Freshly returned from his first-ever goblin hunt, Noor is tasked with accompanying Lynne and Ines to the nearby nation of Mithra. But with sinister forces acting behind the scenes, will they even manage to get there? Is the royal capital ready to withstand the nefarious schemes that threaten to destroy it? And, above all else, do poisonous toads make for good eating?! Whatever the case, our humble hero is just glad to be riding in a coach for the very first time—and he’s not about to let a little thing like a deadly assassin get in his way!
Ever since he was a young boy, Noor has wanted to be like the adventurers in his father’s stories—dragon-slayers, curse-breakers, heroes who always save the day. But as everyone knows, to be an adventurer, you’ve gotta have the right skills! Unfortunately for Noor, his [Parry] is bottom-of-the-barrel useless, his prospects are nonexistent, and everybody he knows is telling him to throw in the towel. Faced with this harsh reality, he figures there’s only one thing to do: make up for it with effort! An intense, solitary training regimen ought to do it. If one year won’t cut it, he’ll train for five! If not five, ten! Now facing the tail end of his twenties with no new skills to show for his labors, Noor sets out to become an adventurer anyway, determined to try one last time to make his dream come true. He might be clueless when it comes to adventuring, but he’s no stranger to hard work! Now, if only he can figure out why everyone keeps looking at him like that...
'" When the monstrous Jave attacked, mankind''s strongest warrior died defending humanity--and was reincarnated as a baby. Now, thirteen years later, the Jave have returned! Enrolling in an academy that trains people to use the magic-powered battlesuits known as Division Maneuver, Okegawa Kuon can only operate Division 1, the weakest--until the opportunity to pilot a special, one-of-a-kind suit appears, one that can be activated even with rock-bottom levels of magical power! "'
'A fine example of the new anti-epic fiction at its best . . . This is one of the more brilliant pieces of writing that you're liable to read for a long time.' - Seattle Post-Intelligencer 'One of the major-league fantasy releases of 2011, the highly awaited The White-Luck Warrior by Scott Bakker . . . Nobody can deny the powerful nature of those books . . . Overall [Bakker's books have] enriched the potential of the fantasy genre quite a lot.' - Fantasy Book Critic A score of years after he first walked into the histories of men, Anasûrimbor Kellhus rules all the three seas, the first true aspect-emperor in a thousand years. As Kellhus and his Great Ordeal march ever farther into the perilous wastes of the Ancient North, Esmenet finds herself at war with not only the Gods, but her own family as well. Achamian, meanwhile, leads his own ragtag expedition to the legendary ruins of Sauglish, and to a truth he can scarce survive, let alone comprehend. Into this tumult walks the White Luck Warrior, assassin and messiah both, executing a mission as old as the World's making . . . The second volume in the ambitious and compelling Aspect-Emperor fantasy series Books by R Scott Baker: Prince of Nothing Trilogy The Darkness That Comes Before The Warrior-Prophet The Thousandfold Thought Aspect-Emperor The Judging Eye The White Luck Warrior The Great Ordeal The Unholy Consult Novels Neuropath Disciple of the Dog Light, Time, and Gravity
Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.”—James Baldwin From the Paperback edition.
Within the tenth-floor boss room of the Sazardon Labyrinth, the mighty minotaur awakens once more. Unlike its predecessors, slain at the hands of treasure-seeking adventurers, this monster’s primal urges push it further than ever before. Kill. Consume. Grow stronger. The more powerful its opponent, the more powerful it becomes. Even the very rules of the labyrinth seem to bend to its indomitable will. Can none triumph against this bovine behemoth? Will the minotaur ever meet its match…?
After encountering Ange in Gaun, the Country of Beastkin and learning of the existence of the Apostles, Kelvin, the battle junkie Summoner from another world, and his companions decide to visit the Holy Empire of Deramis. There, they are granted an audience with Pope Philip, who offers them information on Iris, the alleged leader of the Apostles, and Serge, a Hero from lore. Just then, the famous Heroes of the current age happen to return from their own journey to the Western Continent. Unbeknownst to these two groups, Deramis will soon be plunged into a commotion as the Apostles enact the next part of their plot! Come along for the ride as this black-clad Grim Reaper and his friends stand up against a new foe in the eighth volume of this epic journey!
After being dragged to another world with his classmates, hardcore RPG player Makoto Takatsuki has spent his time training and grinding. Nearly a year has gone by since Makoto became an adventurer, and he has finally reached level 20 and iron rank, which should be a cause for celebration... However, despite these accomplishments, Makoto feels as though he’s hit a wall. All seems dim until the goddess Noah tosses him a lifeline—head for the great maze dungeon of Labyrinthos! The place is well-known for its difficulty, but since he and Lucy are now iron rank, they’re strong enough to challenge it. Makoto and Lucy head off to conquer Labyrinthos, fully intending to stay in areas that are relatively safe. But the best-laid plans often go awry, and after an accident plunges them into the depths of the dungeon, the pair end up facing off with both monsters and revelations wildly beyond their expectations.
Kinemitsu Sago suddenly finds himself able to wield telekinesis out of the blue one fateful day. However, unlike in works of fantasy, no beautiful girl barges into his life, no secret organization knocks on his door, and in fact, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happens at all. Eventually forced to come face to face with the reality that his life would remain unremarkable, he snaps and decides to make the extraordinary happen with his own hands! Follow along as he creates it all: a secret organization filled with espers, forces of darkness that threaten the world, protagonists, heroines, rivals, action, romance, and so much more! If you had almighty telekinesis, what would you do?
Before there were bats like Shade, Marina or even Goth, there was a young chiropter—a small arboreal glider—named Dusk. . . . It is 65 million years ago, during a cataclysmic moment in the earth’s evolution, and Dusk, just months old, has no way of knowing he will play a pivotal role in creating a new world. What he does know is that he is different from the other newborn chiropters. Not content to use his large sails to glide down from the giant sequoia tree, Dusk discovers that if he flaps quickly enough, he can fly. But this strange gift that makes him feel like an outcast from the colony will also make him its saviour. After most of the colony is savagely massacred by the felids—the earth’s first mammalian carnivores—Dusk must lead his fellow chiropters to a new home, and a new life. Against a tableau of disappearing dinosaurs and the ascent of the mammal kingdom, Oppel has created an adventure fantasy that sets the stage for the birth of the bats, the story of the forebears of Shade, the beloved hero of the Silverwing series. As with all Silverwing books, it is impossible to simply read Oppel’s Darkwing; each of us enters a world of convincing characters, warring theologies, incredible natural history and a story that roars through head, heart and imagination. A tale that can be read as a stand- lone or as a prequel, Darkwing will be a welcome new classic for the millions of Kenneth Oppel fans.
