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Fledglings by Sherwood Smith


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Updraft


Fran Wilde - 2015
    Kirit Densira cannot wait to pass her wingtest and begin flying as a trader by her mother's side, being in service to her beloved home tower and exploring the skies beyond. When Kirit inadvertently breaks Tower Law, the city's secretive governing body, the Singers, demand that she become one of them instead. In an attempt to save her family from greater censure, Kirit must give up her dreams to throw herself into the dangerous training at the Spire, the tallest, most forbidding tower, deep at the heart of the City.As she grows in knowledge and power, she starts to uncover the depths of Spire secrets. Kirit begins to doubt her world and its unassailable Laws, setting in motion a chain of events that will lead to a haunting choice, and may well change the city forever - if it isn't destroyed outright.

The Bone Knife


Intisar Khanani - 2012
    Born with a deformed foot, she feigns indifference to the pity and insults that come her way. Wary of all things beautiful, Rae instantly distrusts their latest visitor: an appallingly attractive faerie. Further, his presence imperils the secret her sister guards. But when the local townspeople show up demanding his blood, Rae must find a way to protect both her sister’s secret and their guest. Even if that means risking herself.The Bone Knife introduces Rae, the heroine of The Theft Of Sunlight (March 2021). Look for The Bone Knife at the back of your copy of Thorn (HarperTeen/Hot Key 2020).

The Bone Queen


Alison Croggon - 2016
    Cadvan of Lirigon, one of the most powerful Bards of his time, has been exiled from the School of Lirigon for a grievous crime that unleashed the power of the Bone Queen. Isolated and guilt-ridden, he is burdened by memories of his dealings with the Dark. Meanwhile, across Edil-Amarandh, a number of disturbing events suggest that the Bone Queen may not have been successfully banished, as was previously believed. The Light is under threat, but does Cadvan have the strength to face the Bone Queen again?

The Axe and the Throne


M.D. Ireman - 2014
    His lifelong friend's eldest sons are said to have been taken by Northmen, a raiding people ill-reputed for their savagery. The boys are already dead, Tallos knows, and in that dark place of grim reasoning he wishes only to find their corpses quickly so he can fulfill his promise and return to his wife. Instead, he finds something far worse.

Legends of Dimmingwood Series: Books 4-6


C. Greenwood - 2015
    But when Ilan, Terrac, and the Fists in their command enter Skeltai territory through a magic portal, they find themselves in more danger than they bargained for. Their only hope of returning home alive may lie in sacrificing the thing Ilan values most -- her enchanted bow. * * * * *Book 5: Journey of Thieves -- Upon leaving Dimmingwood, Ilan thinks she has finally escaped the influence of her old enemy, the Praetor. But the secrets of her past catch up to her when she and her friends are trailed across the provinces by a mysterious assassin with a haunting connection to her childhood. * * * * *Book 6: Rule of Thieves -- Returning home, Ilan finds nothing is as she left it. After a year of peace, Skeltai raiders are once again threatening the province, even as the Dimmingwood thieves find themselves betrayed by the praetor. From within the castle in Selbius Ilan must guard against an unknown enemy plotting her assassination, while uncovering a mage's secret that could help her protect the province. When old friends turn against her, will a new alliance prove powerful enough to defend against the dark magic of the enemy? Or will the coming battle be Ilan's last? --- Books 1, 2, and 3 sold separately --

Forgotten Swords: The Complete Raithlindrath Series


Robert Ryan - 2015
    But trying is not succeeding - or even surviving. Lanrik is young and untested, but confident in the time-honored skills of the Raithlin scouts. He attempts to slow the horde long enough for a warning to reach his home city. But a single act of treachery, timed to devastating effect, tests him as much as the enemy.He forms a bold plan against overwhelming odds to protect all that he loves. But his choices lead him ever deeper into a life-changing struggle. Dark forces of sorcery and witchcraft are on the move. So too are the powers that contend with them. The conflict draws him into a quest for the safety of the whole land and toward a girl who comes to mean more to him than anything. He enters a world of magic: sometimes beautiful, often perilous and always unpredictable.This boxed set contains all four books of the completed Raithlindrath series. As a bonus, it includes A Spell of Swords, the prequel to the Amazon Epic Fantasy bestseller Raging Swords.

Dawn of Wonder


Jonathan Renshaw - 2015
    But for Aedan, a scruffy young adventurer with veins full of fire and a head full of ideas, this officer is not what he seems. The events that follow propel Aedan on a journey that only the foolhardy or desperate would risk, leading him to the gates of the nation’s royal academy – a whole world of secrets in itself. But this is only the beginning of his discoveries. Something is stirring in the land, something more ominous than the rising threat of hostile nations. Fearful travellers whisper of an ancient power breathing over Thirna, changing it, waking it. In the very heart of these stirrings, Aedan encounters that which defies belief, leaving him speechless with terror – and wonder.

The Silver Metal Lover


Tanith Lee - 1981
    In this unforgettably poignant novel, Lee has created a classic tale--a beautiful, tragic, erotic, and ultimately triumphant love story of the future.For sixteen-year-old Jane, life is a mystery she despairs of ever mastering. She and her friends are the idle, pampered children of the privileged class, living in luxury on an Earth remade by natural disaster. Until Jane's life is changed forever by a chance encounter with a robot minstrel with auburn hair and silver skin, whose songs ignite in her a desperate and inexplicable passion.Jane is certain that Silver is more than just a machine built to please. And she will give up everything to prove it. So she escapes into the city's violent, decaying slums to embrace a love bordering on madness. Or is it something more? Has Jane glimpsed in Silver something no one else has dared to see--not even the robot or his creators? A love so perfect it must be destroyed, for no human could ever compete?

Witch World: High Hallack Cycle: The Jargoon Pard, Zarsthor’s Bane, The Crystal Gryphon, Gryphon in Glory, and Horn Crown


Andre Norton - 2018
      On a planet in a parallel universe where magic is a reality, these five high fantasy novels of the Witch World set on the western continent of High Hallack once again illustrate why prolific author Andre Norton was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.  The Jargoon Pard: When a strange traveler gifts young heir to the throne Kethan a belt of leopard skin embossed with a stone—a jargoon—carved in the shape of a predatory snow cat, he becomes possessed with its magical powers.  Zarsthor’s Bane: A once highborn Lady and her loyal feline join forces with a demented lord and his devoted squire to find the powerful and magical Zarsthor’s Bane—an object as wreathed in mystery and ancient lore as it is cloaked in peril.  The Crystal Gryphon: Cursed to walk on hooves instead of human feet, Kerovan seeks to claim his rightful place as Lord-heir. But first he and his beautiful wife, Joisan—separated by distance but linked in spirit—must unlock the secret powers held within the mystical crystal gryphon that adorns her neck.  Gryphon in Glory: The epic saga that began in The Crystal Gryphon continues as Kerovan wanders the Waste in search of his true destiny. Guided by the powerful crystal gryphon, Joisan refuses to leave his side. For it will take both of their great wills to confront the horrors of the coming Darkness. Gryphon in Glory was nominated for the Locus Award.  Horn Crown: The fascinating origin story of how humanity first came to the Witch World through a portal from another realm, bringing the people of Hallack to colonize the abandoned lands. But although the Elder People had gone, the Old Gods still existed to confound the new mortals beneath them.

Three Parts Dead


Max Gladstone - 2012
    Without Him, the metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot.Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith.When Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s courts—and their quest for the truth endangers their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.Set in a phenomenally built world in which justice is a collective force bestowed on a few, craftsmen fly on lightning bolts, and gargoyles can rule cities, Three Parts Dead introduces readers to an ethical landscape in which the line between right and wrong blurs.

Perfect State


Brandon Sanderson - 2015
    He has defeated all foes, has united the entire world beneath his rule, and has mastered the arcane arts. He spends his time sparring with his nemesis, who keeps trying to invade Kai's world.Except for today. Today, Kai has to go on a date.Forces have conspired to require him to meet with his equal—a woman from another world who has achieved just as much as he has. What happens when the most important man in the world is forced to have dinner with the most important woman in the world?

To Keep the Oath [Darkover Series]


Marion Zimmer Bradley - 1979
    But the laws of our charter prevent me and I am bound by oath to obey those laws; laws made, not by our own Guild-mothers, but by men who fear what we might have to say to their women!

The Face in the Frost


John Bellairs - 1969
    A tall, skinny misfit of a wizard named Prospero lives in the Southern Kingdom a patchwork of feuding duchies and small manors, all loosely loyal to one figurehead king. Both he and an improbable adventurer named Roger Bacon look in mirrors to see different times and places, which greatly affects their personalities and mannerisms and leads them into a myriad of situations that are sometimes frightening and often hilarious. Hailed by critics as an extraordinary work, combining the thrills of a horror novel with the inventiveness of fantasy, The Face in the Frost is the debut novel that launched John Bellairs' reputation as one of the most individual voices in young adult fiction.

The Moons of Mirrodin


Will McDermott - 2003
    And she must tear aside the veil that hides the face of a hidden enemy whose power extends across all Mirrodin

Return to Dungeon (Kobold's Quest #1)


M.J. Kaltenbrunner - 2018
     Kek has spent his life being treated like a dog, but he's only dog-like in appearance. You see, he's a kobold who originally came from a dungeon. And he's spent most of his life enslaved to a gang of exiled mercenaries hiding out in a deadly jungle. When Kek gains the power to see the hidden mechanics of reality and learns to "game" them to expand his skills and find hidden meanings, he is soon entrusted with a noble quest. He must return to the dungeon where he came from and rescue his people from servitude to the dungeon lord! Faced with untold dangers, Kek is going to need allies—such as a sweet muck fairy with a killer streak, a deadly-beautiful siren who fights best au natural, and a sensual cat woman with lightning quick moves. They are sure going to keep this lone kobold on his toes. Throughout this quest, Kek will learn the hard way that one of the greatest opponents a hero confronts is his own self-doubt. This is a LitRPG with a twist. There is no VR. The fantasy world is real. The game mechanics are part of a unique magical power that only the lucky few obtain. If you're not into this sort of thing, maybe it's time you give it a go. There's also a fun and adventure-packed story that will keep any fantasy reader engrossed right up until the end. Book two in the series is planned for launch early 2018!