Hellooo!

Fear not you’ve been good and I am like your guardian angel and not a fiendish booktempting Moriarty and kindly have some suggestions for you on books to look out for the next two weeks

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martin - Out Now from Pan Macmillan £8.99 paperback £4.99 Kindle eBook

An alien terror could spell our end.... 

An alien threat lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is supposed to win a war against it. 

In a desperate attempt to find a diplomatic solution, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy to contact the mysterious invaders. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass - both still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire - face an impossible task. They must attempt to negotiate with a hostile entity, without inadvertently triggering the destruction of themselves and the Empire. 

Whether they succeed or fail could change the face of Teixcalaan forever. 

2020 got in my way of reading this but I want to get to this very soon. A Memory Called Empire was a brilliant piece of SF and intrigued to go back to this Empire.

Unhinged by Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger - Out 17/2 from Orenda Books £8.99 paperback £4.27 Kindle eBook

When police investigator Sofia Kovic uncovers a startling connection between several Oslo murder cases, she attempts to contact her closest superior, Alexander Blix before involving anyone else in the department. But before Blix has time to return her call, Kovic is shot and killed in her own home – execution style. And in the apartment below, Blix’s daughter Iselin narrowly escapes becoming the killer’s next victim.

Four days later, Blix and online crime journalist Emma Ramm are locked inside an interrogation room, facing the National Criminal Investigation Service. Blix has shot and killed a man, and Ramm saw it all happen.

As Iselin’s life hangs in the balance, under-fire Blix no longer knows who he can trust … and he’s not even certain that he’s killed the right man…W

I quite enjoyed the earlier adventure of this Norwegian crime series and a mix of police and journalism exploring the darker sides of society usually leads to some interesting places

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton - Out 17/2 from Solaris £16.99 hardback £7.99 Kindle eBook

Dying isn't any fun...but at least it's a living.

Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonise the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there's a mission that's too dangerous - even suicidal - the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. 

Mickey signed on to escape from both bad debts and boredom on Midgard.  

After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal...and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it.  

When he goes missing and is presumed dead at the hands of deadly indigenous creatures, Mickey8 reports for duty and their troubles really begin.

Already going to be a film from the Director of Parasite Bong Joon-Ho this tale of an ever regenerating Expendable and its already generating blogger buzz. Sounds intriguing!

Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham - Out 17/2 from Orbit £18.99 hardback £9.99 Kindle eBook

a monumental epic fantasy trilogy that unfolds within the walls of a single great city, over the course of one tumultuous year, where every story matters, and the fate of the city is woven from them all.

Kithamar is a centre of trade and wealth, an ancient city with a long bloody history where countless thousands live and their stories unfold. This is Alys'.

When her brother is murdered, a petty thief from the slums of Longhill sets out to discover who killed him and why. But the more she discovers about him, the more she learns about herself, and the truths she finds are more dangerous than knives.

Swept up in an intrigue as deep as the roots of Kithamar, where the secrets of the lowest born can sometimes topple thrones, the story Alys chooses will have the power to change everything.

You may know Abraham as one half of the writing duo responsible for bestselling SF series The Expanse but Abraham has also had a long reputation for interesting fantasy series such as the Long Price Quartet. This trilogy will explore from different character’s perspectives over one year and they will intermix and potentially influence each other. Sounds fascinating

Stars and Bones by Gareth L Powell - Out 15/2 from Titan Books £8.99 paperback £4.31 kindle eBook

Seventy-five years from today, the human race has been cast from a dying Earth to wander the stars in a vast fleet of arks - each shaped by its inhabitants into a diverse and fascinating new environment, with its own rules and eccentricities.

When her sister disappears while responding to a mysterious alien distress call, Eryn insists on being part of the crew sent to look for her. What she discovers on Candidate-623 is both terrifying and deadly. When the threat follows her back to the fleet and people start dying, she is tasked with seeking out a legendary recluse who may just hold the key to humanity’s survival.

Powell I always find has a great ability to tell interesting SF stories with a lot of heart and I am very much looking forward to telling you more about this story on the 22/2 as part of the blog tour

The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan - out 17/2 from Orbit £12.99 hardback £6.99 Kindle eBook

No man is above the law.

The Empire of the Wolf simmers with unrest. Rebels, heretics and powerful patricians all challenge the power of the imperial throne. 

Only the Order of Justices stands in the way of chaos. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is the most feared justice of all, upholding the law by way of his sharp mind, arcane powers and skill as a swordsman. In this he is aided by Helena Sedanka, his clerk and protégé, orphaned by the wars that forged the empire. 

When the pair investigate the murder of a provincial aristocrat, they unearth a conspiracy that stretches to the very top of imperial society. As the stakes rise and become ever more personal, Vonvalt must make a choice: will he abandon the laws he's sworn to uphold in order to protect the empire?

A judge in fantasy could be an interesting move but I hear this more Judge Dredd than Judge John Deed so I am interested in how law and justice combine with fantasy I suspect with a lot of blood

The Embroidered Book by Kate Heartfield - out 17/2 from HarperVoyager £14.99 hardback £7.99

Power is not something you are given. Power is something you take. When you are a woman, it is a little more difficult, that’s all.

1768. Charlotte, daughter of the Habsburg empress, arrives in Naples to marry a man she has never met. Her sister, Antoine, is sent to France, and in the mirrored corridors of Versailles, they rename her Marie Antoinette.

The sisters are alone, but they are not powerless. When they were only children, they discovered a book of spells - spells that work, with dark and unpredictable consequences.

In a time of vicious court politics, of discovery and dizzying change, they use the book to take control of their lives.

But every spell requires a sacrifice. And as love between the sisters turns to rivalry, they will send Europe spiralling into revolution.

I love a clash of history and fantasy and using these two famous women of the 18th century should explore quite a bit. There was an awesome interview with the Author on Breaking The Glass Slipper that sold me on the book. I’ll be blog touring this later in the month

Scorpica by GR Macallister - Out 22/2 from Titan Books £8.99 paperback £6.64 Kindle eBook

In an ancient matriarchal world of magic, gods and warriors, the last girl – unbeknownst to the five Queendoms – has just been born. As time marches on, the scribes of Bastian find no answers in their history books. The farmers of Sestia sacrifice their crops to the gods. Paxim, the empire of trade and dealings has nothing to barter but boys and more boys. Arcan magic has no spells to remedy the Drought of Girls, as it soon becomes known. And finally, Scorpia, where every woman is a fighter, their commander, their Queen, has no more warriors to train. The lines of these once-great empires soon to die. 

After centuries of peace, the ensuing struggle for dominance – and heirs – will bring the Five Queendoms to the eve of all-out war. 

But the mysterious curse is linked to one of the last-born children, an orphaned all-magic girl, on the run from the Seekers of Daybreak Palace, who is unaware she has a claim to the Arcan throne…

This sounds really ambitious and who doesn’t like empires clashing?

Music of the Night: from the Crime Writers’ Association edited by Martin Edwards - Out 22/2 from Flame Tree Press £9.95 paperback £4.95 Kindle eBook

Music of the Night is a new anthology of original short stories contributed by Crime Writers' Association (CWA) members and edited by Martin Edwards, with music as the connecting theme. The aim, as always, is to produce a book which is representative both of the genre and the membership of the world’s premier crime writing association.

I always enjoy an anthology and crime tales can be interesting in short form. I’ll be blog touring this in a few weeks

If you have any suggestions for the next couple of weeks please place in the comments!