Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology edited by S.B. Divya and Mur Lafferty
Anthology , Sci-Fi , Titan Books / November 12, 2020

Celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of cutting-edge science fiction from the hit podcast, Escape Pod. Featuring new and classic stories from Cory Doctorow, Ken Liu, Mary Robinette Kowal, Ursula Vernon and more.  From editors Mur Laffterty and S.B. Divya comes the science fiction collection of the year, bringing together bestselling authors in celebration of the publishing phenomenon that is, Escape Pod. It’s been quite a while si...

The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn by Tyler Whitesides
Crime , Fantasy , Orbit , Tyler Whitesides / November 6, 2020

Please note, The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn is a direct sequel to The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn. If you haven’t read the first book in the Kingdom of Grit series what follows may contain some minor spoilers. Dont say I didn’t warn you. Ardor Benn saved civilisation from imminent destruction, but his efforts brought war to the kingdom. It is believed that the rightful rulers have all been assassinated. However, a young heir mi...

The Saints of Salvation by Peter F Hamilton
Pan Macmillan , Peter F Hamilton , Sci-Fi / October 29, 2020

Please note, The Saints of Salvation is the final book in The Salvation Sequence. If you haven’t read Salvation and Salvation Lost then what follows is going to contain some minor spoilers. My advice would be to toddle off and read them both first. You can thank me later.  Live in hiding – or die for freedom Humanity welcomed the Olyix and their utopian technology. But mankind was tricked. Now these visitors are extracting a terrib...

Day Zero by James Swallow and Josh Reynolds

Bike messenger and wannabe troublemaker Olly Soames is the newest recruit to DedSec’s Resistance movement, but when a stranger is shot dead in front of him, he realizes that danger is closer than he thinks… Sarah Lincoln is an aggressive young politician with questionable methods and big ambitions, and when a string of murders unfolds in her borough, it may be the opportunity she has been looking for to make a name for herself… Ex...

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee
Fantasy , Solaris , Yoon Ha Lee / October 15, 2020

Dragons. Art. Revolution. Gyen Jebi isn’t a fighter or a subversive. They just want to paint. One day they’re jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers. But when Jebi discovers the depths of the Razanei government’s horrifying crimes—and the awful source of the magical pigments they use—they f...

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
Fantasy , Garth Nix , Gollancz / October 8, 2020

In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met. Crime boss Frank Thringley might be able to help her, but Susan doesn’t get time to ask Frank any questions before he is turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the outrageously attractive Merlin. Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones), who with the right-handed booksellers (the ...

Dead Man in a Ditch by Luke Arnold
Crime , Fantasy , Luke Arnold , Orbit / October 1, 2020

Please note, Dead Man in a Ditch is a direct sequel to the first Fetch Phillips novel, The Last Smile in Sunder City. If you want my advice, if you haven’t already, I would start there. If you don’t what follows may contain some minor spoilers. Consider yourselves suitably warned. The name’s Fetch Phillips — what do you need? Cover a Gnome with a crossbow while he does a dodgy deal? Sure. Find out who killed Lance Niles,...

The Trials of Koli by M R Carey
M R Carey , Orbit , Sci-Fi / September 25, 2020

Please note The Trials of Koli is a direct sequel to The Book of Koli. If you haven’t read book one of The Rampart trilogy the review that follows will likely contain minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Beyond the walls of Koli’s small village lies a fearsome landscape filled with choker trees, vicious beasts and shunned men. As an exile, Koli’s been forced to journey out into this mysterious, hostile world. But he he...

The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie
Fantasy , Gollancz , Joe Abercrombie / September 17, 2020

You know the drill. What follows is the review of the second book in a trilogy. If you’ve not read book one in this series, A Little Hatred, then it is likely there may be minor spoilers ahead. Do not tell me later that you haven’t been suitably warned. Conspiracy. Betrayal. Rebellion. Peace is just another kind of battlefield . . . Savine dan Glokta, once Adua’s most powerful investor, finds her judgement, fortune and reputation ...

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Andrea Stewart , Fantasy , Orbit / September 10, 2020

The emperor’s reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire’s many islands. Lin is the emperor’s daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her w...

A Burning Sea by Theodore Brun
Corvus , Historical , Theodore Brun / September 3, 2020

Please note, A Burning Sea is book three in The Wanderer Chronicles. It is highly likely that the following review will contain minor spoilers if you have not read books one and two. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Erlan Aurvandil has turned his back on the past and his native Northern lands, taking a perilous journey to the greatest city in the world, Constantinople. But as his voyage ends, Erlan is brutally betrayed, captured and ens...

Divine Heretic by Jaime Lee Moyer

Everyone knows the story of Joan of Arc, a peasant girl who put Charles VII on the throne and spearheaded France’s victory over Britain before being burned by the English as a heretic and witch. But things are not always as they appear. Jeanne d’Arc was only five when three angels and saints first came to her. Shrouded by a halo of heavenly light, she believed their claim to be holy. The Archangel Michael and Saint Margaret ...

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Crime , Richard Osman , Viking / August 21, 2020

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved killings. But when a local property developer shows up dead, ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ find themselves in the middle of their first live case.  The four friends, 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...