James Nicoll Reviews

The Parada had been lost for almost two hundred years before they recovered the ship, drifting in stygian interstellar darkness, and brought her home again.But that was not the miracle.The miracle was that the crew was still alive.That was also the problem. Six crew members went out on the Parada, Earth’s first starship. All contact was lost, and the ship vanished for almost two centuries. When the Parada’s successor found the drifting ship and somehow managed to bring it home, the six crew members were not only still alive but barely older, due to the time dilation effects of near-FTL travel. Their return was a miracle – but it could not be revealed to the waiting world. The problem was, six individuals went out to the stars. More than seventy fractured personalities came back.Psychologist Stella Froud and Jesuit Father Philip Carter were recruited as part of the team assembled to investigate the mystery, and to try and help the Parada’s crew understand their condition and possibly reverse it. What they discovered was a deepening mystery, and very soon they found themselves forced to take sides in a conflict that nobody could have possibly predicted. Their world would never be the same again.

“We talk about the tyranny of distance a lot in this country.

That distance will not save us.”

With governments denying climate science, scientists from affected countries and organisations are forced to traffic data to ensure the preservation of research that could in turn preserve the world. From Antarctica, to the Chihuahuan Desert, to the International Space Station, a fragile network forms. A web of knowledge. Secret. But not secret enough.

When the cold war of data preservation turns bloody – and then explosive – an underground network of scientists, all working in isolation, must decide how much they are willing to risk for the truth. For themselves, their colleagues, and their future.

Murder on Antarctic ice. A university lecturer’s car, found abandoned on a desert road. And the first crewed mission to colonise Mars, isolated and vulnerable in the depths of space.

How far would you go to save the world?

FORGET WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THE NATURE OF MAGIC.
In a world where an industrial revolution is powered by magic, Tyen, a student of archaeology, unearths a sentient book called Vella. Once a young sorcerer-bookbinder, Vella was transformed into a useful tool by one of the greatest sorcerers of history. Since then she has been collecting information, including a vital clue to the disaster Tyen’s world faces.

Elsewhere, in an land ruled by the priests, Rielle the dyer’s daughter has been taught that to use magic is to steal from the Angels. Yet she knows she has a talent for it, and that there is a corrupter in the city willing to teach her how to use it — should she dare to risk the Angels’ wrath. 

But not everything is as Tyen and Rielle have been raised to believe. Not the nature of magic, nor the laws of their lands… and not even the people they tru

International No. 1 bestselling author Trudi Canavan returns with the thrilling final chapter in her Millennium’s Rule series — a place where worlds are at war and magic is not what it seems … Rielle is the Maker, restorer of worlds. She has lost count of the number of worlds she has been sent to save. Tyen has cast off his old identity. No longer a spy, he now attempts to teach new sorcerers and find ways to counteract the war machines that are spreading throughout the worlds. But when an old enemy brings news of a dark threat — something far worse than magically dead worlds and dangerous sorcerers — Rielle and Tyen must reunite if they are to have any chance of saving humanity. 

In the midst of a burgeoning war, a warrior, an assassin, and a princess chase their own ambitions — no matter the cost — in Devin Madson’s visceral, emotionally charged debut fantasy novel.

War built the Kisian Empire. War will tear it down.

Seventeen years after rebels stormed the streets, factions divide Kisia. Only the firm hand of the god-emperor holds the empire together. But when a shocking betrayal destroys a tense alliance with neighboring Chiltae, all that has been won comes crashing down.

In Kisia, Princess Miko Ts’ai is a prisoner in her own castle. She dreams of claiming her empire, but the path to power could rip it, and her family, asunder.

In Chiltae, assassin Cassandra Marius is plagued by the voices of the dead. Desperate, she accepts a contract that promises to reward her with a cure if she helps an empire fall.

And on the border between nations, Captain Rah e’Torin and his warriors are exiles forced to fight in a foreign war or die. 

As an empire dies, three warriors will rise. They will have to ride the storm or drown in its blood.

In this epic conclusion to the Unraveled Kingdom trilogy that began with Torn and Fray , magical seamstress Sophie Balstrade joins forces with her revolutionary leader brother in a deadly bid to change history.

The civil war that charm caster Sophie and the crown prince, Theodor, have tried so desperately to avert has come to Galitha. While Theodor joins Sophie’s brother and his Reformist comrades in battle hoping to turn the tide against the Royalist army, Sophie leverages the only weapon she has: charm and curse casting. Weaving her magic into uniforms and supplies, she soon discovers that the challenges of a full-scale war are far greater than she could have imagined. 

The fractured leadership of the Reformist army must coalesce and the people of Galitha need to unite against enormous odds — all while Sophie creates more than a little magical luck in order to have a chance of victory.

Carrie Vaughn follows up The Ghosts of Sherwood with the charming, fast-paced The Heirs of Locksley, continuing the story of Robin Hood’s children. ​“We will hold an archery contest. A simple affair, all in fun, on the tournament grounds. Tomorrow. We will see you there.” The latest civil war in England has come and gone, King John is dead, and the nobility of England gathers to see the coronation of his son, thirteen year old King Henry III. The new king is at the center of political rivalries and power struggles, but John of Locksley — son of the legendary Robin Hood and Lady Marian — only sees a lonely boy in need of friends. John and his sisters succeed in befriending Henry, while also inadvertently uncovering a political plot, saving a man’s life, and carrying out daring escapes. All in a day’s work for the Locksley children… 

A treasury of quality stories. All proceeds from the sale of this digital anthology are being donated to support NHS staff and other healthcare workers. 53 stories, 253,000 words of fiction, including several pieces that are original to this volume, featuring some of the finest writers of science fiction, literary fiction, fantasy, horror, and more.