Toby Clements is an exceptionally good writer. His debut was a tour de force. His second novel outdoes that, bringing new depth to his characters, and continuing his vivid, blood-soaked insight into the real, grim, ghastly, and occasionally glorious human cost of the Wars of the Roses. This is history in the raw: powerful, potent stuff, always real, but always gloriously unpredictable. This is a gem of a book, one of my must-reads for this year.

This is a miserable, vicious world, vividly recreated by Clements. Immersive historical fiction at its best.

The book glides along effortlessly, it’s a simple excellent love story, bursting with action, intrigue and history. a real contender for book of the year.

It's raw and heart-rending… A searing narrative that will definitely stay with you after you've closed the book.

Searingly good ... Immersive historical fiction at its best

This is a wonderful series – violent, bloody, squirm-inducing and bleak… History and fiction mix so well in this series, bringing to life the period

If you like books that grip you from the very start, that are fast-paced with fascinating characters, then this is the book for you. Beautifully written, with an exciting plot, this book kept me engaged on every page

This is a wonderful series – violent, bloody, squirm-inducing and bleak. What saves it from sinking us into the despair of the times is Thomas and Katherine, both of whom are very easy to care for…History and fiction mix so well in this series, bringing to life a period that I am so happy to read about very relieved I don’t have to live through. I look forward to book three very much indeed!

Charmingly clever and mischievously funny, Makkai follows her enthusiastically praised first novel, The Borrower (2011), with an intriguingly structured tale — each section takes a step back in time — set on a fabled, possibly haunted estate north of Chicago ... Her offbeat characters and suspenseful story could have added up to a stylish romp. Instead, Makkai offers that and much more as she stealthily investigates the complexities of ambition, sexism, violence, creativity, and love in this diverting yet richly dimensional novel.

Makkai fulfills the promise of her debut with this witty and darkly acerbic novel set in the rich soils of an artists' colony. The inverted timeline of the multi-generational narrative deepens the layered mysteries at its heart. As decades unfold in reverse, we find that nothing about Laurelfield's various inhabitants is at it first appears, and neither talent nor history sits on solid ground.

Rebecca Makkai's The Hundred-Year House is a funny, sad and delightful romp through the beginning, middle and end of an artists' colony as well as the family mansion that sheltered it and the family members who do and don't survive it. Told backwards from the viewpoints of an array of eccentric and intertwined characters, the story's secrets are revealed with stunning acuity. An ambitious work, well realized.

Rebecca Makkai is the most refreshing kind of writer there is: both genius and generous. Every masterfully crafted connection, every lovingly nestled detail, is a gift to the attentive reader. Playful, poignant, and richly rewarding, The Hundred-Year House is the most absorbing book I've read in ages. Before you've finished, you'll want to read it again.

A fascinating exploration of who we are [and] the delusions necessary to navigate the world around us

A wonderfully imaginative and intimate book

Infused with emotional generosity and the spirit of forgiveness

Murakami has once again produced a perfect gem

Murakami weaved his mesmeric story-telling power once again with this new book…but still bearing the unmistakable purity of prose, economy of expression and simplicity of style that characterise his writing

A mysterious story about friendship, heartbreak and confronting the past, this book is surreal, existential and, therefore, classic Murakami

The tale is as absorbing as the prose is beautiful

This is classic Murakami, an isolated character struggling to make his way through a world both deceptively simple and utterly fantastical, his story told through prose infused with all the beauty and meaning of a Kyoto tea ceremony

His versatility and ability to craft a story is spellbinding… Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is a fine story that held my attention until the end.

Loneliness, sexual ambiguity and emotional repression- the perfect recipe for a novel that put Murakami back on my list of unputdownable authors

Kafkaesque, unusual and packed with sex and confusion, this is high-end prose… Murakami is remarkably prolific… A weird and very wonderful descent into the madness of contemporary Tokyo.

A haunting and atmospheric coming of age story whose offbeat characters and lyrical prose style beguile the reader from the first page. An arresting & memorable debut

The whole package: teenage angst (but of course), broken families, strong friendships, a sprinkle of romance and a lot of mystery

An extremely cool and quirky science fiction adventure, stacked full of hilarious and fitting pop culture references. Cline has created a fast paced and engaging story using a perfect blend of humour, futuristic tech and video-game like action sequences.

Ernest Cline is a genius in every sense of the word…This was truly wonderful, everything I had hoped it would be, and then heaps and heaps more.

Release your inner nerd and rejoice!

Armada is a gamer’s fantasy come true.

thriller-like plotting…immensely readable

It’s a hoot, from beginning to end

Literally everything I could ask for

A highly rewarding journey…thoroughly enjoyable fiction.

Armada is a journey towards emotional intelligence and understanding, a journey towards some questions answered, others posed – huge questions they are too. Armada’s a good ‘un.

A surprising thriller, a coming of age, space-fighting adventure which will thrill sci-fi fans and gamers alike.

It is often said that the best novels are those that don’t waste any time – the ones that grip the reader from the very first line. Armada does this better than perhaps any other book I’ve read.This book is a love-letter to the science fiction genre. It’s a concentrated shot of sci-fi nerdery that’s definitely worth experiencing.

Armada is fun, so go enjoy it for the first time… or the second.