Showing results by narrator "Samuel Roukin" in All Categories

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.

The sorcerer Alder fears sleep. The dead are pulling him to them at night. Through him they may free themselves and invade Earthsea. Alder seeks advice from Ged, once Archmage. Ged tells him to go to Tenar, Tehanu, and the young king at Havnor. They are joined by amber-eyed Irian, a fierce dragon able to assume the shape of a woman. The threat can be confronted only in the Immanent Grove on Roke, the holiest place in the world, and there the king, hero, sage, wizard, and dragon make a last stand.

The galaxy is burning. 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 rumors … 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.

Friends since their orphanage childhood, Joel “Ridge” Breckinridge and Garrett “Rett” Kennard rose through the ranks of the Landrian army together, from teenaged conscripts to seasoned fighters. Together, they became the most feared team of assassins in Landria. When wandering mystic Yefim Makary becomes the darling of disenchanted aristocrats, Rett and Ridge fear Makary - or the Witch Lord, as his followers call him - is a threat to the crown. As treasonous whispers spread, Ridge and Rett go rogue to stop the threat, save the kingdom, and protect the king.

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.

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.

Step by step, mile by mile, his body and mind heal. In this lyrical, vulnerable, and breathtaking memoir, J. M. Thompson, now a successful psychologist, retraces the path that led him from despair to wellness, detailing the chilling childhood trauma that caused his depression, and the unorthodox treatment that saved him. Running Is a Kind of Dreaming is a luminous literary testament to the universal human capacity to recover from our deepest wounds.

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.

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.

This collection of short stories and novelettes includes the previously published stories "The Potter's Daughter" (a prequel to the novel The Element of Fire), "Holy Places", "Rites of Passage", "Houses of the Dead", "Reflections" (the Giliead and Ilias stories, prequels to the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy), as well as "Night at the Opera" (a Nicholas and Reynard story original to this collection, set before the Nebula-nominated novel The Death of the Necromancer).

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.

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.

In the ancient moors of Scotland, the king of Calidon lies on his deathbed, cursed by a ring that cannot be removed from his finger. When a mysterious fey stranger appears to save the king, he also carries a secret that could tear the royal family apart. The kingdom's only hope will lie with two young men raised worlds apart. Aric is the beloved heir to the throne of Calidon; Albaric is clearly of noble origin yet strangely out of place. The Oddling Prince is a tale of brothers whose love and loyalty to each other defies impending warfare, sundering seas, fated hatred, and the very course of time itself.

Six months after the events of Sellsword's Oath, Ridge is living in a small village far from the intrigue of the cities. Under a new name and a false identity, he tends bar at Road's End, an unremarkable tavern in an even more forgettable town. The Witch Lord's puppets control the kingdom and have placed a king of their choosing on the throne, a cousin of King Kristoph. Kristoph's heir is dead, though rumors persist of a hidden, bastard son whose claim would still best that of the usurper.

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....

‘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.

Rule-breaking, unconventional assassins Joel “Ridge” Breckenridge and Garrett “Rett” Kennar are caught between dangerous allies and deadly enemies as the future of Landria hangs in the balance. The council of regents controlled by the Witch Lord threatens the succession after King Kristoph’s murder. Rett escaped his brutal captors scarred in body and mind. Now he’s struggling to control the untested powers unleashed by his ordeal and dream walks to a hidden cloister full of forbidden magic.

A year after the evets of Fugitive's Vow, the worst of Rett's wounds are healed. His recovery came at a high cost, leaving Ridge indebted to a mage of dubious integrity. Rett is functional, but he remains scarred and bitter, and self-loathing over his damaged mind and body strains his bond with Ridge. When the mage Ridge owes assigns him a quest to cancel his debt, Rett fears betrayal, though Ridge has no choice but to comply.

Arthur and Maudie Brightstorm are back home in Lontown and finally settling in after their exhilarating—and secret—adventures in Erythea. Maudie’s sky-ak invention is a hit, and Harriet has just announced that she will share her sky-ship’s hydroelectric technology. But tensions are brewing. Pitch is becoming more and more difficult to mine, and the existence of super-sapient creatures on other continents threatens how the Explorers see themselves in the natural order of the world.

A psychological thriller about love and identity by Ben Lewis. Karen's counting down the days to her wedding. But when a scrawny-looking stranger turns up, her happy life begins to fall apart. Starring Nicola Stapleton as Karen, with Samuel Roukin as Vinnie, Freddy White as Stuart, Catherine Shepherd as Siobhan, Sandra Voe as Jean, and Ben Lewis as Dave. Director: Kirsty Williams.