The Book Plank

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett, Founders #1  Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.  But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic--the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience--have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.  Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.  To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marsh...

Saint's Blood by Sebastien de Castell, Greatcoats #3 How do you kill a Saint? Falcio, Kest, and Brasti are about to find out, because someone has figured out a way to do it and they've started with a friend. The Dukes were already looking for ways out of their agreement to put Aline on the throne, but with the Saints turning up dead, rumours are spreading that the Gods themselves oppose her ascension. Now churches are looking to protect themselves by bringing back the military orders of religious soldiers, assassins, and (especially) Inquisitors - a move that could turn the country into a theocracy. The only way Falcio can put a stop to it is by finding the murderer. He has only one clue: a terrifying iron mask which makes the Saints vulnerable by driving them mad. But even if he can find the killer, he'll still have to face him in battle. And that may be a duel that no swordsman, no matter how skilled, can hope to win. Two years ago Sebastien de Castell...

Inheritance by Charlaine Harris and Christopher Golden, Cemetery Girl #2   She calls herself Calexa Rose Dunhill. She has been living - hiding out - in Dunhill Cemetery ever since someone left her there to die. She has no idea who wants her dead or why, but she isn't about to hand around for her would-be-killer to finish the job. Despite her self-imposed isolation among the deceased, Calexa's ability to see spirits and the memories she receives from them guarantees she'll never be alone. The only living people she interacts with are Kelner, the cemetery's cantankerous caretaker, and Lucinda Cameron, an elderly woman who lives in an old Victorian house across the street. With their friendship, Calexa has regained a link to the world beyond tombstones and mausoleums. Until the night she witnesses a murder that shatters her life: a life now under a police microscope, as their investigation threatens to uncover Calexa's true identity . .  Last year Jo Fletcher B...

Path of Gods by Snorri Kristjansson, The Vahalla Saga #3 Reunited, Audun and Ulfar have a new sense of purpose: to ensure that the North remains in the hands of those who hold with the old gods. To do this, they must defeat the people who seek to destroy all they have ever known with the new White Christ. But these are powerful enemies and if they have any chance of victory, they must find equally powerful allies. In Trondheim, King Olav, self-appointed champion of the White Christ, finds that keeping the peace is a much harder test of his faith than winning the war. With his garrison halved and local chieftains at his table who wish him nothing but ill, the king must decide how and where to spread the word of his god. And in the North, touched by the trickster god, something old, malevolent and very, very angry stirs… And so we are brought to the third story in the awesome The Vahalla Saga . Snorri Kristjansson managed to completely win me over with his debut Swords of G...

Guest Blog: Asking the next Question by Stephanie Saulter Binary was a book I didn’t intend to write. Unlike many authors of speculative fiction, I hadn’t embarked on a trilogy or set out to create a series; there was just this stand-alone novel, provisionally titled ®Evolution , clawing its way out of my head and onto the page. It chronicled an incendiary, and indeed revolutionary, moment of social change; and although it concluded its own narrative arc and resolved most of its internal mysteries it fundamentally ended with a question: What happens now? Given what has already been done, and cannot be undone; knowing what we now know, and can no longer pretend ignorance of; how do people move forward? What kind of society do they wish to live in?   Who will they choose, now, to be? I quite like open endings. I like a story that concludes with the conundrums of real life, that invites the reader to engage in speculation of their own. So I was prepared to leave thin...

Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell, Greatcoats #2 Tristia is a nation overcome by intrigue and corruption. The idealistic young King Paelis is dead and the Greatcoats – legendary travelling magistrates who brought justice to the Kingdom – have been branded as traitors. But just before his head was impaled on a spike, the King swore each of his hundred and forty-four Greatcoats to a different mission. Falcio Val Mond, First Cantor, with the help of fellow Greatcoats Kest and Brasti, has completed his King’s final task: he has found his Charoites – well, one at least, and she was not quite what they expected. Now they must protect the girl from the many who would see her dead, and place her on the throne of a lawless kingdom. That would be simple enough, if it weren’t for the Daishini, an equally legendary band of assassins, getting in their way, not to forget the Dukes who are determined to hold on to their fractured Kingdoms, or the fact that the heir to the th...

The Pilgrims by Will Elliot, Pendulum #1 Eric Albright is leading a normal life until a small red door appears under a train bridge near his home. Then a ghostly being wakes him in the dead of night, with a message from another world: You are Shadow. In Levaal, the world between worlds, the dragon-gods grow restless in their sky prisons, and the Great Spirits struggle to contain them. Vous, the worlds Friend and Lord, simmers in madness as he schemes to join the ranks of gods. He and the Arch Mage have almost won their final victory over the Free Cities. A dark age dawns. But Eric and his friend Case are now Pilgrims, called to Levaal for a battle more ancient than the petty squabbles of men. And they will learn why some doors should not be opened ... I have been reading a lot of Urban Fantasy and Science Fiction lately and I was really craving for an epic fantasy story, so when I went through my books that I still have up for review and I came across this book. It quic...

Our Lady of the Streets by Tom Pollock, The Skyscraper Throne #3 Four months ago, Mater Viae, the Goddess of London, returned from London-Under- Glass to reclaim her throne. And ever since then, London has been dying. Streets are wracked by convulsions as muscles of wire and pipe go into spasm, bunching the city into a crippled new geography; pavements flare to thousand-degree fevers, incinerating anyone and anything touching them. Towers crash to the ground, their foundations decayed. As the streets sicken, so does Beth, drawn ever deeper into the heart of the city, while Pen fights desperately for a way to save her. But when they discover that Mater Viae’s plans for dominion stretch far beyond London’s borders, they must make a choice: Beth has it within her to unleash the city’s oldest and greatest powers – powers that could challenge the vengeful goddess, or destroy the city itself. Last year I started reading The Skyscraper Throne of Tom Pollock with the first boo...

Excerpt: Our Lady of the Streets Our Lady of the Street s is the third and final book of The Skyscraper Throne Trilogy. The adventures of Beth and Pen started in The City's Son and continued in the sequel The Glass Republic. Our Lady of the Streets was released on the 7th of August earlier this year by Jo Fletcher. Below you can find the synopsis and an excerpt of Our Lady of the Streets , read through it and onc again you will be amazed with what Tom Pollock devises in his story the supernatural creatures are a blast to read about. The first book was a great starter and Tom Pollock really out did himself with The Glass Republic , I have high hopes for the conclusion which I will plan to read very soon. Synopsis of Our Lady of the Street : Ever since Beth Bradley found her way into a hidden London, the presence of its ruthless goddess, Mater Viae, has lurked in the background. Now Mater Viae has returned with deadly consequences. Streets are wracked by convulsions as m...