Archives de catégorie : Fantasy

SÀNYÀ de Oyin Olugbile

A masterful debut tells the story of dangerous love—lost, found, and lost again—all against the backdrop of a fantastical, enthralling empire that holds even the Òrìsà themselves spellbound.

SÀNYÀ
by Oyin Olugbile
Masobe Books, December 2022
(via Randle Editorial & Literary)

Sànyà always felt different. And everyone that knew her—the people in the village she grew up in, her beloved brother, Dada, her Aunt Abike, and even her parents before she was born—knew that there was something special about her, too. After an unspeakable tragedy causes her to leave home and grow up too soon, she is devastated to find that her incredible powers are linked to a future which she must fight, even at the cost of her very soul. She begins life anew, hoping that the dark prophesy would somehow rewrite itself. Soon, however, her carefully crafted life and identity becomes the catalyst for a deadly war that will tear her family apart, and doom everything she holds dear.

Oyin Olugbile holds a B.A (Hons) in Creative Arts from the University of Lagos. She also holds a few Post-graduate Certificates from the Lagos Business School, Harvard Business School Online, the School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG) and a MSc from King’s College London. She currently works as a Social Impact Management Consultant. Oyin Olugbile is also the Chief Curator of the Experience Factory, an education enterprise dedicated to curating out of classroom experiences for young people. EXF programs range from Arts & Crafts, STEM, Photography, Health & Nutrition to Financial Literacy. SÀNYÀ is her debut novel.

THE NIGHT ENDS WITH FIRE de K. X. Song

The first in a gripping fantasy duology inspired by Mulan and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, perfect for fans of R. F. Kuang and Rin Chupeco.

THE NIGHT ENDS WITH FIRE (Book 1)
by K. X. Song
Ace/Penguin Random House, 2024
(via Park & Fine Literary)

The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin’s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Instead, facing mounting gambling debts, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry to fund his opium addiction. But when Meilin discovers her husband-to-be is another violent, ill-tempered man, she realizes that nothing will change for her unless she takes matters into her own hands.
The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father’s place.
With the help of Sky, the prince who leads their platoon, Meilin’s relentless hard work brings her recognition and even friendship—and with Sky, a closeness that starts to border on something more. But has she simply exchanged one prison for another? As her army barrels towards a deadly war, Meilin begins to have visions of a fickle sea dragon spirit that warns her of sinister forces at work behind the war, cornering her into another impossible decision: remain a loyal soldier for a kingdom that would turn on her in an instant if her true identity were discovered, or wield the tantalizing outlawed magic that the sea dragon offers and claim the power long denied to her and every other woman in the kingdom.
As the very future of the Three Kingdoms hangs in the balance, Meilin will need to decide whom to trust—Sky, who inspires her loyalty and love; the sea dragon spirit, which has its own murky agenda; or an infuriating enemy prince who makes her question everything she once knew—about her kingdom and about her own heart.
From a major new voice in fantasy, K. X. Song offers a powerful meditation on the forces that shape our destiny and the grit required to overcome them … and on the double-edged sword of ambition, which can both free and corrupt.

K. X. Song is a Highlights Foundation fellow and a HG Wells Turnill Prize honoree. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she can often be found feeding the pampered ducks of Golden Gate Park. Her debut YA novel, An Echo In The City, is slated for publication in summer 2023 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and is about two teenagers falling in love and coming of age amid the Hong Kong protests.

BRING ME YOUR MIDNIGHT de Rachel Griffin

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches and Wild is the Witch comes a lush romantic fantasy about forbidden love, the choices we make, and the pull between duty and desire.

BRING ME YOUR MIDNIGHT
by Rachel Griffin
Sourcebooks, August 2023
(via Park & Fine Literary)

Tana Fairchild’s fate has never been in question. Her life has been planned out since the moment she was born: she is to marry the governor’s son, Landon, and secure an unprecedented alliance between the witches of her island home and the mainlanders who see her very existence as a threat.
Tana’s coven has appeased those who fear their power for years by releasing most of their magic into the ocean during the full moon. But when Tana misses the midnight ritual―a fatal mistake―there is no one she can turn to for help…until she meets Wolfe.
Wolfe claims he is from a coven that practices dark magic, making him one of the only people who can help her. But he refuses to let Tana’s power rush into the sea, and instead teaches her his forbidden magic. A magic that makes her feel powerful. Alive.
As the sea grows more violent, her coven loses control of the currents, a danger that could destroy the alliance as well as her island. Tana will have to choose between love and duty, between loyalty to her people and loyalty to her heart. Marrying Landon would secure peace for her coven but losing Wolfe and his wild magic could cost her everything else.

Rachel Griffin writes young adult novels inspired by the magic of the world around her. She is the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches and Wild Is the Witch. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Rachel has a deep love of nature, from the mountains to the ocean and all the towering evergreens in between. She adores moody skies and thunderstorms, and hopes more vampires settle down in her beloved state of Washington.

BEAST de Jennifer Donnelly

New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Donnelly delivers an explosive reimagining of a tale as old as time! Think Beauty and the Beast meets Inside Out in this gender-reversed retelling, in which the beast is a mysterious noblewoman named Arabella, and the beauty is a handsome and cheeky thief named Beau—who stumbles into Arabella’s castle when he’s on the run after a robbery goes wrong.

BEAST
by Jennifer Donnelly
Scholastic, May 2024
(via Writers House)

A roaring fire and a grand feast await Beau when he arrives at Arabella’s domain, but it abruptly ends when a golden clock strikes midnight and a savage beast emerges. Beau escapes the vicious creature but becomes a prisoner in the castle. The next day, he meets the beautiful, disdainful Arabella, her tight-lipped servants, and a collection of sinister courtiers who behave very strangely, including the smile-until-your-face-cracks (literally) Lady Elge; the shuffling, mumbling Lady Iglut; and the rampaging Lady Rega.
Determined to escape, Beau steals a master key and lets himself into the cellar, where he hunts for a way out, but instead of finding the tunnel he’s certain must exist, he finds a child who’s been locked away. Her name is Hope. She appears to be a pitiful creature, but it’s a ruse. She steals his key, then leads him on a chase through the castle as she searches for her lost sisters, Faith and Love.
With Hope’s help, Beau learns that Arabella was cursed to turn into a beast every night when the clock strikes twelve,

and that the one who cursed her is none other than the forbidding Lady Espidra—the most fearsome of all Arabella’s courtiers. He also discovers why Arabella was cursed—and that the wounded, gifted young woman is as much a prisoner in the castle as he is. As he begins to fall in love with Arabella, Beau becomes determined to help her break the curse, but what he doesn’t know is that the golden clock is ticking—and time is running out.
BEAST is a story about two damaged people learning to love and forgive, but it’s also about how we all get trapped in prisons of our own making—and how we need to learn how to tear down walls and build bridges if we’re ever going to escape them.

Jennifer Donnelly is the author of A Northern Light, which was awarded a Printz Honor and a Carnegie Medal; Revolution (named a Best Book by Amazon, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and the Chicago Public Library, and nominated for a Carnegie Medal); the Deep Blue series; and many other books for young readers, including Lost in a Book, which spent more than 20 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.

WHAT THE RIVER KNOWS de Isabel Ibañez

The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.

WHAT THE RIVER KNOWS
by Isabel Ibañez
Wednesday Books, November 2023
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents―who frequently leave her behind.
When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and a golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.
With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance―or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.

« Take a plucky heroine, a historically grounded Indiana Jones-esque adventure through Ancient Egypt, and add a surprising dollop of magic ― it’s a recipe for a delightful read. » ―Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

« Expertly plotted, explosively adventurous, and burning with romance. » ―Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Isabel Ibañez is the author of Together We Burn (Wednesday Books), and Woven in Moonlight (Page Street), a finalist for the William C. Morris Award, and is listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time. She is the proud daughter of Bolivian immigrants and has a profound appreciation for history and traveling. She currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, their adorable dog, and a serious collection of books. Say hi on social media at @IsabelWriter09.