La Bête humaine is a gripping tale where the instinct of death looms large over the protagonist, Jacques Lantier, a locomotive mechanic. He is acutely aware of how this instinct disguises itself under various appetites, and how the Idea of Death lurks beneath all fixed ideas.

Jacques, a young man, distances himself from women, wine, money, and ambitions, having renounced his instincts. His sole focus is his machine. He understands that the cerebral fissure introduces death into all instincts, working through them. At the origin or end of every instinct, it is about killing, and perhaps also being killed.

Zola, in this novel, powerfully evokes life at the end of the Second Empire in France, where society seemed to be hurtling into the future like the new locomotives and railways it was building. While expressing hope that human nature evolves through education and gradually frees itself of inherited evil, he constantly reminds us of the beast within.

In the Bone there is a house.
In the house, there is a girl.
In the girl, there is a darkness.

Margo is not like other girls. She lives in a derelict neighborhood called the Bone, in a cursed house, with her cursed mother, who hasn’t spoken to her in over two years. She lives her days feeling invisible.

It’s not until she develops a friendship with her wheelchair-bound neighbor, Judah Grant, that things begin to change. When neighborhood girl, seven-year-old Neveah Anthony, goes missing, Judah sets out to help Margo uncover what happened to her.

Naomi is restless. She's on her gap year and stuck at home with her parents while her friends are traveling or at university. Then she meets Danny, a mysterious and intense musician who opens her eyes to a whole new world around her.

Danny is exciting and talented, but he also has a dark, destructive side. Will Naomi be able to save Danny before it’s too late? And, more importantly, can she save herself?

A Guerra pelos Sete Reinos continua sem tréguas ou misericórdia. Com um golpe negro mágico, Stannis afastou do seu caminho o irmão rival Renly, e agora nada o impede de conquistar Porto Real, pela força, com a sua frota. Mas Tyrion, eleito a Mão do Rei, tem outros planos e, embora todos o subestimem pela aparência, prepara com sangue frio a defesa da cidade e a confrontação com Stannis numa batalha que se adivinha sanguinária.

No Norte, Winterfell encontra-se à beira do perigo e é alvo da cobiça dos Greyjoy, mas Bran nada consegue ver para além dos estranhos sonhos que o atormentam de noite e dia. Para lá da muralha, Jon oferece-se para acompanhar um grupo de batedores enviado para encontrar os selvagens, enquanto a principal força da Patrulha da Noite se fortifica junto às montanhas. Se quer sobreviver, Jon terá que aprender a ser tão cruel como a terra assombrada habitada pelos selvagens.

Mais uma vez, George R. R. Martin consegue manter-nos agarrados até à última página. Personagens que amamos são mortas sem dó nem piedade, personagens que odiamos conseguem conquistar o nosso coração. De Arya a Sansa, de Robb a Daenerys, todos terão um papel fulcral neste fabuloso quarto volume de As Crónicas de Gelo e Fogo.