Book picks similar to
Crown of the Sundered Empire by J.C. Kang


fantasy
spfbo6
female-protagonist
young-adult

Throne of the Crescent Moon


Saladin Ahmed - 2012
    In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings:Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, “the last real ghul hunter in the great city of Dhamsawaat,” just wants a quiet cup of tea. Three score and more years old, he has grown weary of hunting monsters and saving lives, and is more than ready to retire from his dangerous and demanding vocation. But when an old flame’s family is murdered, Adoulla is drawn back to the hunter’s path.Raseed bas Raseed, Adoulla’s young assistant, is a hidebound holy warrior whose prowess is matched only by his piety. But even as Raseed’s sword is tested by ghuls and manjackals, his soul is tested when he and Adoulla cross paths with the tribeswoman Zamia.Zamia Badawi, Protector of the Band, has been gifted with the near-mythical power of the lion-shape, but shunned by her people for daring to take up a man’s title. She lives only to avenge her father’s death. Until she learns that Adoulla and his allies also hunt her father’s killer. Until she meets Raseed.When they learn that the murders and the Falcon Prince’s brewing revolution are connected, the companions must race against time—and struggle against their own misgivings—to save the life of a vicious despot. In so doing they discover a plot for the Throne of the Crescent Moon that threatens to turn Dhamsawaat, and the world itself, into a blood-soaked ruin.

God King Rising


Jeffrey L. Kohanek - 2021
    Unrelenting assassins. Conspiracies abound.Two queens.One rules by fear, her citizens laboring to fund the lavish lifestyle of the wizard class. The other believes in justice and compassion, earning her the love of her subjects...and the enmity of her wizard peers.Both will die.In one wizardom, a secret rebellion brews. A hero to the people rises, fueled by a mysterious sorcerer's blood magic. But at what cost?Conspiracies and assassins lurk in every shadow, threatening the throne of another nation. The scheming wizard behind it will stop at nothing to claim the crown. Yet, even he is a pawn.What force is behind it all? What is their endgame? Read God King Rising and discover for yourself.From Jeffrey L. Kohanek, author of the bestselling Fate of Wizardoms saga comes a new series in the same world. Download God King Rising and embark on an adventure rife with intrigue, schemes, and stunning revelations.

The Young Ancients: Books I-VI


P.S. Power - 2014
     Tor Baker is a Builder. A Wizard from the Kingdom of Noram. Follow him as he rises in the world, and discovers that things aren't even close to what he thought they were. This long running epic series is a favorite of many and not to be missed.

Dragon Prince


Melanie Rawn - 1988
    First and foremost, he sought to bring permanent peace to his world of divided princedoms. And, in a land where dragon-slaying was a proof of manhood, Rohan was the sole champion of the dragons, fighting desperately to preserve the last remaining lords of the sky and with them a secret which might be the salvation of his people.... Sioned, the Sunrunner witch who was fated by Fire to be Rohan’s bride, had mastered the magic of sunlight and moonglow, catching hints of a yet to be formed pattern which could irrevocably affect the destinies of Sunrunners and ordinary mortals alike. Yet caught in the machinations of the Lady of Goddess Keep, and of Prince Rohan and his sworn enemy, the treacherously cunning High Prince, could Sioned alter this crucial pattern to protect her lord from the menace of a war that threatened to set the land ablaze?

The Antidote


Shelley Sackier - 2019
    Instead, there are herbal remedies and traditional techniques that have been painstakingly recorded in lieu of using the mystical arts. Fee knows this, so she keeps her magic a secret.Except her best friend, Xavi, is deathly ill. He’s also the crown prince. Saving him is important, not only for her, but for the entire kingdom.Fee’s desperation to save her friend means she can barely contain the magic inside her. And after the tiniest of slips, Fee is thrust into a dark and secretive world that is as alluring as it is dangerous.If she gives in, it could mean she can save Xavi. But it also means that those who wish to snuff out magic might just snuff her out in the process.

Gardens of the Moon


Steven Erikson - 1999
    Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand...Conceived and written on a panoramic scale, Gardens of the Moon is epic fantasy of the highest order--an enthralling adventure by an outstanding new voice.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Furies of Calderon


Jim Butcher - 2004
    But in the remote Calderon Valley, the boy Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. At fifteen, he has no wind fury to help him fly, no fire fury to light the lamps. Yet as the Alerans' most savage enemy - the Marat horde - returns to the Valley, Tavi's courage and resourcefulness will be a power greater than any fury, one that could turn the tides of war ...

The Ventifact Colossus


Dorian Hart - 2016
    The archmage Abernathy can no longer keep the monster at bay, and has summoned a collection of would-be heroes to help set things right.Surely he made a mistake. These can’t be the right people.Dranko is priest-turned-pickpocket, expelled from his church for his antics. Kibilhathur is a painfully shy craftsman who speaks to stones. Aravia is a wizard’s apprentice whose intellect is eclipsed only by her arrogance. Ernest is a terrified baker’s son. Morningstar is a priestess forbidden from daylight. Tor is a young nobleman with attention issues. Ysabel is an elderly farm woman. Grey Wolf is a hard-bitten mercenary. None of them are qualified to save the world, but they’ll have to do. Even Abernathy himself seems uncertain as to why he chose them.What starts with a simple scouting mission soon spirals into something more far-reaching and sinister. The heroes will contest with dream warriors, evil cultists, sentient gemstones, and a devious yet infuriatingly polite gentleman with a perfect mustache, on their way to a desperate encounter with the unstoppable: The Ventifact Colossus.

The Summer Tree


Guy Gavriel Kay - 1984
    They have been called there by the mage Loren Silvercloak, and quickly find themselves drawn into the complex tapestry of events. For Kim, Paul, Kevin, Jennifer and Dave all have their own part to play in the coming battle against the forces of evil led by the fallen god Rakoth Maugrim and his dark hordes.Guy Gavriel Kay’s classic epic fantasy plays out on a truly grand scale, and has already been delighting fans of imaginative fiction for twenty years.

Darkfall


Isobelle Carmody - 1997
    After the death of her parents and her beloved instructor, Wind, Glynn devotes herself to the care of her sick twin sister, feeling her own life to be unimportant. One night, during a midnight swim, she is swept across the Void to the troubled watery world of Keltor, through a portal created to summon the mythical Unraveller. What is the mysterious connection between Glynn's world and Keltor? And why does the man who rescued her from the waves bear an eerie resemblance to Wind? While it stands on its own as an absorbing, seductive and powerful novel, the sequels to Darkfall will be eagerly awaited.

The Last Dragonlord


Joanne Bertin - 1998
    Dragonlord Linden Rathan, last-born of a race of immortal weredragons, has spent six hundred years alone, searching for his soultwin while his fellow Dragonlords watch over humanity's Five Kingdoms.When the Queen of Cassori dies mysteriously, Linden and the other Dragonlords are called upon to prevent civil war as two human claimants vie for the regency.As the battle for Cassori rule escalates, Linden becomes the target of the Fellowship, a secret society of true-humans who could actually destroy his immortal life.Then he meets a beautiful young ship captain named Maurynna who may be the only one who can help Linden bring Cassori back from the brink of chaos.

Identity Revealed


J.M. Butler - 2020
     Cursed as a blood child and isolated as a pariah, the young princess Inale lives with one goal: to defeat Naatos, the shapeshifting warlord, in his march of terror across the thirty-six worlds. Then Naatos conquers her home of Libysha in a murderous midnight ambush before she has even learned how to throw a knife. Whisked to Earth by the mysterious Tue-Rah, an interdimensional portal, and now dubbed Amelia, she trains night and day to prove her worth and rescue her people. But when the Tue-Rah delivers Amelia home, she discovers her family captured, the royal court slaughtered, and her people imprisoned. A desperate attempt to free them only reveals more horrific truths: Amelia is a damaged psychic, the last of her kind, cursed by her birth mother, and if she kills Naatos, it will destroy her. Moreover, Naatos is her betrothed in an arranged marriage from birth and he vows to claim her by any means necessary, even as he continues to wreak savage bloodshed in his goal to bring the worlds under the control of him and his two brothers. Outmatched and outflanked, Amelia must defend her nation. But her traitorous empathic powers and connection to Naatos and his family war for her heart. Moreover, her new allies are equally manipulative. Amelia must take control of her true destiny or condemn the worlds to Naatos's rule and millions to death.

Maledicte


Lane Robins - 2007
    But now to the kingdom comes a handsome, enigmatic nobleman, Maledicte, whose perfect manners, enchanting charisma, and brilliant swordplay entice the most jaded tastes . . . and conceal a hunger beyond reckoning.For Maledicte is actually a woman named Miranda–a beautiful thief raised in the city’s vicious slums. And she will do anything–even promise her soul to Black-Winged Ani, the most merciless of Antyre’s exiled gods–to reclaim Janus, the lover whose passion still haunts her dreams. As her machinations strike at the heart of Antyre’s powerful noble houses, Miranda must battle not only her own growing bloodlust, but also her lover’s newly kindled and ruthless ambitions. As Ani’s force grows insatiable and out of control, Miranda has no choice but to wield a weapon that may set her free . . . or forever doom her and everything she holds dear.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Star of the Morning


Lynn Kurland - 2006
    Legend has it that only the two magical swords held by Neroche's king can defeat the mage. Now the fate of the Nine Kingdoms rests in the hands of a woman destined to wield one of those blades...In this land of dragons and mages, warrior maids and magical swords, nothing is as it seems. And Morgan will find that the magic in her blood brings her troubles she cannot face with a sword-and a love more powerful than she has ever imagined.

Green Rider


Kristen Britain - 1998
    But her thoughts are interrupted by the clattering of hooves as a galloping horse bursts from the woods, the rider slumped over his mount's neck, impaled by two black-shafted arrows. As the young man lies dying on the road, he tells Karigan that he is a Green Rider, one of the legendary messengers of the king, and that he bears a "life and death" message for King Zachary. He begs Karigan to carry his message, warning her not to read it, and when she reluctantly agrees, he makes her swear on his sword to complete his mission "for love of country." As he bestows upon her the golden winged-horse brooch which is the symbol of his office, he whispers on his dying breath, "Beware the shadow man..." Karigan's promise changes her life forever. Pursued by unknown assassins, following a path only her horse seems to know, and accompanied by the silent specter of the original messenger, she herself becomes a legendary Green Rider. Caught up in a world of deadly danger and complex magic, compelled by forces she cannot understand, Karigan is hounded by dark beings bent on seeing that the message, and its reluctant carrier, never reach their destination.