15 results for "Fantasy"

Videssos cycle. Volume one. The misplaced Legion and an Emperor for the Legion

Turtledove, Harry
Experience one of the most beloved series in fantasy—as could only be imagined by “the standard-bearer for alternate history” ( USA Today ). Harry Turtledove’s many New York Times bestsellers provide an intriguing take on history’s most crucial moments, but he honed his speculative talents in a different genre: fantasy. The Videssos Cycle is the perfect fusion of the two. Collected here are the first two novels of Turtledove’s one-of-a-kind saga, in which a Roman legion is transported to a strange realm where magic rules. THE MISPLACED LEGION In a duel for survival, the Roman military tribune Marcus Aemilius Scaurus raises his sword, blessed by a Druid priest, against a Celtic chieftain, who brandishes a blade of his own. At the moment the weapons touch, Marcus and his legion find themselves under a strange night sky, full of unfamiliar stars, where Rome and Gaul are unknown. They are in an outpost of the embattled Empire of Videssos—a world that will test their skill and courage as no soldiers have ever been tested before. AN EMPEROR FOR THE LEGION In the capital of Videssos, a coward and betrayer has seized the throne. There, behind great walls that have always made the city impregnable to storm or siege, he rules with the aid of dark sorcery. Overthrowing him seems impossible and the imperial army has already fled in panic from the savage victors. But there is no panic in the legion. Now Marcus Scaurus leads his men through the chaos and enemy hordes in search of winter quarters, to regroup and do the unthinkable: take the untakeable city.
Del Rey/Ballantine Books 2013-04-02 653 pages

Through the darkness

Turtledove, Harry
Book Three - World War 2 meets epic fantasy... As th4 war which consumes Dervelai drags on, the reserves of Algarve are ever more stretched. King Mezentio's armies become sucked into the huge landmass of Unkerlant. As more and more of the hated Kaunians are sacrificed for blood magic, conquered races are indected into the Algarvian army, and their fighting edge becomes blunted. While at home, both men and women come to doubt the war and its purposes. Harry Turtledove's blending of World War Two with fantasyhas already gained enormous praise. As a myriad of characters deal with reality, this is a tapestry of the finest writing the genre can create.
Earthlight 2001 471 pages

Krispos the emperor

Turtledove, Harry
Krispos had held the throne of Videssos since he was scarcely more than a peasant youth. But now a strange heresy has taken root in the land, a hidden dissent that is flaring into open revolt. As Krispos leads his legions with his three sons, against the rebels, one son disappears into the rebel ranks. Then the renegades seize the day, and Krispos wages an ever more desperate war against an implacable foe that would not scruple to set brother against brother, father against son....
Ballantine Books 1994 387 pages

Krispos of Videssos

Turtledove, Harry
Against all expectations, Krispos had won the crown of Videssos. But how long could he hope to keep head and crown together? For trouble was brewing in every, quarter. Civil war erupted under Petronas, the late Emperor's uncle. A brilliant general and a canny politician, Petronas had a very personal score to settle against the upstart Krispos. And even as rebel troops took the field against the untried Emperor, outland raiders swept down from the northlands in a tide of carnage. The power stemmed from foulest sorcery, and Videssos' wizards could not counter its evil curse. Krispos reign showed every sign of being brief -- and very bloody...
Del Rey 1991 355 pages

The thousand cities

Turtledove, Harry
A dazzling new fantasy for all the fans of the Videssos Cycle! As the sun gleamed off the gilded domes of Videssos the city, Abivard, marshal of Makuran and son of Godarz, pondered the impossible. How could he carry out the command of Sharbaraz, King of Kings, to destroy the invincible Empire of Videssos? Then, against all expectations, the Emperor of Videssos invaded Makuran itself. Abivard was thrust on the defensive, forced homeward to drive the invaders from the fabled land of the thousand cities. Abivard needed not only his greatest battle skills but his most powerful magicians, for no one doubted that Videssian military strategy would be accompanied by the finest sorcery. Yet even as reality reversed itself and renegades plotted Abivard's ruin, the undaunted warrior vowed never to surrender . . .
Ballatine Books 1997 404 pages

The time of troubles II

Turtledove, Harry
Abrivard, marshal of Makuran, has been given an impossible task by his King: destroy the mighty Empire of Videssos. Even as he pondered how to obey, Videssos's legions are on the march, attacking Makuran first. Abrivard finds himself fighting a defensive war, putting his great battle skills to the task of driving the invaders from his home, the land of the Thousand Cities. But even as he struck back at the invader, he realized that force of arms alone would not carry the day, for Videssos's powerful sorcerers were the stuff of legend, and a strong sword arm could not stand against potent battle spell which could strike the mightiest warrior dead, from miles away...
Bean Pub. Enterprises 2005 749 pages

Every inch a king

Turtledove, Harry
Otto of Schlepsig is risking his neck as an acrobat in a third-rate circus in the middle of nowhere when news arrives that the land of Shqiperi has invited Prince Halim Eddin to become its new king. Otto doesn't know the prince from Adam, but he does happen to look just like him-a coincidence that inspires Otto with a mad plan to assume Halim's identity and rule in his stead. True, Shqiperi is an uncivilized backwater, but even in uncivilized backwaters kings live better than acrobats. Plus, kingship in Shqiperi comes with a harem. Rank, as they say, has its privileges. With his friend Max, a sword-swallowing giant whose chronic cough makes every performance a potential tonsillectomy, Otto embarks on a rollicking journey filled with feats of derring-do, wondrous magic, and beautiful maidens-well, beautiful women. And that's before he enters a royal world that is truly fantastical.
ISFiC Press 2005 314 pages