Tag: Best of 2020

Ben Aaronovitch & Brandon Sanderson Among the Bestselling Audiobooks of 2020!

Posted on Monday, December 21st, 2020

We’re very happy to report that Ben Aaronovitch and Brandon Sanderson each has a novel among Audible UK‘s bestselling audiobooks released in 2020!

FALSE VALUE, the eighth novel in Ben’s internationally bestselling and critically-acclaimed Peter Grant/Rivers of London series, is published by Gollancz in the UK. Here’s the synopsis…

Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner’s brand new London start up – the Serious Cybernetics Company.

Drawn into the orbit of Old Street’s famous ‘silicon roundabout’, Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant’s favourite son.

Because Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC. A technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and forward to the future of artificial intelligence. A secret that is just as magical as it technological – and just as dangerous.

Here are just a few reviews the novel has received so far…

‘Aaronovitch showcases a superlative blend of whimsy and grit in the eighth Rivers of London urban fantasy… The suspenseful mystery at the novel’s core is laced with humor and charm. Jim Butcher meets Douglas Adams in this winning series installment.’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘… sees Peter taking on new responsibilities both at work and at home and there’s a definite shift in tone towards the stranger side of magic and the broader implications of what a resurgence of strangeness means to the world at large. Aaronovitch is clearly having a blast building on the world he’s already created… The main character is a delight as always… The tone is light, witty, and action packed as always. Cinematic where has to be and detective chic in other places. And, as always, the description of London is so solid and real that you can practically feel the familiar layer of grime the city has… As always, Ben Aaronovitch takes the reader on an unforgettable ride into the fantastic.’ — Starburst (9/10)

‘… my favorite current series… delightful, compulsive and fresh — with a love of multicultural London evident on every page, wonderfully diverse characters, magic, mystery, and mayhem. Once you start, you will literally not be able to put them down.’ — Lavie Tidhar in Washington Post

‘Wonderfully blending technology and magic… Aaronovitch creates a fantastic blend of real-world London, harbouring a secret magical underground, delicately interwoven with an alternative history that touches on the origins of computer programming and the work of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage… a solid crime/detective novel that provides fans of the series with another entertaining adventure for Peter Grant complete with dark humour and explosive action.’ — SciFi Now

RHYTHM OF WAR, Brandon’s fourth Stormlight Archive novel, is the other Zeno title on the 2020 bestseller list — and it was only released in mid-November! Also published by Gollancz, here’s the synopsis…

After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar’s crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move.

Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin’s scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals, and potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower that was once the heart of their strength.

At the same time that Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with his changing role within the Knights Radiant, his Windrunners face their own problem: As more and more deadly enemy Fused awaken to wage war, no more honorspren are willing to bond with humans to increase the number of Radiants. Adolin and Shallan must lead the coalition’s envoy to the honorspren stronghold of Lasting Integrity and either convince the spren to join the cause against the evil god Odium, or personally face the storm of failure.

Here are a handful of reviews the novel has received so far…

‘I thoroughly love this book. I want a fantasy book to make me care about the characters, about what happens to them, and about the world they inhabit. I’m a reader who can enjoy a character-driven book or a plot-driven book… but when you give me a well-crafted book with both, I love it. For me, that’s what RHYTHM OF WAR does. It engages my mind and my heart in equal measure. The answers I got made me happy. (Well, okay, some of them made me sad, but also they were good answers, so I’ll take it.) The new questions, and a few remaining old questions, make me eager for the next book before this one even has a chance to hit the shelves. Read it as soon as you can, and be sure to come back and join us for the reread, starting in January. There will be so much to discuss!’ — Tor.com (non-spoiler review)

‘RHYTHM OF WAR is another phenomenal sequel, a worthy novel adding a mind-blowing amount of significant content and meaning to The Stormlight Archive… absolutely essential reading for genre fans. Even though it will be many years until all the books are completed, with each colossal volume demanding no small amount of emotional and time investment from readers, Sanderson proves time and time again that it is well worth it.’ — Bibliosanctum

‘I really lost myself in Sanderson’s Roshar and this novel is another incredible entry in a stunning fantasy series. Some moments that happen throughout these pages will have the SFF scene discussing and debating them for months. Although The Stormlight Archive is due to be a ten novel series, I believe the next book will be the last of this era, making RHYTHM OF WAR the penultimate entry. Events are poised expertly at the end of this narrative for the next novel to be beyond exceptional. I’m sure this time in three years I’ll be re-reading this series again before the next book and I cannot wait. The Stormlight Archive is epic fantasy at a level that is rarely equalled.’ — Grimdark Magazine

Both novels also spent time on The Times Bestseller list, too.

Zeno represents Brandon Sanderson in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York.

Zeno Clients Hitting 2020 Best Of Lists!

Posted on Monday, November 23rd, 2020

As 2020 draws closer to its end, we’re happy to report that some of our authors’ books are starting to appear on Best Of lists!

It’s been a particularly good week for Brandon Sanderson‘s RHYTHM OF WAR and William Gibson‘s AGENCY , both of which have appeared on Waterstones’ Best Of list and are also in the final round of the Goodreads Choice Awards!

Read on for some more information about the two books. Let’s start with Gibson’s AGENCY, which is published in the UK by Penguin. The acclaimed and best-selling follow-up to THE PERIPHERAL, here’s the synopsis…

San Francisco, 2017. Clinton’s in the White House, Brexit never happened — and Verity Jane’s got herself a new job.

They call Verity ‘the app-whisperer,’ and she’s just been hired by a shadowy start-up to evaluate a pair-of-glasses-cum-digital-assistant called Eunice. Only Eunice has other ideas.

Pretty soon, Verity knows that Eunice is smarter than anyone she’s ever met, conceals some serious capabilities and is profoundly paranoid — which is just as well since suddenly some bad people are after Verity.

Meanwhile, in a post-apocalyptic London a century from now, PR fixer Wilf Netherton is tasked by all-seeing policewoman Ainsley Lowbeer with interfering in the alternative past in which Verity and Eunice exist. It appears something nasty is about to happen there — and fixing it will require not only Eunice’s unique human-AI skillset but also a little help from the future.

A future which Verity soon fears may never be…

Sanderson’s RHTHYM OF WAR is the highly-anticipated fourth novel in his best-selling Stormlight Archive series. Published to much fanfare last week, by Gollancz in the UK, here’s the synopsis…

After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar’s crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move.

Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin’s scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals, and potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower that was once the heart of their strength.

At the same time that Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with his changing role within the Knights Radiant, his Windrunners face their own problem: As more and more deadly enemy Fused awaken to wage war, no more honorspren are willing to bond with humans to increase the number of Radiants. Adolin and Shallan must lead the coalition’s envoy to the honorspren stronghold of Lasting Integrity and either convince the spren to join the cause against the evil god Odium, or personally face the storm of failure.

Brandon actually has another book in the Goodreads Choice Award finals, in the Young Adult Fantasy category: the second book in his Skyward series, STARSIGHT! Also published in the UK by Gollancz, here’s the synopsis…

All her life, Spensa has dreamed of becoming a pilot. Of proving she’s a hero like her father. She made it to the sky, but the truths she learned about her father were crushing. The rumours of his cowardice are true – he deserted his flight during battle against the Krell. Worse, though, he turned against his team and attacked them.

Spensa is sure there’s more to the story. And she’s sure that whatever happened to her father in his starship could happen to her. When she made it outside the protective shell of her planet, she heard the stars – and it was terrifying. What she learned turned her world upside down. Everything Spensa’s been taught is a lie.

But Spensa also learned a few things about herself – and she’ll travel to the end of the galaxy to save humankind if she needs to.

Zeno represents Brandon Sanderson in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York. Zeno represents William Gibson in the UK, on behalf of Nell Pierce at Sterling Lord Literistic.