AEM Library - Genres

As the Crow Flies

SUMMARY:
If your dream is big enough, not even your enemies can stop you... Charlie Trumper's earliest memory is of hearing his grandfather's sales patter from behind his costermonger's barrow. When Grandpa Charlie dies, young Charlie wants nothing more than to follow in his footsteps - his burning ambition is to own a shop that will sell everything: The Biggest Barrow in the World. Charlie's progress from the teeming streets of Whitechapel to the elegance of Chelsea Terrace is only a few miles as the crow flies. But in Jeffrey Archer's expert hands it becomes an epic journey through the triumphs and disasters of the century, as Charlie follows a thread of love, ambition and revenge to fulfil the dream his grandfather inspired.

This novel follows the story of Charlie Trumper's rise from East End costermonger to department store magnate.

First Among Equals

Jeffrey Archer

Review

"This engrossing, well-spun tale of ambition and will-to-power is a pick-hit in the summer sweepstakes. Archer received his usual high marks for readability and gives his novel a pleasing sense of substance."-Publishers Weekly

"All the elements that make for a great commercial fiction: ambition, lust, greed, duplicity...a whale of a tale."-Newsday

"Top-flight entertainment."-United Press International

"Archer invests his novels with drama, irony and suspense-First Among Equals is no exception...fascinating."-The Boston Herald

"A razzle-dazzle fictional turn...engaging...pertinent and compelling."
-The Washington Times Magazine

"Archer is a master entertainer."--Time Magazine

"There isn't a better storyteller alive."-Larry King

"Archer is one of the most captivating storytellers writing today. His novels are dramatic, fast moving, totally entertaining-and almost impossible to put down."-Pittsburgh Press

"Cunning plots, silken style...Archer plays a cat-and-mouse game with the reader."
-The New York Times

"A storyteller in the class of Alexander Dumas...Unsurpassed skill...making the reader wonder intensely what will happen next."-The Washington Post

Product Description

Charles Seymour, second-born son, will never be the earl like his father, but he did inherit his mother's strength-and the will to realize his destiny...Simon Kerslake's father sacrificed everything to make sure his son's dreams come true. Now it is Simon's chance to rise as high as those dreams allow...Ray Gould was born to the back streets but raised with pride-a quality matched by a sharp intellect and the desire to attain the impossible...Andrew Fraser was raised by a soccer hero turned politician. Now it's his turn for heroics, whatever the cost.

From strangers to rivals, four men embark on a journey for the highest stakes of all-the keys to No. 10 Downing Street. Unfolding over three decades, their honor will be tested, their loyalties betrayed, and their love of family and country challenged. But in a game where there is a first among equals, only one can triumph.

The Andromeda Strain

Michael Crichton

Amazon.com Review

Some biologists speculate that if we ever make contact with extraterrestrials, those life forms are likely to be--like most life on earth--one-celled or smaller creatures, more comparable to bacteria than little green men. And even though such organisms would not likely be able to harm humans, the possibility exists that first contact might be our last.

That's the scientific supposition that Michael Crichton formulates and follows out to its conclusion in his excellent debut novel, The Andromeda Strain.

A Nobel-Prize-winning bacteriologist, Jeremy Stone, urges the president to approve an extraterrestrial decontamination facility to sterilize returning astronauts, satellites, and spacecraft that might carry an "unknown biologic agent." The government agrees, almost too quickly, to build the top-secret Wildfire Lab in the desert of Nevada. Shortly thereafter, unbeknownst to Stone, the U.S. Army initiates the "Scoop" satellite program, an attempt to actively collect space pathogens for use in biological warfare. When Scoop VII crashes a couple years later in the isolated Arizona town of Piedmont, the Army ends up getting more than it asked for.

The Andromeda Strain follows Stone and rest of the scientific team mobilized to react to the Scoop crash as they scramble to understand and contain a strange and deadly outbreak. Crichton's first book may well be his best; it has an earnestness that is missing from his later, more calculated thrillers. --Paul Hughes

Product Description

The United States government is given a warning by the pre-eminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere.

Two years later, seventeen satellites are sent into the outerfringes of space to "collect organisms and dust for study." One of them falls to earth, landing in a desolate area of Arizona.

Twelve miles from the landing site, in the town of Piedmont,a shocking discovery is made: the streets are littered with the dead bodies of the town's inhabitants, as if they dropped dead in their tracks.

The Burning Shore

Wilbur Smith

Centaine de Thiry grew up with privilege, wealth, and freedom on a sprawling French estate. Then war came crashing down around her, and a daring young South African aviator named Michael Courtney stole her heart amidst the destruction. But the tides of fate and battle sent the young woman on a journey across a dangerous sea to the coast of Africa.

When Centaine's ship is torpedoed and sunk, she is plunged into a shark-filled sea miles from the unseen shore. And when she reaches land, Centaine puts foot not in the lush world that Michael Courtney described to her, but on the edge of a burning desert--alone and fighting for her life.

In a strange world, under a great rushing sky, Centaine sets forth in the company of wandering Bushmen--and then into the arms of a renegade white soldier who may be her savior or destruction. As Michael Courtney's family searches for Centaine, she comes near her promised land--and the untold tragedy and riches that it holds...

Review

Praise for *Burning Shore*

'Wilbur Smith is an adept at thrilling and harrowing scenes, researches his facts, gets it all too horribly spot-on.' – The Sunday Times

'Wilbur Smith ... writes as forcefully as his tough characters act.' – Evening Standard

'A natural storyteller who moves confidently and often splendidly in his period and sustains a flow of convincing incident without repeating his excitements' – The Scotsman

' Wilbur has arguably the best sense of place of any adventure writer since John Buchan.' – The Guardian

‘An epic novel . . . it would be hard to think of a theme that was more appropriate today ... Smith writes with a great passion for the soul of Africa’ – Today

Praise for Wilbur Smith

“Smith is a master.” —Publishers Weekly

“One of the world’s most popular adventure writers.” —*The Washington Post Book World

“A rare author who wields a razor-sharp sword of craftsmanship.” —Tulsa World*

“Wilbur Smith is one of those benchmarks against whom others are compared.” —The Times (UK)
"Best Historical Novelist--I say Wilbur Smith, with his swashbuckling novels of Africa. The bodices of rip and the blood flows. You can get lost in Wilbur Smith and misplace all of August."--Stephen King

"Action is Wilur Smith's game, and he is a master."--The Washington Post Book World

“The world’s leading adventure writer.” —Daily Express (UK)

"Wilbur Smith rarely misses a trick."--Sunday Times

“Smith is a captivating storyteller.” —The Orlando Sentinel

“No one does adventure quite like Smith.” —Daily Mirror (UK)

"A thundering good’ read is virtually the only way of describing Wilbur Smith’s books.” —The Irish Times

From the Back Cover

In a breathtaking adventure of love, war, and bitter revenge, New York Times bestselling author Wilbur Smith captures a courageous quest for survival against a country's greatest odds….

FROM THE FIRES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Centaine de Thiry grew up with privilege, wealth, and freedom on a sprawling French estate. Then war came crashing down around her, and a daring young South African aviator named Michael Courtney stole her heart amidst the destruction. But the tides of fate and battle sent the young woman on a journey across a dangerous sea to the coast of Africa.

ACROSS A BLAZING *AFRICAN *DESERT
When Centaine's ship is torpedoed and sunk, she is plunged into a shark-filled sea miles from the unseen shore. And when she reaches land, Centaine puts foot not in the lush world that Michael Courtney described to her, but on the edge of a burning desert--alone and fighting for her life.

A WOMAN DISCOVERS A WONDROUS LAND--AND THE PRICE OF SURVIVAL
In a strange world, under a great rushing sky, Centaine sets forth in the company of wandering Bushmen--and then into the arms of a renegade white soldier who may be her savior or destruction. As Michael Courtney's family searches for Centaine, she comes near her promised land--and the untold tragedy and riches that it holds...

"You can get lost in Wilbur Smith…with his swashbuckling novels of Africa."--Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly* *

A Quiver Full of Arrows

Jeffrey Archer

Review

"A master at mixing power, politics, and profit into fiction"
--_ Entertainment Weekly_

"One of the top ten storytellers in the world"
-- Los Angeles Times

"A storyteller in the class of Alexander Dumas...Unsurpassed skill...making the reader wonder intensely what will happen next."
-- Washington Post

"Archer...has an extraordinary talent for turning notoriety into gold, and telling fast-moving stories."
-- Philadelphia Inquirer

Product Description

Ordinary Heros,
Extraordinary Deeds

The bestselling author of Kane & Abel, The Prodigal Daughter and Honor Among Theives once again astonishes, delights, and electrifies his legions of fans.

From London to China, and New York to Nigeria, Jeffrey Archer takes the reader on a tour of ancient heirlooms and modern romance, of cutthroat business and kindly strangers, of lives lived in the realms of power and lives freed from the gloom of oppression. Fortunes are made and squandered, honor betrayed and redeemed, and love lost and rediscovered.

Embracing the passions that drive men and women to love and to hate, A Quiver Full of Arrows will captivate the hearts and souls of readers of everywhere.

Birds of Prey

Wilbur Smith

Deemed "one of the world's most popular and prolific adventure writers" by The Washington Post, bestselling author Wilbur Smith is at the height of his storytelling powers in Birds of Prey, a swashbuckling epic of adventure, intrigue and passion on the dangerous high seas of 1667.

As the choppy sea lanes of the African coast are rife with bloody battles over trade booty, Sir Francis Courteney and his 17-year-old son Hal embark on a seafaring quest for the treasure-laden galleons of the Dutch East India Company. But soon the horrific torture and execution of the elder Courteney catapults Hal into the role of captain. And the heavy burden of avenging his father's death-- along with the lusty pleasures he shares with three beautiful women-- will swiftly, irrevocably transform Hal from boy to man...

Richly detailed, breathlessly plotted, and rich with the color of the time and place, Birds of Prey is an unforgettable saga that will transport you to one of the most fascinating, action-packed eras in world history.

Amazon.com Review

Look up "classic adventure novel" in the dictionary and you'll find the strong and capable features of South Africa's own Wilbur Smith, who--in books as varied and enjoyable as River God, The Seventh Scroll, When the Lion Feeds, and The Diamond Hunters--displays an awesome storytelling ability. His latest is one of his best efforts: a richly detailed story of war and piracy on the high seas in 1667, 150 years before Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin books.

From Library Journal

In 1667, Sir Francis Courteney commands his ship off the coast of Africa in England's war against the Dutch. He has groomed his son Hal to succeed him as captain. Birds of Prey chronicles Hal's swift and bloody passage to manhood after his father's torture and death at the hands of the Dutch. Escaping with the remaining crew, Hal makes his way overland to claim his father's hidden treasure and confront the treacherous English captain who betrayed them. Men are hacked apart in sword fights, blown to bits in shipboard battles, mauled by crocodiles, and more in this tale from the prolific author of such historical fare as The Seventh Scroll (LJ 4/15/95). Short on character development and tight plotting, this meandering escapist novel will be relished by those who enjoy swashbuckling tales with nonstop action. For popular collections.?Kathy Piehl, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Anarctica is the last unconquered continent, a murderous expanse of howling winds, blinding whiteouts and deadly crevasses. On one edge of Antarctica is Wilkes Station. Beneath Wilkes Station is the gate to hell itself...

A team of U.S. divers, exploring three thousand feet beneath the ice shelf has vanished. Sending out an SOS, Wilkes draws a rapid deployment team of Marines-and someone else...

First comes a horrific firefight. Then comes a plunge into a drowning pool filled with killer whales. Next comes the hard part, as a handful of survivors begin an electrifying, red-hot, non-stop battle of survival across the continent and against wave after wave of elite military assassins-who've all come for one thing: a secret buried deep beneath the ice...

From Publishers Weekly

After a team of American scientists at Wilkes Ice Station discover what seems to be a spaceship in a four-million-year-old cavern below the ice, two of the divers disappear while checking out the craft. Lt. Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield and his highly trained team of Marines respond to the scientists' distress signal. By the time the leathernecks reach Wilkes, three days later, one of the scientists has killed another, six more members of the Wilkes team have disappeared in the ice cave and eight French scientists from a nearby station are for some reason at the U.S. base. Would the French government kill Americans to capture a frozen UFO? Probably: six of the French "scientists" turn out to be the members of the French special forces. From that discovery onward, this first novel offers nonstop thrills as Schofield and his team fight for their livesAand for those of the remaining American scientistsAagainst French and British commandos and a secret American spy group; against killer whales and strange aquatic mammals; and against time, for both the French and British commandos harbor "eraser" plans to wipe out all survivors in case of mission failure. Reilly's debut evokes a host of predecessors, including Jaws, The Andromeda Strain, The X-Files and the combat novels of Tom Clancy. It also echoes the work of Ian Fleming, as the outrageously heroic Schofield comes off as less a real Marine than a fantasy action figure on a par with Bond. There's not much that's original hereAeven the set-up is reminiscent of the classic SF film The Thing, about a saucer buried in Arctic iceAbut Reilly doesn't really need to be original, not at the pace at which he whips his story line past readers. Employing crude but effective prose, a nonstop spray of short, punchy paragraphs and cliffhangers galore, this is grade-A action pulp. (Sept.) FYI: Ice Station was previously published by Pan Macmillan in Reilly's native Australia, where it sold 30,000 copies.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Fans of Clive Cussler will enjoy this first novel by Australian author Reilly. Set in Antarctica, Ice Station pits a group of U.S. Marines against a host of unexpected adversaries. Buried deep in the ice, in a layer 100 million years old, is something that arouses the greed of governments around the globe. Their respective Special Forces units are unleashed in this inhospitable land in a race to claim the hidden treasure. The book moves along at a good pace, and as with all well-told military thrillers there are plenty of unexpected twists, turns, and betrayals. Reilly's characters are colorful and engaging, and his bad guys are more wrong-headed than evil. The laws of science are sometimes shunted aside to make way for improbable weaponry and impossible situations, but that's just part of the fun. Recommended for public libraries with large military fiction collections.APatrick Wall, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Spartanburg
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Power of the Sword

Wilbur Smith

Sasha Courtney was groomed by his French-born mother to take control of the Courtney Mining and Finance Company, whose font of wealth was sown deep beneath African soil. But Sasha's brother, Manfred, had been trained by his renegade father to be a hunter--of lions, and of men.

As the two boys became men, they took on the extraordinary powers of each parent: Sasha, a man in tune with his continent and its people; Manfred who, like his father, was willing to shape his world with a gun. So when the winds of World War II reached Africa, each brother chose a side…

Now, the future of a young nation is being forged amidst a clash of civilizations, ideals, and blood feuds. And as Sasha and Manfred rise to power, a land of beauty and suffering will be remade--for better or for worse--in an image of their own.

From Library Journal

A sequel to Smith's The Burning Shore , this novel continues to trace the lives of Lothar de la Rey and Centaine Courtney. Their love/hate unfolds in the South Africa of the 1930s. Centaine's son by Lothar and her son by an English gentleman also become bitter enemies. Diamonds stolen by Lothar are a pivotal element in the story, which ranges from Bushman country to the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936. Even without the first book, this is an exciting story. Smith makes us sympathize with both the Afrikaners and the British South Africans. His details and historical setting seem authentic. Recommended for historical fiction collections. A third novel is clearly intended. Judith Nixon, Purdue Univ. Libs., W. Lafayette, Ind.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Praise for *Power of the Sword*

" ... a writer who ranks among the top three in the world in combing action, a venture and a sense of tough terrain to produce superbly readable books." – Georg Thaw, The Mirror

Praise for Wilbur Smith

“Smith is a master.” —Publishers Weekly

“One of the world’s most popular adventure writers.” —The Washington Post Book World

“A rare author who wields a razor-sharp sword of craftsmanship.” —Tulsa World

“Wilbur Smith is one of those benchmarks against whom others are compared.” —The Times (UK)
"Best Historical Novelist--I say Wilbur Smith, with his swashbuckling novels of Africa. The bodices of rip and the blood flows. You can get lost in Wilbur Smith and misplace all of August."--Stephen King

"Action is Wilur Smith's game, and he is a master."--The Washington Post Book World

“The world’s leading adventure writer.” —Daily Express (UK)

"Wilbur Smith rarely misses a trick."--Sunday Times

“Smith is a captivating storyteller.” —The Orlando Sentinel

“No one does adventure quite like Smith.” —Daily Mirror (UK)

"A thundering good’ read is virtually the only way of describing Wilbur Smith’s books.” —The Irish Times

Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga)

Stephanie Meyer

Amazon.com Review

Great love stories thrive on sacrifice. Throughout Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights--with the fated, yet perpetually doomed love of Bella (the human girl) and Edward (the vampire who feeds on animals instead of humans). In Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final installment in the series, Bella’s story plays out in some unexpected ways. The ongoing conflicts that made this series so compelling--a human girl in love with a vampire, a werewolf in love with a human girl, the generations-long feud between werewolves and vampires--resolve pretty quickly, apparently so that Meyer could focus on Bella’s latest opportunity for self-sacrifice: giving her life for someone she loves even more than Edward. How close she comes to actually making that sacrifice is questionable, which is a big shift from the earlier books. Even though you knew Bella would make it through somehow, the threats to her life, and to her relationship with Edward, had previously always felt real. It’s as if Meyer was afraid of hurting her characters too much, which is unfortunate, because the pain Bella suffered at losing Edward in New Moon, and the pain Jacob suffered at losing Bella again and again, are the fire and the heart that drive the whole series. Diehard fans will stick with Bella, Edward, and Jacob for as many twists and turns as possible, but after most of the characters get what they want with little sacrifice, some readers may have a harder time caring what happens next. (Ages 12 and up) --_Heidi Broadhead_

Product Description

This Special Edition of the #1 New York Times bestseller includes:

An exclusive Breaking Dawn concert series DVD, featuring a performance by Blue October's Justin Furstenfeld and a conversation between Stephenie Meyer and Justin Furstenfeld.
A reproduction of the personal, handwritten lyrics for My Never by Justin Furstenfeld.
A limited-edition, full-color Bella & Edward poster (on reverse side of book jacket).
And more!

The astonishing, breathlessly anticipated conclusion to The Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn, illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions.

More from Stephenie Meyer

Rage

Wilbur Smith

In the second half of the twentieth century, the future bears down on Africa--fueled by the sins of the past and the blood feuds of nations, tribes, and families. For the Courtney family, who have known this continent from the depths of its gold mines to the pinnacle of political power, a time of reckoning is at hand.

Shasa Courtney has lived, fought and loved amongst Afrikaners, Englishmen, and natives. His mother is by his side but the rest of the world around him is exploding. Even his family harbors secrets more dangerous than his own worst enemies.

Now, a continent is convulsed. Streets teem with protestors. Desperate and devious men forge volatile alliances. And Shasa faces shocking revelations amongst traitors, fugitives, and heroes--leading a beloved country into the flames of civil war…

From Publishers Weekly

In this latest epic, popular novelist Smith (The Leopard Hunts in Darkness) takes on a difficult challenge, telling of post-World War II South Africa. What he has created is a hybrid. His narrative seriously addresses the conflicts of whites and blacks, the differences between British and Afrikaners, and the tribes and personalities vying for control of the African National Congress. But it's also a soap opera, one of those conventional generational sagas with a contrived forbidden love affair between a white and a black, adultery and the rivalry between two men who do not realize they are half-brothers. The combination is simultaneously thrilling and embarrassing. Shasa Courtney is a wealthy United Party minister to the South African Parliament. A moderate of English heritage, he is often opposed to the Nationalist Party's Manfred De La Rey, an Afrikaner. Their mother, the matriarchal Centaine Courtney-Malcomess, is able to mediate their conflicts but not to control Shasa's wife, Tara, who sympathizes with the black cause. It is Tara who falls in love with the black Moses Gama, an advocate of violent opposition to apartheid. All their stories intermingle with the history of South Africa in the '50s and '60s. Smith's account of some of the worst racial riots is terrifying and his storytelling powers are strong, but readers of Rage will likely come away wondering whether turgid sub-plots really enhance a novel about one of the world's most troubled countries.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Smith continues the family saga set in South Africa which he began in The Burning Shore and The Power of the Sword. This new novel focuses on the half brothers, Shasa Courtney and Manfred De La Rey, now high officials in the Nationalist government. During the mounting protest and violence brought on by apartheid in the 1950s and early 1960s, these former enemies find themselves working together to save the land they both love. Other family members are involved too. Michael, one of Shasa's sons, becomes a reporter who opposes apartheid, while Lothar, Manfred's son, is a policeman who enforces it. The interlocking stories of these and many others, set against the authentic African historical and cultural background that Smith so effectively provides, produces both a compelling tale and some real insights into South Africa. Recommended. Judith Nixon, Purdue Univ. Lib., W. Lafayette, Ind.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

1452-1519

1861-1865

1886-1924

1939-1945

A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas

A post-ep for Unbearable. Sort of. Now AU. Originally posted in 2005.

Abortion

Abortion & Birth Control

Action & Adventure

Adolescence

Adult

Adventure

Adventure stories; American

Alien Contact

aliens

All Ages

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Alternative History

Amarantha (ACoTaR)

Ambition in men

American

American Science Fiction And Fantasy

Americans

Americans - Arctic regions

Amren (ACoTaR)

anne rice

Anti-Catholicism

Appreciation

Archer

Arctic regions

Arizona

Art museum curators

Art museum curators - Crimes against

Art thefts

Arthurian

Artificial Satellites

Asia

Azizex666

Azriel (ACoTaR)

BA

Balloonists

Bedtime & Dreams

Beron Vanserra

bethany

Biographical

Biographical fiction

Biography & Autobiography

blogger

Blood and Ash

blood drinker

blood vivicanti

Boarding School & Prep School

Body

books

Boston (Mass.)

Brigands and robbers

Bron (ACoTaR)

business

Business - Leadership

Businesswomen

Cassian (ACoTaR)

Children of immigrants

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Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)

Childrens

Children's Books

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Courts and courtiers

Cresseida (ACoTaR)

Cresseida/Morrigan (ACoTaR)