This book has a good chronic-illness rep and a well-written neurodivergent character! It’s an exciting heist/escape story that I saw advertised as being similar to another book I love (and it was!).
Aside from diverse characters and plenty of action and suspense, this book also has excellent world-building. I really want to read more about the world of Teshovar, where magic-users are hunted and their powers “silenced” by a mysterious evil ruler. There’s a nice twist at the end, too!
The Great Akithar is the most famous stage magician in a realm where real magic is outlawed. Over the past decade, Akithar and his troupe have built a reputation–and a home–in the dense coastal city of Klubridge. Every night, he thrills audiences with his controversial performances. Backstage, Akithar hides a secret more dangerous than any of his engineered illusions.
Far inland, an ancient and mysterious tyrant dispatches an elite band of mage hunters to crush magical insurrection. When their hunt brings them to Klubridge, they suspect that Akithar’s magic might be more than mere stage…
All the best books have a cat sidekick. Over and over, when people talk to me about my book, they pause in the middle of whatever they were about to say and go, “Oh my gosh, Biscuits,” and then launch into a list of things Biscuits the cat does, and how they are similar to things their cats have done, presumably up to and including throwing hands (paws?) with horrifying monsters that want to eat your heart. Biscuits is the latest in a long and proud tradition of literary feline companions, an essential element of many of my favorite and formative texts growing up.
Diana Wynne Jones understands fundamentally that cats rule and they are also little jerks. Throgmorten is a sacred cat from a temple in another world, which is a very cat lifestyle, and he spends the whole book spitting and scratching and biting people, which is the singularity of focus that I strive for in my life. Diana Wynne Jones is also not afraid to directly transcribe cat noises, by which I mean Throgmorten says “WONG” a lot, which is such an objectively weird way to describe a cat’s yowl until you actually hear a cat make that sound and realize, “Oh wow, yeah, it does sound like he’s saying ‘WONG.’” I’m not saying authors who exclusively say that cats “meow” are cowards, but. I’m not not saying that.
Glorious new rejacket of a Diana Wynne Jones favourite, exploring the childhood of Chrestmanci - now a book with extra bits!
Discovering that he has nine lives and is destined to be the next 'Chrestomanci' is not part of Christopher's plans for the future: he'd much rather play cricket and wander around his secret dream worlds. But he soon finds that destiny is difficult to avoid, and that having more than the usual number of lives is pretty inconvenient - especially when you lose them as easily as he does!
Then an evil smuggler, known only as The Wraith, threatens…
A dark enchantment blights the land in the award-winning Uprooted - a enthralling fantasy inspired by fairy tales, by Naomi Novik, author of the Temeraire series.
Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel Winner of the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel Winner of the British Fantasy Society Award for Best Novel
Agnieszka loves her village, set deep in a peaceful valley. But the nearby enchanted forest casts a shadow over her home. Many have been lost to the Wood and none return unchanged. The villagers depend on an ageless wizard, the Dragon, to protect them from the forest's…
When you grow up believing in magic, you inevitably face a moment when the world invites you to stop. Books are the reason to keep believing. Fantasy novels specifically give their readers magic to dive into and savor. What makes these fantasy novels so important to me is that they don’t just tell stories about magic, they tell their stories with such verve, such daring, such commitment to achieving the impossible, that they make magic. Reading these books, you will hold your breath, unable to believe that what feels like it’s about to happen could possibly happen when you turn the page... but don’t worry. It will.
Guy Gavriel Kay is widely known and admired for his sweeping, epic fantasy novels, all set in fantastical version of real historical countries—but before he turned to that genre, he wrote the Fionavar Trilogy.
Think Lord of the Rings with critical differences: the characters all have a wry sense of humor and an appreciation of irony and many of those characters are women, strong, intelligent, fierce, complex women. Kay also goes for broke as a storyteller here; you can almost hear him wondering, “Can I pull this off?” And he does it every single time.
The first volume in Guy Gavriel Kay's stunning fantasy masterwork, now reissued with the beautiful original cover art by Martin Springett.
Five men and women find themselves flung into the magical land of Fionavar, First of all Worlds. They have been called there by the mage Loren Silvercloak, and quickly find themselves drawn into the complex tapestry of events. For Kim, Paul, Kevin, Jennifer and Dave all have their own part to play in the coming battle against the forces of evil led by the fallen god Rakoth Maugrim and his dark hordes.
“Hope in dark places” has been the theme of my life, beginning at age 17 when my parents disowned me for my faith. I’ve walked through the “valley of the shadow of death” twice, battling cancer, and endured many other struggles, which everyone faces at some time in their lives. Reading Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey as a teen gave me the courage to face the darkness, and so the characters in the stories I write and prefer to read do likewise.
I confess, I was a bit nervous when I began this book because the main character was not very sympathetic. But Hette’s situation is so heart-wrenching (literally, because a sorcerer has stolen her heart) I kept reading to see what happened. Her journey to recover her heart is much more than a physical adventure, though I could taste the grit and mud, shivered with cold, and sweated from the unbearable heat she struggled through. It was a joy watching this young queen learn important life lessons in totally unexpected places. I felt as if I was learning and growing along with Hette, making the reading of this book a completely satisfying experience.
Come to Germania, where a clockwork heart rules and a fool advises–and a laugh can bring both to their knees.
When Princess Hette refuses a sorcerer's proposal, he retaliates by stealing her heart—literally.
Desperate to resist his influence, Hette makes herself emotionless, stifling all feelings until she can find her heart and win it back. Only Konrad, the despised Court Fool, knows where to find the sorcerer, and he has his own curse to battle.
Riddles and magic plague their path, including a memory stealing witch, an unbeatable knight, and a magic book that would as soon drown them as…
Both as a writer and reader, I adore stories of fantasy and magic. The thing is, these stories have what I call a “price of admission,” which is the time and effort it takes to learn the world of the story in order to immerse yourself in it. That's one reason I am passionate about reading series books: they welcome me back to a world I already love and understand. Speaking as a writer, multiple volumes allow me to make the world I've created richer and deeper with each new book. A new book in a beloved series feels like catching up with an old friend, whether you're reading or writing.
I love to laugh, I love fantasy, I love dragons, and this book provides hilarity and dragons in rich measure. Patricia C. Wrede has a delightful way of twisting old tropes into something fresh and new.
Even better, she is a master of creating feisty female characters...the kind that I wanted my daughter and my students to read about.
Meet Princess Cimorene-a princess who refuses to be proper. She is everything a princess is not supposed to be: headstrong, tomboyish, smart . . . and bored. So bored that she runs away to live with a dragon. And not just any dragon, but Kazul-one of the most powerful and dangerous dragons around. With a new look and new introduction from the author, this story is sure to acquire a new generation of fans. AGES: 10-13 AUTHOR: Patricia C. Wrede has written many novels, including all four books in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles as well as 'Sorcery and Cecilia', 'The…
Growing up I noticed that a lot of my friends would avoid conversations about the stock market mainly because a lack of confidence or knowledge around how it works. I also saw a visible gap in financial literacy among kids that I volunteered with. The school system is doing the best they can, but we can’t rely on them to plant every seed within our kids. With the knowledge gained from friends and countless hours of research from taking classes on the stock market, I created a book that focused on teaching kids about all things stock related but also could be used as a tool of learning for all ages.
Harmoney & the Empty Piggy Bank is a family favorite.
Harmoney’s character reminds me so much of my little girl and she adores her piggy bank and is always checking it. I love that the story is easy to follow and talks to kids about a topic that so many of them can relate to, an empty piggy bank.
Harmoney is an adventurous young girl with one wish!
She wants a bike, but her parents give her the answer she does not want to hear, "No." Her persistence forces her to create a plan on how to make her wish come true! Follow the action-packed journey of Harmoney as she sparks conversations about money management, savings, spending, investing, donating, entrepreneurship, and planning for the future. This entertaining book is sure to teach kids healthy money habits through a fun adventure!
Grab your copy as the perfect gift for any home or classroom!
Arthur C. Clarke said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable
from magic. Well, take that idea and turn it into a novel. I could not stop
reading.
The "wizard" in this low-tech world is a stranded anthropologist
from an advanced race of humans who settled on this planet thousands of years
before. When the local princess calls upon him to destroy a monster, they
build a friendship that changes them both.
I so loved this setup and the way
Tchaikovsky unfolded it. It's one of my favorite science fiction reads in a while.
In Adrian Tchaikovsky's Elder Race, a junior anthropologist on a distant planet must help the locals he has sworn to study to save a planet from an unbeatable foe.
Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.
But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she's an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as…
A lot of people feel intimidated by fantasy. Admittedly, the classics of the genre can be hard to get into, with their epic worldbuilding and thousand-page counts. But what made me fall in love with fantasy was the way it made me feel. Growing up queer, Jewish, fat, and chronically ill in the American South made it impossible for me to relate to the people around me. But fantasy, with its stories of outcasts becoming saviors, resonated with me. That’s why I started writing Queen of All when I was only twelve years old—I wanted to make people feel seen and understood. That’s what these books have done for me.
This fairytale fantasy for young readers is one of the most poignant books I have ever read, in any genre. My best friend, Emma, and I were both fans of Levine growing up. A few months ago, we realized we could both recite the epic poem that concludes this book word for word. Step follows step, hope follows courage.It’s a beautiful story of familial love, growing up and finding yourself, and grappling with the inevitability of illness and loss, all set in a delightfully adventurous fantasy world. The tone is playful and bright throughout, the message ultimately hopeful, but there’s no denying the heartbreak along the way.
Another fantasy adventure from the author of ELLA ENCHANTED. Two princesses in a kingdom of magic, evil and sorcerors. When Princess Meryl succumbs to the terrible Grey Death, can Princess Addie overcome her fears and embark on a dangerous quest to find the cure?
Princess Meryl and Princess Addie, two sisters as close as can be, are growing up in a world full of magic. When their mother dies of the terrible Grey Death, a mysterious illness for which there is no known cure, they must look after each other. Addie looks to Meryl for inspiration - her brave, lively…
I’ve been reading books about dark content since I was a teenager, and I’ve always loved the understanding and companionship it provides to people who carry around broken pieces of themselves. Over the years, this interest in hardship has become a lot more specific; I’ve discovered my own queer identity, which has cause me to seek shelter in queer fantasy. It also inevitably lead me to queer Norse mythology, whose source material is dripping with queer hints for anyone with the historical knowledge to find them. Combining all these things, I’ve gathered a large collection of stories that promise to help you lick your wounds, all while drawing you into the next chapter.
This book is just fun, but it’s also a weird kind of fun. Short and to the point, it follows two monstrous men as they wreak deadly havoc on a dark little town. It leans heavily on the media’s history of queer-coding villains in stories and allows the characters to be unapologetically evil. Readers who enjoy this book will find themselves thinking the pair are strangely cute together, all the while trying to remember that they’re very dangerous. It’s great as an audiobook and makes the perfect palate cleaners between longer books.
“A black tide of perversity, violence, and lush writing. I loved it.” —Joe Hill
A Finalist for the 2019 Shirley Jackson Award!
Debut author Jennifer Giesbrecht paints a darkly compelling fantasy of revenge in The Monster of Elendhaven, a dark fantasy about murder, a monster, and the magician who loves both.
The city of Elendhaven sulks on the edge of the ocean. Wracked by plague, abandoned by the South, stripped of industry and left to die. But not everything dies so easily. A thing without a name stalks the city, a thing shaped like a man, with a dark heart…
