Their society has been built around war and only war. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine.Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He's going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn't get the chance. Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He'll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.

    Follow Azerick through a page-turning adventure that pits him against thieves, thugs, murderers, and men of power that will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Azerick must fight just to survive, but for him survival is not enough. A hunger to avenge the wrongs committed against him burns deep within. But that is not all that lies within the young man. Their is a power waiting to be unleashed that may be the key to achieving the justice and security he seeks--if it does not destroy him first.

    Terrifying creatures from dark and dangerous Incendin... And long-forgotten elementals again unleashed on the world. As an earth senser, Tan is tasked with helping guide the king's servant through the dangerous mountain passes in search for the artifact before Incendin can reach it first. But after losing his father to the war, Tan wants nothing to do with the king's demands. When everything he knows is lost, he is forced to risk himself to save the one person who can find the artifact, a beautiful girl who has lost as much as Tan. In doing so, power the world hasn't seen in nearly a thousand years is awoken, and a warrior long thought dead returns to claim the artifact for himself.

    Demand for the coveted stone escalates fast; when people begin dying for it, Llandry finds that she herself has become a target. Lady Evastany Glostrum has her life in pristine order. Prestigious, powerful and wealthy, she is on the verge of crowning her successes with the perfect marriage. But when her closest friend is murdered for the jewellery she wears, Eva is drawn into the mystery surrounding the curious gem. The emergence of the stone is causing chaos across the Seven. Gates between the worlds are opening at will, pulling hordes of creatures through from the shadowy Lower Realm and the glittering Uppers. As Eva works to discover the culprit behind the spreading disorder, Llandry must learn the truth about her precious istore stone - before she herself becomes a victim.

    A widower of high intelligence, he presides over an empire called Acacia, after the idyllic island from which he rules. He dotes on his four children and hides from them the dark realities of traffic in drugs and human lives on which their prosperity depends. He hopes that he might change this, but powerful forces stand in his way. And then a deadly assassin sent from a race called the Mein, exiled long ago to an ice-locked stronghold in the frozen north, strikes at Leodan in the heart of Acacia while they unleash surprise attacks across the empire. On his deathbed, Leodan puts into play a plan to allow his children to escape, each to their separate destiny. And so his children begin a quest to avenge their father's death and restore the Acacian empire — this time on the basis of universal freedom.

    But the Gbaba can detect the emissions of an industrial civilization, so the human rulers of Safehold have taken extraordinary measures: with mind control and hidden high technology, they've built a religion in which every Safeholdian believes, a religion designed to keep Safehold society medieval forever.800 years pass. In a hidden chamber on Safehold, an android from the far human past awakens. This "rebirth" was set in motion centuries before, by a faction that opposed shackling humanity with a concocted religion. Via automated recordings, "Nimue" - or, rather, the android with the memories of Lieutenant Commander Nimue Alban - is told her fate: she will emerge into Safeholdian society, suitably disguised, and begin the process of provoking the technological progress which the Church of God Awaiting has worked for centuries to prevent.Nothing about this will be easy. To better deal with a medieval society, "Nimue" takes a new gender and a new name, "Merlin." His formidable powers and access to caches of hidden high technology will need to be carefully concealed. And he'll need to find a base of operations, a Safeholdian country that's just a little more freewheeling, a little less orthodox, a little more open to the new.And thus Merlin comes to Charis, a mid-sized kingdom with a talent for naval warfare. He plans to make the acquaintance of King Haarahld and Crown Prince Cayleb, and maybe, just maybe, kick off a new era of invention. Which is bound to draw the attention of the Church...and, inevitably, lead to war.

    What I am capable of, what I will change, what I will become. But there is one thing I will never know...The veil I've worn from birth carries with it a terrible loneliness; a suppression I cannot imagine being free of.Some things never change...My mother will always hate me. Her court will always shun me....Until they do.When the peace delegation arrives from the savage world of Glacium, my life is shoved wildly out of control by the handsome Prince Kedrick who, for unfathomable reasons, shows me kindness.And the harshest lessons are learned.Sometimes it takes the world bringing you to your knees to find that spark you thought forever lost.Sometimes it takes death to show you how to live.(Warning: Cliff-hanger ending. Suitable for mature young adult readers due to swearing.)

    Then the giant, forbidding Allanon revealed that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destroy the world. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness was the Sword of Shannara, which could only be used by a true heir of Shannara--Shea being the last of the bloodline, upon whom all hope rested. Soon a Skull Bearer, dread minion of Evil, flew into the Vale, seeking to destroy Shea. To save the Vale, Shea fled, drawing the Skull Bearer after him....

    Settlements abound, both large and small, each with a life of their own and hidden secrets.Except Rottwealth. A backwater village, surrounded by mountains and ignored by most, nothing of merit ever leaves the valley. Aside, of course, from the mystical plant which shares its name. A plant that can heal even the most dire wounds in a matter of moments, and flourishes within the swamp that takes up part of the valley.Ean Sangrave, a disgruntled Healer’s apprentice barely in his twenties, wants to escape and start a new life outside of the village that hates him. If the village ever discovered Ean's ability to summon creatures from the Abyss - like his closest friend, Zin the imp - judgment would be swift and punishment final.When an unconquerable monster takes residence in the new mine, the mayor’s oldest son, Bran Erikson, is given the task of traveling to the capital city Lurthalan to seek help. To the surprise of the entire village, he chooses Ean to accompany him. But with a connection to a taboo god and a power he barely understands, can Ean fit into the world outside of his secluded village, or will the stigma that has been placed on him since birth follow him the rest of his life.

    After being sold into slavery by her father and accused of a murder she didn't commit, she finds herself facing the executioner. The only thing standing between her neck and the sharp edge of the axe is the village Constable.After thirty years of loyal service to the Imperium, Royce has retired to King's Reach as the village's Constable. He thought that the frontier town would be the perfect place to rest, relax, and die in peace. He was wrong. With a crooked Magistrate on one hand and a conniving slaver on the other, things are anything but peaceful. To complicate his life even further, the slave with her neck on the block seems to possess the same magic Royce has hidden all his life.Paying off Tiadaria's bond, Royce takes possession of a slave in a land where slavery is verboten. Now he must teach her to trust him, teach her to fight, and teach her about her unique abilities before they both run out of time. An ancient menace is coming. The Xarundi have returned. They are the most dangerous enemy humanity has ever faced, and they have a thousand years of bloodthirsty vengeance to exact.

    Found by a wandering warrior, he learns he may have more strength than he ever imagined possible. A quiet child, Moriko is forced into a monastic system she despises. Torn from her family and the forest she grew up in, she must fight to learn the skills she’ll need to survive her tutelage under the realm’s most dangerous assassin. Young, beautiful, and broke, Takako is sold to pay for her father’s debts. Thrust into a world she doesn’t understand and battles she didn’t ask for, she must decide where her loyalties lie. When their lives crash together in a Kingdom on the brink of war, the decisions they make will change both their lives and their Kingdom forever. If they can stay alive.

    Frankly, I think they have a point. Right now I may have to join the army and fight in a war I am frankly too corpulent to cope with.Still, it looks like being a small, short war. So that's got to be as bad as things get. Am I right?Trained in his youth for war and politics, Sumto is interested in neither. As the son of a Patron, he should gather clients, acquire wealth, learn magic, husband a political power base and take his place amongst the Assembly of Patrons, the rulers of the city. Sumto would rather gather friends, acquire books, learn history, husband a hangover and take his place at the gambling tables. That is not going to be an option for much longer.Unknown to Sumto, everything is about to change. There is a war in the north and Sumto is about to become a very unwilling participant.The first of four novels that follow the development of Sumto, a man unknowingly manipulated by someone determined to shape him for his own ends:Book One: The Last King's AmuletBook Two: The Key To The GraveBook Three: The Invisible HandBook Four: All The King's BastardsThe four novels may be considered as one long novel.

    Towering tall even amongst the atherian, he is the only of his kind to live free in the "civilized" confines of mankind's varied cultures. He has no need of loyalties, his sole affections pledged to the gold crowns that buy his time and skills. Wed to his blades, Raz's only friends are the Moon and Her Stars and the shadows they bring with the night. But Raz was not born to the mercenary's way, to the butchery and battle of day-by-day survival. Raz, like a sword, was hammered from steel and fire and ashy smoke, forged on the ruins of an old life. And Raz knows who he owes this new path to, this carved way of blood and iron. The Monster of Karth, after all, would never forget who gave him that name. And some debts can't be paid in gold...

    With nothing to his name but a pair of mysterious heirlooms and a handful of coins, he must prove his talent to earn an apprenticeship with a guild of sorcerers.But he soon learns the world outside the monastery is a darker place than he ever imagined, and his treasured sorcery has disturbing depths.As a shadowed evil manipulates the unwary and forbidden powers are unleashed, Caldan is plunged into an age-old conflict that brings the world to the edge of destruction…

    She yearns for freedom, but he won’t let her go—not when her Cat’s Eye necklace is the only thing that can save his life.But the necklace itself presents a problem. It is an ancient device from the long forgotten War of the Races, and its magic has the ability to steal souls. Can Sora learn to wield its power—or will the power wield her? (Winner of the SKOW 2006 Best Fantasy Award)