Sword Fantasy

In The Book of Swords, acclaimed editor and best-selling author Gardner Dozois presents an all-new anthology of original epic tales by a stellar cast of award-winning modern masters - many of them set in their authors' best-loved worlds. Join today's finest tellers of fantastic tales, including George R. R. Martin, K. J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, Ken Liu, C. J. Cherryh, Daniel Abraham, Lavie Tidhar, Ellen Kushner, and more on action-packed journeys into the outer realms of dark enchantment and intrepid derring-do.

A terrifying demon has come from the shadow world to threaten the land of Orszag. Flanked by a horde of ghostly specters, the demon intends to lay waste to the city of Nagyvaros, and only one man can stop him: Konrad the sorcerer. To defeat the demon, Konrad must learn to master the power of the warlock's brand. But with enemies all around him and no time to lose, Konrad finds himself playing one foe against another in a desperate attempt to stay alive, hoping one day to wreak his vengeance on the man who destroyed his life...

The threat of war has arrived at Diem's doorstep, along with a new discovery that could save her people. To use it, she must survive the next thirty days by forming a devil's bargain with the people she hates most: the royal family of House Corbois. As she dives into the world of the Descended elite, Diem quickly realizes good and evil aren't as simple as they seem. Old prejudices are challenged, and new loyalties blur the line between friend and foe.

All over the kingdom of Deverry, the common people are demanding reform of the corrupt law courts. In Aberwyn, the situation catches fire when Gwerbret Ladoic, second in authority only to the High King, allows a bard to starve to death rather than hear their grievances. Guildwoman Alyssa, a student at the local scholars' collegium, and Lady Dovina, the gwerbret's own daughter, know that evidence exists to overthrow the so-called traditional legal system, if they can only get it into the right hands. The powerful lords will kill anyone who threatens their privileges.

A woman forged by fire. A girl the curse has chosen. A Soldier with a secret. An ancient enemy. A world on the brink of mayhem. Welcome to Brodanna. Only magic or your skill with a blade might save you. Katanya Leshi is one of the most powerful Wielders left in the Kingdom of Brodanna. She spent her life becoming a weapon, as deadly with her magic as she is with a blade. After vowing never to return to Kara's Guild, only a debt to an old friend can bring her back and into the path of Mara Lars. Mara only ever wanted to be a story teller, she never thought she’d wind up the centre in a ...

Valdanes. The elite sword clan that serve as the fist of the Empire. From the age of four, they are taught to be three things: servants, soldiers, vassals. At the cadet rank of Iron, Tristan Valdanes is no different. His days are spent in the classroom and his nights on the training grounds, always looking to hone the special sword technique of the Valdanes Clan. Everything he's ever known will be put to the test when a portal to another world opens up on the Academy grounds, sealing them off from the rest of the world.

Fran and Teacher finally make it to Ulmutt, where they hear rumor of someone who might know how to unlock a Black Cat's evolution. The catch? She lives at the very bottom of a dangerous dungeon. Meanwhile, the city prepares for the arrival of the formidable Beast King--supreme leader of all the beastmen tribes. With so many key players converging in one place, can Fran find her answers without attracting the wrong kind of attention?

In this third book in the thrilling and epic Book of the Ancestor trilogy from international best-selling author Mark Lawrence, powerful novice Nona Grey must fight to survive in "a fantastic world in which religion and politics are dark and sharp as swords, with magic and might held in the hands of wonderful and dangerous women".

“I might as well disappear into a black hole," he thought aloud. And in the next instant, that is precisely what happened to Carter Quinn. Summoned to a fantasy world by a religious sect at the behest of their elven queen, Carter Quinn finds himself suddenly thrust into a tense struggle for power. As the “world-hopper,” Carter holds a mystique he’s not entirely sure he can live up to. But when the voluptuous blonde elf Queen Seema offers him a new life full of wealth, women, and the title of king, he doesn’t take long to give his answer. Her plan? Unite the elven realms under a ...

Violet has one job: protect humans from dangerous magical creatures. It's a job she's good at - until the cute human guy whose life she just saved follows her into the fae world. Now she's broken faerie law, risking her future at the Guild of Guardians. She needs to get Nate home and make him forget everything he's discovered. If only someone wasn't intent on hunting him down.

A stableboy who dreams of becoming a knight, an ancient ruin with a buried secret, an epic journey across a kingdom of two islands. Will Aran succeed in tracking down a famous assassin, a feared outlaw, and the only person who can help free his captured uncle? Aran has never liked horses. Unfortunately for him, these are the very same creatures he has spent most of his life with. Soon, he will need the aid of one horse in particular to help keep him alive. When his only guardian is captured in the middle of the night, the stableboy must track down the whereabouts of a famous assassin. His ...

Wouldn’t you want to travel to a fantasy world, discover the secrets of magic, and live your own legend? Well, Emily went through exactly that, but it didn’t start all that well for her. Emily Erikson, an avid tabletop RPG fan and dungeon master, finds herself in a world full of wonder where the very gods walk the lands, with no idea of how she got here. When her knowledge of popular fantasy tropes proves to be an unreliable basis for making choices, she must quickly learn to adapt to everything that’s thrown her way—or she may need to look for a True Resurrection spell. But this ...

Awakening from a dark defeat, Faythe discovers a greater threat to the life she took back. Staggering truths will challenge her and reveal that some bonds were forged to defy. With the battle lost, the war has just begun, and as an enemy is captured, it soon becomes clear a storm can be tamed but never bottled.

At first glance, the sisters of ultra-exclusive Kappa Rho Nu - the Ravens - seem like typical sorority girls. Ambitious, beautiful, and smart, they’re the most powerful girls on Westerly College’s Savannah, Georgia, campus. But the Ravens aren’t just regular sorority girls. They’re witches.

"Ms. Purington has craftily taken me into a world of dragons, prophecies and mythology that is super creative and well written." -More Books Than Livros Determined to take a break from her past, Megan cozies down in her million-dollar Winter Harbor Maine home and focuses less on money and more on dreams. Building boats was a childhood desire she’s determined to pursue. With a love for Viking shipwright skills, she constructs a small-scale longship. What she doesn’t anticipate is an unexpected call from the past. Of dragon blood, Viking King Naðr Véurr Sigdir ‘the bold’ knew that ...

Tor Leonne - the heart of the Dominion of Annagar, where the games of state are about to become a matter of life and death - and where those who seek to seize the crown will be forced to league with a treacherously cunning ally.... Tor Leonne, ancestral seat of power, where Serra Diora Maria di'Marano - the most sought-after beauty in the land, a woman betrayed by all she holds dear - may strike the first blow to change the future of the Dominion and Empire alike....

On the day that she awoke remembering nothing but her name, Kahlan Amnell became the most dangerous woman alive. For everyone else, that was the day when the world began to end.

In the far future, unbeknownst to humankind, an apocalyptic war is brewing. Fearsome, vengeful Demons rage at the boundaries of the world, held at bay by a spell called the Forbidding. But now that barrier is dying. Evil is beginning to break through. And only the Chosen can banish the Demons back to their realm.

Kaen is a typical teenage orphan in Ebonmount—toiling in a quarry for his keep as he yearns for adventure far beyond the confines of his laborious existence. But everything changes when he stumbles upon a bronze egg. From its shell emerges Pammon, a dragon, marking Kaen as the first human in generations to bond with such a creature and entwining his destiny with that of the elite adventurers’ guild. Suddenly thrust into a life he’s only dreamed of, Kaen embraces his bond with Pammon and what it truly means to be chosen by fate.

The Narthani, a militant realm who believe their manifest destiny is to rule the entire planet, Anyar, plan to absorb Caedellium into their empire. Yozef Kolsko (a.k.a. Joe Colsco) works to find ways to increase the chances of resistance to the Narthani's planned conquest. The enemy is coming. The odds seem overwhelming, and it will take all Yozef can do, the courage of his new people, and luck, to survive.