Showing results by narrator "Samuel Roukin" in All Categories

As a barrister in 1818 London, William Snopes is a strong advocate who chooses to defend the poorer classes against the powerful. That changes the day a struggling heiress, Lady Madeleine Jameson, arrives at his door.

Lady Anne Deveril doesn’t spook easily. A woman of lofty social standing known for her glacial beauty and starchy opinions, she’s the unofficial leader of her small group of equestriennes. Since her mother’s devastating plunge into mourning six years ago, Anne voluntarily renounced any fanciful notions of love and marriage. And yet, when fate puts Anne back into the entirely too enticing path of Mr. Felix Hartford, she’s tempted to run…right into his arms.

Mary Firth is a Stormsinger: a woman whose voice can still hurricanes and shatter armadas. Faced with servitude to a deathless pirate lord, Mary offers her skills to his arch-rival in exchange for protection—and, more importantly, his help in sending the pirate to a watery grave. But Mary's dreams are dark and full of ghistings, spectral creatures who inhabit the ancient forests of her homeland and the figureheads of ships.

Working his way up at London law firm fford Croft and Gibson, Daniel Pitt is named second prosecutor on a fraud case with the potential to make or break his—and the firm's—reputation. The trouble is, Malcolm Vayne, the man on trial, has deep pockets, and even deeper connections. Vayne's philanthropic efforts paint him a hero in the eyes of the public, but Daniel's friend Ian, a police officer, has evidence to suggest otherwise. Nervously working alongside the new head of his firm, Daniel is under pressure to prove that Vayne is guilty.

Meet Caltro Basalt. He's a master locksmith, a selfish bastard, and as of his first night in Araxes, stone-cold dead. They call it the City of Countless Souls, the colossal jewel of the Arctian Empire, and all it takes to be its ruler is to own more ghosts than any other. For in Araxes, the dead do not rest in peace in the afterlife, but live on as slaves for the rich. While Caltro struggles to survive, those around him strive for the emperor's throne in Araxes' cutthroat game of power.

On an island lives a boy called Peter and his band of merry lost boys, young forever. That is unless they get sick or killed by pirates or eaten by crocodiles or unless - inexplicably - they grow old. For some of them do grow old, and nobody knows why. One of these boys is called Jamie, and he was the first boy that Peter ever brought to the island. Jamie's lived there for longer than he can remember, and it's not all fun and games.

With the Cielcin united under one banner, the Sollan Empire stands alone after the betrayal of the Commonwealth. The Prophet-King of the Cielcin has sent its armies to burn the worlds of men, and worse, there are rumours...whispers that Hadrian Marlowe is dead, killed in the fighting. But it is not so. Hadrian survived with the help of the witch, Valka, and together they escaped the net of the enemy having learned a terrible truth: the gods that the Cielcin worship are real and will not rest until the universe is dark and cold. What is more, the Emperor himself is in danger.

Nothing is certain in Araxes. Not even death. Stolen from the widow's clutches, master thief and ghost Caltro Basalt must learn new ways to survive the cutthroat society of the Arctian Empire. His one hope for freedom and justice? A gift from the dead gods, who continue to beg for a saviour.

The battle for the emperor's throne grows ever fiercer. The City of Countless Souls cowers behind locked doors as the whims of the downtrodden and the powerful bring the great game of Araxes to its chaotic conclusion. With the soulblade at his hip and magic in his soul, Caltro's freedom is almost within reach. But as Temsa reign of murder clashes with Widow Horix's plans, the locksmith's fate becomes all the more entwined with the needs of dead gods, the Cult, and vengeful royals.

When Lionel Savage, a popular poet in Victorian London, learns from his butler that they're broke, he marries the beautiful Vivien Lancaster for her money, only to find that his muse has abandoned him. Distraught and contemplating suicide, Savage accidentally conjures the devil - the polite "Gentleman" of the title - who appears at one of the society parties Savage abhors. The two hit it off: The devil talks about his home, where he employs Dante as a gardener; Savage lends him a volume of Tennyson.

Architect Douglas Layton has lost everything. The balcony of one of his beautiful music halls collapsed during a packed performance, killing dozens. Layton knows the flaw was not in his design; someone else must have caused the dreadful catastrophe. But with no proof, Layton finds himself facing a five-year prison sentence. When he is finally freed, Layton starts over with a new name and identity, taking a job as a set painter. But as Layton begins to discover dead bodies hidden within theater halls across London, it soon becomes clear something darker is chasing him.

Samuel and Mary are thriving as privateers on the Winter Seas. As they navigate the complexities of their growing bond, in a world that would see Mary as chattel to be traded, the pair are forging a better way to live, under the sails of Hart. But when their latest prize brings tales of Benedict’s capture by Mereish forces, they must make an impossible choice: to serve their nation or save Samuel’s brother. Thrust into a mission of intrigue and infiltration, they seek to break into the most secure prison on the Mereish Coast.

The resistance movement against the Witch King has suffered heavy losses and seems to be on the brink of defeat. Ridge and Rett manage to score some victories, restoring the resistance’s faith in their ability to succeed. Ridge and Rett hide the heir at Rune Keep and lead an insurgence against the traditional armies of the Witch Lord’s loyalists....

Poison was only the beginning.... The deadly siege of Silasta woke the ancient spirits, and now the city-state must find its place in this new world of magic. But people and politics are always treacherous, and it will take all of Jovan and Kalina’s skills as proofer and spy to save their country when witches and assassins turn their sights to domination.

A new drug is on the street. Everyone's buzzing about it. Take the hit. Live the most intense week of your life. Then die. It's the ultimate high at the ultimate price. Adam thinks it over. He's poor, and doesn't see that changing. Lizzie, his girlfriend, can't make up her mind about sleeping with him, so he can't get laid. His brother Jess is missing. And Manchester is in chaos, controlled by drug dealers and besieged by a group of homegrown terrorists who call themselves the Zealots. Wouldn't one amazing week be better than this endless, penniless misery?

‘What is it like to be a bat?’, the philosopher Thomas Nagel famously asked concerning consciousness. For biologist Martin Stevens, the question forms the starting point of an exploration of animal senses. In this enthralling account, we learn not only of the wonder of animal senses, but how they work and how scientists go about investigating them. And, throughout, we consider how these senses came to be.

It was supposed to be our last weekend away as friends, before marriage and respectability beckoned. But what happened that Saturday changed everything. We killed a stranger and covered it up. In the middle of the night, someone died. We didn’t know our victim was a serial killer. The six of us promised one another we would not tell anyone about the body we buried. But now the pact has been broken. We don’t think he was working alone. And the killing has started again....

Arthur and Maudie Brightstorm receive devastating news: their famous explorer father has died in a failed attempt to reach South Polaris. To make matters worse, the Lontown Geographical Society finds Ernest Brightstorm guilty of sabotaging the expedition of his competitor, Eudora Vane. But a mysterious clue leads the twins to question the story they've been told-and to uncover the truth, they must undertake the journey of a lifetime. Joining the ragtag crew of a homemade sky-ship captained by the intrepid Harriet Culpepper, Arthur and Maudie race to...find out what really happened.

Wandering mystic Yefim Makary, known to his followers as the "Witch Lord", disappeared before he could be accused of inciting dissent against King Kristoph. His supporters among the disenchanted aristocrats who weren’t arrested have fled or died by their own hand. The king is happy to put the matter behind him. Yet Burke, the commander of the elite King’s Shadows, doesn’t believe the threat is over, and he assigns his two most troublesome, rule-breaking - and successful - assassins to ferret out the real threat and put a stop to Makary’s plots.

The estranged emperor of the Melnibonéan empire, Elric is struggling with his nature and the constant thirst of his soul-sucking sword, Stormbringer. He wants his dying empire to thrive, but is he up to the task? Recruiting his best friend Moonglum, he hunt across his lands for the great Citadel of Forgotten Myths, seeking the answers to the nature of the phroon of The Young Kingdoms.