'Hear the Brhunye Taal, speak the Brhunye Taal...' The powers of Darkness are growing in the realm of Lindfel. King Ammoron and his scheming chancellor, Lord Damon, rule the land with tyranny. But there is hope, as the prophetic Far-Seer Sandivar leads a rebellion against the king. Gideon is the third son of a provincial noble and a university student unconcerned with politics or power. But in a tragic encounter, his life is upturned, and he finds himself in the midst of the struggle to restore justice by deposing King Ammoron. If Gideon is to survive the conflict, he must master the Brhunye Taal, the ancient power of the One God, Iomthal. Only when he learns to hear the Brhunye Taal, and then speak with its power, will he succeed. The fate of the entire realm lies in his hands. Gideon and Sandivar are joined on their quest by a mysterious warrior, Teanhi, and a fugitive princess, Jenivere. Together, they are chased across the realm by the king's fearsome warriors, as each of them becomes entwined in the rebellion, and part of the King's Fall.
The epic conclusion in the All the Dark Souls Trilogy. Still reeling from their journey, Joss Brevyn—along with her assistant, Henrik, and the lost prince, Callan Ronen—have finally made it to Aselian. But what should have been a celebrated homecoming has been marred with tension, not knowing who to trust ever since learning that the Mask and his henchmen are rooted in Callan’s past. While getting inside the city walls may be easy, it’s reaching the royal family that proves to be difficult since the Mask has remained one step ahead of them. Truths will be revealed, new betrayals will surface, and a fight for the crown will begin, destroying more in its path than anyone expected. Aric Kayden, however, is glad to be home… until he realizes that he, too, has been betrayed. With a plot to kill him underway, Aric has a battle of his own that takes him all the way underneath the city’s streets. While it was never his intention to fight for the crown, Aric soon learns that he may have no choice if he wants to protect the woman that he loves. Bound in a final battle to save the prince, both Joss and Aric are forced to confront their fate, which may bring deadlier consequences than intended. Because Aselian has a threat hiding inside its walls—one that endangers not only them but the entirety of the realm.
The Celestial King is the heart of the kingdom. He ensures peace and prosperity. His time of death has come. As the Celestial King is slowly dying, the Kingdom of Narilan is withering away. In these harsh times, people pray for a just and compassionate ruler. Yet rumors speak of a powerful and merciless warrior who is already on the way. This is his tale.
This stunning follow-up to Ellen Kushner’s cult-classic novel, Swordspoint, is set in the same world of labyrinthine intrigue, where sharp swords and even sharper wits rule. Against a rich tapestry of artists and aristocrats, students, strumpets, and spies, a gentleman and a scholar will find themselves playing out an ancient drama destined to explode their society’s smug view of itself–and reveal that sometimes the best price of uncovering history is being forced to repeat it…. The Fall of the Kings Generations ago the last king fell, taking with him the final truths about a race of wizards who ruled at his side. But the blood of the kings runs deep in the land and its people, waiting for the coming together of two unusual men, Theron Campion, a young nobleman of royal lineage, is heir to an ancient house and a modern scandal. Tormented by his twin duties to his family and his own bright spirit, he seeks solace in the University. There he meets Basil St. Cloud, a brilliant and charismatic teacher ruled by a passion for knowledge–and a passion for the ancient kings. Of course, everyone now knows that the wizards were charlatans and the kings their dupes and puppets. Only Basil ins not convinced–nor is he convinced that the city has seen its last king…
I was a nanny in need of a job. He was darkness personified. I had little to call my own. He was filthy rich, powerful, and dangerous. The assignment was simple, and my goal was too. Take care of his son. Keep my head down. When he least expects it, destroy him. It should have been easy. I thought it would be until I looked into his stark blue eyes. Kissing the enemy is a bad idea, but so is falling in love with him. He doesn't know my crumbling foundation is built on lies. When he discovers the truth, I'll find out if he's as brutal as I believe. I came here to steal his life. I didn't count on him stealing my heart.
More than two decades ago, John Galliano and Alexander McQueen arrived on the fashions scene when the business was in an artistic and economic rut. Both wanted to revolutionize fashion in a way no one had in decades. They shook the establishment out of its bourgeois, minimalist stupor with daring, sexy designs. They turned out landmark collections in mesmerizing, theatrical shows that retailers and critics still gush about and designers continue to reference. Their approach to fashion was wildly different—Galliano began as an illustrator, McQueen as a Savile Row tailor. Galliano led the way with his sensual bias-cut gowns and his voluptuous hourglass tailoring, which he presented in romantic storybook-like settings. McQueen, though nearly ten years younger than Galliano, was a brilliant technician and a visionary artist who brought a new reality to fashion, as well as an otherworldly beauty. For his first official collection at the tender age of twenty-three, McQueen did what few in fashion ever achieve: he invented a new silhouette, the Bumster. They had similar backgrounds: sensitive, shy gay men raised in tough London neighborhoods, their love of fashion nurtured by their doting mothers. Both struggled to get their businesses off the ground, despite early critical success. But by 1997, each had landed a job as creative director for couture houses owned by French tycoon Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH. Galliano’s and McQueen’s work for Dior and Givenchy and beyond not only influenced fashion; their distinct styles were also reflected across the media landscape. With their help, luxury fashion evolved from a clutch of small, family-owned businesses into a $280 billion-a-year global corporate industry. Executives pushed the designers to meet increasingly rapid deadlines. For both Galliano and McQueen, the pace was unsustainable. In 2010, McQueen took his own life three weeks before his womens' wear show. The same week that Galliano was fired, Forbes named Arnault the fourth richest man in the world. Two months later, Kate Middleton wore a McQueen wedding gown, instantly making the house the world’s most famous fashion brand, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened a wildly successful McQueen retrospective, cosponsored by the corporate owners of the McQueen brand. The corporations had won and the artists had lost. In her groundbreaking work Gods and Kings, acclaimed journalist Dana Thomas tells the true story of McQueen and Galliano. In so doing, she reveals the revolution in high fashion in the last two decades—and the price it demanded of the very ones who saved it.
In the conclusion of the trilogy retelling the story of Homer's "Iliad," the allies of the Mykene king Agamemnon, including a reluctant Odysseus, ruler of Ithaca, and the fierce warrior Achilles, gather to prepare a final onslaught against the Golden City of Troy.
Ken Follett’s magnificent historical epic begins as five interrelated families move through the momentous dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage. A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man’s world in the mining pits. . . . An American law student rejected in love finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House. . . . A housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy. . . . And two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution. From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes us into the inextricably entangled fates of five families—and into a century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same again. . . .
