Publisher: Tor
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/03/2012
ISBN-13: 9780765327611
ISBN-10: 0765327619

Historical Fantasy. In 1765 Boston, Massachusetts, Ethan Kaille is both a sorcerer and a subject of the Crown, either of which could get him killed in a city that seethes with revolutionary fervor and where "witchcraft" is a hanging offense. Adding more peril to Ethan's life is his job as a "thieftaker," a bounty hunter who uses magic to recover stolen goods. When wealthy Abner Benson hires him to find a brooch taken from the body of his murdered daughter, Ethan discovers that the girl was killed by the magic of an unknown but powerful sorcerer. If you're partial to intriguing antiheroes whose crime-solving adventures take place in an authentically described Colonial American setting, you can't do better than this atmospheric, richly detailed 1st book in the Thieftaker Chronicles.

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Publisher: Doubleday
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/10/2012
ISBN-13: 9780385535786
ISBN-10: 0385535783

Contemporary Fantasy. Tara Martin was only 15 years old when she disappeared in the woods near her home in the English Midlands. Twenty years later, she's back -- and she hasn't aged a day. Even stranger is Tara's explanation for her absence, for she claims that a handsome man on a white horse came and took her away to another realm. Regardless of the truth, Tara's unexpected, inexplicable arrival causes upheaval among those closest to her, particularly her older brother Peter and her ex-boyfriend (and Peter's former best friend), Richie -- formerly the prime suspect in Tara's disappearance. For more blends of realism and fantasy that focus on abduction of young people by fairies, check out Keith Donohue's The Stolen Child or Lisa Tuttle's The Mysteries.

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Publisher: Emily Bestler Books/Atria Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/03/2012
ISBN-13: 9781451661644
ISBN-10: 1451661649

Fantasy. Gavin Stokes' parents are afraid of him. The 15-year-old boy's tendency to hear voices that others can't, combined with his terrifying visions, result in his suspension from school and his exile to Cornwall, where he must live with his Aunt Gwen, the housekeeper at the venerable estate of Pendurra. There, Gavin meets other young people who share his uncanny talents, all of whom will be called upon to prevent a great evil from destroying the world. Readers who grew up with Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising cycle or Alan Garner's Alderley books should enjoy this 1st volume of a projected trilogy, which combines a contemporary coming-of-age tale with the ancient folklore and magic of the British isles.

Publisher: Tor
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/17/2012
ISBN-13: 9780765321510
ISBN-10: 0765321513

Alternate History Fantasy. In this sequel to Bitter Seeds set in 1963, it's the height of the Cold War and the British Empire faces off against the Soviet Union, which is using incarcerated German wizard-scientists to engineer a race of magically enhanced super-beings. While England's mages combat the rising Red tide, Her Majesty's secret agents investigate traitors within their own ranks. If you like compelling, richly detailed novels that combine "the devious, character-driven spy fiction of early John le Carré and the mad science fantasy of the X-Men" (Kirkus Reviews), you'll want to check out this 2nd installment of Ian Tregillis' Milkweed Triptych.

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Publisher: Pocket Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/29/2011
ISBN-13: 9781451607789
ISBN-10: 1451607784

Urban Fantasy. For most of her 33 years on Earth, diagnosed schizophrenic Celeste Jackson has assumed she's crazy, a situation not helped by her vivid recurring nightmares, the various controlled substances she uses to keep her visions at bay, or the sudden appearance of her otherworldly protector, fallen angel Azrael. In fact, the truth is much more complicated: according to Azrael, Celeste is a "Remnant" -- a rare human-angel hybrid slated to play a pivotal role in the impending showdown between the forces of Good and Evil. Complicating Azrael's and Celeste's mission is the pair's budding mutual attraction, which jeopardizes both her existence and his chances of returning to Heaven.

Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/01/2009
ISBN-13: 9780553589320
ISBN-10: 0553589326

Dark Fantasy. In Scar Night, author and video game designer Alan Campbell introduced readers to Deepgate, an ancient city suspended by chains over a deep -- some say bottomless -- chasm. Now, in Iron Angel, many of those chains have broken, and Deepgate is perilously close to tumbling into the abyss. To make matters worse, a battle is brewing between mad King Menoa, who controls most of Hell, and the dysfunctional gods who oppose him. Caught in the crossfire are former assassin Rachel Hael and the angel Dill, who must somehow find a way to escape the city and save humankind in this 2nd book in the Deepgate Codex trilogy.

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Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/25/2006
ISBN-13: 9780345487315
ISBN-10: 0345487311

Science Fantasy. Vellum, the 1st installment of the Book of All Hours series, twists like a Möebius strip to portray an epic battle of good versus evil across parallel human- and cyber-realities. At the center of the story is the Vellum: a book that connects all worlds, enabling whoever (or whatever) controls it to make or unmake them at will. A war that begins between bio-engineered and non-enhanced humans may end as a conclave of Hindi gods in this sumptuous non-linear narrative that employs quantum mechanics as deftly as it does magic. Vellum will wow fans of erudite, genre-resistant, speculative writers such as Philip K. Dick and China Miéville.

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Publisher: Ace Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/27/2011
ISBN-13: 9780441020911
ISBN-10: 0441020917

Urban Fantasy. Toronto homicide detective Alexandra "Alex" Jarvis has an intimate knowledge of death that extends well beyond the demands of her job: when she was only nine years old, her psychotic mother murdered her father. While tracking a serial killer, Alex is paired with a new partner, Jacob Trent. Unbeknownst to Alex, Jacob is actually the angel Aramael, a hunter of fallen angels, and his real assignment is to protect Alex from a rogue angel who has escaped from limbo in order to claim Alex's soul. Don't miss this suspenseful, graphic 1st book in the Grigori Legacy series, which continues with Sins of the Son.

Publisher: ROC
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/06/2008
ISBN-13: 9780451462053
ISBN-10: 045146205X

Mystery Fantasy. After the angel Remiel renounces Heaven in favor of life on Earth, he settles in Boston, Massachusetts, and assumes a new identity: Remy Chandler, private investigator. Of course, since he's a celestial being, Remy's cases are far from ordinary. Hired by Heaven to track down the missing Angel of Death, he's also supposed to keep a lookout for a series of scrolls that, in the wrong hands, could bring about the apocalypse. Noir-tinged but infused with humor, A Kiss Before the Apocalypse is the 1st of the Remy Chandler novels. Remy's adventures continue in Dancing on the Head of a Pin.

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Publisher: Penguin Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/22/2011
ISBN-13: 9780143118466
ISBN-10: 0143118463

Dark Fantasy. Half human, half angel, the Nephilim have exerted a malign influence over humanity for centuries, opposed only by the ultra-secret Society of Angelologists. When Sister Evangeline, a 23-year-old nun from the convent of St. Rose, discovers an old letter hinting at the location of an ancient artifact, she teams up with art historian V.A. Verlaine (who's seeking the artifact on behalf of his shady employer) and sets out on a quest to find and retrieve the object before the Nephilim can. If you enjoyed the religion-based conspiracies of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code or the mix of Christianity and fantasy in Anne Rice's Angel Time, pick up Angelology.