The boy is abandoned at the castle gate when he’s six, Prince Chivalry’s bastard. Over ten years, he grows up on the sidelines, where he is ignored by most save the stable master. The king eventually finds a use for him, ap­pren­tic­ing the boy to his assassin.

There are few swords swung in this book. It’s a character study of an outcast boy and his often strained re­la­tion­ships with others. It details his developing awareness of court intrigue and national politics, and the difficult choices that confront him.

Highly rec­om­mend­ed.

The plot is more than slightly ridiculous. Young woman discovers that exactly on her 25th birthday she will come into her hitherto unknown powers and join the secret superhero zodiacal troupe that protects Las Vegas from their nemeses. For her own protection, she must assume the identity of her murdered sister.

It’s better than it sounds though. The heroine is appealing and copes fairly well with the traumatic upending of her life.

The Winds of Dune is another interquel in the Dune franchise, following on from Paul of Dune, taking place between Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.

The Emperor Paul Atreides has dis­ap­peared into the desert, leaving behind his new-born twins and his half-mad sister Alia as the Regent. His mother Jessica arrives from Caladan and comes to understand a great deal about her son’s legacy, and the galaxy-wide Jihad that had grown beyond his control.

Sixth and final book in the Merchant Princes series, sequel to The Revolution Business.

Everything’s going to hell in all three parallel worlds, our United States, the Gruinmarkt, and New Britain. The con­ser­v­a­tive faction of the world-walking Clan has launched a nuclear attack on the U.S.—and the U.S. is going strike back, hard. The only realistic option for the pro­gres­sive wing is to find sanctuary in New Britain, where the monarchy was recently overthrown in a bloody revolution.

Charlie Stross brings the series to a haunting, nuclear-fired conclusion.

Requiem for an Angel is subtitled “The Secret History of a Murderer”; it is also known as the Roth Trilogy.

The Four Last Things is a psy­cho­log­i­cal thriller set in the present day (late 90s, when it was written). Four-year-old Lucy Appleyard is abducted in London by the dimwitted Eddie. We follow her mother, the Rev. Sally Appleyard, as she dis­in­te­grates. Her husband, Michael, is the godson of David Byfield. We also follow Eddie who comes to realize that his partner Angel is quite terrifying.

The Judgement of Strangers‘s opening line …continue.