Book picks similar to
Ahren by Torsten Weitze


fantasy
young-adult
magic
fiction

Assassin's Apprentice


Robin Hobb - 1995
    Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

Dragon Champion


E.E. Knight - 2005
    Knight's all-ages fantasy series chronicling the adventures of a fledgling dragon, is a dramatic departure for the author of the bestselling Vampire Earth saga (Valentine's Rising, Tale of the Thunderbolt, et al.) -- an adrenaline-fueled postapocalyptic blend of military science fiction and Lovecraftian horror that chronicles the ongoing war between soul-sucking alien invaders and the last few remaining pockets of human resistance.Knight's fantasy debut concerns a rare, scaleless gray dragon named Auron. Born high in a mountain cave, he witnesses the slaughter of his parents at the hands of a band of dwarves and eventually matures into the last hope for the survival of his kind. Once above ground, Auron learns quickly just how dangerous it is to be a dragon. With dwarves, elves, and humans relentlessly hunting him, Auron finds friendship in the most unlikely of places -- but the young dragon's quest to find others of his kind may not lead him to the answers he hopes to find. The good news is that Knight has penned a highly entertaining novel with profoundly moving themes that should appeal to fantasy fans of all ages, especially those with a penchant for dragon-powered story lines a la Anne McCaffrey's Pern and Mercedes Lackey's Dragon Jousters trilogy (Joust, Alta, and Sanctuary). The bad news is that those who have already read Knight's brilliantly dark and addictive Vampire Earth novels and are expecting something similar will be sorely disappointed.

The Thief


Megan Whalen Turner - 1996
    To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king’s prison. The magus is interested only in the thief’s abilities. What Gen is interested in is anyone’s guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses.Megan Whalen Turner weaves Gen’s stories and Gen’s story together with style and verve in a novel that is filled with intrigue, adventure, and surprise.

Slathbog's Gold


M.L. Forman - 2009
    Clutter's bookshop window: "Adventurers Wanted. Apply Within." No one but fifteen-year-old Alex Taylor even seems to notice it is there. And for Alex, who has wished for a change in his life, it is an irresistible invitation.Upon entering Mr. Clutter's shop, Alex is swept away on an incredible adventure to a faraway land filled with heroic warriors, mysterious elves, and hard-working dwarves.Alex becomes the eigth man in a band of adventurers seeking the lair of Slathbog the Red - and evil dragon with a legendary treasure. Along the way, Alex and his new friends must battle dangerous trolls and bandits, face undead wraiths, and seek the wisdom of the Oracle in her White Tower.Alex's adventure takes him to distant and exotic lands where he learns about courage, integrity, honor, and, most importantly, friendship.Slathbog's Gold is the first book in an exciting new YA epic fantasy series and heralds the arrival of a major new talent in the genre.

The Red Wolf Conspiracy


Robert V.S. Redick - 2008
    And it is on its most vital mission yet: to deliver a young woman whose marriage will seal the peace between Arqual and its mortal enemy, the Mzithrin Empire. But Thasha, the young noblewoman in question, may be bringing her swords to the altar.For the ship’s true mission is not peace but war—a war that threatens to rekindle an ancient power long thought lost. As the Chathrand navigates treacherous waters, Thasha must seek unlikely allies—including a magic-cursed deckhand, a stowaway tribe of foot-high warriors, and a singularly heroic rat—and enter a treacherous web of intrigue to uncover the secret of the legendary Red Wolf.The Chathrand is the last of her kind. Now, having survived countless battles and centuries of typhoons, it has gone missing. This is her story.

Theft of Swords


Michael J. Sullivan - 2011
    What appears to be just a simple job finds them framed for the murder of the king and trapped in a conspiracy that uncovers a plot far greater than the mere overthrow of a tiny kingdom.Can a self-serving thief and an idealistic swordsman survive long enough to unravel the first part of an ancient mystery that has toppled kings and destroyed empires?And so begins the first tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.When author Michael J. Sullivan self-published the first books of his Riyria Revelations, they rapidly became ebook bestsellers. Now, Orbit is pleased to present the complete series for the first time in bookstores everywhere.

The Crimson Queen


Alec Hutson - 2016
    In the south the Star Towers fell, swallowed by the sea, while the black glaciers descended upon the northern holdfasts, entombing the cities of Min-Ceruth in ice and sorcery. Then from the ancient empire of Menekar the paladins of Ama came, putting every surviving sorcerer to the sword and cleansing their taint from the land for the radiant glory of their lord.The pulse of magic slowed, fading like the heartbeat of a dying man.But after a thousand years it has begun to quicken again.In a small fishing village a boy with strange powers comes of age...A young queen rises in the west, fanning the long-smoldering embers of magic into a blaze once more...Something of great importance is stolen - or freed - from the mysterious Empire of Swords and Flowers...And the immortals who survived the ancient cataclysms bestir themselves, casting about for why the world is suddenly changing...

Heroes of the Valley


Jonathan Stroud - 2009
    His is a peaceful society where the violence of the past has been outlawed and disputes are settled by the Council.

Blood Song


Anthony Ryan - 2011
    The Brothers of the Sixth Order are devoted to battle, and Vaelin will be trained and hardened to the austere, celibate, and dangerous life of a Warrior of the Faith. He has no family now save the Order.Vaelin’s father was Battle Lord to King Janus, ruler of the unified realm. Vaelin’s rage at being deprived of his birthright and dropped at the doorstep of the Sixth Order like a foundling knows no bounds. He cherishes the memory of his mother, and what he will come to learn of her at the Order will confound him. His father, too, has motives that Vaelin will come to understand. But one truth overpowers all the rest: Vaelin Al Sorna is destined for a future he has yet to comprehend. A future that will alter not only the realm, but the world.

The Red Sea


Edward W. Robertson - 2015
    And never returned. Since then, Dante has become a great sorcerer. A ruler. A destroyer of kings. And he's just learned that his father is living on a forbidden island at the edge of the known world. Where he's dying of a mysterious plague. In the company of his friend, the swordsman Blays, Dante travels to the island. There, his magic can do nothing for his father. As Dante and Blays quest for a cure—beset by strange beasts, angry spirits, and violent coastal raiders known as the Tauren—Dante falls sick, too. To save his father and himself, he'll have to rediscover the island's long-lost magic. But the hunt for its secrets leads Dante on a crash course with the Tauren—and island-wide civil war. And as he's away, an old threat begins to move against his homeland. Set in a USA Today-bestselling world, THE RED SEA is the first in a trilogy of warfare, sorcery, and friendship through the darkest times.

Into the Labyrinth


John Bierce - 2018
    He can barely cast any spells at all, and those he does cast tend to fail explosively. If that wasn't bad enough, he's also managed to attract the ire of the most promising student of his year- who also happens to be the nephew of a king. Hugh has no friends, no talent, and definitely doesn't expect a mage to choose him as an apprentice at all during the upcoming Choosing. When a very unusual mage does choose him as apprentice, however, his life starts to take a sharp turn for the better. Now all he has to worry about is the final test for the first years- being sent into the terrifying labyrinth below Skyhold.

Black Sun


Rebecca Roanhorse - 2020
    The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

The Shadow of What Was Lost


James Islington - 2014
    The dictatorial Augurs—once thought of almost as gods—were overthrown and wiped out during the conflict, their much-feared powers mysteriously failing them. Those who had ruled under them, men and women with a lesser ability known as the Gift, avoided the Augurs' fate only by submitting themselves to the rebellion's Four Tenets. A representation of these laws is now written into the flesh of any who use the Gift, forcing those so marked into absolute obedience.As a student of the Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war fought—and lost—before he was born. Despised by most beyond the school walls, he and those around him are all but prisoners as they attempt to learn control of the Gift. Worse, as Davian struggles with his lessons, he knows that there is further to fall if he cannot pass his final tests. But when Davian discovers he has the ability to wield the forbidden power of the Augurs, he sets into motion a chain of events that will change everything. To the north, an ancient enemy long thought defeated begins to stir. And 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…

Hope and Red


Jon Skovron - 2016
    A nameless girl is the lone survivor when her village is massacred by biomancers, mystical servants of the emperor. Named after her lost village, Bleak Hope is secretly trained by a master Vinchen warrior as an instrument of vengeance. A boy becomes an orphan on the squalid streets of New Laven and is adopted by one of the most notorious women of the criminal underworld, given the name Red, and trained as a thief and con artist. When a ganglord named Deadface Drem strikes a bargain with the biomancers to consolidate and rule all the slums of New Laven, the worlds of Hope and Red come crashing together, and their unlikely alliance takes them further than either could have dreamed possible.

Hall of Smoke


H.M. Long - 2021
    Banished for disobeying her goddess's command to murder a traveller, she prays for forgiveness alone on a mountainside.While she is gone, raiders raze her village and obliterate the Eangi priesthood. Grieving and alone, Hessa - the last Eangi - must find the traveller, atone for her weakness and secure her place with her loved ones in the High Halls. As clans from the north and legionaries from the south tear through her homeland, slaughtering everyone in their path, Hessa strives to win back her goddess' favour. Beset by zealot soldiers, deceitful gods, and newly-awakened demons at every turn, Hessa burns her path towards redemption and revenge. But her journey reveals a harrowing truth: the gods are dying and the High Halls of the afterlife are fading. Soon Hessa's trust in her goddess weakens with every unheeded prayer.Thrust into a battle between the gods of the Old World and the New, Hessa realizes there is far more on the line than securing a life beyond her own death. Bigger, older powers slumber beneath the surface of her world. And they're about to wake up.