Reamde by Neal Stephenson

Rating: 5

Reader: Malcolm Hillgartner
Short Review: A fantastic, well-read, fast-paced novel of hackers, criminals, anti-heroes, terrorists, and gamers.

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold

Rating: 4.5

Reader: Grover Gardner

Short Review: A new Vorkosigan adventure, same fabulous reader. A fun romp with lots of old friends, and a few new ones.

Streams of Babel by Carol Plum-Ucci

Rating: 4

Readers: Julia Whelan, Paul Michael Garcia, Eddie Lopez, Neil Shah, Kirby Heyborne and Tai Sammons
Available from Audible.com

Short Review: Welcome a the post-9/11 world in which terrorists wield bioweapons and our best intelligence is gathered online by teenagers. Kept me listening and then made me hunt for the sequel.

Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin

Rating: 4.5

Reader: Roy Dotrice

Short Review: Martin’s Locus-Award winning novel, expertly read by Roy Dotrice, proves an engrossing opening to a long, unfinished series.

Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell

Rating: 5

Reader: Emma Galvin
Short Review: A stark, beautifully written and expertly read novel about an overburdened girl in dire straits.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Rating: 4.5

Reader: Simon Vance

Short Review: An intriguing, unusual gothic novel set in post-war England, read beautifully by Simon Vance. It’s intriguing and gorgeously written, and it asks more questions than it answers.

The Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman

Rating: 4

Reader: Anton Lesser
Short Review: The third Sally Lockhart mystery continues Pullman’s engrossing story of a young Victorian woman, expertly read by Anton Lesser. This book delves further into questions of women’s and children’s rights in Victorian Britain and also examines worker’s and immigrant’s rights and anti-semitism.

Warning! If you have not yet read The Shadow in the North, stop reading this review. There’s no way to review this book without giving spoilers for the previous book in the series.

The Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman

Rating: 4

Reader: Anton Lesser

Short Review: The slightly-less brilliant sequel to The Ruby in the Smoke, read just as brilliantly by Anton Lesser.

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

Rating: 4.5

Reader: Anton Lesser
Short Review: A beautifully read story about a resourceful young woman who finds herself orphaned and embroiled in a deadly mystery.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Rating: 4.5

Readers: Jill Tanner and Bianca Amato

Short Review: A gothic novel of intrigue about family history, fame, women, writing, truth, and secrets. It is read gorgeously by two readers who both have velvety, rich voices and lovely diction.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Rating: 4.5

Reader: John Lee

Short Review: The first book in a new series by Fforde, set in a world where people have very limited color perception and live according to strict rules set forth by the Colortocracy. Eddie Russett, our hero, has a strong ability to see red and a plan to marry a upperclass red-perceiving woman. And then everything changes.

Under the Dome by Stephen King

Rating: 5

Reader:Raul Esparza

Short Review: A beautiful autumn day in the small town of Chester’s Mill, Maine is interrupted by a clear impenetrable dome which cuts it off from the outside world. Our story carries us along to meet a broad cast of local characters. Great reader and a captivating (but long) story.