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If you’re after novels that are packed to the imaginative brim with clever ideas, fantastically engaging characters and fantasy/sci-fi/horror premises that absolutely come alive and practically fly off the page, and yes, a buoyant sense of escapist adventure with lots of heart, then British author Dan Hanks is your man!
His books released to date, Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire and Swashbucklers, have had all that and more, enthrallingly immersive reads that bring a sense of exuberant fun back to reading while making you think and feel in some pretty profound ways … yes, they are that good.
So, the fact that his third book, The Way Up is Death, is coming up relatively soon – sure it releases in the first month of next year but we’ll be there before you know it! – is exciting as is the fact that we now have a cover for the book which Angry Robot Books have very graciously given us and a number of other enthusiastic book bloggers the opportunity to preview.
Drumroll please …
(courtesy Angry Robot Books)
And to get you even more excited, here’s the tantalising synopsis …
When a mysterious tower appears in the skies over England, thirteen strangers are pulled from their lives to stand before it as a countdown begins. Above the doorway is one word: ASCEND.
As a grieving teacher, a reclusive artist, and a narcissistic celebrity children’s author lead the others in trying to understand why they’ve been chosen and what the tower is, it soon becomes clear the only way out of this for everyone… is up.
And so begins a race to the top, through sinking ships, haunted houses and other waking nightmares, as the group fights to hold onto its humanity, while the twisted horror of why they’re here grows ever more apparent – and death stalks their every move.
The Way Up is Death will be published on the 28th January 2025, in Paperback and eBook.
(courtesy Angry Robot Books)