Recent Releases in Fantasy |
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Accomplice to the villain
by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
REWARD OFFERED: Apprentice to The Villain wanted for treason (light), magical property damage (alleged), and one incident involving a weaponized scone (accurate). Frequently seen with a grumpy frog (crowned, judgmental). Answers to 'Evie' or 'Stop that.'
Evie Sage didn't mean to become the right-hand woman to the kingdom's most terrifying villain. One minute, she was applying for an entry-level position that promised ""light paperwork and occasional beheadings,"" and the next, she was knee-deep in magical mayhem, murder plots, and an entirely inappropriate crush on her brooding, sharp-jawed, walking disaster of a boss.
Now, with a magical prophecy unraveling, assassins showing up in the break room, and a suspicious amount of frogs wearing crowns, Evie has to figure out how to survive her job without setting the kingdom on fire--or her dignity, which is hanging by a very sarcastic thread.
Being evil-adjacent was never part of the five-year plan. But then again...neither was falling for The Villain."
Assistant and the Villain #3
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Alchemy and a cup of tea : a cozy fantasy brewed with magic and romance
by Rebecca Thorne
On the night of her kidnapping, all Reyna wanted was a relaxing cup of tea. She didn't expect to be dropped in a hidden prison cell, but what the hells. She's flexible.
With appropriate fanfare, Kianthe "rescues" her wife...but Reyna's actually a terrible damsel in distress. Even worse, Reyna's cell was booby trapped with a mysterious alchemy circle. What does a radical alchemist want with the Arcandor's wife? And why did they think they could get away with this?
While they investigate, another problem surfaces in their hometown. Word of New Leaf Tomes and Tea--and its celebrity owners--has finally spread. Tourists are everywhere, harassing the locals and ruining the charm of Tawney. As their friends struggle with the sudden influx, Kianthe and Reyna have to face a bigger conundrum than rogue alchemists: the fact that closing their bookshop might be the only way to save their town.
Things can't just be simple, can they?
Tomes & Tea #4
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Dawn of fate and fire
by Mariely Lares
They call her many things. Witch, Nagual Warrior, lady, Pantera. And after defeating the Obsidian Butterfly, Leonora carries a new title: Godslayer.
Peace in Mexico City is fragile. Rebellion brews in the North, and when the people's safety is at risk, Pantera must once again become the demure viceregent Leonora to stop a war before it begins. But her friends are scattered, Tezca is gone, and one wrong move could seal her fate. Caution is her ally, for the real Prince of Asturias--her former betrothed--has arrived at court, reigniting rumors that Leonora and Pantera are one.
A greater threat looms in the mountains, where a false king seeks to summon the god of night using a weapon of untold power. It's up to the Godslayer to confront this enemy. . . and the one growing within her. Only by embracing her divine origins can Leonora triumph over the forces of darkness--and maybe even spark a revolution that could change Mexico's fate forever.
But in doing so, she risks losing herself forever.
Godslayer #2
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Hemlock & silver
by T. Kingfisher
Healer Anja regularly drinks poison.
Not to die, but to save--seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on.
But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja's unorthodox methods can save her.
Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world, hidden inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick.
Or it might be the thing that kills them all.
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Her soul for a crown
by Alysha Rameera
Anula Ramanayake of Anuradhapura calculated her ascent the moment she was orphaned--when her village burned in an endless war and the gods forsook her prayers. First, she would marry the raja. Then, she would poison him and take the throne for herself and her people. But when an unexpected coup thwarts her careful plans, Anula is left with one desperate option. She offers her soul to the cursed gods she renounced in exchange for the crown.
In the Second Heavens, Reeri the Blood Yakka, the most dangerous and powerful of his clan, hears her prayer. For eons, he's waited for such a valuable offering--one that could finally give him the chance to kill his divine tormentor and return his fellow Yakkas to their former glory on earth. Reeri accepts Anula's bargain, tethering them until their goals are achieved, or until they die.
As the war presses on, Anula must move quickly or lose her chance to become the first raejina. But while she is skilled at many things, especially in stopping hearts, the closer she grows to Reeri, the more she finds her own heart at risk. And when the time comes to fight enemies both human and divine, Anuradhapura and the Heavens will never be the same.
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House of the beast : a novel
by Michelle Wong
Born out of wedlock and shunned by society, Alma found solace in solitude--so long as her mother was by her side. But when illness strikes, Alma reaches out to the father she's never known and uncovers a dark truth: she's a bastard of House Avera, one of the four noble families that serve the gods, and her father is a vessel of the Dread Beast, a harbinger of death.
To save her mother, Alma agrees to sacrifice her arm in a blood-soaked ceremony that binds her to the Beast. But the cure never comes, leaving her trapped in a hostile, gothic estate--despised by her relatives and used as a pawn in her father's schemes.
Now vengeance drives her, guided by the god who shadows her every step. He appears only to her--a beautiful, monstrous prince--whispering that she's destined to reshape the world. With his dark magic fueling her, Alma sets out to destroy the House that took everything from her. But as their bond deepens and their plans grow more perilous, she must decide if her god's honeyed words--and her forbidden feelings for him--are leading her to victory, or dragging the mortal world to ruin.
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Katabasis : a novel
by R. F. Kuang
Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality: her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world.
That is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.
Grimes is now in Hell, and she's going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams....
Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the very same conclusion.
With nothing but the tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them, enough chalk to draw the Pentagrams necessary for their spells, and the burning desire to make all the academic trauma mean anything, they set off across Hell to save a man they don't even like.
But Hell is not like the storybooks say, Magick isn't always the answer, and there's something in Alice and Peter's past that could forge them into the perfect allies...or lead to their doom.
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Lessons in magic and disaster
by Charlie Jane Anders
A young witch teaches her mother how to do magic--with very unexpected results--in this relatable, resonant novel about family, identity, and the power of love.
Jamie is the average New England academic in-training--she has a strong queer relationship, generational trauma, and an esoteric dissertation proposal. But she has one extraordinary secret: she's also a powerful witch.
Serena, Jamie's mother, has been hiding from the world in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, grieving the death of her wife and the simultaneous explosion in her professional life. All she has left are memories.
Jamie's busy digging into a three-hundred-year-old magical book, but she still finds time to teach Serena to cast spells and help her come out of her shell. But Jamie doesn't know the whole story of what happened to her mom years ago, and those secrets are leading Serena down a destructive path.
Now it's up to this grad student and literature nerd to understand the secrets behind this mysterious novel from 1749, unearth a long-buried scandal hinted therein, and learn the true nature of magic, before her mother ruins both of their lives.
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Selkie
by Nataly Gruender
Seven years ago, Quinn finally dared to transform from a seal into a human and took her first steps on land. As a selkie, she is both a daughter of land and sea. But when a human stole her pelt, he stole her freedom as well, forcing Quinn to become his wife and bear his children. As legend tells, capturing a selkie will bring you luck, and she became a coveted prize.
Constrained to a life that was no longer her own, Quinn longed for nothing more than to find her pelt and seize her freedom. Then one day, her eldest daughter hands Quinn her pelt and without a second thought, Quinn snatches it and escapes to the sea. But she's no longer used to swimming and doesn't know where her herd has gone. And after an almost disastrous encounter with her former husband, leaving her severely injured, Quinn doesn't have the strength to go searching.
Instead, she finds herself taking shelter on a nearby island with a lighthouse and three lighthouse keepers. Quinn doesn't trust humans anymore and wants to stay hidden from the keepers. But she can't survive on her own. Can she learn to trust these humans and shed her hatred of all humankind? Or will she give into her fears and accept the monstrous fate that others have bestowed upon her?
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The art of legend : a novel
by Wesley Chu
Once in a faraway kingdom there was a man prophesied to be the chosen one, who would defeat a great villain, the Eternal Khan, and save the kingdom.
But then the Eternal Khan died . . . and the prophecy was broken.
For Jian, the fated hero, this could have been a moment to succumb to despair. But instead, he chose to create his own destiny. He studied under Taishi, his curmudgeonly but beloved mentor, to become a great warrior.
With war on the horizon--and rumors of the Khan's return brewing--a band of unlikely allies are also on their own missions. There's Sali, a gruff warrior who is also forging a path different from the one her culture created for her, and Qisami, an assassin whose cold heart might actually be made of gold. And Taishi has gathered a band of other elderly grandmasters to help Jian live up to his destiny.
Because some heroes aren't simply born legends--they choose to become legendary. And great heroes do not stand alone but are stronger together.
The War Arts Saga
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The cruel dawn
by Rachel Howzell Hall
A god's wrath is unforgettable. Her love, even more dangerous.
Kaivara Megidrail was once worshipped as the Grand Defender of Vallendor--until betrayal, punishment, and exile left her Diminished. Now, the realm she abandoned teeters on the edge of collapse. Monsters roam free. Gods whisper in shadows. And one man--Jadon Wake, prince, blacksmith, liar--may be the key to her salvation...or her final ruin.
Haunted by the past, hunted by divine enemies, and armed with only fractured Memories and an unrelenting will, Kaivara must choose: reclaim her power and face the truth about Jadon, or watch Vallendor fall to a traitorous god's rising.
The realm called her a destroyer. This time, they'll learn what she was truly made for.
Vallendor #2
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The dragon wakes with thunder
by K. X. Song
The war may be over, but Hai Meilin is still paying a heavy toll. In spite of securing victory for the kingdom of Anlai, she is imprisoned upon her return. Her crime? Wielding a sword as a woman.
In the palace, Meilin is an outcast and a social pariah. But beyond the imperial walls, the legend of the woman warrior has taken on a life of its own. To the east, a new rebel leader needs Meilin to helm his people's revolution. In the south, a former enemy prince, now a prisoner of war, seeks Meilin's aid in restoring balance to the Three Kingdoms. And back home in Anlai, Liu Sky, Meilin's commander and first love, requires Meilin by his side in his bid for the throne.
Pulled in all directions by those who seek to use her for their own ends, Meilin vows that this time, she will not be so quick to trust. Yet there is one she cannot help but listen to--for he dwells within her.
Beyond any human machinations, the sea dragon Qinglong has his own plans for the spirit realm. During the last war, Meilin wielded his power to cheat death and attain victory for Anlai; now the dragon has come to collect his dues. Meilin's mother warned her long ago: The spirits demand blood. And Qinglong is ravenous.
The Dragon Spirit Duology
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The magician of Tiger Castle
by Louis Sachar
Long ago and far away (and somewhere south of France) lies the kingdom of Esquaveta. There, Princess Tullia is in nearly as much peril as her struggling kingdom. Esquaveta desperately needs to forge an alliance, and to that end, Tullia's father has arranged a marriage between her and an odious prince. However, one month before the "wedding of the century," Tullia falls in love with a lowly apprentice scribe.
The king turns to Anatole, his much-maligned magician. Seventeen years earlier, when Anatole first came to the castle, he was regarded as something of a prodigy. But after a long series of failures--the latest being an attempt to transform sand into gold--he has become the object of contempt and ridicule. The only one who still believes in him is the princess.
When the king orders Anatole to brew a potion that will ensure Tullia agrees to the wedding, Anatole is faced with an impossible choice. With one chance to save the marriage, the kingdom, and, of most importance to him, his reputation, will he betray the princess--or risk ruin?
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The society of unknowable objects : a novel
by Gareth Brown
The world of unknowable objects--magical items that most people have no idea possess powers--has been quiet for decades, but the three current members of a secret society have remained watchful, meeting every six months in the basement of a bookshop in London. They are pledged to protect their archive of magical items hidden away, safe from the outside world--and the world safe from them. But when Frank Simpson, the longest-standing member of the Society of Unknowable Objects, hears of a new artifact coming to light in Hong Kong, he sends Magda Sparks--author by day and newest member--to investigate.
Within hours of arriving in Hong Kong, Magda is facing death and danger, confronted by a professional killer who seems to know all about unknowable objects, specifically one that was stolen from him a decade before. Magda is forced to flee, using an artifact that not even the rest of the Society knows about.
Returning to London, Magda learns hers is not the only secret being kept from the other two members. And that the most pernicious secret is about the nature of the Society's mission. Her discoveries will lead her on a perilous journey, across the Atlantic to the deep south of the United States, now in pursuit of not an unknowable object, but an unknowable person: the professional killer she first faced in Hong Kong. In doing so, Magda begins to understand that there are even more in the world who are chasing these magical items, and that her own family's legacy is tied up in keeping all these secrets under wraps.
Magic has always been too powerful to reveal to the world. But Magda will learn there might be something even more powerful:
The truth.
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Recent Releases in Science Fiction
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Artificial wisdom : a novel
by Thomas R. Weaver
2050: Investigative journalist Marcus Tully is grieving his wife and unborn child, ten years after they perished in a deadly heat wave that gripped the Persian Gulf.
Now the whole planet is both burning and drowning, and the nations of the world decide to elect a global leader to steer humanity through the climate apocalypse. The final two candidates: a former U.S. president . . . and Solomon, the first artificial intellect to hold political office.
But as Election Day races closer, Solomon's creator is murdered, and it's up to Tully to find the culprit.
Soon Tully is unraveling a conspiracy that goes to the highest levels. As the investigation heats up and the planet hurtles ever closer to the brink, Tully must find the truth and convince the world to face it.
Because salvation has a price--but is humanity willing to pay it?
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Automatic noodle
by Annalee Newitz
You don't have to eat food to know the way to a city's heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know: making food--the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around--for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war.
But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis. To keep their doors open, they'll have to call on their customers, their community, and each other--and find a way to survive and thrive in a world that wasn't built for them.
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Teo's Durumi
by Elaine U. Cho
Teo Anand, former ne'er-do-well second son of the Anand Tech empire and current solar fugitive, has just crash-landed on the Moon after escaping the latest attempt on his life. But if anyone can help exonerate him, it's his best friend, bold Korean space pilot Ocean Yoon.
Falsely accused of murdering his family, Teo is running out of both time and options. But loyalties are uncertain in their group of steadfast comrades and tentative new allies, and it's difficult to know who to trust in the tangled web that awaits them in Artemis, a city on the Moon rich in Korean history and haunted by ghosts from Teo's and Ocean's pasts. Further complicating matters are Haven--the pensive medic whose beliefs challenge Ocean's--and the dashing Phoenix--a space raider who's come blazing into Teo's life in more ways than one.
All the while, Corvus, the real culprit behind the slaying of the Anands, is sowing a path of destruction that threatens to swallow the solar whole. The crew will wrestle with clashing ideals, flying bullets, and undeniable feelings as they race toward a stunning final stand.
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These memories do not belong to us : a constellation novel
by Yiming Ma
When I was a boy, my mother used to tell me stories of a world before memories could be shared between strangers...
In a far-off future ruled by the Qin Empire, every citizen is fitted with a Mindbank, an intracranial device capable of recording and transmitting memories between minds. This technology gives birth to Memory Capitalism, where anyone with means can relive the life experiences of others. It also unleashes opportunities for manipulation: memories can be edited, marketed, and even corrupted for personal gain.
After the sudden passing of his mother, an unnamed narrator inherits a collection of banned memories from her Mindbank so dangerous that even possessing them places his freedom in jeopardy. Traversing genres, empires, and millennia, they are tales of sumo wrestlers and social activists and armless swimmers and watchmakers, struggling amid the backdrop of Qin's ascent toward global dominance. Determined to release his mother's memories to the world before they are destroyed forever, the narrator will risk everything--even if the cost is his own life.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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