The Red Knight: (The Traitor Son Cycle Book 1)

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The Red Knight
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Published: 2013-01-22
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Miles Cameron weaves an epic tale of magic and mercenaries, war and depravity, politics and intrigue in this action-packed debut fantasy The Red Knight. Twenty eight florins a month is a huge price to pay, for a man to stand between you and the Wild. Twenty eight florins a month is nowhere near enough when a wyvern’s jaws snap shut on your helmet in the hot stink of battle, and the beast starts to rip the head from your shoulders. But if standing and fighting is hard, leading a company of men – or worse, a company of mercenaries – against the smart, deadly creatures of the Wild is even harder. It takes all the advantages of birth, training, and the luck of the devil to do it.

The Red Knight has all three, he has youth on his side, and he’s determined to turn a profit. So when he hires his company out to protect an Abbess and her nunnery, it’s just another job. The abby is rich, the nuns are pretty and the monster preying on them is nothing he can’t deal with. Only it’s not just a job. It’s going to be a war. . .

If you’re a fan of Mark Lawrence, John Gwynne, or Brian McClellan you won’t want to miss miss out on this intricate, epic debut fantasy. The Traitor Son Cycle The Red Knight The Fell Sword The Dread Wyrm The Plague of Swords The Fall of Dragons Masters & Mages Cold Iron Dark Forge Bright Steel

The Eye of the World: Book One of The Wheel of Time

The Eye of the World
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Published: 2020-08-11
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The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

When a vicious band of half-men, half beasts invade the Two Rivers seeking their master’s enemy, Moiraine persuades Rand al’Thor and his friends to leave their home and enter a larger unimaginable world filled with dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.

Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters. The last six books in series were all instant #1 New York Times bestsellers, and The Eye of the World was named one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

Foundation (Asimov)

Foundation (Asimov)
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Published: 2021-08-31
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The first novel in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THE APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme.

 

Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future—to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years.

To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire—both scientists and scholars—and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.

The Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are among the most influential in the history of science fiction, celebrated for their unique blend of breathtaking action, daring ideas, and extensive worldbuilding.

In Foundation, Asimov has written a timely and timeless novel of the best—and worst—that lies in humanity, and the power of even a few courageous souls to shine a light in a universe of darkness.

Dune

Dune
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Published: 2023-09-26
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Frank Herbert’s classic masterpiece—a triumph of the imagination and one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time.

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of Paul Atreides−who would become known as Maud’Dib—and of a great family’s ambition to bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.

Now adapted in movies

Eleventh Cycle (Mistland Book 1)

Eleventh Cycle
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Published: 2023-02
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GRIMDARK MAGAZINE: “Eleventh Cycle checks all the boxes of a grimdark masterpiece. It is a stunning achievement, establishing Kian N. Ardalan as one of the most exciting new voices in speculative fiction

It has been a thousand years since the last Seed abandoned their duty. The mists are closing in. Finally, the Morning Bell tolls. A new Seed is born, but is it too late? The rot eats away at mortals. The Witnesses pray so that they may not turn into one of the forgotten.

And the constricting mists infect the lands with fear. But there is more to this tale than just the Elders and their Seeds. Four mortals will have a part to play in Minethria’s fate. A farmer girl with only love in her eyes. A warrior born to the life of a refugee. A highborn stuck between the realm of gods and men. And a woman running into front lines and away from home.

Will the cycle finally be completed? Or will the mist swallow all? A seed is born and the evil is slain, so doth another cycle commence. Yet the last Seed born hath turned traitor, and the mists which had been pushed back, returneth.

A Pilgrimage of Swords (The Seven Swords)

A Pilgrimage of Swords
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Published: 2019-09-30
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“It is two hundred years since the deity known as the Absolved went mad and destroyed the Kingdom of Alnachim, transforming it into the Execration, a blasted wasteland filled with nameless terrors.

For decades, desperate souls have made pilgrimage to the centre of this cursed land to seek the Mad God’s favour, their fate always unknown. Now a veteran warrior known only as Pilgrim, armed with a fabled blade inhabited by the soul of a taunting demon, must join with six others to make the last journey to the heart of the Execration.

Allied with a youthful priest, a beast-charmer, a duplicitous scholar, an effete actor and two exiled lovers, Pilgrim must survive madness, malevolent spirits, unnatural monsters and the ever-present risk of treachery, all so that the Mad God might hear his prayer and, perhaps, grant redemption.

But can sins such as his ever be forgiven?”

Nine Princes in Amber: Book One (The Chronicles of Amber 1)

The Great Book of Amber
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Published: 1999-12-08
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10 short books (200 pages)

Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber have earned their place as all-time classics of imaginative literature. Now here are all ten novels, together in one magnificent omnibus volume.

Witness the titanic battle for supremacy waged on Earth, in the Courts of Chaos, and on a magical world of mystery, adventure, and romance.

The Heresy Within: First Earth Saga (The Ties That Bind, Book 1)

The Heresy Within
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Published: 2017-06-22
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As any warrior will tell you; even the best swordsman is one bad day away from a corpse. It’s a lesson Blademaster Jezzet Vel’urn isn’t keen to learn. Chased into the Wilds by a vengeful warlord, Jezzet makes it to the free city of Chade.

But instead of sanctuary all she finds is more enemies from her past. Arbiter Thanquil Darkheart is a witch hunter for the Inquisition on a holy crusade to rid the world of heresy. He’s also something else; expendable. When the God Emperor himself gives Thanquil an impossible task, he knows he has no choice but to venture deep into the Wilds to hunt down a fallen Arbiter.

The Black Thorn is a cheat, a thief, a murderer and worse. He’s best known for the killing of several Arbiters and every town in the Wilds has a WANTED poster with his name on it. Thorn knows it’s often best to lie low and let the dust settle, but some jobs pay too well to pass up. As their fates converge, Jezzet, Thanquil, and the Black Thorn will need to forge an uneasy alliance in order to face their common enemy.

A Shadow of All Night Falling: Book One of A Cruel Wind (Chronicles of the Dread Empire -Glen cook)

A Shadow of All Night Falling: Book One of A Cruel Wind (Chronicles of the Dread Empire -Glen cook)
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Published: 1979
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Before there was Black Company,

“Across the mountains called Dragon’s Teeth, beyond the chill reach of the Werewind and the fires of the world’s beginning, above the walls of the castle Fangdred, stands Windtower. From this lonely keep the Star Rider calls forth the war that even wizards dread, fought for a woman’s hundred-lifetime love. A woman called Nepanthe, princess to the Stormkings…”–Page [4] of cover.

8 short (250ish pages) books

Also collected in omnibus here :

Book one

Book two

Book three

Book four

The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher (The Witcher Saga Book 1)

The Last Wish
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Published: 2019-11-05
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Soon to be a major Netflix original series! Geralt the Witcher -- revered and hated -- holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in this collection of adventures in the NYT bestselling series that inspired the blockbuster video games. Geralt is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary killer. His sole…

I enormously enjoyed this serie years ago when i discovered it after the first game

English editions on amazon are a bit messy here the order of reading :

note : you shouldn’t skip the short collections to have a good grasp of the whole story

Sword of destiny (short stories collection)

The last wish (short stories collection)

Blood of elves (first novel of the saga)

Time of contempt

Baptism of fire

The tower of the swallow

Lady of the lac

Season of the storm (published some time after the 5 books saga of the witcher)