Recent Releases in Fantasy |
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| The Hurricane Wars by Thea GuanzonThe heart is a battlefield.
All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, she found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire's shadows.
Prince Alaric, the emperor's only son and heir, has been tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire's rule with the strength of his armies and mighty shadow magic. He discovers the greatest threat yet in Talasyn: a girl burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. He tries to kill her, but in a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen.
This war can only end with them. But an even greater danger is coming, and the strange magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Talasyn and Alaric must decide... are they fated to join hands, or destroy each other? |
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| Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily YuIn the village of Yiwei, a fallen wasp nest unfurls into a beautifully accurate map. In a field in Louisiana, birdwatchers forge an indelible connection over a shared glimpse of a Vermilion Flycatcher, and fall. In Nineveh, a judge who prides himself on impartiality finds himself questioned by a mysterious god. On a nameless shore, a small monster searches for refuge and finds unexpected courage. |
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| Throne of the Fallen by Kerri ManiscalcoSinner. Villain. Wicked.
The Prince of Envy has never claimed to be a saint. But when a cryptic note arrives, signaling the beginning of a deadly game, he knows it will take more than a hint of sin to win and save his falling demon court. Riddles, hexed objects, anonymous players, nothing will stand in his way, though none of his meticulous plans prepare him for her, the frustrating artist who ignites his sin like no other...
Virtuous. Darling. Liar.
The trouble with scoundrels and blackguards is that they haven't a modicum of honor, a fact Miss Camilla Antonius learns after one desperate mistake allows Waverly Green's most notorious rake to blackmail her. To avoid a ruinous scandal, Camilla is forced to enter a devil's bargain with Envy, little expecting his game will awaken her true nature . . .
Together, Envy and Camilla must embark on a perilous journey through the Underworld--from glittering demon courts to the sultry vampire realm and beyond--while trying to avoid the most dangerous trap of all: falling in love. |
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Shanghai Immortal
by A. Y. Chao
Half vampire. Half fox-spirit. All trouble.
Pawned by her mother to the King of Hell as a child, Lady Jing is half-vampire, half-hulijing fox-spirit and all sasshole. As the King's ward, she has spent the past ninety years running errands, dodging the taunts of the spiteful hulijing courtiers, and trying to control her explosive temper - with varying levels of success.
So when Jing overhears the courtiers plotting to steal a priceless dragon pearl from the King, she seizes her chance to expose them, once and for all.
With the help of a gentle mortal tasked with setting up the Central Bank of Hell, Jing embarks on a wild chase for intel, first through Hell and then mortal Shanghai. But when her hijinks put the mortal in danger, she must decide which is more important: avenging her loss of face, or letting go of her half-empty approach to life for a chance to experience tenderness - and maybe even love.
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Starling house
by Alix E. Harrow
I dream sometimes about a house I've never seen....
Opal is a lot of things--orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier--but above all, she's a determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things:
1) a surprising amount of unexplained bad luck and natural disasters
2) the only known sightings of E. (Eleanor) Starling, a reclusive nineteenth-century author whose only published book, The Underland, was considered almost as shocking as the author's later mysterious disappearance.
But Starling left behind one other thing: the imposing house that bears her name. Everyone agrees that it's best to ignore the uncanny mansion, and its misanthropic heir, Arthur . Almost everyone, anyway..
I should be scared, but in the dream I don't hesitate.
Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but still can't resist a chance to see inside Starling House. So when an unexpected opportunity arises, she jumps at it. Besides, it means double the money to put towards her brother's escape fund.
But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur's own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.
In my dream, I'm home.
And now she'll have to fight.
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Sword catcher
by Cassandra Clare
In the vibrant city-state of Castellane, the richest of nobles and the most debauched of criminals have one thing in common: the constant search for wealth, power, and the next hedonistic thrill.
Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword Catcher--the body double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He has been raised alongside the prince, trained in every aspect of combat and statecraft. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but Kel knows that his destiny is to die for Conor. No other future is possible.
Lin Caster is one of the Ashkar, a small community whose members still possess magical abilities. By law, they must live behind walls within the city, but Lin, a physician, ventures out to tend to the sick and dying of Castellane. Despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend without access to forbidden knowledge.
After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of Castellane's underworld. He offers them each what they want most; but as they descend into his world of intrigue and shadow, they discover a conspiracy of corruption that reaches from the darkest gutters of Castellane to the highest tower of its palaces. As long-kept secrets begin to unravel, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? Can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war--and the world into chaos?
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A stranger in the citadel
by Tobias S Buckell
The life of the youngest musketress of Ninetha has been one of hard training. But Lilith's days have also contained many pleasures, the royal privileges of her family's guardianship of the Cornucopia, a mystical source of limitless bounty. Lilith has never seen a book, and she never expects to encounter one within the safety of the citadel.
When Ishmael, an outcast librarian, shows up outside the Afriq Gate, Lilith saves him from immediate execution by her father's second-in-command, the zealot Kira. As Lilith's curiosity draws her to Ishmael, she lets slip her family's most dangerous secret, sparking a deadly rebellion and an unexpected journey full of stunning revelations.
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After the forest
by Kell Woods
Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.
Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people starving in the aftermath of a brutal war.
Greta has a secret, though: the witch's grimoire, hidden away and whispering in Greta's ear for the past two decades, and the recipe inside that makes the best gingerbread you've ever tasted. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.
But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, not to mention the rumors about her childhood misadventures, is a source of gossip and suspicion.
And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta's magic--magic she is still trying to understand--may be the only thing that can save her. If it doesn't kill her first.
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The unmaking of June Farrow : a novel
by Adrienne Young
In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm--and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow's disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.
It's been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren't there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere--the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.
After her grandmother's death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother's decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she's been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.
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Long past dues
by James J. Butcher
Against all odds, Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby has become an Auditor, enforcing laws about magic for Boston's Department of Unorthodox Affairs. But Grimsby soon realizes the daily grind of his job is far removed from the glamour he imagined. Overlooked for every exciting case, Grimsby tires of being told to handle mundane magical troubles, and appropriates a case file intended for a friend.
Alongside Leslie Mayflower, the temporarily unretired Huntsman, Grimsby aims to crack the case and discover the origin of a strange, unfinished ritual--one that seems to imitate the handiwork of a foe Mayflower put down twenty years ago.
Together, they'll have to deal with escaped werewolves, a cursed artifact, and a perilous journey to the mysterious subterranean city below Boston, all to uncover the shocking truth. At any cost, Grimsby must stop this ritual from finally being completed. Yet the cost may be paid not by himself but by his friends. . . .
The Unorthodox Chronicles #2
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The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse
by Tom Holt
The team of commercial sorcerers at Dawson, Ahriman & Dawson can help with any metaphysical engineering project, large or small (though by definition they all tend to be pretty large).
They can also create massive great puddles of chaos that might one day swallow up the entire universe.
Take, for example, the decision to recruit a certain bearded fellow whose previous work experience mainly involves reindeer and jingle bells. It might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but is he really the best person to save the world from Tiamat the Destroyer, who has literally gone ballistic?
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A stroke of the pen : the lost stories
by Terry Pratchett
These rediscovered tales were written by Terry Pratchett under a pseudonym for British newspapers during the 1970s and 1980s. The stories have never been attributed to him until now, and might never have been found--were it not for the efforts of a few dedicated fans.
As Neil Gaiman writes in his introduction, "through all of these stories we watch young Terry Pratchett becoming Terry Pratchett." Though none of the short works are set in the Discworld, all are infused with Pratchett's trademark wit, satirical wisdom, and brilliant imagination, hinting at the magical universe he would go on to create.
Meet Og the inventor, the first caveman to cultivate fire, as he discovers the highs and lows of progress; haunt the Ministry of Nuisances with the defiant evicted ghosts of Pilgarlic Towers; visit Blackbury, a small market town with weird weather and an otherworldly visitor; and embark on a dangerous quest through time and space with hero Kron, which begins in the ancient city of Morpork . . .
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Under the smokestrewn sky
by A. Deborah Baker
Since stumbling from their world into the Up and Under, Avery and Zib have walked the improbable road across forests, seas and skies, finding friends in the unlikeliest of places and enemies great in number, as they make their way toward the Impossible City in the hope of finding their way home.
But the final part of their journey is filled with danger and demise. Not everyone will make it through unscathed. Not everyone will make it through alive.
No-one's safety can be guaranteed under the smokestrewn sky.
Up-And-Under #4
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Recently Released in Science Fiction
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Princess of Dune
by Brian Herbert
Set two years before Dune: Princess of Dune is the never-before-told story of two key women in the life of Paul Muad'Dib--Princess Irulan, his wife in name only, and Paul's true love, the Fremen Chani. Both women become central to Paul's galaxy-spanning Imperial reign.
Raised in the Imperial court and born to be a political bargaining chip, Irulan was sent at an early age to be trained as a Bene Gesserit Sister. As Princess Royal, she also learned important lessons from her father--the Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. Now of marriageable age, Princess Irulan sees the machinations of the many factions vying for power--the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, the Spacing Guild, the Imperial throne, and a ruthless rebellion in the Imperial military. The young woman has a wise and independent streak and is determined to become much more than a pawn to be moved about on anyone's gameboard.
Meanwhile, on Arrakis, Chani--the daughter of Liet-Kynes, the Imperial Planetologist who serves under the harsh rule of House Harkonnen--is trained in the Fremen mystical ways by an ancient Reverend Mother. Brought up to believe in her father's ecological dream of a green Arrakis, she follows Liet around to Imperial testing stations, surviving the many hazards of desert life. Chani soon learns the harsh cost of Fremen dreams and obligations under the oppressive boot heel of the long Harkonnen occupation.
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Between Dystopias : The Road to Afropantheology
by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
A captivating collection of original stories and essays by award-winning authors that celebrates the richness and complexity of African mysticism.
African literary scholars struggle to reconcile African mysticism with literary labels. Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology encapsulates the essence of African mysticism and dystopia through original stories.
Afropantheology explores various aspects of African mysticism and dystopia. 'Mother's Love, Father's Place' and '02 Arena' are examples. It acknowledges Africa's journey from its origins to the future.
'The Deification of Igodo' and 'A Dance with the Ancestors' are stories that showcase the complexity of African mysticism. 'Land of the Awaiting Birth' explores the link between the born and the unborn. .
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The defector : a novel
by Chris Hadfield
Israel, October 1973. As the Yom Kippur War flares into life, a state-of-the-art Soviet MiG fighter plane plummets to an unexpected landing. NASA Flight Controller and former US test pilot Kaz Zemeckis watches from the ground--unaware that its arrival will pull him into a high-stakes game of spies, lies, and secrets that hold the key to Cold War air and space supremacy.
Within that plane is a Soviet pilot pleading to defect, offering a prize beyond value: the workings of the Soviets' mythical "Foxbat" MiG-25, the fastest, highest-flying fighter plane in the world. But trusting him is risky, and Kaz must tread a careful line. As Kaz accompanies the defector into the United States, to the military's most secret test site, he must hope that, with skill and cunning, the game plays out his way.
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The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport
by Samit Basu
Shantiport was supposed to be a gateway to the stars. But the city is sinking, and its colonist rulers aren't helping anyone but themselves.
Lina, a daughter of failed revolutionaries, has no desire to escape Shantiport. She loves her city and would do anything to save its people. This is, in fact, the plan for her life, made before she was even born.
Her brother, Bador, is a small monkey bot with a big attitude and bigger ambitions. He wants a chance to leave this dead-end planet and explore the universe on his own terms. But that would mean abandoning the family he loves--even if they do take him for granted.
When Shantiport's resident tech billionaire coerces Lina into retrieving a powerful artifact rumored to be able to reshape reality, forces from before their time begin coalescing around the siblings. And when you throw in a piece of sentient, off-world tech with the ability to grant three wishes into the mix... None of the city's powers will know what hit them.
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These burning stars
by Bethany Jacobs
On a dusty backwater planet, occasional thief Jun Ironway has gotten her hands on the score of a lifetime: a secret that could raze the Kindom, the ruling power of the galaxy.
A star system away, preternaturally stoic Chono and brilliant hothead Esek-- the two most brutal clerics of the Kindom--are tasked with hunting Jun down.
And tracking all three across the stars is a ghost from their shared past known only as Six. But what Six wants is anyone's guess. It's a game of manipulation and betrayal that could destroy them all. And they have no choice but to see it through.
The Kindom Trilogy #1
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Kinning
by Nisi Shawl
The Great War is over. Everfair has found peace within its borders. But our heroes' stories are far from done.
Tink and his sister Bee-Lung are traveling the world via aircanoe, spreading the spores of a mysterious empathy-generating fungus. Through these spores, they seek to build bonds between people and help spread revolutionary sentiments of socialism and equality--the very ideals that led to Everfair's founding.
Meanwhile, Everfair's Princess Mwadi and Prince Ilunga return home from a sojourn in Egypt to vie for their country's rule following the abdication of their father King Mwenda. But their mother, Queen Josina, manipulates them both from behind the scenes, while also pitting Europe's influenza-weakened political powers against one another as these countries fight to regain control of their rebellious colonies.
Will Everfair continue to serve as a symbol of hope, freedom, and equality to anticolonial movements around the world, or will it fall to forces inside and out?
Everfair #2
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The quiet room
by Terry Miles
After nearly winning the eleventh iteration of Rabbits, the mysterious alternate reality game so vast it uses the entire world as its canvas, Emily Connors suddenly finds herself trapped in a dimensional stream where the game does not exist. At all. Except . . . why do sinister figures show up to stop her every time she goes looking? Does Rabbits truly not exist, or is it being hidden? And if it's being hidden, why--and by whom?
Meanwhile, architect and theme park designer Rowan Chess is having the weirdest month of his life, full of odd coincidences and people who appear one moment and vanish the next, with no trace they ever even existed. The game that is hiding from Emily seems to have found Rowan--with a vengeance.
But only when Rowan and Emily meet do things start to get dangerous, for together they uncover a conspiracy far deeper and deadlier than either of them expected--one that could forever change the nature not only of the game, but of reality itself.
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Generation ship
by Michael Mammay
In 2108, Colony Ship Voyager departed Earth for the planet of Promissa with 18,000 of the world's best and brightest on board. 250 years and 27 light years later, an arrival is imminent.
But all is not well.
The probes that they've sent ahead to gather the data needed to establish any kind of settlement aren't responding, and the information they have received has presented more questions than answers. It's a time when the entire crew should be coming together to solve the problem, but science officer Sheila Jackson can't get people to listen.
With the finish line in sight, a group of crewmembers want an end to the draconian rules that their forebearers put in place generations before. However, security force officer Mark Rector and his department have different plans. As alliances form and fall, Governor Jared Pantel sees only one way to bring Voyager's citizens together and secure his own power: a full-scale colonization effort. Yet, he may have underestimated the passion of those working for the other side...
Meanwhile, a harsh alien planet awaits that might have its own ideas about being colonized. A battle for control brews, and victory for one group could mean death for them all.
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Defiance
by C. J. Cherryh
In the east, outright warfare has tied down the Assassins' Guild, and that region is in confusion. Ready to hand is an age-old feud in the west, where the Master of Ashidama Bay has long hated the Edi people of the north shore and equally hated the Aishidi'tat for bringing the Edi to his shores--and hatred is a resource the Shadow Guild knows how to use to its advantage.
Bren Cameron is tasked with getting Ilisidi, the aiji-dowager, back to the capital alive, on an urgent basis. But events are cascading down on the south, the Guild is stretched thin in the east, and the Shadow Guild is within striking distance of critical targets that could bring war to the entire south.
Two lives stand in the breach, two lives the aishidi'tat would not willingly risk--Ilisidi and Bren--and the Shadow Guild will spend anything and everything to take them out.
Foreigner #22
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