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The definitive case for radically rethinking humanity's relationship with other animals - for the good of us all. 'The book that had the most impact on me' JANE GOODALL'Probably the single most influential document in the history of ... animal welfare' GUARDIANIn 1975, Animal Liberation started a global movement when it uncovered the abuse of animals in factory farms and laboratories and showed these horrific practices to be morally indefensible. In the decades since, science has vindicated Peter Singer's arguments about animal sentience, plant-based diets have become mainstream and his landmark book has changed millions of minds. And yet, for animals, the situation has grown worse.Fully rewritten for the twenty-first century, Animal Liberation Now reveals these new developments and refines its arguments to address the pressing problems of today, including the impact of meat consumption on the climate emergency and the spread of lethal new viruses. A book of galvanising power and importance, it shows that the need to radically rethink our relationship with animals is more pressing than ever.'Will motivate a new generation of readers who are resolutely committed to creating a just society for all' JOAQUIN PHOENIX'The indispensable foundational text for the movement, new and updated' J. M. COETZEE'One the most important books of the last 100 years' ECOLOGIST

**AS SEEN ON BBC BREAKFAST**Will we ever truly understand our cosmic home? This is the story of the technologies that allow us to look up, to learn and to discover our place in the cosmos.'An electrifying new history of the universe' HANNAH FRY, author of Rutherford and Fry's Complete Guide to Absolutely EverythingWe are part of an incredible chain of events stretching 13.8 billion years into the past and even further into the future. But what does that future hold? And how do scientists study the entire universe?The Universe in a Box is Andrew Pontzen's tribute to simulations - the remarkable computer codes that, over the last century, have allowed us to grasp the distant past and far future of the universe. It reveals the stories of pioneering scientists who unlocked the mysteries of the cosmos, and reframes our understanding of galaxies, black holes and space itself.'I was enlightened, amazed, and profoundly impressed' SIR PHILIP PULLMAN, author of His Dark Materials'Compelling...a veritable treasure chest filled with captivating stories'SCIENCE

'Everyone should be screaming about it' MONICA HEISEYWIFE. HUSBAND. BEST FRIEND. What if your two favourite people hated each other with a passion?A nice house, a carefree life, a doting husband, a best friend who never leaves your side. You couldn't ask for more. There's just one problem: your husband and best friend love you, but they hate each other. Over a single day, wife, husband and best friend Temi toe the lines of compromise and betrayal. Slowly, their lives begin to unravel, until a startling discovery throws everyone's integrity into question...'Funny, terrifically entertaining' DAILY MAIL'A treat... this millennial noir is a taut exploration of culture and the politics of relationships' BOLU BABALOLA'A tense read that will have you glued to your beach chair!' JENNY JACKSONREADERS LOVE THE THREE OF US'I devoured this brilliant book in one sitting''Compulsive reading...it's extremely hard to put down''Agbaje-Williams is definitely one to watch''An excellent book club read''The characters all felt completely real...utterly brilliant''I absolutely loved this book!'

An awestruck love letter to one of the most spectacular places on earth, from the author of international bestseller The Eight MountainsPaolo Cognetti marked his 40th birthday with a journey he had always wanted to make: to Dolpo, a remote Himalayan region where Nepal meets Tibet. He took with him two friends, a notebook, mules and guides, and a well-worn copy of The Snow Leopard. Written in 1978, Matthiessen's classic was also turning forty, and Cognetti set out to walk in the footsteps of the great adventurer.Without Ever Reaching the Summit combines travel journal, secular pilgrimage, literary homage and sublime mountain writing in a short book for readers of Macfarlane, Rebanks and Cognetti's own bestseller, The Eight Mountains. An investigation into the author's physical limits, an ancient mountain culture, and the magnificence of nature, it is an awestruck love letter to one of the most spectacular places on earth.

Love can change your life. Can it survive marriage and middle age?'A rare gift and one to be treasured' SUNDAY TIMES'A profound and vital book' WILLIAM BOYD'Equal parts funny and challenging' DAILY TELEGRAPHLily falls in love with Sam the minute she sets eyes on him. It takes Sam a day or two longer. Curious, because Lily - independent, headstrong, rational - has never quite believed in love; while Sam - confident, passionate, romantic - thought he understood it inside out.Lily is an award-winning television documentary maker. Sam is an award-winning playwright. Both are in relationships that have quietly expired, but their encounter makes Lily and Sam come alive again. As they begin to work together on the page and on screen, an affair takes hold that they are powerless to resist.Arriving in mid-life, their relationship opens unexpected new worlds and, for Lily, offers her a surprising form of liberation. But what will happen to them when familiarity, illness and age begin to take their toll? What will survive? Taking us to the edge of desire, love and betrayal across a lifetime, What Will Survive of Us reveals what is left of us when we strip away every layer.

What if you could rewrite your relationship, again and again, until it works out?'A stunner of a debut' NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH'A cause for celebration' GEORGE SAUNDERS'Exhilaratingly good' KELLY LINKWhen Myriam and Allison fall in love at a show in a run-down punk house, their relationship begins to unfold through a series of hypotheticals:What if they became mothers by finding a baby in an alley?What if the only cure for Myriam's depression was Allison's flesh?How much darker - or sexier - would their dynamic be if one were a power-hungry CEO, and the other her lowly employee?From the fantasies of early romance to the slow encroaching of heartbreak, each reality builds to complete a brilliant and painfully funny portrait of love's many promises and perils.WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:'Wow. I will be reading everything Myriam Lacroix puts out''Everything Everywhere All at Once for U-haul lesbians... I'm diving in again''I haven't read anything like it before... Fantastic debut'

A collection that shows us ourselves as we truly are***AN IRISH TIMES 2024 DEBUT WRITER TO LOOK OUT FOR***'A major new talent' I'So precise and articulate' SUNDAY TIMESTwo teenage girls fixated on each other's bodies enter into a destructive competition; a woman's encounter with her ex forces her to reflect on the women's group that saved her; a couple's future is called into question after the damp expert they hire for their bathroom offers them free counselling; an older man's buried grief emerges during an altercation with a mother driving a 4×4; and over the course of a bitter winter a waitress lacks the money to fix an impacted tooth as the cracks begin to show in her precariously balanced life.Free Therapy takes us into the inner lives of women and men who are versed in the language of therapy, possessed with the self-knowledge needed to change their lives, but finding themselves unwilling to doing so. As her characters try and fail to connect - via sex, friendship, screens and work - Rebecca Ivory explores desire in all its forms, revealing the ways in which we posture and present, and the softness and insecurities that lie beneath.Perfectly observed, wry and illuminated by moments of sympathy and wisdom, Free Therapy shows us ourselves as we truly are.'Arresting and inventive' SALLY ROONEY'Her writing feels so fresh' PANDORA SYKES

Four women spark a revolution on a Caribbean island - the electrifying new novel from the Costa-winning author of The Mermaid of Black Conch.'Vital, enraging and brilliant. I loved it' SARAH WINMAN'Beautiful and important' SAFIYA SINCLAIR Early one morning, at the close of St Colibri's carnival, a young female steel-pan player is found dead beneath a cannonball tree. It is a discovery that will transform the lives of everyone on this small island. As the days pass, this shocking event draws together four women. There's Sharleen, a journalist with an eye for the real story. Her childhood friend Tara, a pink-haired, straight-talking local activist. Gigi, the 'notorious' founder of the Port Isabella Sex Workers Collective. And Daisy, first lady of St Colibri, who is haunted by a disappearance in her own family decades ago. In a community in which women's voices are often silenced and violence against them is overlooked time after time, the group soon find themselves compelled to speak out - and to act. But even they could never have foreseen the consequences of their courage... 'Roffey's world-building power is evident on every page'GUARDIAN'Will keep you reading all hours... unforgettable'GLAMOUR'Sensual, ferocious... If The White Lotus were a modern feminist thriller, this would be it'LALINE PAULL'The spirit of carnival itself is in the writing... Electrifying'JASON ALLEN-PAISANT'A vital novel... Fiery, funny'DIANA EVANSREADERS LOVE PASSIONTIDE'This was fantastic... five stars''Exhilarating... it's a blast, with sharp, smart humour''A powerful book... really moving''Filled with anger, unity and love''What an amazing book this is... This story will stay with me for a very long time''Moving and gripping''A must-read''I loved this book'

**LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024**A story of love and astronomy told over the course of twenty years through the lives of two improbable best friends'Gorgeous... Ethereal' GUARDIAN'A book with cosmic reach' FINANCIAL TIMES'A romance worthy of Emily Brontë' WALL STREET JOURNAL'A genre-bending novel of ideas' TELEGRAPH'Sarah Perry just gets better and better' INDEPENDENTThomas and Grace are fellow worshippers at the Baptist chapel in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits - torn between their commitment to religion and their desire for more. But their friendship is threatened by the arrival of love.Thomas falls for James Bower, who runs the local museum. Together they develop an obsession with the vanished nineteenth-century female astronomer Maria Veduva, said to haunt a nearby manor. Inspired by Maria, and the dawning realisation James may not reciprocate his feelings, Thomas finds solace studying the night skies. Could astronomy offer as much wonder as divine or earthly love?Meanwhile Grace meets Nathan, a fellow sixth former who represents a different, wilder kind of life. They are drawn passionately together, but quickly pulled apart, casting Grace into the wider world and far away from Thomas.In time, the mysteries of Aldleigh are revealed, bringing Thomas and Grace back to each other and to a richer understanding of love, of the nature of the world, and the sheer miracle of being alive.

SHE'S MEANT TO SAVE LIVES. NOT DESTROY THEM.Police officer Tia recently failed her exam to become a negotiator: her dream job. But when a peaceful climate change protest at a London museum escalates, and one of the radicalised members takes Tia and others hostage, she realises this is her chance to prove she has what it takes.Only not everyone gets out of the siege alive.Three years later, Asher is being released from prison for the part he played at the museum that day. He's always maintained his innocence, but when someone starts threatening the survivors, leading one of them to take their own life, Tia isn't convinced Asher is telling the whole truth. Refusing to have another death on her conscience, Tia begins to investigate.But Tia was a hostage that day too... and now she's a target.Praise for The Interpreter:'I raced through it. Brilliant writing, properly tense' Harriet Tyce, Sunday Times bestselling author of Blood Orange'Compelling and ingenious' Prima'Exciting and original' Heat'Intriguing' Daily Mail 'An ingenious premise, cleverly executed' Sunday Times bestseller Sabine Durrant

A moving, hard-hitting account of the Paris attacks trial by France's leading non-fiction writer'Absolutely gripping' GUARDIAN'A marvel' SUNDAY TIMES'Magisterial' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH'Extraordinary and generous' WASHINGTON POST'A gripping testimony of terror and loss' OBSERVEROn 13 November 2015, nine attackers wearing suicide bombs killed 130 people and left hundreds wounded at sites in and around Paris in the deadliest attack on French soil since the Second World War. V13 was the code name for the much-awaited trial of those who helped to carry out these attacks. Lasting nine months, from September 2021 to June 2022, it consisted of 14 defendants, 2,400 plaintiffs, 350 lawyers and a file 53 metres high.In V13, Emmanuel Carrère follows this landmark trial from its first day to its last, taking us behind the scenes to the lawyers, survivors, family members and the defendants. He assembles, in painstaking and subtle detail, a human portrait of the crime - a study of good and evil, and the philosophical journey through the borderlands between the two.Over the course of his career, Emmanuel Carrère has reinvented non-fiction writing. In a search for truth in all its guises, he dispenses with the rules of genre, fusing passion, curiosity and a profoundly humane intellect, making him one of the most distinctive and important literary voices today.

A CAREER-SPANNING COLLECTION OF INSPIRING, REVELROUS ESSAYS ABOUT ART AND ARTISTS'Like Love may be one of the most movingly specific, the most lovingly unruly celebrations of the ethics of friendship we have' Guardian'A polyphonic assemblage . . . graceful and aesthetic, deftly crossing boundaries and definitions, a concordant symphony' Irish TimesLike Love is a momentous, raucous collection of essays drawn from twenty years of Maggie Nelson's brilliant work. These profiles, reviews, remembrances, tributes and critical essays, as well as several conversations with friends and idols, bring to life Nelson's passion for dialogue and dissent. The range of subjects is wide - from Prince to Carolee Schneemann to Matthew Barney to Lhasa de Sela to Kara Walker - but certain themes recur: intergenerational exchange; love and friendship; feminist and queer issues, especially as they shift over time; subversion, transgression and perversity; the roles of the critic and language in relation to visual and performance arts; forces that feed or impede certain bodies and creators; and the fruits and follies of a life spent devoted to making.Arranged chronologically, Like Love shows the writing, thinking, feeling, reading, looking and conversing that occupied Nelson while writing iconic books such as Bluets and The Argonauts. As such, it is a portrait of a time, an anarchic party rich with wild guests, a window into Nelson's own development and a testament to the profound sustenance offered by art and artists.

'A first-rate biography of the man, the writer and the lover' DAVID HOCKNEY'Bucknell's research is impressive and her judgements astute' GUARDIANAn engrossing new biography of the man whose writings about 1930s Berlin made him famous. From the editor of Isherwood's diaries and letters.Christopher Isherwood rejected the life he was born to and set out to make a different one. Heir to an English estate, he flunked out of university, moved to Berlin, was driven through Europe by the Nazis, and circled the globe before settling in Hollywood.There he adopted a new religion and continued to form the friendships - including an astounding number of romantic and sexual ones - through which he discovered himself.Using a wealth of unpublished material, Christopher Isherwood Inside Out tells how the traumas of his father's death in World War I and his failure to protect his German lover from the Nazis were healed by his life as a monk in the 1940s, enabling him to commit unflinchingly to a sexually open relationship in the 1950s, and to come out as a 'grand old man' of the gay rights movement in the 1970s.With this new biography, enriched by unlimited access to Isherwood's partner Don Bachardy, Katherine Bucknell shows how Christopher Isherwood achieved a uniquely inspiring personal life. He effected lasting change in our culture, through both his literary works and the way he lived.'The best biography I've ever read . . . Every page is full of surprises' EDMUND WHITE'It's hard to imagine a better qualified candidate for this task than Katherine Bucknell' THE TIMES'A fast-paced story of an extraordinary life and a broadly illuminating history of vast cultural changes' EDWARD MENDELSON

Brimming with life and drama, this is the first book to explore two thousand years of European history through one the greatest imperial networks ever built'A delightful, novel and authoritative history from the ground up' JUDITH HERRIN'Epic and witty ... Fletcher is a thoroughly enjoyable narrator because she peppers her learned prose with wry humour' TOBIAS JONES, Observer'Fletcher is a rare thing: an academic who writes beautifully and accessibly about big subjects ... utterly riveting, filled with golden nuggets' CHARLIE CONNELLY, New European'All roads lead to Rome.' It's a medieval proverb, but it's also true: today's European roads still follow the networks of the ancient empire, as Rome's extraordinary legacy continues to grip our imaginations.Over the two thousand years since they were first built, the roads have been walked by crusaders and pilgrims, liberators and dictators, but also by tourists and writers, refugees and artists. As channels of trade and travel, and routes for conquest and creativity, Catherine Fletcher shows how the roads forever transformed the cultures, and intertwined the fates, of a vast panoply of people across Europe and beyond.Reflecting on his own walk on the Appian Way, Charles Dickens observed that here is 'a history in every stone that strews the ground.' Based on outstanding original research, and brimming with life and drama, this is the first book to explore two thousand years of history through one of the greatest imperial networks ever built.

'The Susan Sontag of her generation' Deborah LevyThe story of two couples who live in the same apartment in north-east Paris almost fifty years apart.In 2019, Anna, a psychoanalyst, is processing a recent miscarriage. Her husband, David, takes a job in London so she spends days obsessing over renovating the kitchen while befriending a younger woman called Clémentine who has moved into the building and is part of a radical feminist collective called les colleuses.Meanwhile, in 1972, Florence and Henry are redoing their kitchen. Florence is finishing her degree in psychology while hoping to get pregnant. But Henry isn't sure he's ready for fatherhood...Both sets of couples face the challenges of marriage, fidelity, and pregnancy. The characters and their ghosts bump into and weave around each other, not knowing that they once all inhabited the same space.A novel in the key of Éric Rohmer, Scaffolding is about the bonds we create with people, and the difficulty of ever fully severing them; about the ways that people we've known live on in us; and about the way that the homes we make hold communal memories of the people who've lived in them and the stories that have been told there.'Atmospheric and evocative, the prose elegant and poised' Observer

Impossible Monsters is the captivating story of the discovery of the dinosaurs and how it upended our understanding of the origins of the world.'An astonishing book about an extraordinary subject' PETER FRANKOPAN'As thrilling as it is sweeping' TOM HOLLAND'This book dazzles in its originality . . . a triumph' SATHNAM SANGHERAIn 1811, a twelve-year-old girl uncovered some strange-looking bones in Britain's southern shoreline. They belonged to no known creature and were buried beneath a hundred feet of rock. Over the next two decades, as several more of these 'impossible monsters' emerged from the soil, the leading scientists of the day were forced to confront a profoundly disturbing possibility: the Bible, as a historical account of the Earth's origins, was wildly wrong.This is the dramatic story of the crisis that engulfed science and religion when we discovered the dinosaurs. It takes us into the lives and minds of the extraordinary men and women who made these heretical discoveries, those who resisted them, as well as the pioneering thinkers, Darwin most famous among them, who took great risks to construct a new account of the earth's and mankind's origins.Impossible Monsters is the riveting story of a group of people who not only thought impossible things but showed them to be true. In the process they overturned the literal reading of the Bible, liberated science from the authority of religion and ushered in the secular age.'Truly marvellous ... an intellectual thriller' RICHARD HOLMES'A stunning work ... of surprises and revelations' STEVE BRUSATTE

If you had the power to change the past. . . where would you start? Cassie has never really fitted in. She remembers everything. Understands nothing. And consistently says the wrong thing.So when she gets dumped, fired AND her local café runs out of banana muffins - all in one day - it feels like the end of the world.But then Cassie discovers she has the power to go back and change things.With endless chances to get it right, can she stop it all from going wrong?As featured on Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 2 Book Club, The Times & Daily Mail_________________________'A time-twisting delight' REESE WITHERSPOON'Utterly brilliant!' ZOE BALL'Everyone should read it and everyone will love it' LINDSEY KELK'Totally absorbing' GRAEME SIMSION'Sharp, funny, quirky, insightful and so very, very relatable' JOANNE HARRIS'Hilarious and heartwarming' WOMAN'S OWN'Gut-warmingly funny' EMMA JANE UNSWORTH'Truly original novel' LAURA JANE WILLIAMS'Very clever' IRISH EXAMINER'IWonderful' DAILY MAIL'This is THE book for anyone who has ever wished life came with an undo button' SOPHIE IRWIN'Smart [and] funny' THE TIMES'A triumph' SUN'Clever [and] unusual' DAILY EXPRESS'Brilliantly clever' SARAH HAYWOOD'A witty read' SUN ON SUNDAYFirst published in the UK as The Cassandra Complex.Reese's Book Club Pick, June 2023

'An epic new history . . . a work of epic scholarship, breathtaking range, and piercing originality' Daily Express'An astonishing achievement of narrative history . . . I think the word is "magisterial".' Spectator'Excellent, thorough, detailed and combatively argued.' Sunday Times______________________________________Sing As We Go is an astonishingly ambitious overview of the political, social and cultural history of the country from 1919 to 1939.It explores and explains the politics of the period, and puts such moments of national turmoil as the General Strike of 1926 and the Abdication Crisis of 1936 under the microscope. It offers pen portraits of the era's most significant figures. It traces the changing face of Britain as cars made their first mass appearance, the suburbs sprawled, and radio and cinema became the means of mass entertainment. And it probes the deep divisions that split the nation: between the haves and have-nots, between warring ideological factions, and between those who promoted accommodation with fascism in Europe and those who bitterly opposed it.__________________________________________'Magisterial . . . an extraordinary achievement.' Literary Review'A masterful portrayal of political, social and cultural upheaval between the wars.' Daily Mail

From bestselling author and British astronaut Tim Peake, an inspirational human history of space travel, from the Apollo missions to our future forays to Mars. The Right Stuff for a new generation.PERFECT GIFT FOR FATHER'S DAY'This book is brilliant - once in a blue moon. A book for the whole family.' Chris Evans, Virgin Radio'The most wonderful book ... Tim Peake is a historian and encyclopaedia of space.' Rory Stewart'An extraordinary book. For anyone - even if you're not interested in Space. If you're interested in human stories and the human character - this is delightful.' BBC Breakfast'A fascinating, detailed, playful book drawn from extensive research - Peake met seven Apollo astronauts, Russian cosmonauts and various other space technicians - as well as his considerable personal experience. Lifts the lid on what space is like: the dedication and sacrifice; the politics and pantomime; the practicalities and the peril; the glory and fame; the adjustment back to normal life.' iPaper'A thrilling human history of space' Daily Mirror'The bible of space travel' Chris Moyles, Radio XAs seen in the major TV series Secrets of Our Universe with Tim Peake.Only 656 people in human history have left Earth. In Space: The Human Story, astronaut Tim Peake traces the lives of these remarkable men and women who have forged the way, from Yuri Gagarin to Neil Armstrong, from Valentina Tereshkova to Peggy Whitson.Full of exclusive new stories, and astonishing detail only an astronaut would know, the book conveys what space exploration is really like: the wondrous view of Earth, the surreal weightlessness, the extraordinary danger, the surprising humdrum, the unexpected humour, the newfound perspective, the years of training, the psychological pressures, the gruelling physical toll, the thrill of launch and the trepidation of re-entry. The book also examines the surprising, shocking and often poignant stories of astronauts back on Earth, whose lives are forever changed as they readjust to terra firma.Publication of the book comes on the eve of NASA's plans to return to the moon, fifty years after an astronaut last walked on the lunar surface. In 2024 the Artemis II mission will send four astronauts to orbit the moon. In 2025 Artemis III will send the first woman and the first person of colour to step on the lunar surface. What will separate these upcoming moonwalkers from the legendary Apollo crews? Does it still take a daring-do attitude, super-human fitness, intelligence, plus the 'Right-stuff' - a fabled grace under pressure? And how will astronauts travel even further - to Mars and beyond? Space: The Human Story reveals all.

'Re-imagines a story of gay men in London 200 years ago and under the pain of their betrayal and injustice, he uncovers loyalty and above all, love' SIR IAN MCKELLAN'An imaginative, layered, clever story' THE TIMESLondon, 1809. By day, minister John Church preaches to a congregation of commonfolk in Southwark. By night, he is drawn to the secretive, alluring world of a molly house on Vere Street. There, ordinary men reinvent themselves as outrageous queens: lads on the make flirt with labourers and princes alike, and John finds himself ordaining marriages between men.When he meets the unworldly and free-thinking Ned, one of a group of African abolitionists who attend his chapel, John falls in love with Ned's tender nature and discovers how quickly desire can turn to obsession.Based on the true story of one of the most important events in queer history, RADICAL LOVE is a sensuous and prescient story about gender and sexuality, and how the most vulnerable survive in dangerous times.'One of the boldest novelistic explorations of desire I have read in some time' KEIRAN GODDARD'Compellingly real' DAILY MAIL

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 DAGGER FOR CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATIONPRIZE WINNER OF FRANCE'S FIRST NOVEL AWARD'Riveting' OBSERVER'Totally addictive' ALICE SLATER'I couldn't put it down' JOHN BOYNEFrom the outside, she has an enviable life: a successful career, stunning looks, a beautiful house in the suburbs, two healthy children, and most importantly, an ideal husband. After fifteen years together, she is still besotted with him. But she's never quite sure that her passion is reciprocated.Determined to keep their relationship perfect, she meticulously prepares for every encounter they have, always taking care to make her actions seem effortless. She watches him attentively, charting every mistake and punishing him accordingly to help him improve. And she tests him - setting traps to make sure that he still loves her just as much as he did when they first met.Until one day she realizes she may have gone too far . . .With the surprise of Gone Girl, the bleakness of The Talented Mr Ripley and the sinister charm of the Netflix thriller You, My Husband is a bold and exhilarating story of passion and the dark secrets that lie beneath a seemingly healthy marriage.

Loki and Valkyrie seek redemption in the first adventure of an epic new multiversal series that reimagines the origins of iconic Marvel heroes.So many worlds, so little time. Infinite possibilities, creating infinite realities. Long have I watched the trickster god sow chaos. But...what if Loki saved Asgard from Tony Stark's revenge?Thor - Son of Odin, God of Thunder, wielder of the hammer Mjolnir - is dead. And Loki is responsible.It was only meant to be a joke - tampering with the Destroyer, changing Thor's course to Midgard - a bit of mischief with a chance of maiming. But Loki's harmless prank spiraled out of control, unleashing death and destruction on New York City and the heroes sworn to protect it. The city was saved, but at the cost of Thor's life.Furious and heartbroken, the All-Father banishes Loki to Earth for his crime. Loki finds himself in a realm of boxed wine, instant noodles, and some sort of regional performance troupe known as the "Buffalo Bills." It's a meager existence, far from Asgard's grand courts, but he finds his new friend, Brian the Gecko, a much more engaging companion than the sycophants back home. A true meeting of the minds. Loki is the God of Mischief - but he knows, deep down, that he never truly deserved to stand next to their father's golden child Thor, as two true sons of Odin.Yet, he cannot even endure his exile in peaceful isolation. A Valkyrie - Hel-bent on carrying out her oath to Thor - barges into his trailer-home with his brother's final words from the beyond: a plea to find a certain Dr. Jane Foster and pass on Mjolnir to its rightful heir.While Loki struggles to fulfil his brother's last request, the far-reaching consequences of his fatal prank return to haunt him. Blinded by grief from those he lost in the chaos wrought by Asgard, Iron Man vows revenge on those who consider themselves gods. Determined to protect the Earth from the might of this unpredictable alien power, he forges Asgard's own weaponry into a lethal suit of armor, set on eradicating any tether between their worlds. Consequences be damned. When Asgard looks to Loki for salvation, he must answer the question: Am I truly worthy?