Book picks similar to
Fledglings by Sherwood Smith


fantasy
sherwood-smith
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Waking


Emily Thompson - 2013
    Now he's traveling on an airship--with a crew that insists they're not pirates--on his way to find the clockwork princess because he's the only one who can fix her.In true Neo-Victorian style, Clockwork Twist is set in a lush and vibrant world where things are as you might expect in 1878. That is, of course, if fantastic creatures like djinn, faeries, kitsunes and vampires were commonplace. An increasing number of people are being born with supernatural senses, called Sights. While airship tourism is sweeping the globe, air-piracy is also on the rise. Twist is among the Sighted, but his Sight is unusual. While others might be able to see and hear over great distances, find anything they can imagine anywhere in the world, or even recognize every type of flower by scent alone, Twist's Sight shows him only damage. Whenever he touches a broken clock or machine, he can instantly understand the damage and can fix it easily. If he touches a person, even for a moment, his mind fills with a terrible vision of whatever trauma or pain once broke them. Naturally, he's chosen a solitary existence and shuns all human contact. Unfortunately, thanks to his seclusion, Twist is also unfamiliar with everything beyond his own clock shop, hidden away on a quiet and ever-drizzly London street. When a treasure hunter arrives at his door with proof that they have found the fabled clockwork princess--Twist's favorite old fairy tale--it's up to Twist alone to bring her back to life. The continuing series of Clockwork Twist begins with book one: Waking. Join Twist as he embarks on his first adventure, and find out first hand if he can actually survive it.

Semiosis


Sue Burke - 2018
    The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape--trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.

The Last Whisper of the Gods


James Berardinelli - 2015
    With powers so mighty that even kings bowed to them, they existed outside the common laws of men. But a thousand years ago, the gods, angry at their creations for giving adulation and worship to wizards, withdrew magic from the world. The wonders of a lost age faded from memory with history giving birth to myths and children's stories... For one common stableboy, Sorial of Vantok, wizards are no more a real concern than the other long-gone creatures of legend: elves, wyrms, dragons, and trolls. There is only the immediacy of keeping the straw clean and the animals fed to avoid the wrath of his master, the innkeeper Warburm. But Sorial's mysterious past is about to impinge on his present. The secrets surrounding his birth are set to collide with a heretical theology decreeing that the gods are no more. With assassins lurking in the shadowy recesses of the stable, a relentless heat wave turning Winter to Summer, and a duke's daughter showing more interest in him than is proper, Sorial discovers that the "safe" world of his childhood is under assault. His destiny will not allow him to merely observe the disintegration of the social order; he must uncover his past so he can act to safeguard the future.

The Shifter


Janice Hardy - 2009
    She is also a Taker—with her touch, she can heal injuries, pulling pain from another person into her own body. But unlike her sister, Tali, and the other Takers who become Healers' League apprentices, Nya's skill is flawed: She can't push that pain into pynvium, the enchanted metal used to store it. All she can do is shift it into another person, a dangerous skill that she must keep hidden from forces occupying her city. If discovered, she'd be used as a human weapon against her own people. Rumors of another war make Nya's life harder, forcing her to take desperate risks just to find work and food. She pushes her luck too far and exposes her secret to a pain merchant eager to use her shifting ability for his own sinister purposes. At first Nya refuses, but when Tali and other League Healers mysteriously disappear, she's faced with some difficult choices. As her father used to say, principles are a bargain at any price; but how many will Nya have to sell to get Tali back alive?

The Vagrant


Peter Newman - 2015
    He has no other. Friendless and alone he walks across a desolate, war-torn landscape, carrying nothing but a kit-bag, a legendary sword and a baby. His purpose is to reach the Shining City, last bastion of the human race, and deliver the sword, the only weapon that may make a difference in the ongoing war. But the Shining City is far away and the world is a very dangerous place.

Blue Remembered Earth


Alastair Reynolds - 2012
    But Geoffrey's family, the vast Akinya business empire, has other plans. After the death of Eunice, Geoffrey's grandmother, erstwhile space explorer and entrepreneur, something awkward has come to light on the Moon, and Geoffrey is tasked - well, blackmailed, really - to go up there and make sure the family's name stays suitably unblemished. But little does Geoffrey realise - or anyone else in the family, for that matter - what he's about to unravel.Eunice's ashes have already have been scattered in sight of Kilimanjaro. But the secrets she died with are about to come back out into the open, and they could change everything.Or shatter this near-utopia into shards...

Smoke & Summons


Charlie N. Holmberg - 2019
    At the command of her master, she can be transformed against her will into his weapon—a raging monster summoned to do his bidding. Unlike other vessels, Sandis can host extremely powerful spirits, but hosting such creatures can be fatal. To stay alive, she must run. And in a city fueled by smoke and corruption, she finds a surprising ally.A cunning thief for hire, Rone owns a rare device that grants him immortality for one minute every day—a unique advantage that will come in handy in Sandis’s fight for freedom. But Sandis’s master knows how powerful she is. He’s determined to get her back, and he has the manpower to find her, wherever she runs.Now, to outwit her pursuers, Sandis must put all her trust in Rone and his immortal device. For her master has summoned more than mere men to hunt her down…

Frey


Melissa Wright - 2011
    But a tiny spark starts a fury of changes and she finds herself running from everything she's ever known. Hunted by council for practicing dark magic, she is certain she's been wrongfully accused. She flees, and is forced to rely on strangers for protection. But the farther she strays from home, the more her magic and forgotten memories return and she begins to suspect all is not as it seems.

Seven Tales in Amber: Stories from the Chronicles of Amber Saga


Roger Zelazny - 2019
    Collected here in one binding are seven tales of Amber. It was Zelazny’s intent to use these short stories to tie up unfinished threads from his amazing Chronicles of Amber. This edition is sure to be a treat for the legion of Amber fans.“A storyteller without peer. He created worlds as colorful and exotic and memorable as any our genre has ever seen.” —George R.R. Martin“. . . his performance was never anything other than dazzling.” —Robert Silverberg“Roger Zelazny’s work excited me. It was intoxicating and delightful and unique. And it was smart.” —Neil Gaiman

Highmage's Plight


D.H. Aire - 2012
    The he falls through a ripple in reality. He enters a world where: trolls think they are human; elves believe humans can’t do magic since they don’t have souls; a child of prophecy is dying of a curse; a seeress keeps too many secrets; and an ogre and a boy struggle to save each other from a terrible evil. This is a world where a starship crash landed, bringing about a war, which led to the laws of magic defeating those of science. Here a demon rages, intent on destroying all life, its minions intent on killing the human mage from another world. If that wasn’t bad enough, George’s computer is now rather sarcastic… Welcome to the first book in the Highmage’s Plight Series.

The Feed


Nick Clark Windo - 2018
    It destroys us.The Feed is everywhere. It can be accessed by anyone, at any time. Every interaction, every emotion, every image can be shared through it.Tom and Kate use The Feed, but they have resisted addiction to it. And this will serve them well when The Feed collapses.Until their six-year-old daughter, Bea, goes missing.Because how do you find someone in a world devoid of technology? And what happens when you can no longer trust that your loved ones are really who they claim to be?

The Wizard Knight


Gene Wolfe - 2005
    given a hero's adult body and named Able. Though forced to act as a man, inside he is still a boy, even as he sets off to find his destined sword and become a knight. repeatedly tries to seduce him), and serves the mercurial dragon king Arnthor in a was that could end everything.

Arcanist Fables


Shami Stovall - 2021
    New arcanists. The rise of the Second Ascension.Volke Savan has proven himself time and time again, but now the others of the Frith Guild want their opportunity. Illia wants to recover a lost runestone, Master Zelfree hopes to learn the magics of the Mother of Shapeshifters, and Adelgis surprises himself with the new depths of his dreamweaving abilities.But while the Frith Guild prepares for the coming war, the Second Ascension has grand plans for the world. When two more god-creatures are born, dastardly arcanists try their hands at braving the godly lairs. With the Dread Pirate Calisto as a ferry, men like Theasin Venrover will have to outsmart puzzles and traps that put the world serpent’s to shame.Witness stories from the viewpoints of friend and foe alike, all while the world races to find and bond with the remaining god-creatures.

The Spirit Wilds: Magic of the Green Sage


Jada Fisher - 2020
    Instead, she decided to end it all. Using long forgotten dark magic, she summons sinister forces to eliminate her rival Sages and reshape the world to her liking.Life in the Spirit Wilds is peaceful, tranquil, and safe. Tuni Teal-eye wants more. After apprenticing herself to the Green Sage, she joins the power struggle between near-immortal Sages.Dorrick Vane spent his life working to make his father proud and become a Knight of the Red Flame. When the intervention of Tuni and the Green Sage leads to a tragic first mission, he’s exiled from the knighthood by the Knight Commander himself. His father.Tuni and Dorrick will have to put the past behind them so they can fight back against the Sage ultimately responsible for upending their lives. If they fail, the entire world will pay the price.If you enjoy magical worlds and unforgettable characters, you don't want to miss this epic adventure from bestselling author Jada Fisher.

We Hunt the Flame


Hafsah Faizal - 2019
    People died because he lived.Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya--but neither wants to be.War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds--and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.