Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1)

R.A. Salvatore

Discover the origin story of one of the greatest heroes of the Realms—Drizzt Do’Urden—in this thrilling first installment of the Dark Elf Trilogy Drow ranger Drizzt Do’Urden, first introduced in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, quickly became one of the fantasy genre’s standout characters. With Homeland, Salvatore pulls back the curtain to reveal the startling tale of how this hero came to be—how this one lone drow walked out of the shadowy depths of the Underdark; how he left behind an evil society and a family that wanted him dead. As the third son of Mother Malice and weaponmaster Zaknafein, Drizzt Do’Urden is meant to be sacrificed to Lolth, the evil Spider Queen, per drow tradition. But with the unexpected death of his older brother, young Drizzt is spared—and, as a result, further ostracized by his family. As Drizzt grows older, developing his swordsmanship skills and studying at the Academy, he begins to realize that his idea of good and evil does not match up with those of his fellow drow. Can Drizzt stay true to himself in a such an unforgiving, unprincipled world? Homeland is the first book in the Dark Elf Trilogy and the Legend of Drizzt series.

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Inferno

Dante Alighieri

Of the great poets, Dante is one of the most elusive and therefore one of the most difficult to adequately render into English verse. In the Inferno, Dante not only judges sin but strives to understand it so that the reader can as well. With this major new translation, Anthony Esolen has succeeded brilliantly in marrying sense with sound, poetry with meaning, capturing both the poem’s line-by-line vigor and its allegorically and philosophically exacting structure, yielding an Inferno that will be as popular with general readers as with teachers and students. For, as Dante insists, without a trace of sentimentality or intellectual compromise, even Hell is a work of divine art. Esolen also provides a critical Introduction and endnotes, plus appendices containing Dante’s most important sources—from Virgil to Saint Thomas Aquinas and other Catholic theologians—that deftly illuminate the religious universe the poet inhabited.

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The Oleander Sword

Tasha Suri

"Alluring, action-packed, and gut-wrenching," (Publishers Weekly, starred review), The Oleander Sword continues Tasha Suri's acclaimed Burning Kingdoms trilogy, in which a powerful priestess and a vengeful princess will change the fate of an empire. The prophecy of the nameless god—the words that declared Malini the rightful empress of Parijatdvipa—has proven a blessing and curse. She is determined to claim the throne that fate offered her. But even with rage in her heart and the army of loyal men by her side, deposing her brother is going to be a brutal and bloody fight. The power of the deathless waters flows through Priya’s blood. Now a thrice born priestess and an Elder of Ahiranya, she dreams of seeing her country rid of the rot that plagues it: both Parijatdvipa's poisonous rule, and the blooming sickness that is spreading through all living things. But she doesn’t yet understand the truth of the magic she carries. Their chosen paths once pulled them apart. But Malini and Priya's souls remain as entwined as their destinies. And saving their kingdom from those who would rather see it burn will come at a terrible price. Praise for the Burning Kingdoms trilogy:"Will undoubtedly reshape the landscape of epic fantasy for years to come."—Booklist (starred review)"Lush and stunning...this sapphic fantasy will rip your heart out." —BuzzFeed News "Raises the bar for what epic fantasy should be.” —Chloe Gong, author of These Violent Delights"This cutthroat and sapphic novel will grip you until the very end." —Vulture (Best of the Year)"It left me breathless." —Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter"I loved it." —Alix E. Harrow, Hugo award-winning author of The Once and Future Witches"Suri's incandescent feminist masterpiece hits like a steel fist inside a velvet glove." —Shelley Parker-Chan, author of She Who Became the Sun

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The Jasmine Throne

Tasha Suri

Author of Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess's traitor brother. Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters — but is now little more than a decaying ruin. Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides. But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.

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The Ending Fire (The Ending Fire Trilogy, #3)

Saara El-Arifi

Rebellions are like fires—something needs to burn to make a flame. Return to the Wardens’ Empire in this riveting conclusion to the visionary fantasy trilogy inspired by the mythology of Africa and Arabia. The Wardens’ Empire is falling. A vigilante known only as the Truthsayer is raising an army against the wardens. Sylah and Hassa must navigate the politics of this new world, all the while searching for Anoor. Across the sea, the Blood Forged prepare for war, requesting aid from other governments. Jond’s role as major general sees him training soldiers for combat, but matters of the heart will prove to be the hardest battlefield. The Zalaam celebrate the arrival of the Child of Fire, heralding the start of the final battle. Anoor’s doubts are eclipsed by the powers of her new god. Soon the Zalaam will set off on their last voyage—and few expect to return. Do you feel it? Cresting the horizon? The darkness drawing in, the shadows elongating . . . The Ending Fire comes.

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The Battle Drum (The Ending Fire Trilogy #2)

Saara El-Arifi

Murder. Secrets. Sacrifice: Three women seek the truth of the empire's past. And the truth they find has the power to ignite a war in the sequel to The Final Strife, the continuation of a visionary fantasy trilogy inspired by Africa and Arabia. Anoor is the first blue-blooded ruler of the Wardens' Empire. But when she is accused of a murder she didn't commit, her reign is thrown into turmoil. She must solve the mystery and clear her name without the support of her beloved, Sylah. Sylah braves new lands to find a solution for the hurricane that threatens to destroy her home. But in finding answers, she must make a decision, does she sacrifice her old life in order to raise up her sword once more? Hassa's web of secrets grows ever thicker as she finds herself on a trail of crimes in the city. Her searching uncovers the extent of the atrocities of the empire's past and present. Now, she must guard both her heart and her land. The three women find their answers, but they're not the answers they wanted. The drumbeat of change thrums throughout the world. And it sings a song of war. Ready we will be, when the Ending Fire comes, When the Child of fire brings the Battle Drum, The Battle Drum, The Battle Drum.Ready we will be, for war will come.

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The Final Strife

Saara El-Arifi

Red is the blood of the elite, of magic, of control. Blue is the blood of the poor, of workers, of the resistance. Clear is the blood of the slaves, of the crushed, of the invisible. Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes. Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm. As the empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn.

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Curious Tales from the Himalayas

Shaguna Gahilote

A hungry red fox encounters a frog on its way to enlightenment in Ladakh. In Tibet, a mysterious prophecy causes an entire kingdom to migrate. In Himachal Pradesh, a teacher and his student find a magical herb that has disastrous consequences. Meet unusual heroes, match wits with wily animals, tickle your senses (and taste buds) with some steaming bowls of thenthuk and breathe in the crisp mountain air in these fascinating stories from the hills.

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Frankenstein

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

When the scientist Victor Frankenstein attempts to create life in his laboratory, he sets in motion tragic forces beyond his control and faces losing everything he loves. No reader in the grip of Mary Shelley’s novel, with its mythic-minded hero and its highly sympathetic monster who reads Goethe and longs to be at peace with himself, can fail to notice how much more excellent the original is than all the countless adaptations, imitations, and homages which have followed in its ample wake. In her first novel, written at the instigation of Lord Byron and published in 1818 (and revised in 1831), the teenaged Shelley managed to produce English Romanticism’s finest prose fiction. This edition reproduces her original 1818 text.

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My Husband and I Sleep in a Coffin (Novel) Vol. 1

Wu Shui Bu Du

A cozy coffin for two becomes one recluse’s reality when he wakes up in the frigid body of a thousand-year-old corpse! Can he find his footing in this new body? Even then, can he survive the passionate doting of his handsome—and quite unhinged—coffinmate? Wang Xiaomie, a reclusive gay virgin, wakes up to a shocking he now inhabits the body of a thousand-year-old corpse, dressed in elaborate wedding attire. Even more bizarre, he finds himself sharing a coffin with Wen Fengjin, an immortal warrior who has spent centuries waiting for the return of his lost lover! Now trapped in a lavish mausoleum, undead and constantly ravenous, Wang Xiaomie's only source of sustenance is a magical peach blossom tree that keeps his heart beating. But survival isn't the only challenge--he must also avoid grave robbers and, more troubling still, conceal his growing attraction to the hot, yet utterly unhinged, immortal who will stop at nothing--even murder--to protect his beloved.

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The Tea Dragon Festival

Kay O'Neill

Revisit the enchanting world of Tea Dragons with an all-new companion story to the two-time Eisner Award-winning graphic novel The Tea Dragon Society! Rinn has grown up with the Tea Dragons that inhabit their village, but stumbling across a real dragon turns out to be a different matter entirely! Aedhan is a young dragon who was appointed to protect the village, but fell asleep in the forest eighty years ago. With the aid of Rinn's adventuring uncle Erik and his partner Hesekiel, they investigate the mystery of his enchanted sleep... but Rinn's real challenge is to help Aedhan come to terms with feeling that he cannot get back the time he has lost. Critically acclaimed graphic novelist Katie O'Neill delivers another charming, gentle fantasy story about finding your purpose, and the community that helps you along the way.

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Under the Whispering Door

T.J. Klune

Welcome to Charon's Crossing. The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through. When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead. And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead. But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days. Hilarious, haunting, and kind, "Under the Whispering Door" is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.

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A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Becky Chambers

A story for seekers of small comforts. It’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend. One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of “what do people need?” is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They’re going to need to ask it a lot. Becky Chambers’ new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

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My Husband and I Sleep in a Coffin (Novel) Vol. 1

Wu Shui Bu Du

A cozy coffin for two becomes one recluse’s reality when he wakes up in the frigid body of a thousand-year-old corpse! Can he find his footing in this new body? Even then, can he survive the passionate doting of his handsome—and quite unhinged—coffinmate? Wang Xiaomie, a reclusive gay virgin, wakes up to a shocking he now inhabits the body of a thousand-year-old corpse, dressed in elaborate wedding attire. Even more bizarre, he finds himself sharing a coffin with Wen Fengjin, an immortal warrior who has spent centuries waiting for the return of his lost lover! Now trapped in a lavish mausoleum, undead and constantly ravenous, Wang Xiaomie's only source of sustenance is a magical peach blossom tree that keeps his heart beating. But survival isn't the only challenge--he must also avoid grave robbers and, more troubling still, conceal his growing attraction to the hot, yet utterly unhinged, immortal who will stop at nothing--even murder--to protect his beloved.

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Byomkesh Bakshi (1): Menagerie and other Mysteries

Bandyopadhyay Saradindu

Byomkesh Bakshi's appeal as the self-styled inquisitor, a detective not by profession but by passion, found him a dedicated following among generations of readers. This collection of stories, all set in Kolkata of the 1950s and 1960s, brings together four mysteries that put the sleuth's remarkable mental agility to the ultimate test. In 'the Menagerie' (adapted by master film-maker Satyajit Ray for his 1967 film Chiriakhana ) Byomkesh cracks a strange case involving broken motor parts, a seemingly natural death and the peculiar inhabitants of Golap Colony who seem capable of doing just about anything to safeguard the secrets of their tainted pasts. In 'the Jewel Case' he investigates the mysterious disappearance of a priceless necklace, while in 'the Will That Vanished' he solves a baffling riddle to fulfil the last wish of a close friend. And, in 'the Quills of the Porcupine', the shrewd detective is in his element as he expertly foils the sinister plans of a ruthless opportunist. Sreejata Guha's translation captures brilliantly the thrill and ingenuity of Byomkesh's exploits just as it does Saradindu Bandyopadhyay's remarkable portrayal of a city struggling to overcome its colonial past and come into its own.

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Byomkesh Bakshi (1): Menagerie and other Mysteries

Bandyopadhyay Saradindu

Byomkesh Bakshi's appeal as the self-styled inquisitor, a detective not by profession but by passion, found him a dedicated following among generations of readers. This collection of stories, all set in Kolkata of the 1950s and 1960s, brings together four mysteries that put the sleuth's remarkable mental agility to the ultimate test. In 'the Menagerie' (adapted by master film-maker Satyajit Ray for his 1967 film Chiriakhana ) Byomkesh cracks a strange case involving broken motor parts, a seemingly natural death and the peculiar inhabitants of Golap Colony who seem capable of doing just about anything to safeguard the secrets of their tainted pasts. In 'the Jewel Case' he investigates the mysterious disappearance of a priceless necklace, while in 'the Will That Vanished' he solves a baffling riddle to fulfil the last wish of a close friend. And, in 'the Quills of the Porcupine', the shrewd detective is in his element as he expertly foils the sinister plans of a ruthless opportunist. Sreejata Guha's translation captures brilliantly the thrill and ingenuity of Byomkesh's exploits just as it does Saradindu Bandyopadhyay's remarkable portrayal of a city struggling to overcome its colonial past and come into its own.

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Frankenstein

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

When the scientist Victor Frankenstein attempts to create life in his laboratory, he sets in motion tragic forces beyond his control and faces losing everything he loves. No reader in the grip of Mary Shelley’s novel, with its mythic-minded hero and its highly sympathetic monster who reads Goethe and longs to be at peace with himself, can fail to notice how much more excellent the original is than all the countless adaptations, imitations, and homages which have followed in its ample wake. In her first novel, written at the instigation of Lord Byron and published in 1818 (and revised in 1831), the teenaged Shelley managed to produce English Romanticism’s finest prose fiction. This edition reproduces her original 1818 text.

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