This book contains some heart-wrenching moments, but also a wealth of the clever details that make this series uniquely enjoyable: peculiar names, memorable personalities, and weird little reminders of the "Dead Gods" (i.e., us humans) in the form of ruins, artifacts, and junk repurposed by intelligent and busy animals. The animal characters aren't entirely anthropomorphized, but they are certainly relatable. I can't say it's 100% plausible, but it's a compelling read that will give readers a lot to think about.
NEW RELEASE: All your favorites are back, and the adventure continues!“In this thrilling continuation of the series, the heroes embark on perilous quests, and their bravery and determination shine through on every page.” – Readers’ Favorite, 5 Stars“City of Oom will captivate readers with its unique blend of action, strategy, and emotional depth. The stakes are high, not just in terms of physical survival but in the moral and ethical choices the characters must make.” - Demetria Head, Host, A Look Inside: A Book Review Podcast“It is a rare feat indeed when an author can come up with something new…
The book is outstanding for the way it weaves the fictional characters' stories with historical events and people. Reading it feels like being transported back in time to 15th century Kronstadt (present day Brașov, Romania). Dark nights with only lamps and candles for illumination, smells of smoke, beer, herbs, and books, the clatter of feet on cobbled streets, and a feeling of perpetual danger made it an intense reading experience. References to superstitions and the customs of different ethnic and religious groups enriched it as well. The narrative is a long series of snapshot-like scenes. It zooms deep into characters' minds, and then out into historical perspectives or descriptions of streets, markets, and interiors of homes and a printer's establishment. It took me a while to get used to this narrative style; some scenes are interrupted by a character's memories, creating flashbacks within flashbacks. The language is poetic and metaphorical. Even though it slows the pace, it produces sentences like this description of Kate the healer: "She had been hope in a bottle, strength in a poultice, God's own grace bundled in linen and smoke."
Transylvania, 1463. A land of fortress cities, whispered heresies, and shadows cast by Vlad Dracula, the man.
Kate Webber, a 28-year-old Saxon healer, has always lived between reverence and suspicion. Her gift with herbs and midwifery makes her indispensable - and dangerous - in Kronstadt, a medieval city where fear rules and women are silenced.
Her marriage to the powerful, secretive Magyar promised safety, but instead bound her voice.
One bitter Advent night, Kate breaks her husband’s command and saves a dying mother and child. Her defiance sparks awe in some, fury in others. The jealous town physician seizes his…
I selected "couldn't put it down" to describe the pace of this book. But I had to put it down many times because it took the best part of a week to read. That said, the plot is captivating. The book's length is due in part to the care the author takes to establish atmosphere, portraying vividly the lives of the privileged in 1880s England. Rural landscapes, weather, city streets, and building interiors are described in a way that is almost cinematic. Reading this book reminded me of watching the original Forsyte Saga television series decades ago. After a lengthy buildup, during which a reader inevitably develops theories as to who is lying and who is telling the truth, based on the significance of things said, remembered, or seen by various characters, there is an apparent resolution. But wait--there's more, much more. The final chapters are a cascade of revelations, each one more shocking than the last, leading to an ending that cannot possibly be called happy, but which is satisfying. The book gave my curiosity a real workout and was a thoroughly entertaining way to spend hours of leisure reading time.
In Robert Goddard’s third novel, a bestseller in the United Kingdom and now back in print, is a masterful exercise in suspense set in Victorian-era England. On a mild autumn afternoon in 1882, thirty-four-year-old husband and father William Trenchard sits smoking his pipe in the garden of his comfortable family home. When the creak of the garden gate announces the arrival of an unexpected visitor, he is puzzled but not alarmed. He has no inkling of the destruction this man will wreak on all he holds most dear.
The stranger offers his name as James Norton, but claims he is…
Includes all four novels of the Herbert West Series: The Friendship of Mortals, Islands of the Gulf Volume 1 and Volume 2, and Hunting the Phoenix. Herbert West, a scientist obsessed with reversing death, is transformed into a physician of last resort. From ancient Arkham to the agony of the Great War, from Acadie to the islands of the West Coast, a brilliant but amoral physician is subjected to travails and entanglements, to become a source of healing -- and of peril. "A wonderful series, heart-pounding and heart-breaking."
