Archives de catégorie : Fantasy

MAGIC BELOW STAIRS de Caroline Stevermer

In an alternate Regency England, a plucky young boy is hired be a wizard’s assistant and with help from his fairy guardian, he will excel at his job and break a curse on the wizard. This charming Middle Grade novel is set in the same world as Caroline Stevermer and Patricia C. Wrede’s beloved Cecilia and Kate novels.

MAGIC BELOW STAIRS
by Caroline Stevermer
Dial Press, 2010
(via JABberwocky Literary Agency)

11-year-old Frederick is plucked from an orphanage to be a servant to the wizard Lord Schofield. With help from Billy Bly, the brownie who has been his « fairy guardian » over the years, Frederick quickly proves his worth and excels at the difficult tasks assigned by Lord Schofield.

However, Lord Schofield has banished all magical creatures from his holdings so Frederick must keep Billy Bly’s existence a secret. When Billy Bly discovers dark magic within the Schofields’ manor house, it’s up to Frederick and Billy to break the curse and save the manor.

Caroline Stevermer is the multiple-award-winning author of the Cecelia and Kate Novels, the College of Magics Series, the Glass Magician Series, and the middle grade novels River Rats and Magic Below Stairs.

RIVER RATS de Caroline Stevermer

In a post-apocalyptic world, a group of kids living on a steamboat rescue a downtrodden man and race to uncover a buried treasure before their enemies get there first.

RIVER RATS
by Caroline Stevermer
Open Road, 2022)
(via JABberwocky Literary Agency)

The award-winning author of the Scholarly Magic series delivers the thrilling adventure of a crew of young kids working their way through a post-apocalyptic world on a steamboat they call home . . .

No one knows for sure what caused the Flash. They just know that nothing has been the same since. Cities have been destroyed by pestilence, riots, and fires. The paddleboat River Rat, once a museum, was turned into an orphanage. But a dangerous storm forced the children to flee with the boat to safer waters, making it theirs for good.

Since then, Tomcat, Toby, Esteban, Lindy, Spike, and Jake have traveled, bartered, and performed their way up and down the Mississippi River. One rule that has served them well: no passengers. But after watching a man on shore being pursued by a vicious pack of locals, the group has no choice but to save him.

At every stop, the boat is met by the man’s tireless hunters. They want what the fugitive knows: the location of a bunker filled with guns. A currency more valuable than gold . . . and one that the crew of the River Rat might well pay for—with their lives.

This standalone Middle Grade novel was highlighted as a “Best Book for Young Adults” by the American Library Association (ALA), the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), and the New York Public Library. It also won the Golden Duck Award and the Golden Kite Award, both regional awards in the United States.

Caroline Stevermer is the multiple-award-winning author of the Cecelia and Kate Novels, the College of Magics Series, the Glass Magician Series, and the middle grade novels River Rats and Magic Below Stairs.

THE CHAOS QUEEN QUINTET de Christopher Husberg

Perfect for fans Daniel Abraham and Brandon Sanderson, THE CHAOS QUEEN QUINTET is a dark and epic fantasy series that follows an amnesiac man, a woman with burgeoning magical abilities, and a priestess whose faith is tested as they become the center of a war between government and religion.

THE CHAOS QUEEN QUINTET
by Christopher Husberg
Titan, 2016 – 2021
(via JABberwocky)

Book 1: DUSKFALL (June 2016)

Stuck with arrows and close to death, a man is pulled from the icy waters of the Gulf of Nahl. As he is nursed back to health by a local fisherman, two things become very clear: he has no idea who he is, and he can kill a man with terrifying ease.

The fisherman is a tiellan, a race which has long been oppressed and grown wary of humans. His daughter, Winter, is a seemingly quiet young woman, but behind her placid mask she has her demons. She is addicted to frostfire – a substance that both threatens to destroy her and simultaneously gives her phenomenal power.

A young priestess, Cinzia, hears the troubling news of an uprising in her native city of Navone. Absconding from the cloistered life that she has kept for the last seven years, she knows she must make the long journey home. The flames of rebellion threatening her church and all that she believes in are bad enough, but far worse is the knowledge that the heretic who sparked the fire is her own sister.

These three characters may have set out on different paths, but fate will bring them together on one thrilling and perilous adventure.

Book 2: DARK IMMOLATION (June 2017)

A new religion is rising, gathering followers drawn by rumors of prophetess Jane Oden. Her sister Cinzia – one-time Cantic priestess – is by her side, but fears that Jane will lead them to ruin. For both the Church and the Nazaniin assassins are still on their trail, and much worse may come. Knot, his true nature now revealed if not truly understood, is haunted by the memories of others, and is not the ally he once was. Astrid travels to Tinska to find answers for her friend, but the child-like vampire has old enemies who have been waiting for her return. And beyond the Blood Gate in the northern empire of Roden, a tiellan woman finds herself with a new protector. One who wants to use her extraordinary abilities for his own ends.

Book 3: BLOOD REQUIEM (June 2018)

« Perfect for fans of Daniel Abraham and Brandon Sanderson. » Library Journal on DuskfallThe Nine Daemons are on the rise.Once believed dead and gone, Daemons have found a way back into the world. But the only people who can withstand their assault are spread across the face of the Sfaera.Free at last from the influence of assassins and emperors alike, the psimancer Winter sails back to her hometown—only to find a new trouble stirring. Meanwhile, the heretic sisters Jane and Cinzia Oden are beset by supernatural attacks. And soon their allies, the vampire-girl Astrid and the former assassin Knot, must face the terrifying Black Matron.As new battles are fought, the Daemons creep ever closer to freedom, and the legend of the Chaos Queen may soon be made anew.

Book 4: FEAR THE STARS (June 2019)

Many forces converge on the great city of Triah, bent on its destruction. By sea, Empress Cova of Roden sails with her armada, determined to bring the rival nation under her yoke. From land, Winter, the Chaos Queen, brings her tiellan army, set on revenge. And their advance brings a yet more terrible army still: awoken by the Chaos Queen’s powers, daemons mass on the border between worlds, waiting for a way in.

Caught between the encroaching foes, a small group holds the key to saving the Sfaera from destruction: Knot, the former assassin; Cinzia, the exiled priestess; and Astrid, the vampire-child. But the only way to do so is to step into the Void beyond worlds—from which no one can return unchanged.

Book 5: DAWNRISE (May 2021)

Nothing is as it seems.

Sfaera-shattering revelations reveal there is more to the Nine Daemons–and Canta–than anyone could have imagined, and deep in the heart of Triah, a threat that has lurked below the surface for years finally rises, gathering unimaginable power.

Knot, still reeling from a shocking death, tries to put himself back together in time to fight. Two ex-Nazaniin assassins, Code and Kali, form an unlikely alliance. Cinzia, more suspicious than ever of her sister Jane Oden–Canta’s prophetess–rallies as many people as she can to save the Sfaera from imminent destruction. And Winter, the Chaos Queen herself, realizes she must finally choose sides and face the greatest test of her life: finding the humility to seek help.

Deep in the heart of Triah, a threat that has lurked below the surface for years finally rises, gathering unimaginable power. Only the unlikely alliance formed between the two former Nazaniin assassins, Code and Kali, stands in its way.

Characters old and new join forces to preserve life as they know it. The darkest night the Sfaera has ever known is about to end, but whether it ends in daylight or destruction remains to be seen…

Christopher Husberg is the author of the Chaos Queen Quintet and contributed to the science fiction anthology Parallel Worlds. He received an MFA in creative writing from BYU. His short story, “Shelter Together,” was featured in the exhibit « A Desolating Sickness: Stories of Pandemic” at the Brigham Young University library.

THE POISONS WE DRINK de Bethany Baptiste

In a country divided between humans and witchers, Venus Stoneheart hustles as a brewer making illegal love potions to support her family.

THE POISONS WE DRINK
by Bethany Baptiste
Sourcebooks Fire, April 2024
(via Writers House)

Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her.

Then an enemy’s iron bullet kills her mother, Venus’s life implodes. Keeping her reckless little sister Janus safe is now her responsibility. When the powerful Grand Witcher, the ruthless head of her coven, offers Venus the chance to punish her mother’s killer, she has to pay a steep price for revenge. The cost? Brew poisonous potions to enslave D.C.’s most influential politicians. As Venus crawls deeper into the corrupt underbelly of her city, the line between magic and power blurs, and it’s hard to tell who to trust. . . Herself included.

THE POISONS WE DRINK is a potent YA debut about a world where love potions are weaponized against hate and prejudice, sisterhood is unbreakable, and self-love is life and death.

Bethany Baptiste is an inner-city educator by day and a young adult SFF novelist by night. If she’s not writing a lesson plan or a story, she does retail therapy in Florida bookstores and takes scheduled naps with her three chaotic evil dogs.

THE KINDRED’S CURSE SAGA de Penn Cole

When old secrets catch fire, everything will burn.

THE KINDRED’S CURSE SAGA
by Penn Cole
Self-published, 2023 – 2024
(via The Whalen Agency)

Book 1: SPARK OF THE EVERFLAME (June 2023)

In a mortal world colonized by the gods and ruled over by the Descended, their cruel offspring, Diem Bellator yearns to escape the insular life of her poor village.

Her mother’s sudden disappearance—and the discovery of a dangerous secret about her past—offer Diem an unexpected opportunity to enter the dark world of Descended royalty and unlock the web of mysteries her mother left behind.

With the dying King’s handsome, mysterious heir watching her every move, and a ruthless mortal alliance recruiting her to join the growing civil war, Diem will have to navigate the unwritten rules of love, power, and politics in order to save her family—and all of mortalkind.

Book 2: GLOW OF THE EVERFLAME (July 2023)

An unexpected gift offers the power to change everything. Keeping it could cost Diem her 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.

But 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.

Meanwhile, her mother is still missing, and the secrets she left behind can no longer be ignored—and neither can the Guardians and their demands. Caught between an old flame and a sizzling new spark, Diem must confront the truth about who she is and what she wants before time runs out.

War is coming, and dangerous enemies wait on all sides.. but the most deadly battle Diem faces may be the one for her heart.

Book 3: HEAT OF THE EVERFLAME (September 2023)

The war has begun. Both sides demand Diem’s allegiance—or her death.

After her disastrous coronation, Diem finds herself at the center of the conflict between the Descended and the Guardians. With her newfound friends and the man she’s falling for on one side, and the mortals she has vowed to protect on the other, Diem must walk a careful line to save the people she loves… even from each other.

The mystery of her unusual heritage begins to unravel, sending Diem and Luther on an unexpected journey across the realms. The answers may hold the key to winning the war, but finding them will require her to face painful truths about her mother, her bloodline, and her fate.

Meanwhile, the Crowns have set Diem in their sights. Some could be her greatest allies—while others want her dead. To end their oppressive reign, Diem must sort friend from foe and risk it all to build an army of her own.

But a powerful figure in the north has plans that could change everything…

Book 4: BURN OF THE EVERFLAME (Spring 2024)

The journey concludes in the final book of The Kindred’s Curse Saga, a four-book epic fantasy romance series that follows our fiesty, bad*ss heroine Diem Bellator in her fight against injustice and oppression, her struggle to survive in a royal palace full of betrayal and intrigue, and her journey of self-discovery and finding true love. This slow burn, enemies-to-lovers series is perfect for fans of unique magic systems, dragons and other mythical creatures, angst and romantic tension, and hilarious banter. This book will appeal to fans of plot-heavy, character-driven romantasy such as A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, From Blood and Ash, Gild, Shadow & Bone, and The Serpent & the Wings of Night.