"Carolyn, blood-drenched and barefoot, walked alone down the two-lane stretch of blacktop that the Americans called Highway 78." As the blurb tells us, Carolyn is not so different from other humans - and indeed, she used to be a normal American kid, 25 years and once upon a time ago. Because time moves differently in … Continue reading The Library at Mount Char – Scott Hawkins
Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) is a grifter who'll pull any con if it puts him on the path to riches. Given the Depression of the 1930s, work is hard to come by and so he ends up working with a travelling carnival. All the fun of the fair this is not, by modern standards, with … Continue reading Nightmare Alley (2021)
"Baths, wine and sex make fate come faster." Set in Pompeii 74CE, in a brothel known as the Wolf Den, this book follows one of the prostitutes, Amara. There are many ways the girls have ended up here, and Amara's background is no less tragic: once a beloved and well-educated daughter of a doctor, the … Continue reading The Wolf Den – Elodie Harper
"The flash of a dying star made the boy pause and look up." Four realms meet in the City of Dusk: Darkness and Light, Life and Death. But the gods that founded each noble house have all but forsaken their heirs. Without their power, locked behind a barrier, every realm is slowly dying. Even as … Continue reading The City of Dusk – Tara Sim
"The dust of mountain flowers lay thick on the air, like perfume or boiled varnish." Having enjoyed Conn Iggulden's work before (particularly his fantasy, as CF Iggulden) and as a big fan of stories set around ancient history, I thought this book would tick quite a few boxes for me. Starting with the battle of … Continue reading The Gates of Athens – Conn Iggulden
"Although it's now 25 years old, this film remains resolutely one of a kind." The Shadow Glass is a (fictional) fantasy movie from the 1980s - think The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, or Neverending Story - created by Bob Corman (I had to look that up, but no, he's fictional too!). Bob's obsession with his movie, the land … Continue reading The Shadow Glass – Josh Winning
When Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds) travels back from 2050 to put right what once went wrong (urm, wrong show, sorry!), he instead manages to crash land in 2022 where his 12-year-old self (Walker Scobell) is dealing with both the school bullies, the recent death of his father (Mark Ruffalo), and a mother (Jennifer Garner) not … Continue reading The Adam Project (2022)
"'Jamie Gray!' Rob Sanders popped his head out of his office door and waved at me, grinning. 'Come on down. Let's do this thing.'" Jamie is not having a good pandemic. His <insert rude words here> of a boss has fired him for having a good idea, and the only job he can get is … Continue reading The Kaiju Preservation Society – John Scalzi
"Father told me I'm broken." Lin is the Emperor's daughter, but not necessarily his heir: her life is constant competition with her foster brother to see who can learn enough - and also remember enough of their past. Lin has no memories prior to five years ago, when they were both afflicted with a mysterious … Continue reading Bone Shard Daughter – Andrea Stewart
"They were lost." Liza and Hanna have been having marriage problems for some time now, so Hanna books them a romantic weekend away in a remote Scottish hotel. Liza's irritation at not being consulted about the whole thing, though, is soon lost to the distraction of an event very close to her career as a … Continue reading Murder Most Actual – Alexis Hall
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