![]() ![]() As lives and empires clash and intertwine, as the unknown and the known collide, all three must fight to turn the tide of a coming war, or drown in its wake. And Corrick Hilemore is the second lieutenant of an Ironship cruiser whose pursuit of ruthless brigands leads him to a far greater threat at the edge of the world. Lizanne Lethridge is a formidable spy and assassin facing gravest danger on an espionage mission deep into the heart of enemy territory. Claydon Torcreek is a petty thief and an unregistered Blood-blessed who finds himself pressed into service by the Protectorate and sent to wild, uncharted lands in search of a creature he believes is little more than legend. The Syndicate’s last hope resides in whispers of the existence of another breed of drake, far more powerful than the rest, and the few who have been chosen by fate to seek it. If they fail, war with the neighbouring Corvantine Empire will follow swiftly. Here, you can see them all in order (plus the year each book was published) As an Amazon Associate, we earn money from purchases made through links in this page. But not many know the truth: that the lines of drakes are weakening. Raven's Shadow is a series of 6 books written by Anthony Ryan. ![]() Harvested from captive or hunted Reds, Greens, Blues and Blacks, it can be distilled into elixirs that bestow fearsome powers on the rare men and women known as the Blood-blessed. If You Like Anthony Ryan Books, You’ll Love…Īnthony Ryan Synopsis: In The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan (book 1 of the Draconis Memoria series), in the vast lands controlled by the Ironship Trading Syndicate, nothing is more prized than the blood of drakes. ![]()
0 Comments
![]() ![]() Meanwhile, the narration is interspersed with information about the women in Blythe's family and her childhood. When a boy falls off a playset and dies, Blythe suspects Violet tripped him on purpose. Violet has trouble getting along with other kids and there's incidences of violence towards them, too. As Violet gets older, Violet continues to be antagonistic and even violent towards Blythe. Soon, she starts to resents Fox for seeing her solely as Violet's caregiver, and Fox thinks Blythe is deficient as a mother. She senses Violet prefers Fox, but Fox insists it's all in her head. ![]() Blythe struggles with Violet from the beginning, Blythe is exhausted, and motherhood proves far tougher than she anticipated. Soon, they have their first child, a girl named Violet. The book ends by implying that Gemma suspects Violet has now harmed Jet.īlythe and Fox Connor are a couple who meet in college and get married at 25. ![]() Throughout the book, it's not clear if Violet is innately bad, if Blythe is a bad mother (Blythe comes from a line of bad mothers) or if it's all in Blythe's head. Fox has a son, Jet, with his new wife, Gemma. When their infant son Sam is killed, Blythe blames Violet. Blythe thinks Violet is violent and lacks empathy, but Fox thinks Blythe's insufficient love for Violet is the problem. The one-paragraph summary of this book: Blythe and Fox have a daughter, Violet. ![]() ![]() ![]() What sets this apart from the rest? A lyrical, beautiful writing style that can flit between making you chortle and holding back tears. LibriVox recording of Noughts and Crosses: Stories, Studies and Sketches by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch. She talks frankly about true love and how, actually, it can be sitting right under your nose without you necessarily realising. In her 2018 memoir, writer Dolly explores her journey to adulthood and all the ups and downs along the way. ![]() Everything I know About Love by Dolly Alderton Read on for our pick of the best audiobooks to settle down with. If you're looking for audiobooks to download, we've rounded up some of the very best, from old classics like Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird to modern memoirs from inspiring women like Michelle Obama. Alternatively, they're a great accompaniment when you're getting on with household jobs that can otherwise be a bit boring. Start a free 30-day trial today and get your first audiobook free. ![]() While getting lost in the pages of a much-loved, slightly-worn book is a wonderful thing like no other, there's also joy to be found in settling down on the sofa while an audiobook plays from your phone or tablet.Īudiobooks are great for this - relaxing and letting yourself be immersed in a story completely, guided by the book's narrator. Listen to 'Noughts & Crosses' by Malorie Blackman available from Rakuten Kobo. ![]() ![]() ![]() This book isn't going to solve world peace but it sure as heck will entertain you for a few nights. ![]() It is a crime that it has been sitting on my Kindle untouched for so long. It is one of those books you just wish you could wipe your memory and re-read a fresh again and again. But there is a wonderful build up which has you biting your duvet cover in frustration. Gabe is fantastic and realistic not a depressed character but also not a Pollyanna. The author isn't squeamish to go into the details. I found it highly devy, the level of his injury isn't mentioned but his hands are affected so I would assume that he is a low level quadriplegic. There are a few issues that are revealed which make you think and challenge yourself as to "what would I do?" The characters are fully formed and very likeable. The comedy factor is very fresh and nothing is off limits in this regard. Her life is lonely and insular until a mishap befalls Gabe Riley's mother's table cloth and a wonderful relationship develops. While all her school colleagues head off to new adventurous lives at college, Brynn decides to learn the ropes of her family's dry cleaning business. Trying to avoid a party she decides to hang out on its fringes and see something that effects her deeply and never really gets over. She tends to opt for the road with speed humps and pot holes. Brynn Garrett finds it hard to fit in anywhere. ![]() ![]() ![]() But, probably my favourite of all… Sandra and Alex’s extra stories. ![]() So was Scenes from the Hallway with Dan and Kat… although not quite as good as Janie and Quinn expecting. Particularly since I read this when pregnant. There were some amazingly good standouts in this collection. ![]() Particularly with the ending of Marriage of Inconvenience… that epilogue tied everything up perfectly. So, where I normally want to dive straight into the next one… I didn’t feel quite as strongly about getting extra closure. I think mostly this didn’t get me all spine tingly happy like the other novels is that I felt like there was amazing closure at the end of each romance. But compared to the other novels… it just didn’t hit me in the same happy place. I mean, I still loved it and seriously enjoyed it. Surprisingly, this is the first Knitting in the City book that I wouldn’t give 5 stars. ![]() ![]() But I also can't really say that I liked or enjoyed it. It's well-done overall, if perhaps a little broad in its satire. ![]() It's an interesting book, but a rather brutal one. ![]() Catholicism is a hypocritical display or a quiet, heartfelt stranglehold. Some are terrible in a larger-than-life way - Anna sets up a shooting range in her basement because she's convinced that all the black men in Philadelphia are conspiring to rape her - and some in a quieter, sadder way. All of the characters are sort of terrible at heart. It's often a funny book, but it's also a darkly cynical and depressing one. When Arthur Farragan's son Simon dodges the draft, escapes to Canada, and writes an apology note to Ho Chi Min, Anna and Jim decide that the only course of action is to send Arthur up to Montreal to murder his only son. Older siblings Jim and Anna are virulently patriotic and virulently racist, and their children have, respectively, lost an arm and a life fighting overseas. Where they were quiet studies of families and marriages in an Irish-Catholic setting, Tom McHale's novel is filled with satire and absurdist humor and - spoiler alert - two major characters are abruptly blown up by two separate bombs.įarragan's Retreat follows a wealthy Irish-Catholic clan in Philadelphia in the context of the Vietnam War. This was a wild change of pace after the last two Irish-American novels I've read. Farragan's Retreat Hardcover Februby Tom McHale (Author) 6 ratings See all formats and editions Hardcover 4.95 33 Used from 2.79 10 Collectible from 6.72 Mass Market Paperback 6.27 8 Used from 3. ![]() ![]() Then suddenly, the family is forced to deal with a shocking reminder of their turbulent past. They had no idea it would be their last full night together, and the last night they would ever step foot in their beloved home again.Ī horrible and unspeakable act of hate and prejudice shatters their peace and causes Katie and her family to move to California, where she attempts to rebuild her life.Īlthough she had put hundreds of miles between herself and her Alabama farm, there were some things that followed her to California things she could not outrun things she would have to grapple with if her life, and the lives of her children, were ever to return to normal. On one night in 1960, Katie went to sleep along with her husband in their modest home. Here was where she was raising her children to love God and love others. Here, she could witness God's handiwork in the beauty of the land. ![]() ![]() ![]() Katie's rural Alabama farm, which she shared with her activist husband, was her oasis, her retreat. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Alive to that, the directors often place the camera at child height, so the world through which Maisie moves seems large, threatening and out of control. The novel isn't told in the first person, but from page one, in which Beale and Ida Farange are being divorced and Maisie is condemned to shuttle between them ("rebounding from racket to racket like a tennis ball or a shuttlecock", James wrote) it adopts a child's-eye view.Īs the title suggests, this is a story of adults behaving like spoilt and petulant children, while the real child sees much more than she understands. The co-directors showed with the terrific 2001 Tilda Swinton thriller The Deep End their sure feel for the curdled nature of family dynamics and they nail it here, too.Ĭrucially, their film matches James' mastery of a then-novel narrative technique that explores the world from a single character's point of view. It's a sadly and strikingly modern story - and it was written in 1897.ĭirectors McGehee and Siegel, working from a script by Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright, have underlined that timelessness with an intelligent and sensitive portrait of the toll that adult self-centredness can take on children. ![]() ![]() The Henry James novel on which this film is based is, by all accounts, an angry attack on the irresponsibility of divorced parents who use their children as weapons against each other. ![]() ![]() Cornwell really makes history come alive' GEORGE R.R. 'The best battle scenes of any writer I've ever read, past or present. 'Blood, divided loyalties and thundering battles' THE TIMES ![]() The Winter King: Bad Wolf & ITVX Round Out Cast On Arthurian Legend Drama. 1 bestselling author of WAR LORD comes an epic retelling of the Arthurian legend, from the. 'Like Game of Thrones, but real' OBSERVER account for the adaptation of Bernard Cornwells The Winter King. Bernard Cornwell (Author) rrp 9.99 Description. ![]() 'Strong narrative, vigourous action and striking characterisation, Cornwell remains king of the territory he has staked out as his own' SUNDAY TIMES Handed power by Merlin and pursuing a doomed romance with the beautiful Guinevere, Arthur knows he will struggle to unite the country - let alone hold back the Saxon enemy at the gates.įrom the epic and bestselling author who has gripped millions. While they squabble and spoil for war, a host of Saxon armies gather, preparing for invasion.īut no one has counted on the fearsome warlord Arthur. Yet each of the country's lesser kings seek to claim the crown for themselves. Uther, the High King of Britain, is dead. In the Dark Ages, a legendary warrior arises to unite a divided land. ![]() The best take on the iconic Arthur story I've read or watched' 5***** Reader Review 'An absolute winner from the master of historical fiction ' 5***** Reader Review 'THE BEST King Arthur adaptation I've ever read' 5***** Reader Review 1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WAR LORD COMES AN EPIC RETELLING OF THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND ![]() ![]() ![]() Whether it was out of my face or my now useless right arm wasn’t clear, but it didn’t matter. I was in hypovolemic shock, likely from blood loss. It made no sense, and that stubborn, rational part of my mind knew why. ![]() So, I’m going to give you a warning: Find your way back to being a good guy, and never threaten us again. Shit! Michael! One voice stood out more clearly than the rest, the voice coming out of that young, busted up face that revealed itself from behind all the layers of metal: Except for Tom, Tom was here somewhere.Įveryone can see. The important ones began to stand out and intermingle: Dad, Michael, Shannon, Clea, Mike, Tom…Jordan? But how could I hear them? None of them were here. Voices screaming and crying, wailing in pain or fear, and some trying very hard to assuage fear and maintain order in a situation of pure chaos. Of course, there were voices, too many voices from too many people. The sound of giant, crashing, metal footsteps moving away certainly should be fading by now, or was that more machine-gun fire? It was odd how clearly I could remember the machine-gun fire but not the shotgun blast, which was right next to me. ![]() ![]() The problem was, I wasn’t sure which sounds were real and which weren’t. I could hear everything, in the most pristine detail. ![]() |