Showing results by narrator "John Banks" in All Categories

Lured into the cursed city of Shadespire by the promise of the secret of cheating death, the aelf wanderer Prince Maesa seeks the Katophrane Thanaton. Surrounded by the spirits of the dead who cannot die, trapped in the last moments before the city's destruction, Maesa nears his goal...but just why does a nigh-immortal aelf seek this power over death?

In the wilds of Aqshy, Owain Volker, Gunmaster of the Ironweld, and Zana Mathos, sellsword and adventurer, seek one of the fabled Eight Lamentations on behalf of the duardin smith-god, Grungni. But they are not the only ones searching for the legendary artefact, and the duo soon find themselves trapped in an isolated mountain outpost, caught between a herd of savage beastmen and a pack of monstrous foes.

Centuries ago, the world fell. From the ashes rose a terrible new species—the Tangata. Now they wage war against the kingdoms of man. And humanity is losing.

Darujhistan, city of dreams, city of blue flames, is peaceful at last; its citizens free to return to politicking, bickering, trading and, above all, enjoying the good things in life. Yet there are those who will not allow the past to remain buried. A scholar digging in the plains stumbles across an ancient sealed vault. The merchant Humble Measure schemes to drive out the remaining Malazan invaders. And the surviving agents of a long-lost power are stirring, for they sense change and so, opportunity.

Richard Atkinson was in his late 30s and approaching a milestone he had long feared - the age at which his father died – when one day he came across a box of old family letters gathering dust in a cupboard. This discovery set him on an all-consuming, highly emotional journey, ultimately taking him from the weather-beaten house of his Cumbrian ancestors to the ruins of their sugar estates in Jamaica....

History is written by the victors, and Rome had some very eloquent historians. Those the Romans regarded as barbarians left few records of their own, but they had a tremendous impact on the Roman imagination. Resisting from outside Rome's borders or rebelling from within, they emerge vividly in Rome's historical tradition, and left a significant footprint in archaeology.

After defeating the Warlord of the Turan Khar, Rylan Lauchlin has assumed his place...and his troubles. Deprived of the ancient magic that allowed the Khar Unity to exist in harmony, their society is slowly dying, and it is now up to Rylan to save it. But only one man has the knowledge to release the magic of the Core - the same man who locked it away in the first place - and that man is imprisoned within Rylan himself.

Heed now three tales of the Champions of the Eternal War.... 'The Calculus of Battle' by David Guymer. As the defenders of Varasine battle a tyranid invasion, Warleader Kardan Stronos and the Iron Hands come to their aid, measuring the Chapter's cold logic and strategy against the cost in human lives. 'The Embrace of Pain' by Ian St Martin. When blademaster Lucius the Eternal is challenged by a champion of the Death Guard, he accepts without hesitation...but could a daemonhost of Nurgle, or the voices inside his own head, be the undoing of his Slaaneshi curse?

Crime-fighting duo Tilly and Poe solve a mystery from inside a pantomime horse in a short story that first appeared in the Halloween anthology Afraid of the Shadows.

The quest to find the Nine Gates that lead to the underworlds of Shyish and an audience with Nagash continues.... Tarsus of the Hallowed Knights leads his Stormcast Eternals into the unearthly city of Helstone. Their enigmatic guide, Mannfred von Carstein, assures them that what they need to find his necromantic master lies within its halls, but there is more than darkness lurking in the ruins. Chaos has already taken root, and a reckoning against the servants of the Plague God awaits.

After a gruelling journey, the warriors of the Hallowed Knights and Astral Templars have found their quarry in the Sea of Bones. During the hunt, Mannfred the vampire lord has raised a mighty undead host to protect the realmgate he has claimed. While Ramus of the Hallowed Knights seeks the vampire's head and Vandalus of the Astral Templars wants to reclaim the realmgate, both must fight as one and alongside their orruk allies if they are to triumph.

The Nausch invasion is imminent. Cam must face Molne, Horrors, and the King of Horrors itself to save the world from certain destruction. As Cam’s body, heart, and mind are broken, he must anchor to the healer within himself to push through violence and sorrow. In him is the power to cross the threshold of death, learn the secrets of his enemies, and push the darkness back. When the King of Horrors comes to take the skins and spirits of the world to fashion an alien kingdom, Cam and his allies fight and fall together in a last stand to save what’s left of the world.

The Pharos stands as a beacon of light in the darkness, a whisper of hope in the silent void, a bastion of defiance in the face of treachery. Without it there could be no Imperium Secundus - why, then, do the masters of Ultramar know so little about its operation, or the dangers it could present? Young Oberdeii and Tebecai, Scouts of the 199th Company, descend into the depths beneath Mount Pharos in search of the truth...though it may haunt them for all time.

After the disappointments in Li Heng, Dancer and Kellanved wash up on a small insignificant island named Malaz. Immediately, of course, Kellanved plans to take it over. To do so they join forces with a small band of Napans who have fled their home. However, Kellanved is soon distracted by a strange and dangerous ancient structure. Back in Li Heng, Dassem, now the proclaimed Sword of Hood, finds himself being blamed for a plague which leads him to a crisis of faith - and searching for answers.

A heist story with a difference: Guardians of the Galaxy meets The Hobbit in this rollicking fantasy adventure. The dragons who once ruled over the land are dead. The motley crew that stole the dragons' gold and stumbled through a revolution are rich and praised as saviours. Everyone gets to live happily ever after, right? Well, it might have worked out that way if the dragons in Kondorra had been the only ones. If they hadn't been just the tip of the spear about to fall upon the whole world....

The return of the mercenary company, the Crimson Guard, could not have come at a worse time for a Malazan Empire exhausted by warfare and weakened by betrayals and rivalries. Indeed, there are those who wonder whether the Empress Laseen might not be losing her grip on power as she faces increasing unrest as conquered kingdoms and principalities sense freedom once more.

Meet Matt Richter. Pi. Zombie. Another case proves dangerous for zombie PI Matt Richter, in the underworld realm of Nekropolis. From his arrival at Nekropolis, Matt has found himself embroiled in disputes with the city's vampire lords, shapeshifters, golems, and other monstrosities. Nothing has prepared him for the Dark War. Tim Waggoner is a novelist and college professor.

The Final Problem by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adapted by Nicholas Briggs. Sherlock Holmes visits his good friend, Dr. John Watson...but Holmes is not his usual composed and supremely confident self. He is a hunted man. Having unearthed the criminal mastermind behind the greatest crimes in the land, Holmes has found himself a fugitive. But the great detective already has a plan in motion. It will not be long before his arch foe, Professor Moriarty, is in custody.

At last, the great search for the Nine Gates is over as Tarsus and the Hallowed Knights reach the lair of the Great Necromancer himself, Nagash. Here, in the dark hollows of one of the underworlds of Shyish, the Stormcast Eternals will meet their fate. As they stand in the shadow of death, they must trust that their vampiric guide, Mannfred von Carstein, has not played them false.

Drawn to a haunted graveyard in the Realm of Beasts by rumours of a fearsome creature, the aelven Prince Maesa seeks to cleanse the area of its taint. Along with his allies Stonbrak the duardin and Shattercap, the malevolent spite who serves him, Maesa sets out to defeat the beast - a terrifying and monstrous spirit known as a Mourngul. But there is more to this horror than meets the eye, and unless they can solve the mystery surrounding it, the Mourngul may spell the heroes' fate.