Book Haul

I felt like I was doing fairly well at keeping to my ‘don’t get too many books before you got through the TBR on your kindle’ rule I have … so, naturally, when the TBR got down to the high teens  I picked more up.

Physical/E-Books

The Library of the Unwritten in Hell was saved from total devastation, but hundreds of potential books were destroyed. Former librarian Claire and Brevity the muse feel the loss of those stories, and are trying to adjust to their new roles within the Arcane Wing and Library, respectively. But when the remains of those books begin to leak a strange ink, Claire realizes that the Library has kept secrets from Hell and from its own librarians.

Claire and Brevity are immediately at odds in their approach to the ink, and the potential power that it represents has not gone unnoticed. When a representative from the Muses Corps arrives at the Library to advise Brevity, the angel Rami and the erstwhile Hero hunt for answers in other realms. The true nature of the ink could fundamentally alter the afterlife for good or ill, but it entirely depends on who is left to hold the pen.

Title: Archive of the Forgotten

Author: A. J. Hackwith

Publisher: Titan Books

Series: Hell’s Library #2

Genre: Fantasy

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission – and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crew mates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realises that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that’s been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it’s up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian – while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

Title: Project Hail Mary

Author: Andy Weir

Publisher: Cornerstone Digital 

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: Science Fiction

On 26 December 1900, the vessel Hesperus arrived at Eilean Mor in the remote Outer Hebrides with relief lighthouse men and fresh provisions. Staffed by three keepers, the lighthouse had been in operation for a year, but it had been noted that no light had been seen from Eilean Mor for ten days. Upon arrival, the superintendent, Robert Muirhead, found the lighthouse to be completely deserted, and a subsequent search of the surrounding island failed to show any sign of what happened to the keepers.

The last entry in the lighthouse logbook had been made on 15 December and contained a number of strange and distressing entries that offered clues as to the mental state of the men. One was reported to have been crying while another had become ‘very quiet’. And when it was revealed that the men’s oilskin coats were found to be missing and the clock in the lighthouse had stopped, inevitable theories surrounding the keepers’ fates were soon put forward. These included a giant wave washing them away, murder and suicide by the men themselves, and more esoteric explanations as Eilean Mor was believed to have mystical properties.

In The Lighthouse, Keith McCloskey explores this mysterious and chilling story in depth for the first time and reveals a shocking conclusion.

Title: The Lighthouse

Author: Keith McCloskey

Publisher: The History Press

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: Historical Non-Fiction

You will die. Your children will die. The empire will burn.

Empress Li is out of favour at court. Foreign-born and past her prime, she is to be set aside. But she won’t go quietly. With nothing left to lose, Li will do anything to stop Emperor Lan signing a secret alliance that could tear the empire apart. Yet when her life is threatened, old mistakes come back to haunt her and only a three-year-old boy can change the course of history.

With everything at stake, could an innocent child be the best assassin?

Title: In Shadows We Fall

Author: Devin Madson

Publisher: Self-Published

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: Fantasy

Audio Books

If you drive past the lights of downtown Roswell, north on Route 285 into the darkness of the New Mexico desert, you’ll run across a little radio station with a single tower. This is the home of WKLEN talk-radio, broadcast through Tower #57.

Fresh out of the local community college and eager to start his career in radio production, Luther Stenson arrives for his first shift as an intern on Evening Sands, a late-night radio show focused on the unexplainable and broadcast throughout the lower forty-eight.

Luther’s first night in radio quickly becomes one he’ll never forget, when a mysterious caller known only as “Magnolia” begins to interfere with the station’s broadcast. As the night progresses, Luther and the station crew are pushed to their psychological and emotional limits as they uncover a life-threatening secret and deal with forces beyond their control. The desert is lonely at night…

In the city known for attracting millions to the uncanny, tonight the uncanny is attracted to the only light in the desert… The blinking red crown of Tower 57.

Title: Tower 57

Writers: Drew Platt & JT Cacibauda

Narrator/s: A Full Cast

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genre: Audio Drama (blends of sci-fi and horror by the sounds of it)

On an island off the windswept Irish coast, guests gather for the wedding of the year – the marriage of Jules Keegan and Will Slater. Old friends.

Past grudges. Happy families.Hidden jealousies. Thirteen guests.One body. The wedding cake has barely been cut when one of the guests is found dead. And as a storm unleashes its fury on the island, everyone is trapped.

All have a secret. All have a motive.One guest won’t leave this wedding alive….

Please Note: The absolute mess of a blurb is how it’s presented on Audible, not a fault of mine. I left it that way because (having listened to this already) I feel it was an apt warning for how much of a mess the whole book was.

Title: The Guest List

Author: Lucy Foley

Publisher: Harper Collins

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: Thriller