A Fantasy, thriller and romance. Cadd thinks he'll spend his life working in the family bakery until the soldiers come for him. The Court Sorceress has foretold that he will escape the siege that tortures the town. Instead, he is captured.A lucky accident saves him from execution and sends him on a perilous mission, where he needs all his resources and the love of a Princess to survive. But that love is based on a lie.
In this middle grade solarpunk novel set in an alternate Egyptian universe, twelve-year-old Ash must compete and survive to become the shadow--and protector--of the prince. FIVE DEADLY TESTS, ONLY ONE SHADOW PRINCE Growing up in a village in the middle of the desert, Ash thinks his future holds nothing but sand, sun, a few annoying bullies, and lots of boring chores. Boy, is he wrong On the night before his twelfth birthday, Ash learns that he was born on the same day as Prince Khufu, which makes him eligible to compete to be the prince's shadow, a coveted position as the friend and bodyguard of the boy destined to be pharaoh of all of Egypt. At first, Ash can't believe it, but when a floating royal barge takes Ash and his mentor to the bustling, magical, solar-powered capital, things get real. What awaits Ash and the candidates is deadly--five days of dangerous tests filled with demon fighting, monster slaying, and magical spells--each overseen by a different Egyptian god. Ash finds two friends willing to fight by his side--the first friends he's ever made. But there are candidates who will lie, cheat, and even harm others to win. Not all will survive, and only one can become the prince's shadow. To make matters worse, Ash is up against Lord Set, the devious god of chaos, who is secretly working to make the candidates fail. But if they do, the very survival of the kingdom is in peril. Can Ash and his new friends save Egypt? And will any of them survive to become the shadow prince?
Borgon the Axeboy and his friends are going to watch the Shadow Trials - the most dangerous contest in the Lost Desert. But they didn't mean to join in! Then one of the contestants challenges Borgon . . . and barbarians NEVER refuse a challenge! After all, all he has to do is race up a deathly mountain, cross a sabre-tooth bear pit, avoid the vultures and escape a skeleton. What could possibly go wrong? With Asterix-style illustrations from award-winning author/illustrator Philip Reeve, this series is set to have you rolling in the desert with laughter.
The extraordinary story of one couple’s determination to free themselves and their children from slavery and make a new life in Canada Prior to abolition in 1865, as many as 40,000 men, women, and children made the perilous trip north from enslavement in the United States to freedom in Canada. Many were aided by networks that came to be known as the Underground Railroad. And the stories that emerge from the past about these journeys are truly remarkable. In A Shadow on the Household, Bryan Prince, a descendant of slaves, brings to life the heart-wrenching story of the Weems family and their struggle to liberate themselves from slavery. John Weems, a man who purchased his own freedom, paid the owner of his enslaved wife and eight children an annual fee to keep them together at one plantation. But when that owner died, the Weemses were cruelly separated and scattered throughout the South. Heartbroken and desperate, John resolved to raise the money to buy his family’s freedom and reunite them. Mining newspapers, private letters, diaries, estate records, marriage registries, and abolitionist papers for details of a story cloaked in secrecy, Bryan Prince has rescued the Weems family and their plight from historical oblivion. An unforgettable story of love and persistence, played out in four countries (the United States, Canada, Jamaica, and the United Kingdom) against the backdrop of the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a growing abolitionist movement, and the heroic efforts of the Underground Railroad, the Weems family saga must be read to be believed.
The author of the Gabriel's Inferno Trilogy reveals a beautiful yet deadly underworld where creatures of the night roam and Gabriel and Julianne become the target of a powerful but elusive enemy... Raven Wood spends her days at Florence’s Uffizi gallery restoring Renaissance art. But an innocent walk home after an evening with friends changes her life forever. When she intervenes in the senseless beating of a homeless man, his attackers turn on her, dragging her into an alley. Raven is only semiconscious when their assault is interrupted by a cacophony of growls followed by her attackers' screams. Mercifully, she blacks out, but not before catching a glimpse of a shadowy figure who whispers to her... Cassita vulneratus. When Raven awakes, she is inexplicably changed. Upon returning to the Uffizi, no one recognizes her. More disturbingly, she discovers that she’s been absent an entire week. With no recollection of her disappearance, Raven learns that her absence coincides with one of the largest robberies in Uffizi history - the theft of a set of priceless Botticelli illustrations. When the police identify her as their prime suspect, Raven is desperate to clear her name. She seeks out one of Florence's wealthiest and most elusive men in an attempt to uncover the truth. Their encounter leads Raven to a dark underworld whose inhabitants kill to keep their secrets... THIS EDITION ONLY: Includes Bonus Scenes
In the Houses of Montague and Capulet, there is only one goal: power. The boys are born to fight and die for honor and—if they survive—marry for influence and money, not love. The girls are assets, to be spent wisely. Their wishes are of no import. Their fates are written on the day they are born. Benvolio Montague, cousin to Romeo, knows all this. He expects to die for his cousin, for his house, but a spark of rebellion still lives inside him. At night, he is the Prince of Shadows, the greatest thief in Verona—and he risks all as he steals from House Capulet. In doing so, he sets eyes on convent-bound Rosaline, and a terrible curse begins that will claim the lives of many in Verona… …And will rewrite all their fates, forever.
A romantic fantasy about a former mercenary enslaved to a cruel sorcerer falling in love with a noble lady who is secretly the last mage in their kingdom.
Llesho was seven when the Harn invaded his family’s mountain kingdom of Thebin. Sold into slavery on Pearl Island, he was, as far as he know, the sole survivor of his royal family. When Llesho was ten, the old man called Lleck secretly began to undertake the boy’s education. But when Llesho was fifteen, Lleck died, and his spirit visited the boy while he worked the pearl beds, revealing his true destiny to him. All six of his older brothers were still alive! Llesho must win his freedom, find and rescue his brothers, and with their help raise an army against the evil Harn. But as a pearl diver he would never be allowed off the island. So llesho petitioned his lord to be trained as a gladiator, thus taking the first step on a road that would lead to conflicts with sorcerers, encounters with the avatars of gods, and a dangerous journey in search of the widely scattered family he had never expected to see again…
Set in an alternate nineteenth century, muskets and magic are weapons to be feared in the first “spectacular epic” (Fantasy Book Critic) in Django Wexler’s Shadow Campaigns series. Captain Marcus d’Ivoire, commander of one of the Vordanai empire’s colonial garrisons, was serving out his days in a sleepy, remote outpost—until a rebellion left him in charge of a demoralized force clinging to a small fortress at the edge of the desert. To flee from her past, Winter Ihernglass masqueraded as a man and enlisted as a ranker in the Vordanai Colonials, hoping only to avoid notice. But when chance sees her promoted to command, she must lead her men into battle against impossible odds. Their fate depends on Colonel Janus bet Vhalnich. Under his command, Marcus and Winter feel the tide turning and their allegiance being tested. For Janus’s ambitions extend beyond the battlefield and into the realm of the supernatural—a realm with the power to reshape the known world and change the lives of everyone in its path.
