Book of the Month - December 2020

Date Added: 30/11/2020

Our book of the month is Darien by Conn Iggulden, writing as C.F. Iggulden for his Fantasy debut. The city of Darien lies at the heart of a dying empire. Twelve families keep order with soldiers and artefacts, spies and memories, clinging to a peace that shifts and crumbles. The people of the city endure what they cannot change. Here, amongst old feuds, a plot is hatched to kill a king. It will summon strangers to the city. Elias Post, a hunter, Tellius, an old swordsman banished from his home, Arthur, a boy who cannot speak, Daw Threefold, a chancer and gambler, Vic Deeds, who feels no guilt, and Nancy, a girl whose talent might be the undoing of them all. As the sun sets, their arrival inside the walls will spark a series of explosive events. Before the sun returns, six destinies will have been made, and lost, in Darien.

Darien offers all the excitement you expect from bestselling historical fiction writer Conn Iggulden, with brilliantly realised world-building. Darien is the first book in the Empire of Salt series, followed up by Shiang and The Sword Saint. You can request them on our library catalogue right now for free, to pick up at your local library with Select & Collect.

New worlds
To see some of the great new science fiction and fantasy books in our libraries visit our SF and Fantasy book list. They're all available to request and borrow with Select & Collect. Here are some new titles to look out for:

The Obsidian Tower is the first in an epic new fantasy series from Melissa Caruso, in which one woman's powers and choices may save, or destroy, a continent
The Book of Koli begins an original new trilogy set in a strange and deadly world of our own making from M.R. Carey, author of The Girl With All the Gifts
The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a beautiful debut from Alix Harrow, a love letter to the written word and the power of stories to open doors to other worlds
Adrian Tchaikovksy's Arthur C Clarke Award winning novel Children of Time is the story of two civilizations on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive, followed up by Children of Ruin
The bestselling Joe Abercrombie returns with A Little Hatred, first in The Age of Madness series, with war, politics, revolution and a cast of unforgettable new characters
Beneath the World, A Sea by Chris Beckett is a hugely ambitious, genre-defying novel about humanity, the secrets of the unconscious mind, and all that lies beneath
Doing Time is the story of Jane, Luke and Matthew, the worst recruits in Time Police history, in the first in a hilarious new series from bestselling author Jodi Taylor