Shadowheart


Book Description

Barrick Eddon, prince of Southmarch, is no longer entirely human. He has vowed to safeguard the legacy of the dark Qar race, and must now decide where his loyalties lie. His twin sister Briony has a difficult choice of her own. Her father, King Olin, is held captive by the Autarch, a mad god-king who plans to use Olin's blood to gain unlimited power. And the castle of Southmarch still remains in the possession of Hendon Tolly, Briony's murderous relative. As time runs out, will Briony decide to save her father's kingdom . . . or her father? As the foretold Great Defeat draws near, history is stripped of its costume of lies. Poets and players, mortals and fairies, warriors and gods - all will have their roles to play as the fate of the known world hangs in the balance.




Shadowplay


Book Description

Darkness has fallen on the lands of the sun as an army of misshapen fey spill out from beyond the Shadowline. At their head is Yasammez, dark creature of nightmare. A furtive bargain was struck at the gates of Southmarch and the castle was spared, but centuries of enmity will not be so easily appeased. Meanwhile Barrick, heir to Southmarch and cursed with madness, has crossed the Shadowline into the realm of his people's ancient enemy. There are stranger things than death here - stranger and older. Much further south, shadow is also falling over the reign of the Autarch, god-king and supreme ruler. Quinnitan, junior wife, must flee the royal household or die, her greatest secret as yet hidden even from herself. Ancient blood flows through her veins and she will become a unique weapon in the fight against her greatest terror. And beyond the ken of all but a chosen few, the gods are awakening and the world is changing ...




The Stone of Farewell


Book Description

Simon, a young kitchen boy and magician's apprentice, finds his dreams of great deeds and heroic wars becoming an all too shocking reality in a terrifying civil war.




Love’s Shadow


Book Description

A case for literary critics and other humanists to stop wallowing in their aestheticized helplessness and instead turn to poetry, comedy, and love. Literary criticism is an agent of despair, and its poster child is Walter Benjamin. Critics have spent decades stewing in his melancholy. What if, instead, we dared to love poetry, to choose comedy over Hamlet’s tragedy, or to pursue romance over Benjamin’s suicide on the edge of France, of Europe, and of civilization itself? Paul A. Bové challenges young lit critters to throw away their shades and let the sun shine in. Love’s Shadow is his three-step manifesto for a new literary criticism that risks sentimentality and melodrama and eschews self-consciousness. The first step is to choose poetry. There has been since the time of Plato a battle between philosophy and poetry. Philosophy has championed misogyny, while poetry has championed women, like Shakespeare’s Rosalind. Philosophy is ever so stringent; try instead the sober cheerfulness of Wallace Stevens. Bové’s second step is to choose the essay. He praises Benjamin’s great friend and sometime antagonist Theodor Adorno, who gloried in writing essays, not dissertations and treatises. The third step is to choose love. If you want a Baroque hero, make that hero Rembrandt, who brought lovers to life in his paintings. Putting aside passivity and cynicism would amount to a revolution in literary studies. Bové seeks nothing less, and he has a program for achieving it.




The Dragonbone Chair


Book Description

Simon, a young kitchen boy and magician's apprentice, finds his world torn apart by a civil war fueled by immortal enemies and the dark powers of sorcery.




The Witchwood Crown


Book Description

The first book in the ground-breaking epic fantasy saga of Osten Ard! 'Inspired me to write my own seven-book trilogy. It's one of my favourite fantasy series' GEORGE R. R. MARTIN 'A master storyteller, and the Osten Ard books are his masterpiece' BRANDON SANDERSON 'Paved the way for so much modern fantasy. Including mine' PATRICK ROTHFUSS 'One of the great fantasy epics of all time' CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI Thirty years ago Ineluki, the Storm King, was destroyed and his armies scattered. Osten Ard has been at peace ever since, ruled by Simon Snowlock, kitchen boy made king, and Miriamele, King Elias' only child. But now age weighs upon their reign. Simon's dreams have deserted him, old allies die and betrayal and assassination threaten. His son and heir John Josua is years dead and his grandson, Morgan, is a wastrel. A journey of redemption and discovery beckons in the darkening world. And in the frozen North, in Nakkiga, the mountain fortress, Ineluki's ally, the Norn Queen, wakes from her deep, decades-long sleep and tells her followers that she will sleep no more. Humanity must be destroyed. Her sorcerers will bring a demon back from death, her warriors will seek the world for living dragon's blood... And finally the greatest artefact of all, the Witchwood Crown, will be hers. With a cast of hundreds - humans, giants, dragons, trolls, Sithi and Norn - The Witchwood Crown is epic fantasy as it used to be: classic, grand and sweeping and evidence that Tad Williams is the greatest living writer of the form.




Empire of Grass


Book Description

Set in Williams' New York Times bestselling fantasy world, the second book of The Last King of Osten Ard returns to the trials of King Simon and Queen Miriamele as threats to their kingdom loom . . . The kingdoms of Osten Ard have been at peace for decades, but now, the threat of a new war grows to nightmarish proportions. Simon and Miriamele, royal husband and wife, face danger from every side. Their allies in Hernystir have made a pact with the dreadful Queen of the Norns to allow her armies to cross into mortal lands. The ancient, powerful nation of Nabban is on the verge of bloody civil war, and the fierce nomads of the Thrithings grasslands have begun to mobilize, united by superstitious fervor and their age-old hatred of the city-dwellers. But as the countries and peoples of the High Ward bicker among themselves, battle, bloodshed, and dark magics threaten to pull civilizations to pieces. And over it all looms the mystery of the Witchwood Crown, the deadly puzzle that Simon, Miriamele, and their allies must solve if they wish to survive. But as the kingdoms of Osten Ard are torn apart by fear and greed, a few individuals will fight for their own lives and destinies-not yet aware that the survival of everything depends on them. Praise for Tad Williams 'One of my favourite fantasy series' - George R. R. Martin, author of A Game of Thrones 'Ground-breaking . . . changed how people thought of the genre and paved the way for so much modern fantasy, including mine' - Patrick Rothfuss, author of The Kingkiller Chronicle 'One of the main reasons I started writing fantasy . . . Tad Williams' work is an essential part of any science fiction and fantasy library' - Christopher Paolini, author of the Inheritance Cycle series




Court of Shadows


Book Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of Asylum comes the second book in a creepy fantasy series that Publishers Weekly praised as “darkly delightful.” Perfect for fans of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. After the frightful events of last autumn, seventeen-year-old Louisa Ditton has settled into her role as a maid at Coldthistle House, a place of distortions and lies, but she has not settled into what that means for her humanity. As Louisa struggles to figure out whether she is worthy of redemption, the devilish Mr. Morningside plans a fete—one that will bring new guests to Coldthistle House. From wicked humans to Upworlders, angelic beings who look down on Mr. Morningside’s monstrous staff, all are armed with their own brand of self-righteous justice. Even a man claiming to be Louisa’s father has a role to play, though what his true motive is, Louisa cannot tell. The conflicts will eventually come to a head on the grounds of Coldthistle House—and the stakes include Louisa’s very soul. In this second book of Madeleine Roux’s suspenseful House of Furies series, illustrations from artist Iris Compiet and chilling photographs help bring to life a twisted world where the line between monsters and men is ghostly thin. “Takes the reader on a twisting path down a dark hall we’re compelled to travel, no matter what is behind the door at the end. Darkly captivating.” —Mindy McGinnis, Edgar Award-winning author of A Madness So Discreet, on House of Furies




Happy Hour in Hell


Book Description

Bobby Dollar has a problem or four of epic proportions. Problem one: his best friend Sam has given him an angel's feather that also happens to be evidence of an unholy pact between Bobby's employers and those who dwell in the infernal depths. Problem two: Eligor, Grand Duke of Hell, wants to get his claws on the feather at all costs, but particularly at all cost to Bobby . Problem three: Bobby has fallen in love with Casimira, Countess of Cold Hands, who just happens to be Eligor's girlfriend. Problem four: Eligor, aware of Problem three, has whisked Casimira off to the Bottomless Pit itself, telling Bobby he will never see her again unless he hands over the feather. But Bobby, long-time veteran of the endless war between above and below, is not the type of guy who finds Hell intimidating. All he has to do is toss on a demon's body, sneak through the infernal gates, solve the mystery of the angel's feather, and rescue the girl. Saving the day should just be a matter of an eon or two of anguish, mutilation and horror. If only it were that easy.




Stone of Farewell


Book Description

Following a brutal civil war, Osten Ard has been crushed under the rule of the two villainous High Kings. A single hope remains: if the rebels can find the three swords of legend - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn - they might be able to bring the Storm King and evil King Elias down. Once but a humble kitchen-boy, Simon is now Simon Snowlock, dragonslayer and bearer of the mythical sword Thorn. But Simon is more alone than ever before: his friends have been imprisoned and his liege lord, Prince Josua, has been exiled. And the Storm King may also be in possession of one of the swords... A single chance remains: if Simon can deliver Thorn to Joshua and lead his followers to the Stone of Farewell, the rebels may be able to muster the forces necessary to rise up against Elias and the Storm King. But no one knows where the Stone of Farewell is. Or, indeed, what it is... In STONE OF FAREWELL, Tad Williams sets his characters against impossible odds - and proves that the beloved, internationally-bestselling DRAGONBONE CHAIR was no fluke, but one of the greatest fantasy novels of all time.