Dark Ages Fiction

Kieran's love life didn't get off to a good start. He threw up after his first kiss; he was beaten up by the first girl to have a crush on him; and after a mix-up with his first love letter, he could only sit back and watch as the entire school mistook him for a brutal murderer. By the time the hormones kicked in, Kieran had all but given up on love, but the worst was yet to come.

Faye Bright always felt a little bit different. And today she’s found out why. She’s just stumbled across her late mother’s diary which includes not only a spiffing recipe for jam roly-poly, but spells, incantations, runes and recitations...a witch's notebook. And Faye has inherited her mother’s abilities. Just in time, too. The Crow Folk are coming. Led by the charismatic Pumpkinhead, their strange magic threatens Faye and the villagers.

Natalia Mazzone has grown up knowing she is promised to a made man. As the only daughter of one of New York’s most powerful mafia dons, she knows she can’t refuse. It’s her duty, and she would never dishonor her beloved father. But the man she’s promised to is a monster. And there is nothing but torture, pain, and heartache lying in wait. So, she grabs happiness when she finds it - in the somewhat reluctant arms of Leonardo Messina. Leo is her brother’s best friend. A soldato for the Mazzone famiglia.

For Thelana Evenfall, Lumineth loreseeker and tutor at the Lyceum Fundamental in the city of Settler's Gain, the weapon is a footnote—the shadow of a rumour buried under mountains of long-forgotten lore. But when whispers of its whereabouts resurface, the vying factions within Hysh emerge to claim its power. From trusted allies to insidious cults, Thelana must navigate a treacherous landscape of clashing armies, political machinations and betrayals within betrayals, all in a desperate effort to defend the powerless from the all-powerful and to ask the unanswerable question:

I'm done playing by my father's rules. Lex Edwards may rule the business world, but he no longer controls me. We did, however, come to one agreement—I'm allowed to take a gap year before college to travel through Europe. But, one year to the day, I must return home. On my travels, I met April. She's like me—escaping life back home until we're both forced to go back. April offers me a place to stay, and since I'm broke and in dire need of a job, I'll take anything over going back to my controlling father. That's when I'm offered an opportunity I can't possibly refuse.

I was meant for more than teaching psychology at Blackmore University. I am the second son of the family's consigliere. They married me to a widow who quickly passed. My inheritance—her daughter. I admit that I have looked favorably upon her over the years. I admit that intentions have been less than noble. Now, she's at Blackmore. Away from the family's watchful eyes. Away from her uncles who see right through me. Away from everything that keeps us apart

"I can command storms, summon fire, and unmake stone. Animals have nothing interesting to say, and no one can see the future because it has not been written," growled Balfruss. "It's dangerous to meddle with things you don't understand." When you fight magic with magic, nothing is certain. Balfruss is a battlemage, one of a vanishing breed, sworn to fight and die for a country that fears and despises him.

The dead whisper. The trees remember. And the boy with the cursed blade walks deeper into darkness. Wielding Lightbearer was meant to give Erikson Gray strength. Instead, it shackled him to blood and memory. The blade’s voice grows louder, feeding on doubt, pulling him toward the Sacred Grove—a forgotten land where the veil between life and death wears thin, and the roots run red with secrets. But what waits beneath the boughs is not salvation. As the past claws its way to the surface, Erik finds only betrayal, buried truths, and the shadow of what he is becoming. Friends blur into foes...

The world has gone to hell and it isn't coming back. It happened in a year: starvation, gangs of kids with guns, and every adult in the world dead from the sickness. Houses are now mausoleums. Civilization lies in the hands of children who've never had to feed themselves or survive a winter without gas or electricity. Most will die. Others - a bare few - will tread a different path.

The North is bleeding. The South is burning. And the boy with the cursed blade stands between salvation and ruin. Exiled and hunted, Erikson Gray carries the weight of two shattered legacies—Thorne and Zulikaarme. With Lightbearer at his side and the realm tearing itself apart, Erik must unite the North before the empire falls. But every alliance costs blood. Every triumph feeds the blade. And with each step, the line between prince and monster thins. In Highwater, Emperor Ivar descends into madness. The Red Clothes whisper treason. Rebellion spreads like fire. And the Circle of Knives ...

The empire rests on the edge of a knife, and sisters Ashyn and Moria are the handle and the blade. Desperate to outmaneuver the evil Alvar Kitsune, whose hold on the people grows stronger every day, Emperor Tatsu begs Moria to put aside past grievances and ally with Gavril - at least long enough to make an attempt on Alvar's life.

The one thing you never talk about while you're in the Scholomance is what you'll do when you get out - not even the richest enclaver would tempt fate that way. But that impossible dream has somehow come true for El and her classmates. And what's more, she didn't even have to become the monstrous dark witch she's prophesised to become to make it happen. Instead of killing enclavers, she saved them, and now the world is safe for all wizards. Peace and harmony have enveloped all the enclaves of the world. Just kidding.

This Dark Road to Mercy is a tale of love and atonement, blood and vengeance, a story that involves two young sisters, a wayward father, and an enemy determined to see him pay for his sins. When their mother dies unexpectedly, twelve-year-old Easter Quillby and her six-year-old sister, Ruby, are shuffled into the foster care system in Gastonia, North Carolina, a little town not far from the Appalachian Mountains. But just as they settle into their new life, their errant father, Wade, an ex-minor-league baseball player whom they haven't seen in years, suddenly reappears and steals them away in the middle of the night.

Ever since they were orphaned, Tyler has kept close tabs on his sister, Shannon. He has to, considering her weird and risky obsessions. Now she has a new one: an inexplicable crush on an odd-looking stranger. And what Shannon wants from her unwitting “honey boy,” Tyler can’t begin to fathom. Not until he follows his sister into the darkest corners of her desires.

Inara, sick of playing the pawn, has decided to up her game. But not all of her new decisions have been positive, and one misstep can have far reaching consequences. Will Inara play nicely, or bring down the entire family in her fury? When you've already lost everything that matters...Inara devoted more than 200 years of her life to serving Alamecha. She gave up on her epic love. She lost her best friend. She protected her sisters, even as they stole her birthright. Her siblings made error after error, and Inara patiently cleaned up their mistakes.

Hope has a price. Nick Prasad has always enjoyed a quiet life in the shadow of his best friend, child prodigy and technological genius Joanna 'Johnny' Chambers. But all that is about to end. When Johnny invents a clean reactor that could eliminate fossil fuels and change the world, she awakens primal, evil Ancient Ones set on subjugating humanity. From the oldest library in the world to the ruins of Nineveh, hunted at every turn, they will need to trust each other completely to survive.

What’s a goddess to do? After being lost at sea and taken prisoner by yet another denizen of the Titan realm, Quinn finds herself cold, wet, miserable, and very much alone. Until a familiar and unexpected face steps back into her life to remind her who she is - and has always - been: A fighter. Following this revelation, Quinn can only acknowledge that some journeys require circuitous routes, even if that means attaining her freedom and rushing - not to the rescue of her besieged allies - but to the mythical island of Aeaea, home to the infamous witch, Circe.

This book of interconnected stories depicts the chaotic life of a young boy on the run with his teenage mother. When Sarah reclaims Jeremiah from his foster parents, he finds himself catapulted into her world of motels and truck stops, exposed to the abusive, exploitative men she encounters. As he learns to survive in this harrowing environment, Jeremiah also learns to love his mother, even as she descends into drug-fueled madness.

Welcome to the latest Deadmen’s Quest... Valynda Moore was born cursed. So when she dies as the result of a spell gone wrong and is trapped in the body of a voodoo doll, she expects nothing else from her messed up life. Until Thorn, leader of the Hellchasers, offers her a chance at redemption and a new life. But nothing has ever gone her way, for the Malachai, the very beast she and her crew of Deadmen have sworn to keep locked away, has risen. And this time he’s taken prisoners.

Moonhallow harbours a dreadful secret, and it keeps the populace in a perpetual state of anxiety – not that the town's ruthless arbiter is prepared to do anything about it. Across the great forest to Moonhallow's east, Galen and Doralia Ven Denst return from a gruelling mission for the Order of Azyr, seeking shelter in the mysterious Temple of Silence. However, the two witch hunters won't get much in the way of a warm welcome from the strange priests that reside there as the temple has its own secret, the ramifications of which are inextricably tied to the fate of Moonhallow.