Birthday Book Haul

With my birthday having just passed I decided to treat myself to lots of new reads and listens despite having more than enough to get through. The books in this little stack come from Netgalley, my own purchases of both book and audio book, along with a few gifts I received.

Aaaaaaand I’ll most likely buy a shed load more before I make too much of a dent in these. Considering I still have £40 worth of Kindle credit, I’m almost certain that’s going to happen.

Netgalley

Dragons have returned to the Hundred Isles. But their return heralds only war and destruction. When a horde of dying slaves are discovered in the bowels of a ship, Shipwife Meas and the crew of the Tide Child find themselves drawn into a vicious plot that will leave them questioning their loyalties and fighting for their lives.

Call of the Bone Ships by R. J. Barker

Genre: Fantasy

 

All is dust… Spurned by his former brothers and his father Magnus the Red, Ahriman is a wanderer, a sorcerer of Tzeentch whose actions condemned an entire Legion to an eternity of damnation. Once a vaunted servant of the Thousand Sons, he is now an outcast, a renegade who resides in the Eye of Terror. Ever scheming, he plots his return to power and the destruction of his enemies, an architect of fate and master of the warp.

Ahriman: Exile by John French

Genre: Science Fiction/Warhammer 40k

An investigation into a missing member of a wealthy family leads Probator Agusto Zidarov into a web of lies and danger amidst the criminal cartels of Varangantua. As the net closes in, Zidarov falls further into darkness from which he may never return…

Bloodlines by Chris Wraight

Genre: Science Fiction/Warhammer 40k

Physical/E-Books

Walk a day in a Roman’s sandals.

What was it like to live in one of the ancient world’s most powerful and bustling cities – one that was eight times more densely populated than modern day New York?

In this entertaining and enlightening guide, bestselling historian Philip Matyszak introduces us to the people who lived and worked there. In each hour of the day we meet a new character – from emperor to slave girl, gladiator to astrologer, medicine woman to water-clock maker – and discover the fascinating details of their daily lives.

24 Hours in Ancient Rome by Philip Matyszak

Genre: Non-Fiction

Spend 24 hours with the ancient Egyptians.

Ancient Egypt wasn’t all pyramids, sphinxes and gold sarcophagi. For your average Egyptian, life was tough, and work was hard, conducted under the burning gaze of the sun god Ra.

During the course of a day in the ancient city of Thebes (modern-day Luxor), Egypt’s religious capital, we meet 24 Egyptians from all strata of society – from the king to the bread-maker, the priestess to the fisherman, the soldier to the midwife – and get to know what the real Egypt was like by spending an hour in their company. We encounter a different one of these characters every hour and in every chapter, and through their eyes see what an average day in ancient Egypt was really like.

24 Hours in Ancient Egypt by Donald P. Ryan

Genre: Non-Fiction

Spend 24 hours with the ancient Athenians. See the city through their eyes as it teeters on the edge of the fateful war that would end its golden age.

Athens, 416 BC. A tenuous peace holds. The city-state’s political and military might are feared throughout the ancient world; it pushes the boundaries of social, literary and philosophical experimentation in an era when it has a greater concentration of geniuses per capita than at any other time in human history. Yet even geniuses go to the bathroom, argue with their spouse and enjoy a drink with friends.

Few of the city’s other inhabitants enjoy the benefits of such a civilized society, though – as multicultural and progressive as Athens can be, many are barred from citizenship. No, for the average person, life is about making ends meet, whether that be selling fish, guarding the temple or smuggling lucrative Greek figs.

During the course of a day we meet 24 Athenians from all strata of society – from the slave-girl to the councilman, the vase painter to the naval commander, the housewife to the hoplite – and get to know what the real Athens was like by spending an hour in their company. We encounter a different one of these characters every chapter, with each chapter forming an hour in the life of the ancient city. We also get to spy on the daily doings of notable Athenians through the eyes of regular people as the city hovers on the brink of the fateful war that will destroy its golden age.

24 Hours in Ancient Athens by Philip Matyszak

Genre: Non-Fiction

Spend 24 hours with the ancient Chinese

Travel back to AD 17, during the fourth year of the reign of Wang Mang of the Han dynasty, a vibrant and innovative era full of conflicts and contradictions. But as different as the Han culture might have been to other great ancient civilizations, the inhabitants of ancient China faced the same problems as people have for time immemorial: earning enough money, coping with workplace dramas and keeping your home in order . although the equivalent in this era was more about bribing inspectors, avoiding bullying from abusive watchmen and trying to keep your house from being looted by Huns.

In each chapter we meet one of 24 citizens of this ancient culture, from the midwife to the soldier, the priest to the performer and the blacksmith to the tomb looter, and see what an average day in ancient China was really like.

24 Hours in Ancient China by Dr Yijie Zhuang

Genre: Non-Fiction

A new ice age…

and a shocking discovery…

will change humanity forever.

In the near future, a new ice age has begun.

Humanity stands on the brink of extinction.

Desperate for answers, scientists send probes into the solar system to take readings. Near Mars, they identify a mysterious object drifting toward the Sun. Is it the cause of the ice age? Or could it be humanity’s only hope of survival?

With time running out, NASA launches a mission to make contact. But the object isn’t what anyone thought. In the dark of space, alone, the team makes a discovery that will change the course of human history—and possibly end it.

Winter World by A. G. Riddle

Genre: Thriller

Deeming the Whore’s Head Inn no longer safe to hide in, the gang decide to take a more proactive role in their pursuit to get back to reality, or at least to keep Mordred from doing so.

Critical Failures VII: Septapussy by Robert Bevan

Genre: Comedy/Fantasy

Deadwood, USA. A girl sneaks out just before dark to ride her new bike. Suddenly, the ground disappears beneath her. Waking up at the bottom of a deep pit, she sees an emergency rescue team above her. The people looking down see something far stranger…

“We always look forward. We never look back.”

That girl grows up to be Dr. Rose Franklyn, a brilliant scientist and the leading world expert on what she discovered. An enormous, ornate hand made of an exceptionally rare metal, which predates all human civilisation on the continent.

“But this thing … it’s different. It challenges us. It rewrites history.”

An object whose origins and purpose are perhaps the greatest mystery humanity has ever faced. Solving the secret of where it came from – and how many more parts may be out there – could change life as we know it.

“It dares us to question what we know about ourselves.”

But what if we were meant to find it? And what happens when this vast, global puzzle is complete…?

“About everything.”

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Genre: Science Fiction

If you leave a door half-open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken . . .

Fifteen years ago, a serial killer known only as ‘The Whisper Man’ wreaked havoc on the sleepy village of Featherbank.

But with the killer behind bars, the village is now a safe haven for Tom and his young son Jake to make a fresh start.

Until another boy goes missing. It feels like history is repeating itself.

Could the killer still be out there – and can Tom protect his son from becoming the next victim?

The Whisper Man by Alex North

Genre: Thriller

Audio Books

The beefy ‘Stilton’ Cheesewright has drawn Bertie Wooster as red-hot favourite in the Drones club annual darts tournament – which is lucky for Bertie because otherwise Stilton would have beaten him to a pulp and buttered the lawn with him. Stilton does not, after all like men who he thinks are trifling with his fiancée’s affections.

Meanwhile Bertie has committed a more heinous offence by growing a moustache, and Jeeves strongly disapproves – which is unfortunate, because Jeeves’s feudal spirit is desperately needed. Bertie’s Aunt Dahlia is trying to sell her magazine Milady’s Boudoir to the Trotter Empire and still keep her amazing chef Anatole out of Lady Trotter’s clutches. And Bertie? Bertie simply has to try to hold onto his moustache and hope he gets to the end in one piece.

Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P. G. Wodehouse

Genre: Historical Fiction/Comedy

Gotrek and Felix: unsung heroes of the Empire or nothing more than common thieves and murderers? The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between and depends entirely upon whom you ask…. 

After fleeing the authorities in the Imperial city of Altdorf, Felix Jaeger swears a drunken oath to dour dwarf Gotrek Gurnisson to record his death saga. In the cold light of day, Felix’s worst fears are confirmed as he learns that Gotrek is a Trollslayer – a dwarf doomed to seek out a heroic death in battle to atone for an unknown personal disgrace. Their travels throw them into a string of extraordinary adventures as Felix tries to survive his companion’s destiny. 

Trollslayer by William King

Genre: Fantasy/Warhammer Fantasy

A doubly disgraced dwarven hero. A band of accident-prone adventurers. Giving redemption a second shot may have been a grave mistake….

Still bruised and heartbroken from their last calamitous quest, Gorm Ingerson and his band of washed-up heroes try to make amends for the orcs they accidentally betrayed. But justice is put on hold when an old foe marches to the city gates. Gorm is horrified to discover a liche pitching the frightened city-dwellers on the merits of the undead lifestyle…at the head of a corpse army.

To save the city from high-pressure sales tactics and an inevitable siege, the dwarf warrior and his misfit band hatch a harebrained scheme that lands them at the top of the king’s kill list. With death and dark magic on his heels, Gorm must craft his own pitch to round up the troops and put the undead snake-oil salesman and his army of pushers permanently out of business.

Son Of A Liche by J. Zachary Pike

Genre: Comedy/Fantasy