Category: fant2010-2020

The Garden of Stones (Echoes of Empire Book 1)

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The Garden of Stones (Echoes of Empire Book 1)
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An uneasy peace has existed since the fall of the Awakened Empire centuries ago. Now the hybrid Avān share the land with the people they once conquered: the star-born humans; the spectral, undead Nomads; and what remains of the Elemental Masters.

With the Empress-in-Shadows an estranged ghost, it is the ancient dynasties of the Great Houses and the Hundred Families that rule. But now civil war threatens to draw all of Shrīan into a vicious struggle sparked by one man’s lust for power, and his drive to cheat death.

Visions have foretold that Corajidin, dying ruler of House Erebus, will not only survive, but rise to rule his people. The wily nobleman seeks to make his destiny certain—by plundering the ruins of his civilization’s past for the arcane science needed to ensure his survival, and by mercilessly eliminating his rivals. But mercenary warrior-mage Indris, scion of the rival House Näsarat, stands most powerfully in the usurper’s bloody path. For it is Indris who reluctantly accepts the task of finding a missing man, the only one able to steer the teetering nation towards peace.

Shortlisted for the Gemmell Morningstar Award – Best Debut Novel

Born of Swords

Born of Swords
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Deliverance will come…

But that is another story.

What makes a legend but the stories told about him? Interviewing Gorias La Gaul, the biggest legend of them all, is a dream come true for young scribe Jessica. Where other girls her age would swoon beneath the steely gaze of the warrior, Jessica only has eyes for his mouth, and the tales that come from it…when he takes a break from cursing or drinking.

Unfortunately for Jessica, Gorias doesn’t really have time to babysit. She’s found him in the midst of an annual pilgrimage of sorts, and though he agrees to let her come along, it’s not without a warning: You may not like what you see and hear. Just don’t come crying afterward.

Whether viewing past visions with magical gemstones or jumping into the fray alongside the barbarian, Jessica’s about to get firsthand accounts she won’t soon forget…and discover legends are far from reality, and just as far from being pretty. You wouldn’t expect a youth of love and friendship from the greatest killer to walk the Earth, would you?

These are tales of some of Gorias’ earliest days, back before he’d found his swords, to a time when a dragon needed killing. Tales back before his heart had hardened. Maybe. For most men, the future is not certain and the past is prologue. For a legend like Gorias La Gaul, even the past is up for debate. One thing is for certain about these tales. They will be bloody. Such is always the way for a man…

Born of Swords…

King of Ashes: The Firemane Saga

King of Ashes: The Firemane Saga
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The first volume in legendary master and New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist’s epic heroic fantasy series, The Firemane Saga—an electrifying tale of two young men whose choices will determine a world’s destiny.

For centuries, the five greatest kingdoms of North and South Tembria, twin continents on the world of Garn, have coexisted in peace. But the balance of power is destroyed when four of the kingdoms violate an ancient covenant and betray the fifth: Ithrace, the Kingdom of Flames, ruled by Steveren Langene, known as “the Firemane” for his brilliant red hair. As war engulfs the world, Ithrace is destroyed and the Greater Realms of Tembria are thrust into a dangerous struggle for supremacy.

As a Free Lord, Baron Daylon Dumarch owes allegiance to no king. When an abandoned infant is found hidden in Daylon’s pavilion, he realizes that the child must be the missing heir of the slain Steveren. The boy is valuable—and vulnerable. A cunning and patient man, Daylon decides to keep the baby’s existence secret, and sends him to be raised on the Island of Coaltachin, home of the so-called Kingdom of Night, where the powerful and lethal Nocusara, the “Hidden Warriors,” legendary assassins and spies, are trained.

Years later, another orphan of mysterious provenance, a young man named Declan, earns his Masters rank as a weapons smith. Blessed with intelligence and skill, he unlocks the secret to forging King’s Steel, the apex of a weapon maker’s trade known by very few. Yet this precious knowledge is also deadly, and Declan is forced to leave his home to safeguard his life. Landing in Lord Daylon’s provinces, he hopes to start anew.

Soon, the two young men—an unknowing rightful heir to a throne and a brilliantly talented young swordsmith—will discover that their fates, and that of Garn, are entwined. The legendary, long-ago War of Betrayal has never truly ended . . . and they must discover the secret of who truly threatens their world.

A Kingdom Besieged: Book One of the Chaoswar Saga

A Kingdom Besieged: Book One of the Chaoswar Saga
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Midkemia’s fifth and final Riftwar—the devastating Chaoswar—explodes in the opening volume of Raymond E. Feist’s spectacular new epic fantasy trilogy of magic, conflict, and world-shattering peril.

A Kingdom Besieged is a breathtaking adventure that brings back Pug—first introduced in Feist’s classic debut novel, Magician, and now Midkemia’s most powerful sorcerer—who faces a major magical cataclysm that forces him to question everything he’s ever held as true and dear…including the loyalty of his beloved son Magnus.

The Chaoswar promises to be the crowning achievement in the three decades-long career of a New York Times bestselling master fantasist who rules the sword and sorcery universe along with Terry Goodkind, George R. R. Martin, and Terry Brooks.

The Aeronaut’s Windlass

The Aeronaut's Windlass
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Jim Butcher, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera novels, conjures up a new series set in a fantastic world of noble families, steam-powered technology, and magic-wielding warriors…
 
Since time immemorial, the Spires have sheltered humanity. Within their halls, the ruling aristocratic houses develop scientific marvels, foster trade alliances, and maintain fleets of airships to keep the peace.

Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship Predator. Loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy’s shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels. But when the Predator is damaged in combat, Grimm joins a team of Albion agents on a vital mission in exchange for fully restoring his ship.

And as Grimm undertakes this task, he learns that the conflict between the Spires is merely a premonition of things to come. Humanity’s ancient enemy, silent for more than ten thousand years, has begun to stir once more. And death will follow in its wake…

Through Titan’s Trail: Fabled Quest Chronicles

Through Titan's Trail: Fabled Quest Chronicles
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Many die along the Trail, but to embark on such a magical adventure and behold its ultimate treasures, all shall be gladly risked!

Every three years it arrives—The Kings’ Caravan to the legendary city of Atlantea. From the far reaches of the Seven Empires of Pan-Earth, men travel from Avalonia—the sole gateway into the realm of the Magical Lands for the year-long journey along a path created by the ancient Titans themselves.

It is a journey like no other through unimaginable dangers, both mortal and magical, of men and monsters, by day and night—all to reach the limitless riches of the magic kingdom of Atlantea. Only under the protection of the Four Kings—the Kings’ Caravan—is such a journey possible. Or is it?

A new alliance forms under the stranger known as Traveler as the most fantastic and deadliest adventure of all time, this fable quest, begins!

The Legend of Paks: Earth and Shadow

The Legend of Paks: Earth and Shadow
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For the past five hundred years, the human Kingdom of Paks has been forged upon the ruins of a magical age of Magi. Bishop Kaiser is thrust onto the throne following the horrific murder of his parents. After years of its own wars, the Kingdom returns to peace, until a near fatal attack changes Bishop in a way that nobody can understand or explain.

Bishops new and aggressive persona sends the kingdom into turmoil and reignites war between the sects.
The young Prince Farren finds himself caught between the love for his brother, and war. Farren is quickly forced out of his rambunctious, adolescent ways and struggles to gain strength to save his friends.

The danger is far greater than everyone realizes, and it will take help from some very unexpected sources for Farren and Commander Coal Lucer to avert war, and worse; the coming of a new and dark age.

Just as it was beginning to be thought of as legend, magic starts to flow once again in the land of Paks.

The Shadow of What Was Lost

The Shadow of What Was Lost
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A young man with forbidden magic finds himself drawn into an ancient war against a dangerous enemy in book one of the Licanius Trilogy, the series that fans are heralding as the next Wheel of Time.

As destiny calls, a journey begins.

It has been twenty years since the godlike Augurs were overthrown and killed. Now, those who once served them — the Gifted — are spared only because they have accepted the rebellion’s Four Tenets, vastly limiting their powers.

As a Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war lost before he was even born. He and others like him are despised. But when Davian discovers he wields the forbidden power of the Augurs, he and his friends Wirr and Asha set into motion a chain of events that will change everything.

To the west, a young man whose fate is intertwined with Davian’s wakes up in the forest, covered in blood and with no memory of who he is. . .

And in the far north, an ancient enemy long thought defeated begins to stir.

The Licanius Trilogy is a series readers will have a hard time putting down — a relentless coming-of-age epic from the very first page.

“Storytelling assurance rare for a debut . . . Fans of Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson will find much to admire.””

Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues

Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues
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Rogues. Assassins. Mercenaries.

Whether by coin or by blood…you will pay.

A fantasy anthology featuring the deadly, the worldly, and the sneaky. Blackguards consists mainly of stories in established series, and the authors range from wildly successful indie authors to New York Times best sellers. If you enjoy roguish tales of scoundrels and ne’er-do-wells, this one’s for you.

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  • Foreword by Glen Cook (Black Company)
  • Richard Lee Byers, “Troll Trouble”
  • David Dalglish, “Take You Home”
  • James Enge, “Thieves at the Gate”
  • John Gwynne, “Better to Live than to Die”
  • Lian Hearn, “His Kikuta Hands”
  • Snorri Kristjansson, “A Kingdom and a Horse”
  • Joseph Lallo, “Seeking the Shadow”
  • Mark Lawrence, “The Secret”
  • Tim Marquitz, “A Taste of Agony”
  • Peter Orullian, “A Length of Cherrywood”
  • Cat Rambo, “The Subtler Art”
  • Laura Resnick, “Friendship”
  • Mark Smylie, “Manhunt”
  • Kenny Soward, “Jancy’s Justice”
  • Shawn Speakman, “The White Rose Thief”
  • Jon Sprunk, “Sun and Steel”
  • Anton Strout, “Scream”
  • Django Wexler, “The First Kill”
  • Paul S. Kemp, “A Better Man”
  • James A. Moore, “What Gods Demand”
  • Jean Rabe, “Mainon”
  • Bradley P. Beaulieu, “Irindai”
  • S. R. Cambridge, “The Magus and the Betyar”
  • Clay Sanger, “The Long Kiss”

The Waking Fire: Book One of Draconis Memoria

The Waking Fire: Book One of Draconis Memoria
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Throughout the vast lands controlled by the Ironship Trading Syndicate, nothing is more prized than the blood of drakes. Harvested from captive or hunted Reds, Greens, Blues and Blacks, it can be distilled into elixirs that bestow fearsome powers on the rare men and women known as the Blood-blessed.

But not many know the truth: that the lines of drakes are weakening. If they fail, war with the neighboring Corvantine Empire will follow swiftly. The Syndicate’s last hope resides in whispers of the existence of another breed of drake, far more powerful than the rest, and the few who have been chosen by fate to seek it.

Claydon Torcreek is a petty thief and an unregistered Blood-blessed who finds himself pressed into service by the Protectorate and sent to wild, uncharted lands in search of a creature he believes is little more than legend. Lizanne Lethridge is a formidable spy and assassin facing gravest danger on an espionage mission deep into the heart of enemy territory. And Corrick Hilemore is the second lieutenant of an Ironship cruiser whose pursuit of ruthless brigands leads him to a far greater threat at the edge of the world.

As lives and empires clash and intertwine, as the unknown and the known collide, all three must fight to turn the tide of a coming war, or drown in its wake.

“A marvelous piece of imagination with plenty of twists, a refreshingly different setting, and excellent world-building. A great read.”—Mark Lawrence, international bestselling author of The Wheel of Osheim

“The Waking Fire is part Indiana Jones, part Pirates of the Caribbean, and part Mistborn. It’s got wonderful, memorable characters and great action…I loved it.”—Django Wexler, author of The Guns of Empire