Book picks similar to
Soulbound to a Dragon by Kurtis Eckstein
fantasy
dragons
magic
abandoned
Zenith Academy 1
Cassius Lange - 2021
To everyone else, I’m JD—a struggling artist, working my fingers to the bone for my shot with one of the big comic book companies. Oh, and I work nights, managing a dive called Judson’s Bar and Grill. I know, the dream life. Things were boring, disappointing, even. Until one faithful night, when everything changed. Why? Where do I start? First: An odd woman showed up in a booth while I was trying to close for the night. Rude, but on its own, not so weird. She was dressed in a kimono and had a sword in her lap. That part? Getting a little strange. Second: It turns out she’s a mistress at a magical academy and had been looking for me. Right? Please pick up on my sarcasm. Except, she proved it, and with just a few violent swings of her very real sword, ensured I both didn’t have a job any longer, and more or less had to follow her into a scary, glowing portal. Where did it take me? A surreal place called Zenith Academy, and a life I’d only ever dreamt of. There I’ll learn how to cultivate mana and wield magic-like powers. And that is just the beginning. The tower imbues cultivators with visual prompts and game-like stats, making my new life feel like something straight out of a choose your own adventure novel. But it’s not all for nothing. Evidently, they’ve been fighting a war for thousands of years, and I’ve just been drafted. <>
Rise of Humanity: Book 1 - Arc One, The Mortal
Zai Zhu - 2018
While all his contemporaries were embracing the various resources supplied by their tribes, he had to leave at the first light of dawn each day and search for the medicinal herbs necessary to cultivate himself. That was, until one day, when the most dangerous and calamitous event the human lands could experience unfolded all around him. Stuck in the middle of a catastrophe, powerless and knowing that no help would ever come and no rescue was possible, he struggled to stay alive. It was then that he found a copper lamp, one that changed his life forever…
Tess of the Road
Rachel Hartman - 2018
Tess, stubbornly, is a troublemaker. You can’t make a scene at your sister’s wedding and break a relative’s nose with one punch (no matter how pompous he is) and not suffer the consequences. As her family plans to send her to a nunnery, Tess yanks on her boots and sets out on a journey across the Southlands, alone and pretending to be a boy.Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it’s a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl—a subspecies of dragon—who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she’s tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one.Returning to the fascinating world she created in the award-winning and New York Times bestselling Seraphina, Rachel Hartman introduces readers to a new character and a new quest, pushing the boundaries of genre once again in this wholly original fantasy.
Bronze Gods
A.A. Aguirre - 2013
The native fae who refused to treat with the invaders faded; their bodies withered and died, stranding them as hungry, angry spirits that haunt the countryside.That means there’s always trouble brewing in Dorstaad.Janus Mikani and Celeste Ritsuko work for the Criminal Investigation Department, keeping citizens safe from things that go bump in the night. He’s a hardboiled cynic with an uncanny sixth sense; she’s determined to justify her promotion as the first female detective in her division. Together, they’re trying to keep a black tide from drowning the city.But when the second body surfaces, murdered with the same type of infernal device, the entire CID must face the truth. There’s a madman on the loose, twining magic and blood… and only Mikani and Ritsuko can unravel the intricate, lethal conspiracy before the Royale killer completes his macabre plan, unleashing old, forbidden magic on an unsuspecting populace. If the maniac succeeds, it could mean the end of everything…
A Crown for Cold Silver
Alex Marshall - 2015
One legendary general. A final quest for vengeance.Twenty years ago, feared general Cobalt Zosia led her five villainous captains and mercenary army into battle, wrestling monsters and toppling an empire. When there were no more titles to win and no more worlds to conquer, she retired and gave up her legend to history.Now the peace she carved for herself has been shattered by the unprovoked slaughter of her village. Seeking bloody vengeance, Zosia heads for battle once more, but to find justice she must confront grudge-bearing enemies, once-loyal allies, and an unknown army that marches under a familiar banner.
Skin Deep
Mark Del Franco - 2009
As a spy for a fey intelligence agency, she uses her magical abilities to create disguises that are skin deep glamours that must never be compromised. But when Laura's worlds collide she'll have more to worry about than retiring an identity; she may just lose her life.
Flame of the Succubus: A cultivation dark fantasy (Succubus Trainer Book 1)
Jason Herc - 2019
Ever since he was young, a strange voice has whispered to him. A voice that grows loudest in times of rage.After an encounter with a beautiful stranger, Aidan finds himself in the Abyss, a hellish landscape filled with lost souls, demons, and nightmarish beasts. But the most powerful beings in this infernal plane are Seekers, preternatural warriors who harness their inner Flame to become gods and godslayers. Reigning above them all is the Obsidian Emperor.To survive in the Abyss, Aidan must become a Seeker. Yet his body is cursed, his channels of Flame permanently blocked by an ancient legacy. When a young succubus tries to slay him, Aidan discovers a spiritual affinity for her instead, a gift of that same heritage. By joining with her in body and spirit, Aidan creates his own path to power.But Aidan's arrival has not gone unnoticed. Those who would challenge the Obsidian Emperor believe that Aidan's ancestry is the key to victory. For the Obsidian Emperor, fearing a portent of his doom, has issued a decree that threatens the very fabric of the planes. Some will hunt him. Others will covet him. Danger will follow him, wherever he goes.Master. Savior. Ruler. The Path of the Flame leads down many roads. But first, Aidan must cultivate the inner power fueling himself and his demonic bonds before the rising threats overwhelm them. And through it all, the dark voice in Aidan's heart grows louder and louder…Flame of the Succubus marries elements of xianxia, dark fantasy, western mythology, and video games. The reader should expect explicit scenes and a heavier tone that matches the growth of a succubus harem in a hellish setting. Co-cultivation of Aidan and his succubi is also integral to the progression fantasy elements. You have been warned.
Court of Fives
Kate Elliott - 2015
But away from her family, she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for the Fives, an intricate, multilevel athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom’s best competitors.Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an improbable friendship between the two Fives competitors—one of mixed race and the other a Patron boy—causes heads to turn. When Kal’s powerful, scheming uncle tears Jes’s family apart, she’ll have to test her new friend’s loyalty and risk the vengeance of a royal clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott’s first young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.
Blythewood
Carol Goodman - 2013
Now she’s on her way to Blythewood Academy, the elite boarding school in New York’s mist-shrouded Hudson Valley that her mother attended—and was expelled from. Though she’s afraid her high society classmates won’t accept a factory girl in their midst, Ava is desperate to unravel her family’s murky past, discover the identity of the father she’s never known, and perhaps finally understand her mother’s abrupt suicide. She’s also on the hunt for the identity of the mysterious boy who rescued her from the fire. And she suspects the answers she seeks lie at Blythewood.But nothing could have prepared her for the dark secret of what Blythewood is, and what its students are being trained to do. Haunted by dreams of a winged boy and pursued by visions of a sinister man who breathes smoke, Ava isn’t sure if she’s losing her mind or getting closer to the truth. And the more rigorously Ava digs into the past, the more dangerous her present becomes. . . .Vivid and atmospheric, full of mystery and magic, this romantic page-turner by bestselling author Carol Goodman tells the story of a world on the brink of change and the girl who is the catalyst for it all.
Breaking Ground
Stone Thomas - 2017
And by yard, I mean, the temple of a young goddess who's using me to build a fortified city around herself before the god of war can finish slaying every deity in the heavens. He'd better not find us before we're ready. Spoiler: We're far from ready. But hey, I get a cool skill out of it. The goddess allows me to view anyone's strength, vivacity, and other attributes as though they were numbers on a menu, and then use their life experiences to make them stronger. I can unlock their special skills too, and it's all stuff no one else can see. Hence the girls: A beastkin builder, a negotiatrix made of slime, a half-elf gypsy that charms snakes — and more — seeking safe refuge and a place to belong. Think our ragtag group can survive a divine onslaught of apocalyptic proportions? I know what I think. Come on in and find out.
Promise of Shadows
Justina Ireland - 2014
She’d rather watch reality TV than learn forty-seven ways to kill a man, and she pretty much sucks at wielding magic. Zephyr was ready for a future pretending to be a normal human instead of a half-god assassin. But all that changes when her sister is murdered—and she uses a forbidden dark power to save herself from the same fate.Zephyr is on the run from a punishment worse than death when an unexpected reunion with a childhood friend (a surprisingly HOT friend) changes everything. Because it seems like Zephyr might just be the Nyx, a dark goddess made flesh that is prophesied to change the power balance. For hundreds of years the half-gods have lived in fear, and Zephyr is supposed to change that.But how is she supposed to save everyone when she can’t even save herself?
First Truth
Dawn Cook - 2002
Her father's stories about the Hold, a legendary fortress where human Keepers learn magic from the enigmatic Maters, are just that―stories. But her mother insists that Alissa has inherited her father's magical ability, and so she must go to the Hold―the only place her talents can be trained. On her way, she crosses paths with Strell, a wandering musician from the plains. And though Alissa is not sure she can trust a plainsman, Strell has something she needs―one of her father's old maps. Travelling together, they can reach the Hold before the snow sets in. But they don't know that the Hold is nearly empty. Something is very wrong and someone believes that Alissa and Strell knows about a book called First Truth.
Battle Mage
Peter A. Flannery - 2017
But the ancient bond with dragonkind is failing. Of those that answer a summoning too many are black. Black dragons are the enemy of humankind. Black dragons are mad.Falco Dante is a weakling in a world of warriors, but worse than this, he is the son of a madman. Driven by grief, Falco makes a decision that will drive him to the brink of despair. As he tries to come to terms with his actions Falco follows his friends to the Academy of War, an elite training school dedicated to martial excellence. But while his friends make progress he struggles to overcome his doubts and insecurity. Even Queen Catherine of Wrath has her doubts about Falco’s training.While the Queen tries to unite the Kingdoms against the Possessed, Falco struggles to overcome his fears. Will he unlock the power trapped inside him or will he succumb to madness and murder like his father?
Dragon Bones
Jasmine Walt - 2017
Her motto: the ugliest stories are the ones that deserve to be told the most.But when a mysterious woman comes forth with a two-thousand year old relic from Nia's past, Nia isn't sure if the story connected to it is one she wants told to the world. Unfortunately, Nia has no choice but to uncover the truth — fast — before a greedy land developer buries the site forever. The fact that he's also an immortal, with a millennia-old grudge against her, doesn't help. Neither do the dark assassins who have been stalking her for centuries, and who've suddenly decided to up their game to end her life.Letting her enemies have their way might be best for Nia, especially when the truth might expose a horrific crime from Nia's past. But all stories deserve to be told.Even the ugliest ones.Even if they say you might be a mass murderer.
Brotherhood of Dragons
Sarah J. Stone - 2019
And he’s the only one who can save me. Jason Crane. A high-profile bodyguard. Strong, mesmerizing, and hard as steel. I want to run my fingers all over his chiseled chest. On paper, he’s perfect. Normal. But he has a secret. He’s been alive for over four centuries. A dragon shifter. And I’ve been thrown into a safe house with him. Away from the serial killer who’s stalking me. He’ll stop at nothing until he finds me. My only hope? Jason’s protection. Will he be able to snatch me from the jaws of death? Book One: Jason Book Two: Drake Book Three: Chase Book Four: Miles Book Five: Kris Book Six: Jonathan Book Seven: Luke Book Eight: Leo Book Nine: Ben Book Ten: Liam