August Book Haul Part 2 #StackedShelves #Bookpost #Bookmail #Reviews

Welcome to part 2 of my August book haul. I have to cracking additions to the review list. I am especially excited about the Tom Lloyd epic fantasy novels. I have already read a few chapters and I am already hooked. Another big addition is Andy Weir’s new science-fiction epic ARTEMIS. So many brilliant books coming my way in 2017. I love having the opportunity to showcase them all to you as often as I can. Now… to the books!

August Book Haul Part Two

The Nix by Nathan Hill

Published by: Picador

This is a distant departure from all the genres of books I have been reading recently and I am excited to give it a go. Picador are one of my favourite publishers because they are constantly upping the game.

Book Synopsis: Meet Samuel: stalled writer, bored teacher at a local college, obsessive player of online video games. He hasn’t seen his mother, Faye, in decades, not since she abandoned her family when he was a boy. Now she has suddenly reappeared, having committed an absurd politically motivated crime that electrifies the nightly news, beguiles the Internet, and inflames a divided America. The media paints Faye as a radical hippie with a sordid past, but as far as Samuel knows, his mother was an ordinary girl who married her high-school sweetheart. Which version of his mother is true? Two facts are certain: she’s facing some serious charges, and she needs Samuel’s help.

As Samuel begins to excavate his mother’s – and his country’s – history, the story moves from the rural Midwest of the 1960s, to New York City during Occupy Wall Street, back to Chicago in 1968 and, finally, to wartime Norway, home of the mysterious Nix. Samuel will unexpectedly find that he has to rethink everything he ever knew about his mother – a woman with an epic story of her own, a story she has kept hidden from the world.

Lucky Ghost by Matthew Blakstad

Published by: Hodder & Stoughton7

I love Black Mirror so this immediately appealed to me. I have been hearing excellent things on the book vine so can’t wait to get into this 😀

Book Synopsis: Early one morning, blogger Alex Kubelick walks up to a total stranger and slaps him across the face. Hard.

He smiles.

They’ve both just earned Emoticoin, in a new, all-consuming game that trades real-life emotions for digital currency. Emoticoin is changing the face of the economy – but someone or something is controlling it for their own, dangerous ends.

As Alex picks apart the tangled threads that hold the virtual game together she finds herself on the run from very real enemies. It seems only one person has the answers she seeks. Someone who hides behind the name ‘Lucky Ghost’.

But Lucky Ghost will only talk to a young hacker called Thimblerig – the online troll who’s been harassing Alex for months.

Will Lucky Ghost lead Alex and Thimblerig to the answers they seek – or to their deaths?

Stranger of Tempest by Tom Lloyd

Published by: Gateway (Orion Books)

Look at that cover. Just look at it! I have read the opening chapter to this and it is amazing. I have been talking about it to Drew over at The Tattooed Book Geek and he loved it so I am keen to get into the series as soon as I can.

Book Synopsis: Lynx is a mercenary with a sense of honour; a dying breed in the Riven Kingdom. Failed by the nation he served and weary of the skirmishes that plague the continent’s principalities, he walks the land in search of purpose. He wants for little so bodyguard work keeps his belly full and his mage-gun loaded. It might never bring a man fame or wealth, but he’s not forced to rely on others or kill without cause.

Little could compel Lynx to join a mercenary company, but he won’t turn his back on a kidnapped girl. At least the job seems simple enough; the mercenaries less stupid and vicious than most he’s met over the years.

So long as there are no surprises or hidden agendas along the way, it should work out fine.

Princess of Blood by Tom Lloyd

Published by: Gateway (Orion Books)

Part two of the series is out soon! Look at that cover art (again!). Whoever did this design needs a high five 😀

Book Synopsis: There’s a new Card in the Mercenary Deck – one Lynx isn’t sure if he’s happy to see or not. The assassin Toil now wears the Princess of Blood on her jacket and even Lynx would admit she’s a woman cloaked in chaos and bloodshed.

Their new mission is to escort a dignitary to the pious and ancient city of Jarrazir – beneath which lies a fabled labyrinth. Having barely survived their last underground adventure the mercenaries aren’t keen for another, but Toil has other plans.

Under threat of siege and horrors rising from the labyrinth, even the Mercenary Deck may have to accept that Jarrazir’s prohibition laws aren’t their biggest problem.

Artemis by Andy Weir

Published by: Del Rey (Penguin)

This is a brilliant reviewing opportunity and I am incredibly grateful to have an ARC copy. This is going to be a huge release in November and I am excited to be a part of the hype.

Book Synopsis: She grew up on the moon, of course she has a dark side…

Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of Jazz’s problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself – and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even more unlikely than the first.

A Plague Of Swords by Miles Cameron 

Published by: Gollancz

I hear plenty of good things about both Miles Cameron and The Red Knight series! Need to read this very soon.

Book Synopsis: ONE ENEMY HAS FALLEN. A GREATER ONE REMAINS. NOW IT’S WAR . . .

The Red Knight withstood the full might of his enemy, and won the day. In a victory which will be remembered through the ages, he brought disparate factions together and turned them into allies against a more powerful foe than they had ever seen.
Now, he will need his allies more than ever.

Because behind one adversary hid another – one with allies of their own – whose goal was never to destroy Alba, but to distract the Kingdom while achieving his true aim. And whatever it is, it’s probably not in the Red Knight’s interest.

With one army defeated, now the Red Knight must fight again . . . and for every one of his allies there is a corresponding enemy. Spread out in different lands, and on sea, it will all come down to one last gamble. And to whether or not the Red Knight has guessed their foe’s true intentions.
With each throw of the dice, everything could be lost . . .

Wychwood by George Mann

Published by: Titan Books

Titan Books are one of the most innovative and supportive publishers I have had the experience to blog alongside. Wychwood is one of the many brilliant releases coming from them in 2017. I am taking part in a blog tour in September so keep your eyes peeled for my review.

Book Synopsis: After losing her job and her partner in one fell swoop, journalist Elspeth Reeves is back in her mother’s house in the sleepy village of Wilsby-under-Wychwood, wondering where it all went wrong. Then a body is found in the neighbouring Wychwoods: a woman ritually slaughtered, with cryptic symbols scattered around her corpse. Elspeth recognizes these from a local myth of the Carrion King, a Saxon magician who once held a malevolent court deep in the forest. As more murders follow, Elspeth joins her childhood friend DS Peter Shaw to investigate, and the two discover sinister village secrets harking back decades.

Thank you all for stopping by to check out all the recent additions to my review list here on Always Trust In Books. August has been a phenomenal month for book post and I am exceedingly grateful (as you all know!). Thanks to Penguin, Titan Books, Gollancz and Hodder & Stoughton for sending me epic books to review on my blog. If you have read any of these books then please let me know as I would love to chat to you about them. If any of the books have caught your eye then also let me know! Until next time, happy reading!