Book picks similar to
The Goddess Denied (The Saga of Edda-Earth Book II) by Deborah L. Davitt
fantasy
fantasy-mythological
alternate-history
science-fiction
The Philosopher's Flight
Tom Miller - 2018
Eighteen-year-old Robert Weekes is a practitioner of empirical philosophy—an arcane, female-dominated branch of science used to summon the wind, shape clouds of smoke, heal the injured, and even fly. Though he dreams of fighting in the Great War as the first male in the elite US Sigilry Corps Rescue and Evacuation Service—a team of flying medics—Robert is resigned to mixing batches of philosophical chemicals and keeping the books for the family business in rural Montana, where his mother, a former soldier and vigilante, aids the locals.When a deadly accident puts his philosophical abilities to the test, Robert rises to the occasion and wins a scholarship to study at Radcliffe College, an all-women’s school. At Radcliffe, Robert hones his skills and strives to win the respect of his classmates, a host of formidable, unruly women. Robert falls hard for Danielle Hardin, a disillusioned young war hero turned political radical. However, Danielle’s activism and Robert’s recklessness attract the attention of the same fanatical anti-philosophical group that Robert’s mother fought years before. With their lives in mounting danger, Robert and Danielle band together with a team of unlikely heroes to fight for Robert’s place among the next generation of empirical philosophers—and for philosophy’s very survival against the men who would destroy it.In the tradition of Lev Grossman and Deborah Harkness, Tom Miller writes with unrivaled imagination, ambition, and humor. The Philosopher’s Flight is both a fantastical reimagining of American history and a beautifully composed coming-of-age tale for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.
The New York Magician
Jacob Zimmerman - 2013
He knows about the magic that crackles above the rooftops and beneath the streets. He knows about the creatures and beings - considered mythical to most and gods to some - playing their long and complicated game across the city. Until recently, he's kept to the sidelines - watching their moves, keeping their secrets, trading an occasional favor. But now things have shifted and it's not clear whether he's player or pawn. If he wants to survive, he'll need to decide which is his true role.
Arcadia
Iain Pears - 2015
He finds an unlikely confidante in Rosie, an inquisitive young neighbor who, while chasing after Lytten's cat one day, stumbles through a doorway in his cellar and into a stunning and unfamiliar bucolic landscape—remarkably like the fantasy world Lytten is writing about. There she meets a young boy named Jay who is about to embark on a journey that will change both their lives. Elsewhere, in a distopian society where progress is controlled by a corrupt ruling elite, the brilliant scientist Angela Meerson has discovered the potential of a powerful new machine. When the authorities come knocking, she will make an important decision—one that will reverberate through all these different lives and worlds.
Disperse: The Cesmial Accords: A LitRPG Gamelit Adventure
Kevin Sinclair - 2021
Unhealthy for Lyewax, at least.It’s not every day that violent earthquakes cause a rare and potent energy to leak from the planet's core. One that immediately kills over half the world's population while gifting the survivors with incredible powers.That energy is Cesmial. One of the most highly sought-after resources in the universe. Its sudden appearance has attracted attention.Enter the monsters. Huge, fearsome creatures with one purpose. Remove the Earth’s current occupants, so the Cesmial can be harvested.Humanity is on the back foot. They need heroes. They need leaders. They need Lyewax Vix. But he has more problems than you can poke a stick at. Embroiled in a game of cat and mouse with an unknowable enemy. Trapped in a loop of someone else’s making. If he can survive, then perhaps humanity has a chance too.
Into a Dark Adventure
Belart Wright - 2016
Inspired by a dark masterpiece. Twenty years into the future, an independent virtual reality developer named Fulton Milner creates a VR program that is so immersive that it truly fools the mind. His program, a virtual resort, created such pleasurable immersion that he is soon recruited by a renown games studio. Here, one of Milner's projects, a virtual fantasy game, catches the eye of some investors and he is finally given the approval he needs to begin the project that would define his career. It's a dark fantasy adventure simulator known only as Project DH. Sam Nagai thought testing videogames would be a dream job until he got saddled with a ton of barely playable mobile games that used very wonky holographic gimmicks. The lack of fun in these games and small pay makes Sam typically reluctant whenever he gets a call for a new gig, but customers for his art commissions have been scarce and Sam needs all the money he can get. He finally gets a call for a new gig with potential bonus pay, but not much else is known about the game itself. From what he does know, it sounds sort of interesting. Virtual reality, dark gothic fantasy world, role playing game mechanics, and uber hard difficulty? Sam's all in for that. After all, even if he gets in over his head, the simulation isn't truly real so there's not really any danger. Join Sam in a virtual sword and sorcery role playing adventure where the main goal is survival at all costs. It's an adventure that's filled with diverse starting classes, customizable combat options, upgradeable weapons and armor, upgradeable statistics, open ended questlines, realistic NPCs with classically trained voice actors, a dark and atmospheric immersive game world, multiplayer content, eye popping creature designs, and so much more. Players say its the perfect blend of simulation and fantasy, where their imaginations can truly run wild. **Note to readers: If any of you are sensitive to swearing, then this book isn't for you. There is copious swearing from the main character, Sam, that's mainly played as a character flaw/trait for laughs and dramatic effect.
Rotherweird
Andrew Caldecott - 2017
Some say they are the golden generation; some say the devil's spawn. But everyone knows they are something to be revered - and feared.Four and a half centuries on, cast adrift from the rest of England by Elizabeth I and still bound by its ancient laws, Rotherweird's independence is subject to one disturbing condition: nobody, but nobody, studies the town or its history.Then an Outsider arrives, a man of unparallelled wealth and power, enough to buy the whole of Rotherweird - deeply buried secrets and all...
Elsewhere
Dean Koontz - 2020
It’s a quiet life, until a local eccentric known as Spooky Ed shows up on their doorstep.Ed entrusts Jeffy with hiding a strange and dangerous object—something he calls “the key to everything”—and tells Jeffy that he must never use the device. But after a visit from a group of ominous men, Jeffy and Amity find themselves accidentally activating the key and discovering an extraordinary truth. The device allows them to jump between parallel planes at once familiar and bizarre, wondrous and terrifying. And Jeffy and Amity can’t help but wonder, could Michelle be just a click away?Jeffy and Amity aren’t the only ones interested in the device. A man with a dark purpose is in pursuit, determined to use its grand potential for profound evil. Unless Amity and Jeffy can outwit him, the place they call home may never be safe again.
Forget the Alamo!
Drew McGunn - 2017
Alive is good. Except he finds himself at the Alamo in 1836 in the body of another man doomed to die. If history repeats itself, Santa Anna is coming soon and the Alamo will fall, along with himself and 189 others. In a race against time itself, Will uses his knowledge of the future to change the past. He will use every means necessary, even if it means abandoning the fort. He is determined to forget the Alamo!
How to Stop Time
Matt Haig - 2017
I had existed whole years without her, but that was all it had been. An existence. A book with no words."Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.Unfortunately for Tom, the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society's watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages--and for the ages--about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.Soon to be a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
The Forever Gate Ultimate Edition: Books 1-9 (Complete Series)
Isaac Hooke - 2019
It has been one of the highest-rated sci-fi series on Amazon over the last three years. This bundle contains books 1 through 9--the complete series--and will captivate fans of science fiction, fantasy, thrillers, and cyberpunk. In this riveting nine-volume set, Hoodwink Cooper infiltrates a tyrannical alien regime and traverses multiple realities in a daring attempt to save his daughter from certain doom... There's only one problem. He might destroy the last living remnants of humanity in the process. This ultimate edition contains THE FOREVER GATE volumes one through nine. Strap yourself in, because the mind-bending thrill ride that explores what it means to be human has only just begun.
Now, Then, and Everywhen
Rysa Walker - 2020
But which one broke the timeline?In 2136 Madison Grace uncovers a key to the origins of CHRONOS, a time-travel agency with ties to her family’s mysterious past. Just as she is starting to jump through history, she returns to her timeline to find millions of lives erased—and only the people inside her house realize anything has changed.In 2304 CHRONOS historian Tyson Reyes is assigned to observe the crucial events that played out in America’s civil rights movement. But a massive time shift occurs while he’s in 1965, and suddenly the history he sees isn’t the history he knows.As Madi’s and Tyson’s journeys collide, they must prevent the past from being erased forever. But strange forces are at work. Are Madi and Tyson in control or merely pawns in someone else’s game?
The Sun's Blood: A Progression Sci-Fi Adventure (Heirs of Sun and Storm Book 1)
Jeremy Bai - 2021
The Counter-Cultivation division investigates, the elite Black Corpses are sent in for the kill. None are spared. Mercy does not exist.But did the cultivators really bring the War of Tribulation? Are they actually responsible for the Heavenly Curse? Are they truly the bloodthirsty psychopaths the government paints them to be?Wang Fan, a homicide detective, believes that officers like himself are tasked with championing the rights of the common citizens. But when a seemingly routine case goes awry, he finds himself dragged into the darkness of the cultivation world. By the time he realizes the Black Corpses have their sniper rifles aimed at the back of his head, Wang Fan has no choice.He has to fight the system to survive.
Truth Insurrected: The Saint Mary Project
Daniel P. Douglas - 2014
His informant turns out to be a guilt-ridden ex-operative in the Saint Mary Project, an ultra-secret program engaged in alien contact. The organization is wiping out loose ends, and Echo Tango thinks Harrison is the man he needs to stop it. Thanks to a gunshot wound suffered in an attempt to thwart an armed robbery, the crime-fighting life is something of Harrison’s past. He keeps his shooting skills sharp but walks with a limp, and he is more likely to catch marital cheaters than anything else—as a private investigator. But Harrison can’t shake the feeling that this case is meant for him. He enlists the help of colleagues and starts following the clues. However, hired guns stand between them and the truth. There are also alien-human hybrids to contend with, but that’s not all. Harrison’s investigation turns up a powerful secret about him and his family—a secret that may just be what lets him end these unimaginable crimes. Will Harrison discover and reveal the truth? Find out in Daniel P. Douglas’s thrilling UFO conspiracy novel Truth Insurrected: The Saint Mary Project.
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Anthony Doerr - 2021
Restless, insatiably curious, Anna learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds a book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. This she reads to her ailing sister as the walls of the only place she has known are bombarded in the great siege of Constantinople. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, miles from home, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the invading army. His path and Anna’s will cross.Five hundred years later, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno, who learned Greek as a prisoner of war, rehearses five children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story, preserved against all odds through centuries. Tucked among the library shelves is a bomb, planted by a troubled, idealistic teenager, Seymour. This is another siege. And in a not-so-distant future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon, told to her by her father. She has never set foot on our planet.
Third Daughter
Susan Kaye Quinn - 2013
But she’s the Third Daughter of the Queen of Dharia—zero responsibilities and zero royal duties. She’s just the backup daughter, in case her older sisters’ arranged marriages—to take the crown or broker an alliance—don’t quite work out. But once Aniri reaches her 18th birthday, she’ll be truly free… and then she can marry the charming fencing instructor she meets for fevered kisses in the forest. But then the impossible happens—a marriage proposal. From a barbarian prince in the north, no less. And if Aniri refuses, the threat of their new flying weapon might bring war. So she agrees to the young prince’s proposal, but only as a subterfuge to spy on him, find the weapon, and hopefully avoid both war and an arranged marriage to a man she doesn’t love. But once she arrives in the sweeping mountains of the north, she discovers the prince has his own secrets… and saving her country may end up breaking her heart. This Bollywood-style royal romance takes you to an alternate East Indian world filled with skyships, saber duels, and lots of royal intrigue. THIRD DAUGHTER is the first book in the Royals of Dharia trilogy.