Skjønnlitteratur

Andy, Dag and Claire have been handed a society beyond their means. Twentysomethings, brought up with divorce, Watergate and Three Mile Island, and scarred by the 80s fallout of yuppies, recession, crack and Ronald Reagan, they represent the new generation- Generation X. Fiercely suspicious of being lumped together as an advertiser's target market, they have quit dreary careers and cut themselves adrift in the California desert. Unsure of their futures, they immerse themselves in a regime of heavy drinking and working in no future McJobs in the service industry.Underemployed, overeducated and intensely private and unpredicatable, they have nowhere to direct their anger, no one to assuage their fears, and no culture to replace their anomie. So they tell stories: disturbingly funny tales that reveal their barricaded inner world. A world populated with dead TV shows, 'Elvis moments' and semi-disposible Swedish furniture.

Once upon a time fairy tales weren't meant just for children, and neither is Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales. This stunning collection contains lyrical tales, bloody tales and hilariously funny and ripely bawdy stories from countries all around the world- from the Arctic to Asia - and no dippy princesses or soppy fairies. Instead, we have pretty maids and old crones; crafty women and bad girls; enchantresses and midwives; rascal aunts and odd sisters. This fabulous celebration of strong minds, low cunning, black arts and dirty tricks could only have been collected by the unique and much-missed Angela Carter. Illustrated throughout with original woodcuts.

Winner of the 2017 Crime Writers' Association Diamond DaggerVera Stanhope will return in The SeagullThe Crow Trap is the first book in Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series - which is now a major ITV detective drama starring Brenda Blethyn, Vera. Three very different women come together at isolated Baikie's Cottage on the North Pennines, to complete an environmental survey. Three women who each know the meaning of betrayal . . . Rachael, the team leader, is still reeling after a double betrayal by her lover and boss, Peter Kemp. Anne, a botanist, sees the survey as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. And then there is Grace, a strange, uncommunicative young woman, hiding plenty of her own secrets. Rachael is the first to arrive at the cottage, where she discovers the body of her friend, Bella Furness. Bella, it appears, has committed suicide - a verdict Rachael refuses to accept. When another death occurs, a fourth woman enters the picture - the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope . . . Also available in the Vera Stanhope series are Telling Tales, Hidden Depths, Silent Voices and The Glass Room. Ann Cleeves' Shetland series (BBC television drama SHETLAND) contains five titles, of which Dead Water is the most recent.

He became a bestselling novelist while still in college, immediately famous and wealthy. He watched his insufferable father reduced to a bag of ashes in a safety-deposit box. He was lost in a haze of booze, drugs and vilification. Then he was given a second chance. This is the life of Bret Easton Ellis, the author and subject of this remarkable novel. Confounding one expectation after another, Lunar Park is equally hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking. It's the most original novel of an extraordinary career - and best of all: it all happened, every word is true.

Split Second is the first in the gripping King and Maxwell series by bestselling author David Baldacci.When something distracts Secret Agent Sean King for a split second, it costs him his career and presidential candidate, Clyde Ritter, his life. But what stole his attention? And why was Ritter shot? Eight years later Michelle Maxwell is on the fast track through the ranks of the Secret Service when her career is stopped short: presidential candidate John Bruno is abducted from a funeral home while under her protection. The similarity between the two cases drives Michelle to re-open investigations into the Ritter fiasco and join forces with attractive ex-agent King. The pair are determined to get to the bottom of what happened in those critical moments. Meanwhile, high-ranking members of the legal system and key witnesses from both cases are going missing. King is losing friends, colleagues and clients fast and his ex-lover, Joan Dillinger, is playing curious games - she wants Sean back, but she also owes him for something . . .Split Second is followed by Hour Game, Simple Genius, First Family, The Sixth Man and King and Maxwell.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth installment in Douglas Adams' bestselling cult classic, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 'trilogy'.This edition includes exclusive bonus material from the Douglas Adams archives, and an introduction by Neil Gaiman.There is a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. It's not an easy thing to do, and Arthur Dent thinks he's the only human who's been able to master this nifty little trick - until he meets Fenchurch, the woman of his dreams. Fenchurch once realized how the world could be made a good and happy place. Unfortunately, she's forgotten. Convinced that the secret lies within God's Final Message to His Creation, they go in search of it. And, in a dramatic break with tradition, actually find it . . .Follow Arthur Dent's galactic (mis)adventures in the last of the 'trilogy of five', Mostly Harmless.

'John Scalzi is the most entertaining, accessible writer working in SF today' - Joe Hill, author of The FiremanJohn Scalzi's Zoe's Tale is the fourth in The Old Man's War series. She won't go down without a fight.It's not every day you up sticks and move to another world. But then, Zoe Boutin-Perry's life has never been ordinary. She's the adopted teenage daughter of two former super-soldiers. She's also a holy icon to a race of alien warriors who track her every move. So she's used to the quirks of being a human in space.However, this time something's different. Betrayed by the authorities, Zoe - along with her parents and fellow colonists - finds herself stranded on a deadly pioneer planet. The Colonial Union has also set them up as a target for hostile alien action. Zoe must become a player (and a pawn) in an interstellar battle, which will determine the fate of humanity. Her father's side of this story was told in The Last Colony, but Zoe's Tale reveals a whole new dimension. It's a story you may think you know, but you don't really know it at all.

The Prophet is known and loved by readers all over the world. It is a wise and warm testimony to life, whose wisdom speaks to us all. This beautiful edition of Kahlil Gibran's timeless classic is illustrated with the author's own mystical drawings.

Suttree is a compelling, semi-autobiographical novel by Cormac McCarthy, which has as its protagonist Cornelius Suttree, living alone and in exile in a disintegrating houseboat on the wrong side of the Tennessee River close by Knoxville. He stays at the edge of an outcast community inhabited by eccentrics, criminals and the poverty-stricken. Rising above the physical and human squalor around him, his detachment and wry humour enable him to survive dereliction and destitution with dignity.

Incisive, controversial and startlingly funny, The Rules of Attraction examines a group of affluent students at a small, self-consciously bohemian, liberal-arts college on America's East Coast. Lauren, who changes the man in her bed even more often than she changes course, is dating Victor but sleeping with Sean. Sean - cool, ambivalent and deeply cynical - might be in love with Lauren, but he's not going to let that stop him from bedding Paul. Paul, as shrewd as he is passionate, is Lauren's ex-lover and the final point in this curious triangle. From the author of American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis's The Rules of Attraction is a breathtaking tale of sex, expectation, desire and frustration.

'America's greatest living writer.' - ObserverJack Gladney is the creator and chairman of Hitler studies at the College-on-the-Hill. This is the story of his absurd life; a life that is going well enough, until a chemical spill from a rail car releases an 'Airborne Toxic Event' and Jack is forced to confront his biggest fear - his own mortality. White Noise is an effortless combination of social satire and metaphysical dilemma in which Don DeLillo exposes our rampant consumerism, media saturation and novelty intellectualism. It captures the particular strangeness of life lived when the fear of death cannot be denied, repressed or obscured and ponders the role of the family in a time when the very meaning of our existence is under threat.

Jackdaws is an irresistible novel of the French Resistance, love, courage and revenge set in the Second War War.A Failed MissionTwo weeks before D-Day, the French Resistance try to destroy a telephone exchange vital to Nazi communications. Heavily defended, the mission fails disastrously.A Daring PlanWith invasion looming, Flick Clairet, a British secret agent, proposes a daring but perilous new plan. She, along with an all-female team - the Jackdaws - will infiltrate and neutralize the exchange before Allied Forces land in France.A Race Against TimeHowever, unbeknownst to Flick, Field Marshal Rommel has assigned a brilliant spy-catcher - Dieter Franck - to crush the French Resistance. And now Franck is closing in . . .

From the master storyteller, Ken Follett, Hornet Flight is a startling thriller set amidst the Danish Resistance. Europe in Darkness1941. The Nazis have Denmark in their vice-like grip, their malign presence corroding everything its inhabitants hold dear. Even the police betray their countrymen and work with the Gestapo to hunt down spies.A Glimmer of HopeIn this hostile climate the Danish resistance discover a secret that could change the course of the war - proof of an advanced German radar installation that is causing catastrophic losses to Allied planes bringing the fight to Germany.A Dangerous MissionThe resistance must get the information to the British and will have only one chance, using a near-derelict Hornet Moth bi-plane mouldering away in a church. If they succeed the balance of the war will be tipped in the Allies' favour but failure will see them killed . . .

Following on from The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist is the second epic novel in the Night's Dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton.A seemingly unstoppable force has entered our universe, and we are confronted by our most primal fear. Those who have succumbed to its horror have acquired godlike powers. Yet their actions are far from divine as they advance from planet to planet, leaving slaughter and mayhem in their wake. The Confederation Navy is dangerously overstretched, as whole worlds fracture and collapse. And a dark messiah prepares to invoke his own version of the final night. In such desperate times, a powerful new weapon could cause yet more terror, but Dr Alkad Mzu is determined to retrieve the Alchemist - and complete her thirty-year-old mission to slay a star. However, others have their own ideas on how to use this ultimate doomsday device.The Neutronium Alchemist is followed by The Naked God.

King Rat blends eerie fairy tale and contemporary urban fantasy in China Mieville's fantastical debut.Something is stirring in London's dark, stamping out its territory in brickdust and blood. Something has murdered Saul's father, and left Saul to pay for the crime. But a shadow from the urban waste breaks into his prison cell and leads him to freedom. A shadow called King Rat. In the night-land behind London's facade, in sewers and slums and rotting dead spaces, Saul must learn his true nature. Grotesque murders rock the city like a curse. Mysterious forces prepare for a showdown. With Drum and Bass pounding the backstreets, Saul confronts his bizarre inheritance - in the badlands of South London, in the heart of darkness, at the gathering of the Junglist Massive. Like the DJ says: 'Time for the Badman.'

Eye of the Needle, Ken Follett's breakthrough international bestseller, is a heart-racingly exciting tale about the fate of the war resting in the hands of a master spy, his opponent and a brave woman.Victory Hangs in the Balance1944. In the weeks leading up to D-Day the Allies are disguising their invasion plans with elaborate decoys of ships and planes. If they can land a force on mainland Europe they will gain the upper hand in a war that has ravaged the world for years, and take the fight to the Nazi menace.A Cold-blooded KillerHis weapon is the stiletto, his codename: The Needle. He is Hitler's prize undercover agent - a ruthless and professional murderer. In England he uncovers the Allies' D-Day plans but his cover is blown in the process.A Deadly ChaseLeaving a trail of bodies in his wake, The Needle ruthlessly races to a U-boat waiting to convey him and his critical message to Germany, with MI5 on his tail. But he hasn't planned for a storm-battered island and the remarkable young woman who lives there . . .

The sequel to his extraordinary Old Man's War, John Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades is the second in The Old Man's War series. Who can you trust, if you can't trust yourself?Three hostile alien races have united against humanity, determined to halt our expansion into space. The mastermind behind this lethal alliance is a traitor - Charles Boutin. He was a Colonial Defence Force scientist, with access to their biggest military secrets. Now the CDF's only hope is to discover Boutin's plan. Trouble is, Boutin's dead.As a super-soldier created from Boutin's own DNA, Jared Dirac may have answers. However, when Dirac fails to access the scientist's memories, he's transferred to the Ghost Brigades for training. These elite troops are also cloned from the dead, so he might fit in. But will Dirac's memory return as the enemy plots the fate of humankind? And whose side is Dirac really on?

From the Orange Prize long-listed and award-winning author of The Forty Rules of Love and The Bastard of Istanbul Elif Shafak, Honour is a novel of love, betrayal and a clash of cultures.'My mother died twice. I promised myself I would not let her story be forgotten . . .'Leaving her twin sister behind, Pembe leaves Turkey for love - following her husband Adem to London. There the Topraks hope to make new lives for themselves and their children. Yet, no matter how far they travel, the traditions and beliefs the Topraks left behind stay with them - carried in the blood. Their eldest is the boy Iskender, who remembers Turkey and feels betrayal deeper than most. His sister is Esma, who is loyal and true despite the pain and heartache. And, lastly, Yunus, who was born in London, and is shy and different.Trapped by the mistakes of the past, the Toprak children find their lives shattered and transformed by a brutal act of murder . . .A powerful novel set in Turkey and London in the 1970s, Honour explores pain and loss, loyalty and betrayal, the trials of the immigrant, the clash of tradition and modernity, as well as the love and heartbreak that too often tears families apart.'A powerful book; thoughtful, provoking and compassionate' Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat'Rich and wide as the Euphrates river along whose banks it begins and ends, Elif Shafak has woven with masterful care and compassion one immigrant family's heartbreaking story - a story nurtured in the terrible silences between men and women trying to grow within ancient ways, all the while growing past them. I loved this book' Sarah Blake, author of The PostmistressElif Shafak is the acclaimed author of The Bastard of Istanbul and The Forty Rules of Love and is the most widely read female novelist in Turkey. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. She is a contributor for The Telegraph, Guardian and the New York Times and her TED talk on the politics of fiction has received 500 000 views since July 2010. She is married with two children and divides her time between Istanbul and London.

Engrossing and memorable, The Sins of the Father is the second novel in international bestseller Jeffrey Archer's celebrated the Clifton Chronicles takes us to New York in 1939 where our hero Harry Clifton is in desperate need of help.Only days before Britain declares war on Germany, Harry joins the Merchant Navy, unable to face long-held family secrets and the fact he will never be able to marry his true love Emma Barrington. But when his ship is sunk mid-Atlantic, Harry takes the opportunity to assume the identity of one his deceased rescuers and begin a new life.Landing in America, he quickly discovers he has made a mistake and without any way to prove his true identity, Harry is now chained to a past that could be far worse than the one he had hoped to escape . . .Brimming with intrigue, Jeffrey Archer takes readers into a world they will never want to leave as the Clifton Chronicles continues its powerful journey with family loyalties stretched to their limits and fates decided.

The adventure concludes with the triumphant finale in the Riftwar Saga. Raymond E. Feist is an internationally best-selling author. The battle may be over, but war is coming... The Kingdom forces may have won the first conflict but the enemy has a strong grip on Midkemia and invasion now seems inevitable. Arutha travels north to confront the Dark Elves, but without help, Pug knows that Arutha's forces face slaughter. With Tomas he must scour the world - and beyond - to find the one person with enough power to give them a chance. If they fail, Midkemia will be the first of many worlds to fall to a madman with the power to dominate death itself... A Darkness at Sethanon concludes Raymond E. Feist's bestselling Riftwar Saga.

Here starts an adventure that will span lifetimes and worlds. Discover where the story begins.Raymond E. Feist is an internationally best-selling author.My name is Pug. I was once an orphaned kitchen boy, with no family and no prospects, but I am destined to become a master magicianaWar is coming to the Kingdom of the Isles from another world, bringing with it chaos and destruction. Pug yearns to train as a warrior and fight for his kingdom alongside his foster-brother, Tomas, but instead he is forced to follow a different path: a path that will lead him right into the heart of the enemy. And one that will change the course of the war and two worlds forever.So begins the most epic series in fantasy fiction, a tale that will cross worlds and generations.Magician is the first book in the Riftwar Saga. The trilogy continues with book two, Silverthorn.

Internationally-bestselling, critically-acclaimed author Robin Hobb takes readers deep into the history behind the Farseer series in this exclusive, new novella. One of the darkest legends in the Realm of the Elderlings recounts the tale of the so-called Piebald Prince, a Witted pretender to the throne unseated by the actions of brave nobles so that the Farseer line could continue untainted. Now the truth behind the story is revealed through the account of Felicity, a low-born companion of the Princess Caution at Buckkeep. With Felicity by her side, Caution grows into a headstrong Queen-in-Waiting. But when Caution gives birth to a bastard son who shares the piebald markings of his father s horse, Felicity is the one who raises him. And as the prince comes to power, political intrigue sparks dangerous whispers about the Wit that will change the kingdom forever... Internationally-bestselling, critically-acclaimed author Robin Hobb takes readers deep into the history behind the Farseer series in this exclusive, new novella, 'The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince.' In her trademark style, Hobb offers a revealing exploration of a family secret still reverberating generations later when assassin FitzChivalry Farseer comes onto the scene. Fans will not want to miss these tantalizing new insights into a much-beloved world and its unforgettable characters.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2015 MAN BOOKER PRIZEIn this dazzling debut novel, four young brothers in a small Nigerian town encounter a madman, whose prophecy of violence threatens the core of their familyTold from the point of view of nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, The Fishermen is the Cain and Abel-esque story of an unforgettable childhood in 1990s Nigeria. When their father has to travel to a distant city for work, the brothers take advantage of his extended absence to skip school and go fishing. At the forbidden nearby river they encounter a madman, who predicts that one of the brothers will kill another. What happens next is an almost mythic event whose impact - both tragic and redemptive - will transcend the lives and imaginations of both its characters and its readers. Chigozie Obioma emerges as one of the best new voices of modern African literature, echoing its older generation's masterful storytelling with a contemporary fearlessness and purpose.'Obioma's beautiful, quasi-biblical allegory-like debut... is set to be one of the novels of the year' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times'A startling debut... auspicious... leaps off the pages' Mariella Frostrup, Open Book'A striking, controlled and masterfully taut debut... The tale has a timeless quality that renders it almost allegorical and it is the more powerful for it' FT'It's like being in a Zola or Theodore Dreiser novel... The Fishermen is an elegy to lost promise... and yet it remains hopeful about the redemptive possibilities of a new generation' Guardian'Awesome in the true sense of the word... a truly magnificent debut' Eleanor Catton, author of The Luminaries'Suffused with an air of legend and the supernatural... The Fishermen establishes Obioma as a writer to be taken seriously... ingenious, subtle, ambitious and intriguing' TLS'Terrific' Irish Examiner'Full of deceptive simplicity, lyrical language and playful Igbo mythology and humour... an impressive and beautifully imagined work' Economist'A novel with an intimate canvas but also an undercurrent of something larger, more primal' We Love This Book'A debut that is packed with power and tragedy' Shortlist'Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to Chinua Achebe' The New York Times'Mr Obioma's long-limbed and elegant writing is shot through with strikingly elevated phrasings... its lessons may be slippery, but its power is unmistakable' Wall Street Journal'The most frustrating thing about The Fishermen is that the author has no other books for the reader to devour once the final page is reached' Chicago Tribune'Searing, incandescent' Harvard Crimson'Succeeds as a convincing modern narrative and as a majestic reimagining of timeless folklore' Publisher's Weekly, Starred review'A powerful, haunting tale of grief, healing, and sibling loyalty' Kirkus'Darkly mythic... a kind of African Cormac McCarthy' USA Today'[A] confident debut novel... frank and lyrical' New Yorker

The final book in the Soldier Son series, from the author of the Tawny Man and Farseer trilogies, following on from the bestselling Shaman's Crossing and Forest Mage. The people of Getty's town remember the death of their cemetery soldier vividly. They remember believing him guilty of unspeakable crimes, condemning him, and then watching as other men of his unit beat him until he no longer drew breath. But Nevare Burvelle didn't die that day, though everyone believes they saw it happen. He was cornered by a power far more intractable than an angry mob. When he was a boy, the magic of the Specks - the dapple-skinned tribes of the frontier forests - claimed Nevare as a saviour; severing his soul in two, naming his stolen half Soldier's Boy and shaping him into a weapon to halt the Gernian expansion into their lands and save their beloved ancestor trees. Until now Nevare has defied the magic, unable to accept his traitorous fate. But the magic has won: it has extinguished his once golden future, devastated his family and has now turned his own people against him. Faced with endangering the only loved-ones he has left, Nevare has no choice but to surrender to its will and enter the forest. But surrendering to his Speck destiny is only the beginning of his trials. Before he submits completely, Nevare makes one desperate last attempt to deter the Gernians from the Barrier Mountains without causing them harm. But the magic accepts no compromise. Exhausted, Nevare can no longer suppress his traitorous Speck self, Soldiers Boy. Losing control, he becomes a prisoner in his own body; able only to watch helplessly as his other half takes. Soldier's Boy is determined to stop the Gernian expansion at all cost, and unlike Nevare, he has no love, nor sympathy for his spirit-twin's world.

The second book in the Soldier Son trilogy, from the author of the Tawny Man trilogy, following on from the bestselling Shaman's Crossing. The King's Cavalla Academy has been ravaged by the Speck plague. The disease has decimated the ranks of both cadets and instructors, and even the survivors remain sickly. Many have been forced to relinquish their military ambitions and return to their families to face lives of dependency and disappointment.As the Academy infirmary empties, Cadet Nevare Burvelle also prepares to journey home, to attend his brother Rosse's wedding. Far from being a broken man, Nevare is hale and hearty after his convalescence. He has defeated his nemesis, Tree Woman and freed himself of the Speck magic that infected him and attempted to turn him against his own people. A bright future awaits him as a commissioned officer betrothed to a beautiful young noblewoman. Yet his nights are still haunted by dreams of the voluptuous Tree Woman, dreams in which his Speck self betrays everything he holds dear in his waking life. Has the plague infected him in ways far more mysterious than the merely physical?Despite his fears, Nevare will journey back to Widevale in high spirits, in full expectation of a jubilant homecoming and a tender reunion with his beautiful fiancee, Carsina. But his life is about to take a shocking turn, as the magic in his blood roars to life and forces him to recognize that his most dangerous enemy, an enemy that seeks to destroy all he loves, might dwell within him.

The ultimate tale of teen rebellion - one seventeen-year-old against the surveillance state.Big Brother is watching you. Who's watching back?Marcus is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works - and how to work the system. Smart, fast and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school's intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison, where they're mercilessly interrogated for days.When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state, where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

"e;This is the original Game of Thrones."e; George R.R. Martin.The King is dead. Long live the King.With King Philip IV dead, and the Kingdom left in disarray, as the fatal curse of the Templars plagues the royal house of France.Imprisoned in Chateau Gaillard, Marguerite of Burgundy has fallen into disgrace. Her infidelity has left her estranged husband, Louis X King of France, with neither heir nor wife.The web of scandal, murder and intrigue that once wove itself around the Iron King continues to afflict his descendants, as the destruction of his dynasty continues at the hands of fate.

'This is the original game of thrones' George R.R. MartinFrom the publishers that brought you A Game of Thrones comes the series that inspired George R.R. Martin's epic work.France became a great nation under Philip the Fair - but it was a greatness achieved at the expense of her people, for his was a reign characterised by violence, the scandalous adulteries of his daughters-in-law, and the triumph of royal authority.

What happens when the one that got away comes back? Find out in this sparkling comedy from #1 bestseller, Mhairi McFarlane.'Think of the great duos of history. We're just like them.''You mean like Kylie and Jason? Torvill and Dean? Sonny and Cher?''I think you've missed the point, Rachel.'Rachel and Ben. Ben and Rachel. It was them against the world. Until it all fell apart. It's been a decade since they last spoke, but when Rachel bumps into Ben one rainy day, the years melt away.They'd been partners in crime and the best of friends. But life has moved on: Ben is married. Rachel is not. Yet in that split second, Rachel feels the old friendship return. And along with it, the broken heart she's never been able to mend.Hilarious, heartbreaking and everything in between, you'll be hooked from their first 'hello'.

The ultimate Rome storyTHE FIELD OF SWORDS tell the powerful, dramatic story of the friendship and enmity between the two men who ruled the Roman world. Following the defeat of the Spartacus rebellion, Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus, who have been sent to run the Roman colonies in Spain, return to challenge powerful senators to become one of the Consuls of Rome. Political opposition, family quarrels, armed rebellions and corruption make this a highly contemporary scene, fuelled by the intrigue of the major characters, who are now developing as full adults. As he takes the legions north into mighty battles with the Gallic tribes, the imperious stand of Caesar and the leadership of his men, his new friendships with fellow leaders and his overwhelming ambition, begin to separate him from Brutus, the great swordsman and warrior. Their long friendship reveals ominous cracks under the strain. Although the Gallic conquests lead to Caesar's triumphal entry into Britain, the victories on the battlefield cause political rivalries at home, and ultimately the famous choice is presented to Caesar and Marcus Brutus. They must choose whether to cross the Rubicon - together or singly - and to take the fight to Rome itself. Conn Iggulden is a brilliant storyteller. Characters jostle for space in the crowded streets, on the battlefields and in the corridors of the Senate. The friendship and rivalry between Caesar and Brutus provides compelling reading. Each book in the EMPEROR series causes readers to return to the previous novel, and ensures they also look forward hugely to the next.