Release Week: 20 August 2024

Release Week: 20 August 2024

Posted on 2024-08-20 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Two long-anticipated titles for me are my PICKS for this week:

• Netherford Hall by Natania Barron, read by Hannah Curtis for Tantor -- Described as "Pride and Prejudice and Witches", I've had the pleasure of watching this book come to life over the past years and am so excited to get the final book: "After a mysterious fire at their home in Regency London displaces Gentlewitch Edith Rookwood and her now much-reduced family to their ancestral seat of Netherford Hall in Kent, she faces a new threat in the form of her tenant—the chaotic and lovely Poppy Brightwell. The repairs on the old pile are prohibitive, Edith's standing is uncertain, and her inheritance has been challenged by a forgotten American branch of the family. It is clear she needs to marry, soon and wisely—but the lively girl from Harrow House gradually comes to occupy all of her thoughts. As tenants, rivals, suitors, and enemies start to circle Netherford, and dark secrets about both women's pasts come to light, Edith and Poppy must confront what it means to fight for love and family, and to be their authentic selves."

• She Who Knows By: Nnedi Okorafor, read by Yetide Badaki for Brilliance -- "Part science fiction, part fantasy, and entirely infused with West African culture and spirituality, this novella offers an intimate glimpse into the life of a teenager whose coming of age will herald a new age for her world. Set in the universe Africanfuturist luminary Nnedi Okorafor first introduced in the World Fantasy Award-winning Who Fears Death, this is the first in the She Who Knows trilogy."

And one surprise from the BACKLIST:

• Mélusine: The Doctrine of Labyrinths, Book 1 By: Katherine Addison (2005), read by Shawn K. Jain for Tantor -- Addison, a pen name for Sarah Monette, is the celebrated (at least by me!) author of The Goblin Emperor and The Witness For The Dead apparently had this trilogy out in the mid 2000s as well, her first published novels? Color me very, very curious! "Welcome to Melusine, a city as wondrous as it is corrupt. Within its walls lies a stronghold of power and magic, a shining setting for the brilliant Felix Harrowgate. A well-respected wizard and darling of the court, Felix harbors sordid secrets from his peers in the aristocracy: a dark past in which a sadistic wizard enslaved him body and mind, even as he schooled Felix in how to walk among noblemen as if he were one of them. An abuser Felix believes himself free of, until a return to his former master's lair leads to his harrowing fall from grace. Broken, lost, Felix finds an unlikely accomplice in Mildmay the Fox. Trained to be an assassin, surviving as a thief, Mildmay knows what it is to be hunted. When fate brings the weakened wizard and the wanted killer together, they escape Melusine, traveling through strange lands where they encounter peculiar magic and powerful demons. A world where shocking secrets will be laid bare—dark truths that will bind them together forever."

Lastly, since it all can't be good news, my MOST MISSING this week is:

• When You Leave I Disappear by David Niall Wilson (Shortwave Media) -- "A literary horror novella in which a bestselling author's imposter syndrome draws her into a darker and darker world from which she may never escape."

Posted in Release Week