Novella Reviews – Baskerville Book Reviews

Review: The Ballad of Alchemy and Steel

In the Murkor culture, it is customary for the individuals bound during the unity ceremony of ujar’havel to compose a book of memories detailing the events that led to their first meeting and subsequent desire to be joined.

As a Murkor without a mother to guide him, Sal’zar is afforded unusual freedoms in his path to ujar’havel and the selection of a caste. In their strongly matriarchal society, his father’s voice holds little weight. He must forge his own destiny, though he struggles to find the proper way.

Sal’zar knows he is unsuited to the soldier’s caste, but is running out of options. One fateful day, he journeys to the sparring ring to test his mettle, where he meets Jal’den. Jal’den is the same age, but has already proven himself a better fighter than most of the older children. Noting Sal’zar is without a sparring partner, Jal’den offers to pair with him, and so begins a long friendship that may ultimately become something more.

Note: This story features LGBTQ+ themes. If it’s not your thing, that’s ok – I don’t expect everyone to read it. I wrote this story for my brother.

Review: Life Ever After

Tech City: Society is obsessed with relentless progress and the possibility of eternal life. A woman and a man meet in waiting room, anticipating a procedure that will incorporate the latest science and technology into their minds and bodies, heightening their awareness and increasing their productivity. Years pass, their relationship deepens and fades, and they grow increasingly uncertain where the AI stops and where they begin. A romantic drama exploring the potentiality of transhumanism, Life Ever After is a rich listening experience that is at once naturalistic and poetic.

Playwright Carla Grauls was awarded a commission through the Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund, an initiative dedicated to developing innovative original plays driven by language and voice. As an Audible commissioned playwright, she received funding and creative support to develop Life Ever After.

Review: The Praying Mantis Bride

A deadly black widow has eliminated three husbands and counting. But Nameless knows her one weakness. To bring truth and its consequences to her crimes, the vigilante must spin a web of his own in part three of the Nameless series.

Lucia – current last name, Rickenbah – has made a fortune by marrying rich men who tend to drop dead. But the superstitious blonde believes in more than money and murder. Nameless’s job is to scare a confession out of Lucia, and as the psychological warfare escalates, even he may be in for a shock.

From number one New York Times best-selling author Dean Koontz comes The Praying Mantis Bride, part three of Nameless, a riveting collection of short stories about a vigilante nomad, stripped of his memories and commissioned to kill. Follow him in each story, which can be listened to in a single sitting.

Review: The Roommate

This audio novella is a stand-alone prequel to the Cormac Reilly series.

Twenty-two-year-old Niamh Turley thought she had problems dealing with the obnoxious principal of the school she’s teaching in as well as the anxious parents of her little charges, but when she wakes one morning to a missing roommate and a garda knocking on her door, her life spirals out of control fast…

Review: Even Tree Nymphs Get the Blues

A hilarious new standalone novella brimming with otherworldly charm from the reigning queen of paranormal romantic comedy Molly Harper!

Ingrid Asher is the newest resident of Mystic Bayou, a tiny town hidden in the swamp where shapeshifters, vampires, witches and dragons live alongside humans.

Ingrid doesn’t ask for much. The solitary tree nymph just wants to live a quiet life running her ice-cream shop in peace. Unfortunately, she can’t seem to shake her new neighbor, Rob Aspern, head of the League’s data science department and so good looking it just isn’t fair.

If there’s one thing Ingrid doesn’t need, it’s someone poking around in her business. But the more she gets to know the hunky mathematician, the more she finds herself letting her guard down. Can she trust him with her secrets, or will her past destroy everything?

Review: Photographing the Dead

A self-styled artist is getting away with murder in Death Valley. If all goes well, so will Nameless. In part two of the Nameless series, the relentless avenger is haunted by nightmares of the past and visions of what’s to come.

Palmer Oxenwald’s hunting ground is the Mojave wasteland. His victims are random tourists and hikers. His trophies are cherished photographs of the damage he’s done. His greatest threat is Nameless. Two men with one thing in common: memories of the dead. For a psychopath like Palmer, they’re a clear rush in black and white. For Nameless, they’re visions of violence buried and erased. But for how long?

From number one New York Times best-selling author Dean Koontz comes Photographing the Dead, part of Nameless, a riveting collection of short stories about a vigilante nomad, stripped of his memories and commissioned to kill. Follow him in each story, which can be listened to in a single sitting.

Review: In the Heart of the Fire

A bloodthirsty sheriff is terrorizing a small Texas town where justice has been buried with his victims. Until Nameless arrives – a vigilante whose past is a mystery and whose future is written in blood.

Anyone who crosses Sheriff Russell Soakes is dead, missing, or warned. One of them is a single mother trying to protect her children but bracing herself for the worst. Nameless fears the outcome. He’s seen it in his visions. Now it’s time to teach the depraved Soakes a lesson in fear. But in turning predators into prey, will Nameless unearth a few secrets of his own?

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz comes In the Heart of the Fire, part of Nameless, a riveting collection of short stories about a vigilante nomad, stripped of his memories and commissioned to kill. Follow him in each story, which can be read or listened to in a single sitting.

Review: Charlotte’s Feathers

A young man named Benjamin Strong has just lost everything after the death of his parents and girlfriend. After a failed suicide attempt, Benjamin wakes up to find an angelic version of his girlfriend, Charlotte, sitting by the edge of his bed. She tells him that he has seven days left to live – and that he has a very important decision to make: Die alone, or take all of humanity with him.

Review: Henrietta & Eleanor: A Retelling of Jekyll and Hyde

First published to critical acclaim in 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson’s mesmerising thriller is a terrifying study of the duality of man’s nature, and it is the book which established Stevenson’s reputation as a writer.

In this Audible Original drama Stevenson’s story is transported to modern-day London, and instead we meet Henrietta Jekyll and Eleanor Hyde.

Dr Jekyll, a charming doctor, explores the possibility of dividing the dark and light side of her personality, but in doing this she creates a monster, Eleanor Hyde. For many years she manages to live under the radar, keeping her dark secret unknown to those around her. However, gradually her evil side gains strength until Dr Jekyll is overwhelmed by Eleanor Hyde, to disastrous consequences. An exploration of human duality and forces of good and evil, this modern retelling is compelling and eerie and retains the disturbing nature of the original text.

Starring Holliday Grainger (Cinderella, My Cousin Rachel, Strike) and Carla Mendonça (My Parents Are Aliens, So Awkward).

Also starring Tim Bentinck, Bill Fellows, Hugh Fraser, Holliday Grainger, Clive Mantle, Carla Mendonca, Katarina Olsson, Miranda Raison and Hugh Ross.

Review: Og-Grim-Dog: The Three-Headed Ogre

Three can be a real pain in the arse

Everyone knows ogres can’t be heroes. But Og-Grim-Dog is no ordinary ogre.

Recruited by a team of eccentric dungeon crawlers, all three heads are determined to prove their worth. Will their new crewmates accept them? Will the pencil pushers at the Bureau of Dungeoneering be able to stop them? Will Gal’azu become a more tolerant society…and will Og-Grim-Dog solve the dark mystery that drew them into this new world in the first place?

Reader reviews:

“a marathon of craziness that will tickle your sense of humor. Loved all the gritty characters and enjoyed the fast paced action plot.”
“If you’ve ever played D&D, you’ll enjoy this tale of orcs, and dwarves and ogres. There’s good silliness and a serious theme.”
“The characters are fun and diverse. The jokes are funny and adult without being lewd or gross. The plot is fun, engaging, and well timed.”
“This book sets up an awesome character, some great side characters, and an interesting world filled with surprisingly similar issues that we have in our own. I wasn’t expecting to love this book, but I did.”
“This little book was SO MUCH FUN! There were plenty of in-jokes that, as a fantasy fan, I loved and the characters were extremely likable. The whole thing just makes me want to go on an adventure.”

If you’re looking for something lighthearted, with some cleverness, silliness, and a little grit, start this fun, feelgood adventure today!