravel at the seams with catastrophic consequences for those around her .

As an unhealed past rises up violently to be acknowledged, Amy must finally understand who she was in order to determine what will she become.

But there are deadly risks of bonding with the shattered self� ]]> 332 Alex Franklyn Gary 4 Overall a good debut thriller from a knowledgeable writer.]]> 4.00 The Empathist
author: Alex Franklyn
name: Gary
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/01
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves:
review:
A psychological thriller, strong with plenty of twists to keep you guessing!
Overall a good debut thriller from a knowledgeable writer.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lost Future of Pepperharrow (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, #2)]]> 35658977 The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Thaniel Steepleton, an unassuming translator, and Keita Mori, the watchmaker who remembers the future, are traveling to Japan. Thaniel has received an unexpected posting to the British legation in Tokyo, and Mori has business that is taking him to Yokohama.

Thaniel's brief is odd: the legation staff have been seeing ghosts, and Thaniel's first task is to find out what's really going on. But while staying with Mori, he starts to experience ghostly happenings himself. For reasons Mori won't--or can't--share, he is frightened. Then he vanishes.

Meanwhile, something strange is happening in a frozen labor camp in Northern Japan. Takiko Pepperharrow, an old friend of Mori's, must investigate.

As the weather turns bizarrely electrical and ghosts haunt the country from Tokyo to Aokigahara forest, Thaniel grows convinced that it all has something to do with Mori's disappearance--and that Mori may be in serious danger.]]> 512 Natasha Pulley 1408885190 Gary 4 4.29 2020 The Lost Future of Pepperharrow (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, #2)
author: Natasha Pulley
name: Gary
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves:
review:

]]> The Secret Hours 121171181 Monochrome is a busted flush - an inquiry into the misdeeds of the intelligence services, established by a vindictive prime minister but rendered toothless by a wily chief spook. For years it has ground away uselessly, interviewing witnesses with nothing to offer, producing a report with nothing to say, while the civil servants at its helm see their careers disappearing into a black hole.

And then the OTIS file falls into their hands . . .

What secrets does this hold that see a long-redundant spy being chased through Devon's green lanes in the dark? What happened in a newly reunified Berlin that someone is desperate to keep under wraps? And who will win the battle for the soul of the secret service - or was that decided a long time ago?

Spies and pen-pushers, politicians and PAs, high-flyers, time-servers and burn-outs . . . They all have jobs to do in the daylight.

But what they do in the secret hours reveals who they really are.

]]> 398 Mick Herron 1399800566 Gary 4 4.43 2023 The Secret Hours
author: Mick Herron
name: Gary
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/31
date added: 2024/01/31
shelves:
review:
This is a story of a time before Slough House was populated with slow horses but it still delivers the usual Mick Heron Spooks atmosphere and if not quite as much action as previous books, it is a good read for his legion of fans!
]]> Tune in Tomorrow 59365823 A funny, thrilling and mysterious adventure into the world of alternate reality television... Perfect for fans of Jasper Fforde and Christopher Moore. 

She’s just a small town girl, with big mythic dreams.

Starr Weatherby came to New York to become� well, a star. But after ten years and no luck, she’s offered a big role � on a show no one has ever heard of. And there’s a reason for that. It’s a ‘reality� show beyond the Veil, human drama, performed for the entertainment of the Fae.



But as Starr shifts from astounded newcomer to rising fan favorite, she learns about the show’s dark underbelly � and mysterious disappearance of her predecessor. She’ll do whatever it takes to keep her dream job � though she might just bring down the show in the process.]]> 464 Randee Dawn 1786186306 Gary 3 3.58 2022 Tune in Tomorrow
author: Randee Dawn
name: Gary
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/21
date added: 2024/01/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, #4)]]> 62226126
An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.

As the gang springs into action they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home.

With the body count rising, the package still missing and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die?]]> 421 Richard Osman 0241512441 Gary 4 4.44 2023 The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, #4)
author: Richard Osman
name: Gary
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/15
date added: 2024/01/15
shelves:
review:
Gentle and sweet and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man’s clothes- to paraphrase Billy Joel. Quite reflective on the subject of grief and fading away into the gentle good night (paraphrasing again- Dylan Thomas). I did spot the twists and turns ahead of time in this one but a quick read that made me smile.
]]> <![CDATA[The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power, #1)]]> 111673828 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and set in the world of A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab opens a new door into perilous adventure and tangled schemes with The Fragile Threads of Power.

Once, there were four worlds, nestled like pages in a book, each pulsing with fantastical power, and connected by a single city: London. Until the magic grew too fast, and forced the worlds to seal the doors between them in a desperate gamble to protect their own. The few magicians who could still open the doors grew more rare as time passed and now, only three Antari are known in recent memory―Kell Maresh of Red London, Delilah Bard of Grey London, and Holland Vosijk, of White London.

But barely a glimpse of them have been seen in the last seven years―and a new Antari named Kosika has appeared in White London, taking the throne in Holland's absence. The young queen is willing to feed her city with blood, including her own―but her growing religious fervor has the potential to drown them instead.

And back in Red London, King Rhy Maresh is threatened by a rising rebellion, one determined to correct the balance of power by razing the throne entirely.

Amidst this tapestry of old friends and new enemies, a girl with an unusual magical ability comes into possession of a device that could change the fate of all four worlds.

Her name is Tes, and she's the only one who can bring them together―or unravel it all.]]> 648 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387492 Gary 5 4.26 2023 The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power, #1)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Gary
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/10
date added: 2024/01/10
shelves:
review:

]]> The Atlas Paradox Sneak Peek 61785425 The Atlas Paradox is the long-awaited sequel to Olivie Blake's New York Times bestselling dark academic sensation The Atlas Six—guaranteed to have even more yearning, backstabbing, betrayal, and chaos. Download a FREE sneak peek today!Six magicians were presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.Five are now members of the Society.Two paths lay before them.All must pick a side.Alliances will be tested, hearts will be broken, and The Society of Alexandrians will be revealed for what it a secret society with raw, world-changing power, headed by a man whose plans to change life as we know it are already under way."The Atlas Six introduced six of the most devious, talented, and flawed characters to ever find themselves in a magical library, and then sets them against one another in a series of stunning betrayals and reversals. As much a delicious contest of wit, will, and passion as it is of magic...half mystery, half puzzle, and wholly a delight."—New York Times bestselling author Holly BlackAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 104 Olivie Blake 1250895154 Gary 3 3.71 The Atlas Paradox Sneak Peek
author: Olivie Blake
name: Gary
average rating: 3.71
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/15
date added: 2023/12/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 665 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Gary 4 A romantasy roller coaster! 4.56 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Gary
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/27
date added: 2023/11/27
shelves:
review:
A romantasy roller coaster!
]]> The Exchange 2429973 The Exchange is gritty magical realism with a sense of humor -- just right for fans of Holly Black and Sonya Hartnett.

]]> 256 Graham Joyce 0670062073 Gary 4 3.54 2006 The Exchange
author: Graham Joyce
name: Gary
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/15
date added: 2023/11/15
shelves:
review:

]]> Hit List (Keller, #2) 442724 296 Lawrence Block 0061030996 Gary 4 3.86 2000 Hit List (Keller, #2)
author: Lawrence Block
name: Gary
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/15
date added: 2023/11/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Edie Investigates: A Short Story]]> 19219458 59 Nick Harkaway Gary 4 4.04 2012 Edie Investigates: A Short Story
author: Nick Harkaway
name: Gary
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/12
date added: 2023/11/12
shelves:
review:
Nice vignette pre-Angelmaker. Makes me want to re-read Angelmaker. Maybe I will�.
]]> The Tooth Fairy 44601 324 Graham Joyce 0312868332 Gary 0 3.85 1996 The Tooth Fairy
author: Graham Joyce
name: Gary
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Ink Blood Sister Scribe 62854842 In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family's library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection--a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power.

For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements--books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.

All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna's isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they'll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .]]> 416 Emma Törzs 0063253461 Gary 5 No spoilers just read it and enjoy.]]> 3.99 2023 Ink Blood Sister Scribe
author: Emma Törzs
name: Gary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/02
date added: 2023/11/02
shelves:
review:
Excellent debut novel! Leigh Bardugo and Victoria Schwab look out!
No spoilers just read it and enjoy.
]]> <![CDATA[Antimatter Blues (Mickey7, #2)]]> 60784562
It’s not going to last.

It may be sunny now, but winter is coming. The antimatter that fuels the colony is running low, and Marshall wants his bomb back. If Mickey agrees to retrieve it, he’ll be giving up the only thing that’s kept his head off of the chopping block. If he refuses, he might doom the entire colony. Meanwhile, the creepers have their own worries, and they’re not going to surrender the bomb without getting something in return. Once again, Mickey finds the fate of two species resting in his hands. If something goes wrong this time, though, he won’t be coming back.]]> 292 Edward Ashton 1250275059 Gary 3 3.89 2023 Antimatter Blues (Mickey7, #2)
author: Edward Ashton
name: Gary
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/23
date added: 2023/10/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Soul Taken (Mercy Thompson, #13)]]> 62817115
But Wulfe isn’t the only one who has disappeared. And now there are bodies, too. Has the Harvester returned to the Tri-Cities, reaping souls with his cursed sickle? Or is he just a character from a B horror movie and our enemy is someone else?

The farther I follow Wulfe’s trail, the more twisted—and darker—the path becomes. I need to figure out what’s going on before the next body on the ground is mine.]]> 400 Patricia Briggs 0356513629 Gary 4 4.11 2022 Soul Taken (Mercy Thompson, #13)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Gary
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/15
date added: 2023/10/15
shelves:
review:
A comfortable fast read . The latest in a long line of werewolf fantasy stories which have plenty of unique features to make them a cut above many others in the same genre.
]]> <![CDATA[Her Majesty's Royal Coven (Her Majesty's Royal Coven, #1)]]> 59088433
At the dawn of their adolescence, on the eve of the summer solstice, four young girls--Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle--took the oath to join Her Majesty's Royal Coven, established by Queen Elizabeth I as a covert government department. Now, decades later, the witch community is still reeling from a civil war and Helena is now the reigning High Priestess of the organization. Yet Helena is the only one of her friend group still enmeshed in the stale bureaucracy of HMRC. Elle is trying to pretend she's a normal housewife, and Niamh has become a country vet, using her powers to heal sick animals. In what Helena perceives as the deepest betrayal, Leonie has defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora. And now Helena has a bigger problem. A young warlock of extraordinary capabilities has been captured by authorities and seems to threaten the very existence of HMRC. With conflicting beliefs over the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition, or doing what is right.

Juno Dawson explores gender and the corrupting nature of power in a delightful and provocative story of magic and matriarchy, friendship and feminism. Dealing with all the aspects of contemporary womanhood, as well as being phenomenally powerful witches, Niamh, Helena, Leonie and Elle may have grown apart but they will always be bound by the sisterhood of the coven.]]> 448 Juno Dawson 014313714X Gary 4 3.79 2022 Her Majesty's Royal Coven (Her Majesty's Royal Coven, #1)
author: Juno Dawson
name: Gary
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/09
date added: 2023/10/09
shelves:
review:
I’m guessing that Juno and JK are not best buddies�. Rowling that is not the multi talented R&B/Jazz fusion musician. This is LGBTQ adventure of high quality. It rocks and rolls at a high pace in an alternate UK where witches are very real. I love the setting of the story in and around Hebden bridge and that ending�.
]]> Landline 18081809
Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her � Neal is always a little upset with Georgie � but she doesn't expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts...

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?]]> 320 Rainbow Rowell 1250049377 Gary 4 3.54 2014 Landline
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: Gary
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/01
date added: 2023/10/02
shelves:
review:
RR has a very appealing writing style that draws me into the world of her characters. This is a a book about the intensity of emotion that allows Georgie McCool to breach the barriers between timelines (bit of a nod to the quantum many worlds theory which always appeals to me). It’s funny and the dialogue is often poignant. I very much enjoyed this story.
]]> <![CDATA[Titanium Noir (Titanium Noir #1)]]> 62052321 A virtuosic mashup of Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler by way of Marvel—the story of a detective investigating the murder of a Titan, one of society's most powerful, medically-enhanced elites.

"Cross-genre brilliance from the superbly talented Nick Harkaway." —William Gibson, New York Times best-selling author of Agency.

Cal Sounder is a detective working for the police on certain very sensitive cases. So when he's called in to investigate a homicide at a local apartment, he's surprised by the routineness of it all. But when he arrives on scene, Cal soon learns that the victim—Roddy Tebbit, an otherwise milquetoast techie—is well over seven feet tall. And although he doesn't look a day over thirty, he is ninety-one years old. Tebbit is a Titan—one of this dystopian, near-future society's genetically altered elites. And this case is definitely Cal's thing.

There are only a few thousand Titans worldwide, thanks to Stefan Tonfamecasca's discovery of the controversial T7 genetic therapy, which elevated his family to godlike status. T7 turns average humans into near-immortal distortions of themselves—with immense physical proportions to match their ostentatious, unreachable lifestyles. A dead Titan is big news . . . a murdered Titan is unimaginable. But these modified magnates are Cal's specialty. In fact, his own ex-girlfriend, Athena, is a Titan. And not just any—she is Stefan's daughter, heir to the massive Tonfamecasca empire.

As the murder investigation intensifies, Cal begins to unravel the complicated threads of what should have been a straightforward case, and it becomes clear he's on the trail of a crime whose roots run deep into the dark heart of the world.]]> 236 Nick Harkaway 0593535367 Gary 5 3.90 2023 Titanium Noir (Titanium Noir #1)
author: Nick Harkaway
name: Gary
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/27
date added: 2023/09/27
shelves:
review:
Dashiel Hammet meets Philip K Dick. Great story well written and well read in this audiobook version from Nick Harkaway. Very entertaining.
]]> <![CDATA[All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)]]> 33387769
But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid � a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.� Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

]]> 152 Martha Wells 0765397536 Gary 4 4.10 2017 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)
author: Martha Wells
name: Gary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/09/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1)]]> 28696452 411 Victoria E. Schwab 1785652745 Gary 5 4.12 2016 This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Gary
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/20
date added: 2023/09/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Painted Man (Demon Cycle, #1)]]> 3322866 416 Peter V. Brett 0007287755 Gary 3 4.22 2008 The Painted Man (Demon Cycle, #1)
author: Peter V. Brett
name: Gary
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/14
date added: 2023/09/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Yellowface 59357120
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]> 329 R.F. Kuang Gary 3 3.84 2023 Yellowface
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Gary
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/12
date added: 2023/09/12
shelves:
review:
I have given 3 stars because unlike her previous books which were towering stories worthy of 4and 5 stars this one seems more like a debut novel rather than one following books like Babel and the Poppy Wars. I understand that she is big on TikTok (I am not on this platform) and that this book is satirical and depicts the various social media pitfalls that can befall people who put their heads above the parapet but it is not a horror story and isn’t massively interesting to me. I am sure her next will be a return to quality.
]]> Daughter of Redwinter 157813195 Those who see the dead soon join them.

Raine can see--and more importantly, speak--to the dead. It's a wretched gift with a death sentence that has her doing many dubious things to save her skin. Seeking refuge with a deluded cult is her latest bad, survival-related decision. But her rare act of kindness--rescuing an injured woman in the snow--is even worse.

Because the woman has escaped from Redwinter, the fortress-monastery of the Draoihn, warrior magicians who answer to no king and who will stop at nothing to retrieve what she's stolen. A battle, a betrayal, and a horrific revelation forces Raine to enter Redwinter. It becomes clear that her ability might save an entire nation.

Pity she might have to die for that to happen...]]> 333 Ed McDonald 147323364X Gary 4 3.67 2022 Daughter of Redwinter
author: Ed McDonald
name: Gary
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/04
date added: 2023/09/04
shelves:
review:
Good world building and engaging characters. Very readable.
]]> Shakespeare for Squirrels 52216445 New York Times Bestseller!

Shakespeare meets Dashiell Hammett in this wildly entertaining murder mystery from New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore—an uproarious, hardboiled take on the Bard’s most performed play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuring Pocket, the hero of Fool and The Serpent of Venice, along with his sidekick, Drool, and pet monkey, Jeff.

Set adrift by his pirate crew, Pocket of Dog Snogging—last seen in The Serpent of Venice—washes up on the sun-bleached shores of Greece, where he hopes to dazzle the Duke with his comedic brilliance and become his trusted fool.

But the island is in turmoil. Egeus, the Duke’s minister, is furious that his daughter Hermia is determined to marry Demetrius, instead of Lysander, the man he has chosen for her. The Duke decrees that if, by the time of the wedding, Hermia still refuses to marry Lysander, she shall be executed . . . or consigned to a nunnery. Pocket, being Pocket, cannot help but point out that this decree is complete bollocks, and that the Duke is an egregious weasel for having even suggested it. Irritated by the fool’s impudence, the Duke orders his death. With the Duke’s guards in pursuit, Pocket makes a daring escape.

He soon stumbles into the wooded realm of the fairy king Oberon, who, as luck would have it, IS short a fool. His jester Robin Goodfellow—the mischievous sprite better known as Puck—was found dead. Murdered. Oberon makes Pocket an offer he can’t refuse: he will make Pocket his fool and have his death sentence lifted if Pocket finds out who killed Robin Goodfellow. But as anyone who is even vaguely aware of the Bard’s most performed play ever will know, nearly every character has a motive for wanting the mischievous sprite dead.

With too many suspects and too little time, Pocket must work his own kind of magic to find the truth, save his neck, and ensure that all ends well.

A rollicking tale of love, magic, madness, and murder, Shakespeare for Squirrels is a Midsummer Night’s noir—a wicked and brilliantly funny good time conjured by the singular imagination of Christopher Moore.]]> 271 Christopher Moore 0062434020 Gary 5 3.85 2020 Shakespeare for Squirrels
author: Christopher Moore
name: Gary
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/09/03
shelves:
review:
Just very funny and tres jolie I said in perfect fg French�.
]]> The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1) 61259384
Enter the latest round of six: Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona, unwilling halves of an unfathomable whole, who exert uncanny control over every element of physicality. Reina Mori, a naturalist, who can intuit the language of life itself. Parisa Kamali, a telepath who can traverse the depths of the subconscious, navigating worlds inside the human mind. Callum Nova, an empath easily mistaken for a manipulative illusionist, who can influence the intimate workings of a person’s inner self. Finally, there is Tristan Caine, who can see through illusions to a new structure of reality—an ability so rare that neither he nor his peers can fully grasp its implications.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they will have one year to qualify for initiation, during which time they will be permitted preliminary access to the Society’s archives and judged based on their contributions to various subjects of impossibility: time and space, luck and thought, life and death. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. The six potential initiates will fight to survive the next year of their lives, and if they can prove themselves to be the best among their rivals, most of them will.

Most of them.]]> 576 Olivie Blake 1529095255 Gary 4 3.54 2020 The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1)
author: Olivie Blake
name: Gary
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/29
date added: 2023/08/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Archived (The Archived, #1)]]> 10929432 Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was: a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous—it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost, Da's death was hard enough, but now that her little brother is gone too, Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself may crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.]]> 327 Victoria E. Schwab 1423157311 Gary 5 3.96 2013 The Archived (The Archived, #1)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Gary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/08/19
shelves:
review:
So imaginative and fresh! This is V’s second book and it shows all the talent and depth she will show in her later books. Highly recommended.
]]> Silver Nitrate 63249718 New York Times bestselling author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film--and awakens one woman's hidden powers.

Montserrat has always been overlooked. She’s a talented sound editor, but she’s left out of the boys� club running the film industry in �90s Mexico City. And she’s all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she’s been in love with him since childhood.

Then Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives—even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed.

Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse . . . but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.

As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Tristán may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies.]]> 323 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0593355369 Gary 0 to-read 3.56 2023 Silver Nitrate
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Gary
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>