Return to the time of Greek gods and heroes in these recent novels. Sacred Games by Gary Corby. It is the Olympics of 460 BC. Nico’s friend, Timodemus, is a competitor in the pankration, the deadly martial art of ancient Greece. His only serious rival is Arakos from Sparta. When Arakos is found dead, it is obvious Timodemus [...]
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Time Thief by Katie MacAlister. Outcast due to their ability to manipulate time, shunned by the mortal and immortal worlds alike, a Traveller’s life is anything but easy. Peter Faa is a member of the Watch tracking down a murderer, and unfortunately, all clues seem to point toward his own estranged family of Travellers. Any [...]
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Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell. In 1002, 15-year-old Emma of Normandy crosses the Narrow Sea to wed the much older King Athelred of England. Thrust into an unfamiliar and treacherous court, Emma must defend herself against her enemies and secure her status as queen by bearing a son. The first volume of a [...]
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Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead. The Age of X series begins with this near-future dystopian tale. The rigidly secular Republic of United North America (RUNA) government now rules the continent. As an elite praetorian solider, gorgeous Mae Koskinen is proud to defend RUNA’s citizens from “unchecked religion.” She taps on-the-margins Justin March to [...]
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Stealing the Preacher by Karen Witemeyer. On his way to interview for a position at a church in the Piney Woods of Texas, Crockett Archer can scarcely believe it when he’s forced off the train by a retired outlaw and presented to the man’s daughter as the minister she requested for her birthday. Worried this [...]
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We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, Lowell and Fern, and our narrator, Rosemary, who states, ”I spent the first eighteen years of my life defined by this one fact: that I was raised with a chimpanzee.” That would be Fern. Rosemary was not yet six [...]
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…to read these new time travel novels. The Beautiful Land by Alan Averill. Takahiro O’Leary has a very special job: working for the Axon Corporation as an explorer of parallel timelines–as many and as varied as anyone could imagine. A great gig–until information he brought back gave Axon the means to maximize profits by changing [...]
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Many novels use flashbacks and different characters to tell a story, but there are also historical novels which go even further–novels that unfold in two or more time frames, usually contemporary and historic. Frequently the historic narrative sets the stage for some mystery to be solved or family issue to be dealt with in the current narrative. The [...]
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London Falling by Paul Cornell, a writer of the modern incarnation of Doctor Who. Police officers Quill, Costain, Sefton, and Ross know the worst of London–or they think they do. While investigating a mobster’s mysterious death, they come into contact with a strange artifact and accidentally develop the Sight. Suddenly they can see the true evil [...]
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In The Wanderer, Robyn Carr moves from Virgin River, CA to Thunder Point, OR for her new series. Locals love the land’s unspoiled beauty, but developers see it as a potential gold mine. When newcomer Hank Cooper learns he’s been left an old friend’s entire beachfront property, he finds himself with a community’s destiny in his [...]
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