Showing results by narrator "John Banks" in All Categories

Merchant-banker Nicholas de Fleury, having wrested his infant son from the boy's formidable mother, pauses en route to the land of golden light to set in train a deception that will ensnare nations in the triumphant ruin of his enemies. This is volume six in the House of Niccolo.

Contains books three and four of Descendants of the Fall. Age of Gods: Pursued by the inhuman Tangata, Lukys flees on foot through the wilderness. He and his companions make for the ocean, a stolen ship their only hope - but even that may prove fleeting. For should they reach the island of Perfugia, a war is brewing between the kingdoms of humanity. Dreams of Fury: On the distant shores of Perfugia, Lukys and Sophia have finally found sanctuary - and an unexpected power left by their ancestors. But their refuge cannot last.

Contains books one and two of Descendants of the Fall: Warbringer and Wrath of the Forgotten.

With his acclaimed debut, The Gutter Prayer, Gareth Hanrahan introduced a world of sorcerers and thieves, broken gods and dangerous magic. Now, this epic tale continues in The Shadow Saint, the gripping second novel in the Black Iron Legacy. As the Godswar draws ever closer and tensions within the city escalate, how long will the people of Guerdon be able to keep their enemies at bay?

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Unicorn Hunt, by Dorothy Dunnett, read by John Banks. The fifth title in the House of Niccolo sequence, recreating the perilous world of trade, war and banking in Renaissance Europe. Niccolo has returned to Venice from Africa - richer, wiser yet ever unpredictable. He journeys to Scotland, closer at hand to the secrets of his birth.

January 1474, in the deep cold of an ice-bound Danzig: a man is spending a frivolous winter not facing up to his responsibilities.... It is the merchant Niccolo, diviner, soldier, banker to kings; shunned by all who know him after revelations of his murderous mischief-making. But his talents are too great to be squandered, and a subtle political dance ensues as rivals in Poland, Venice, and Persia bid for his services in trade and war and diplomacy. Niccolo has lost his family, but he will discover a new purpose in life....

Gemini represents the final appearance of Nicholas de Fleury, who opened this series as a carefree, clumsy 18-year-old apprentice in Flanders. Now he is in his 30s. The culmination of this amazing series sees Niccolo face his toughest battle yet, against an enemy who will tax every skill he has acquired over the course of the last few years....

Forced by necessity into a life of piracy, Senlin and his eclectic crew struggle to survive aboard their stolen airship as the hunt for his lost wife continues. But the Tower of Babel is proving to be as difficult to re-enter as it was to escape.

Hopeless and desolate, they turn to a legend of the tower, the mysterious Sphinx. But help from the sphinx doesn't come cheaply and, as Senlin knows, debts aren't always what they seem in the Tower of Babel.

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.

Returning fans to the turbulent early history of what would become the Malazan Empire, the second chapter in Ian C. Esslemont's thrilling new epic fantasy sequence.... After the disappointments of 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 a civil war on their own home island. The plan, however, soon goes awry....

For the Western allies, 11 November 1918 has always been a solemn date - the end of fighting which had destroyed a generation and a vindication of a terrible sacrifice with the total collapse of their principal enemies: the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. But for much of the rest of Europe, this was a day with no meaning, as a continuing nightmarish series of conflicts engulfed country after country. In this highly original, gripping book, Robert Gerwarth asks us to think again about the true legacy of the First World War.

Henry Kyllo is a Runner, a member of a secret society called the Inferne Cutis. Every day he is chased through the city by Hunters whose goal is to fill him with bullets. It is a secret war steeped in history, tradition, and mutual fear. Rumours abound about what happens when a Runner achieves ascension, but it has supposedly never happened before, so no one knows for sure. Except that it has happened before. And it is happening again. This time to Henry Kyllo.

An extravaganza of suburban noir - complete with one orgy, one brothel and a series of firearms disputes - from Adam Thirlwell, twice selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. This yarn takes place in the suburbs of a giant city. In Brasilia they’re coming off their night shift; in Tokyo they’re having their first whisky sours. That’s what’s happening elsewhere in the world when our hero wakes up. Together with his wife and dog, he lives at home with his parents.

Whilst on a murder-mystery evening in deepest darkest Northumberland, Poe manages to annoy everyone whilst simultaneously solving a mystery - what happened to a five-carat red diamond called the Red Moon of Coonowrin.

"Dear Mervyn. If you want to prevent a murder, then you must attend the recording at the Sounderama studios on Thursday. Signed: a friend." Vixens from the Void is back! After twenty-five years, the popular leather-clad astro-erotic sci-fi television show is returning! Well, sort of. Actually, some devoted Vixens fans have got the licence to do some audios featuring the original cast, and they've invited Mervyn Stone to write an episode. But that's not the only thing he's been invited to do.

The more I knew of Haffner, writes Adam Thirlwell in The Escape, the more real he became, this was true. And, simultaneously, Haffner disappeared. In a forgotten spa town snug in the Alps, at the end of the twentieth century, Haffner is seeking a cure, more women, and a villa that belonged to his late wife. But really he is trying to escape: from his family, his lovers, his history, his entire Haffnerian condition. For Haffner is 78. Haffner, in other words, is too old to be grown up.

In the year 2093, human consciousness has expanded to the point that man can visit the past using a technique called 'mind-travelling'. Artist Edward Bush returns from a lengthy 'trip' to the Jurassic period to find the government overthrown by an authoritarian regime. Given his mind-travel experience, he is recruited by the new regime to track down and assassinate a scientist whose ideas threaten to topple the status quo. However, the job of an artist is not to take orders but to ask questions.

Ignored by his dad, bullied by the teachers at his posh school, and picked on by the gang of kids who roam the stairways of his tower block home, Roland Wright thinks he has it pretty bad. Then, a broken lift hurls him into a strange kingdom where fantasy and reality meet, and Roland finds that his nightmare has only just begun. Who can Roland trust in this bizarre new world? The obsequious caretaker with his rattling keys and cryptic advice? The enchanting Lady who just wants to care for him? The King of the Castle himself?

A fictional biographical slice of Baudelaire's life and love with his famous Haitian muse, Jeanne Duval, Black Venus captures the artistic scene in the great French capital city, at a time when the likes of Dumas and Balzac argued literature in the cafés of the Left Bank. Among the bohemians, the young Charles Baudelaire stood out, dressed impeccably thanks to an inheritance that was quickly vanishing.

It's not easy to live in a world ruled by dragons. The taxes are high, and their control is complete. But for one group of bold misfits, it's time to band together and steal back some of that wealth. No one said they were smart.