Book picks similar to
Morningstar Ascendant by Nicholas Galante
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Storm of Fire and Blood: Sword and Serpent Book III
Taylor R. Marshall - 2017
Tossed on a ship bearing him to the icy northern reaches of Britannia, Jurian dreams of a mysterious woman and a sword driven into a stone. Kneeling in the candlelight in Cyrene, Sabra hears the whisper of the dragon in the depths of the earth. Taking the mantle from her gravely ill father, Aikaterina rules her fragile city under the threat of imperial disfavor. As the fourth century dawns over Rome, Jurian seeks to regain his honor along the Empire’s brutal northern frontier. When Casca brings back word from the oracle of Apollo, the Emperor decides that the only way to save the Empire is to solve the “Christian problem” once and for all. He needs only one spark to set the world ablaze. As the storm of fire and blood sweeps across the Empire, Jurian relinquishes his sword and the honor he most desires to fulfill the prophecy along with his destiny. Saints aren’t born. They are forged.
The Call
Elí Freysson - 2013
Her dreams foretell of monsters and terrible foes, and she hones combat skills as best she can in a peaceful village in Baldur's Coast despite not understanding who these foes are or what her purpose is. After a demon straight from her nightmares descends on the village with terrible consequences, a strange woman with a young face and an ancient bearing arrives. The stranger promises both the answers and all the dangerous adventures her soul yearns for. With that Katja finally goes out into the wider world. Under the woman's tutelage she beings to hone her supernatural talents as well as her physical ones. But time is short. Old foes seek to step out of the shadows and seize power, and Katja's baptism of fire draws near . . .
Plague of Angels
John Patrick Kennedy - 2013
And when the rest of the Angels are called home, Nyx finds herself stuck on the Earth with the Son of God. To her surprise, she learns that he is no happier than she. God's son thought he was sent down to judge humanity. Instead, he becomes a sacrifice for a cause he does not believe in – their redemption. After his mortal body dies, the Son of God makes Nyx an offer: a new paradise on Earth if she will help him destroy humanity. With two of her fellow Angels by her side, Nyx launches a thousand-year campaign of violence, sex, betrayal and intrigue to bring down God's people and have them worship her instead. From the back streets of Jerusalem to the palaces of Rome, from the temples of Egypt to the Pope's bedchamber, Nyx and her companions work to destroy the worshippers of God. But not all is as it seems. And the Son of God has bigger plans than any of them imagine...
Six Crimson Cranes
Elizabeth Lim - 2021
Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted, but it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.Raikama has dark magic of her own, and she banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes, and warning Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and, on her journey, uncovers a conspiracy to overtake the throne—a conspiracy more twisted and deceitful, more cunning and complex, than even Raikama's betrayal. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she's been taught all her life to contain—no matter what it costs her.
Feathertide
Beth Cartwright - 2020
A secret.A life-changing journey. Born covered in the feathers of a bird, and kept hidden in a crumbling house full of secrets, Marea has always known she was different, but never known why. And so to find answers, she goes in search of the father she has never met.The hunt leads her to the City of Murmurs, a place of mermaids and mystery, where jars of swirling mist are carried through the streets by the broken-hearted. And Marea will never forget what she learns thereFeathertide is an enchanting, magical novel perfect for fans of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus and Katherine Arden's The Bear and the Nightingale.
Game of Shadows
Erika Lewis - 2017
Between his ethereal gift and life with a single mother hell-bent on watching his every move, he feels imprisoned. When Ethan sees a chance to escape, to leave the house by himself for the first time in his life, he seizes it, unaware that this first taste of freedom will cost him everything.Ethan is thrown into a strange and eerie world, like nothing he's ever seen. He's assaulted by dive-bombing birds and rescued by a stranger who claims to be his bodyguard. His apartment is trashed, and his mother is kidnapped to a place Ethan never knew existed—a hidden continent called Tara.Travelling to Tara in search of his mother, Ethan discovers that everything he knows about his life is a lie. His mother is royalty. His father is not dead. His destiny is likely to get him killed.Confronted by a vicious sorcerer determined to destroy the Makkai family, Ethan must garner strength from his gift and embrace his destiny if he’s going to save his mother and all the people of Tara, including the beautiful girl he’s fallen for.
Daughters of the Storm
Kim Wilkins - 2014
Brett, and Robin Hobb.FIVE ROYAL SISTERS. ONE CROWN.They are the daughters of a king. Though they share the same royal blood, they could not be more different. Bluebell is a proud warrior, stronger than any man and with an ironclad heart to match. Rose's heart is all too passionate: She is the queen of a neighboring kingdom, who is risking everything for a forbidden love. The twins: vain Ivy, who lives for admiration, and zealous Willow, who lives for the gods. And Ash, who is discovering a dangerous talent for magic that might be a gift--or a curse.But when their father is stricken by a mysterious ailment, they must come together on a desperate journey to save him and prevent their treacherous stepbrother from seizing the throne. Their mission: find the powerful witch who can cure the king. But to succeed on their quest, they must overcome their differences, and hope that the secrets they hide from one another and the world are never brought to light. Because if this royal family breaks, it could destroy the kingdom.
Living Dead Lovers
Jonathan Dunne - 2013
A twisted love-affair never meant to be. Necrophilia: that’s what the sceptical call it. Romantics call it the yin-yang love between being and human being, light and, oh, so very dark. And her guardian angel Mr. Brick Shithouse makes it even more complicated...
Family Wars Episode I: The Forced Dinner, Starring Dark Zader: Star Wars Parody, Kid's Books, Books For Kids, Children, Sci-fi, Parody Books, Teen Books, Fiction Books for Teens, Humorous Books)
Tyler Shaw - 2015
Dark Zader was one of the most powerful men in the galaxy, but when he threw his emperor down a shaft, he found himself without a job. Living with his kids and down on his luck, he finds that he only has one solution, beg for his old job back from the very emperor he thought he'd killed. Read as this family of rebel scum scrambles to prepare a dinner fit for an emperor in the most ridiculous culinary experience ever. Double the excitement. Triple the laughs. Paintbrush illustrations. This is... Family Wars Episode I: The Forced Dinner
Highland Raven
Melanie Karsak - 2014
Bound by blood to the Celtic gods. Scotland, 1026--Gruoch, descendant of the line of MacAlpin, should have been born into a life of ease. But fate is fickle. Her father's untimely death, rumored to have been plotted by King Malcolm, leaves her future uncertain and stained by the prophecy that she will avenge her family line. Escaping to one of the last strongholds of the old Celtic gods, Gruoch becomes an adept in arcane craft. Her encounters with the otherworld, however, suggest that magic runs stronger in Scotland than she ever imagined. Haunted by dreams of a raven-haired man she's never met, Gruoch soon feels her fate is not her own. She is duty-bound to wed a powerful lord, if not the Prince himself; however, she's not sure she can stop her heart when she meets Banquo, a gallant highlander and druid. Fans of Outlander and Mists of Avalon will relish this sweeping Scottish Historical Fantasy that tells the tale of Gruoch, a woman struggling to escape her fate without blood on her hands. "A great novel that captures realistically a world of witches and fairies, warrior women and barbaric men, and a woman exploring a life she had no idea existed" Author Carrie L. Wells "A rich tale of lore and legend that will trap you faster than a fairy ring" Fabulous and Fun Book Reviews
Athena's Child
Hannah M. Lynn - 2020
Sister. Priestess. Protector. Son. Brother. Demi-God. Hero. Monsters.Gifted and burdened with beauty far beyond that of mere mortals, Medusa seeks sanctuary with the Goddess Athena. But when the lustful gaze of mighty Poseidon falls upon her, even the Temple of Athena cannot protect her.Young Perseus embarks on a seemingly impossible quest. Equipped with only bravado and determination, his only chance of success lays in the hands of his immortal siblings.Medusa and Perseus soon become pawns of spiteful and selfish gods. Faced with the repercussions of Athena's wrath Medusa has no choice but to flee and hide. But can she do so without becoming the monster they say she is.History tells of conquering heroes. Tales distorted by time. Medusa’s truth has long been lost. Until now. Now it is time to hear her truth.Revel in this powerful retelling of one of mythologies greatest tales today.
The Wolf and the Woodsman
Ava Reid - 2021
The villagers blame her corrupted bloodline—her father was a Yehuli man, one of the much-loathed servants of the fanatical king. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king’s blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered.But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. Except he’s no ordinary Woodsman—he’s the disgraced prince, Gáspár Bárány, whose father needs pagan magic to consolidate his power. Gáspár fears that his cruelly zealous brother plans to seize the throne and instigate a violent reign that would damn the pagans and the Yehuli alike. As the son of a reviled foreign queen, Gáspár understands what it’s like to be an outcast, and he and Évike make a tenuous pact to stop his brother.As their mission takes them from the bitter northern tundra to the smog-choked capital, their mutual loathing slowly turns to affection, bound by a shared history of alienation and oppression. However, trust can easily turn to betrayal, and as Évike reconnects with her estranged father and discovers her own hidden magic, she and Gáspár need to decide whose side they’re on, and what they’re willing to give up for a nation that never cared for them at all.In the vein of Naomi Novik’s New York Times bestseller Spinning Silver and Katherine Arden’s national bestseller The Bear and the Nightingale, this unforgettable debut— inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish mythology—follows a young pagan woman with hidden powers and a one-eyed captain of the Woodsmen as they form an unlikely alliance to thwart a tyrant.
Between Two Fires
Christopher Buehlman - 2012
Now Christopher Buehlman invites readers into an even darker age—one of temptation and corruption, of war in heaven, and of hell on earth… And Lucifer said: “Let us rise against Him now in all our numbers, and pull the walls of heaven down…” The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm—that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict. Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission: to confront the evil that has devastated the earth, and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned. As hell unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed, Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons, saints, and the risen dead, and in the midst of a desperate struggle for nothing less than the soul of man.
Saraswati's Intelligence
Vamsee Juluri - 2017
The era of peace marked by the parama dharma, a rigorous code that forbids the spilling of blood, seems about to end. A new and deadly race of beings that destroy and devour anything that lives is gathering outside Kishkindha’s northern frontiers, and invasion is imminent. Hanuman, meanwhile, has been exiled by the intrigues of his aunt, the empress Riksharaja, in order to make way for Vali. Only his cousin Sugreeva, and wise guru Vishwamitra, can help Hanuman as his destiny takes him onward to face himself and a world no one in Kishkindha has known about until now.‘The Kishkindha Chronicles’ re-imagines the ancient prehistory of India from a startlingly new perspective that will make us rethink what it means to be human and animal. Saraswati’s Intelligence is the first book in the trilogy.
Egyptian Mythology: Classic Stories of Egyptian Myths, Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters
Scott Lewis - 2018
These timeless myths are fountains of insight and, many would argue, beacons of light that can shatter the darkness of ignorance. For those of you that are ready and willing to receive these ancient messages, your time has come. All you need to do is start reading. Then the wisdom of Thoth will begin to stir inside you.Some of the stories that you will find in this book are:
The Story of Re
The Book of Thoth
The Story of Isis and Osiris
Anubis and the Underworld
The Great Queen Hatshepsut
Horus: The Conquer of Set
The Shipwrecked Sailor
The Girl with Rose-Red Slippers
The Adventure of Sinuhe
The Taking of Joppa
The Land of the Dead
The Golden Lotus
The Seven Year Famine: Khnemu of the Nile
Bastet and the Cats
The Peasant and the Workman
Sphinx and the Prince
The Treasure Thief
And more!
Every story has been formatted to create a clear and concise retelling for all of those who are not already familiar with the lore of ancient Egyptian culture!