Showing results by narrator "Peter Kenny" in All Categories

A world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse, such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organisation with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?

Paris in the aftermath of the Great Magicians War. Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black, thick with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France's once grand capital. House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, now lies in disarray.

London, 1958. By crafting magical outfits for his friend, Princess Katherine, cloth mage Paul Gallagher is getting ahead. It’s not a seamless path. Not since the Virtuis Party came to power. The far-right faction is using criminals to create a protective barrier around England. The enchanted uniforms the prisoners wear may beget a demand for mages, but using luckless convicts as tools for warmongering reactionaries isn’t Paul’s dream for cloth magic.

Stewart Gilmour is back in Stonemouth. After five years in exile, his presence is required at the funeral of patriarch Joe Murston, and even though the last time Stu saw the Murstons he was running for his life, staying away might be even more dangerous than turning up. An estuary town north of Aberdeen, Stonemouth, with its five mile beach, can be beautiful on a sunny day. On a bleak one it can seem to offer little more than sea fog, gangsters, cheap drugs and a suspension bridge irresistible to suicides.

Jelly has come to terms with two facts: one, having friends is hard, and two, trying to save Erafore with them may be a little bit harder to pull off. Ever since he entered the Aether, things have changed for him. As a Chosen One, it's his duty to save his world from the cruel caress of the Void. Part of that duty's to fight alongside his fellow Chosen Ones, but can he really handle the two others that the goddess Nia has selected to save Erafore? He will need every ounce of cunning and strength he can scrounge up; the forces of the Void won't tolerate this gathering of Chosen Ones.

The Prisoner of Heaven returns to the world of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and the Sempere & Sons bookshop. It begins just before Christmas in Barcelona in 1957, one year after Daniel and Bea from The Shadow of the Wind have married. They now have a son, Julian, and are living with Daniel's father at Sempere & Sons.

Fermin still works with them and is busy preparing for his wedding to Bernarda in the New Year. However something appears to be bothering him.

A man marked by magic. A woman marked by her past. On the other side of the Shadowpass, rebellion is brewing and refugees have begun to trickle into the city at the edge of the world. Looming high on the cliff is The Nest, a fortress full of mages who offer protection, but also embody everything the rebellion is fighting against: a strict hierarchy based on magic abilities. When Isha arrives as a refugee, she attempts to fit in amongst the other mages, but her tattoo brands her as an outcast. She can't remember her past or why she has the tattoo. All she knows is that she survived.

Drakon: A mysterious continent of vast potential and incredible danger. Inhabited by the ancient, powerful dragons, the brave and sturdy Lizardfolk, and the cunning Kobolds, it is a land that offers much and demands even more. It is this place that Jelly now arrives, eager to seek out fellow speech-capable Oozes. His excitement, however, is overshadowed by the turmoil that has draped across Drakon. Tensions between the human, elfish, and dwarfish colonists and the native scaled denizens has reached a peak, and conflict seems inevitable.

Sweden, late summer of 2011. Self-taught astrophysicist Petra has calculated that the atmosphere will collapse on the 21st of September that year, around 21.20 to be more precise, bringing about the end of times. Armed with this terrible knowledge, Petra meets Johan, a doomsday prophet, and Agnes, a widow of 75 who has made bank living a double life on social media as a young influencer. Together, the trio race through Europe as they plan to make the most out of the time they have left, in more ways than one. But of course, things rarely go to plan, even the end of the world.

What should be a simple journey forces the trio of heroes to slip past furious fae, escape angered servants of the Void, and visit one of the Afterlives in order to successfully return to their home. Yet is Erafore the same as when they left? How long have the Chosen Ones of Nia been gone? And what cruel surprises does the World Rebellion have up its sleeves for their eventual return? Regardless of the threats looming on the horizon, Jelly, Dora, and Gaelin will face whatever their enemies throw at them, and save Erafore and their loved ones.

Theo Miller knows the value of human life - to the very last penny. Working in the Criminal Audit Office, he assesses each crime that crosses his desk and makes sure the correct debt to society is paid in full. But when his ex-lover is killed, it's different. This is one death he can't let become merely an entry on a balance sheet.

Now aged seven and on the cusp of a class change, Peter desires to live a quiet life in his home village until he comes of age. Unfortunately, Erryn, desiring access to his thoughts and memories, has other plans. When a routine trip to the forest almost turns deadly, Peter ends up where no child is supposed to be: hunting monsters in the town dungeon.

AD 58. Rome is in turmoil once more. Emperor Nero has surrounded himself with sycophants, and together they rampage by night through the city. Meanwhile, Nero's extravagance has reached new heights. The Emperor's spending is becoming profligate at the same time as the demands of keeping the provinces subdued have become increasingly unaffordable. Could Nero withdraw from Britannia, and at what price for the Empire?

Victor Alderheim has a lot to answer for. Not only has he heartlessly tricked his young ex-wife, Jenny, out of her art gallery inheritance, but he has also abandoned his son, Kevin, to die in the middle of the Kenyan savanna. It doesn’t occur to Victor that Kevin might be rescued and adopted by a Maasai medicine man, or that he might be expected to undergo the rituals expected of all new Maasai warriors - which have him running back to Stockholm as fast as you can say circumcision without anaesthetic.

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost... In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky.

Having escaped the Aether with Dora and Gaelin, Jelly is relieved, and eager to return to Orria and reunite with his beloved princess. However, that is easier said than done, and after drifting for several days across the ocean on an iceberg, Jelly and his friends find themselves in Distant Qwan, an exotic land of ancient magic and tradition.

The Great Houses of Paris-headed by Fallen angels and magicians-have coexisted in fragile peace. When a powerful explosion razes House Harrier, old alliances are torn apart, and a race begins to fill the power void. Thuan, the beleaguered dragon head of House Hawthorn, finds a war on his doorstep. Aurore, once cast out by Harrier and almost beaten to death, seeks power to protect her family-and must venture back to her former home. And, in the ruins of House Harrier, Emmanuelle desperately tries to piece together her fragmented memories of the explosion.

Alexander the Great's sudden death has left his vast empire in chaos. War rages, cities fall and the lives of thousands are torn apart as his former generals struggle for a share. Alliances and betrayals are rife, and as one man threatens to gain an advantage, the others will not hesitate to plot his downfall. The one-eyed brute Antigonos is the most formidable power in the Western world and now has his eye on the jewel of the east: Babylon.

With his successful attempt at clearing the Dawnhold dungeon almost costing him his life, Peter has sworn off his previous reckless behavior. With a new brother at home, there's plenty of work to do in the village, and things only get busier when an old friend unexpectedly turns up. Unfortunately, while Peter is living peacefully, Erryn is not doing quite so well, and the consequences will be felt the world over.

Stripped of his immunity, Peter's soul has been laid bare to Erryn. Fortunately, she has accepted the importance of his free will, even permitting him to try to invigorate the world's stagnant civilization. As his first small steps quickly snowball out of control, he's left wondering exactly what the consequences of his actions will be.