200 results for "Fantasy"

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

The mermaid, the witch, and the sea

Tokuda-Hall, Maggie
A desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial daughter find a connection on the high seas in a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic. Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. The brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don't trust, don't stick out, don't feel. When the pirates prepare to sell their unsuspecting passengers into slavery, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is en route to a dreaded arranged marriage with her own casket in tow. The pair set into motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood, which causes men to have visions and lose memories) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, and the all-encompassing Sea itself.
Candlewick Press 2020 357 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

Children's fantasy literature: an introduction

Levy, Michael,Mendlesohn, Farah
"Fantasy has been an important and much-loved part of children's literature for hundreds of years, yet relatively little has been written about it. Children's Fantasy Literature traces the development of the tradition of the children's fantastic - fictions specifically written for children and fictions appropriated by them; from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century, examining the work of Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, C. S. Lewis, Roald Dahl, J. K. Rowling and others from across the English-speaking world. The volume considers changing views on both the nature of the child and on the appropriateness of fantasy for the child reader, the role of children's fantasy literature in helping to develop the imagination, and its complex interactions with issues of class, politics and gender. The text analyses hundreds of works of fiction, placing each in its appropriate context within the tradition of fantasy literature"--
Cambridge University Press 2016-04-21 274 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

Time trials

Rothman, M. A.,Butler, D. J.
"Marty Cohen was a gifted linguist and student of ancient military strategy who stepped away from academic Egyptology and opened a woodworking shop. Away from the bitter politics and petty rivalries, he's happy to take care of his people, play the occasional war game, and try to make a good life. He discovers mysterious visions rob him of sleep, and then he gets summoned back to Egypt: an off-the-grid dig funded by an eccentric financier has discovered texts that may be the earliest Egypt has produced, and they'll pay Marty silly amounts of cash just to fly out and take one little look. Marty turned his back on the academia game, but he's a small business owner who has to make payroll during a recession, and he can't say no to the money. But the texts open doors to more visions and to an astonishing journey: the ragtag team of archaeologists finds itself in protohistoric North Africa, a drying land dominated by monsters, where humanity is badly in need of champions. And behind the war against the monster overlords lies a greater struggle: Marty and his team have been chosen to be champions of all Earth and to run a gauntlet on humanity's behalf. Failure will mean extinction"--
Baen 2023-03-07 361 pages

Odysseus in the serpent maze

Yolen, Jane
Before they were heroes... 'Rescue? Is that what you call it? Throw a rock and then run? And I bet that's as far ahead as you'd planned.' Penelope made a face. 'Boys! Always thinking about heroics and never about what needs to happen day to day.' Odysseus, Prince of Ithaca, has always been safe, sheltered, protected - and bored! The Age of Heroes is past. The wars are over. The monsters have all been slain. Or so he believes. Are there any adventures left for a thirteen-year-old boy who wants, more than anything, to be a hero? His time comes when Odysseus, his best friend Mentor, a spoiled princess named Helen and her outspoken cousin Penelope are kidnapped by pirates. It is the start of an adventure-filled journey that leads them to the ancient island of Crete. There, Odysseus must face the deadly secret in the Labyrinth, where the Minotaur once devoured all who were unfortunate enough to enter. Now another, more deadly monster roams the maze. There the boy destined to fight in the Trojan War and survive the perilous voyage of the Odyssey discovers the hardest part of being a hero: living long enough to tell the tale.
Collins Voyager 2002 254 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

The uncertain places: a novel

Goldstein, Lisa
2012 Mythopoeic Award Winner In this long-awaited new novel from American Book Award winner Lisa Goldstein, an ages-old family secret breaches the boundaries between reality and magic, revealing the places between them. When Berkeley student Will Taylor is introduced by his best friend, Ben, to the mysterious Feierabend sisters, Will quickly falls for enigmatic Livvy, a chemistry major and accomplished chef. But Livvy's family--vivacious actress Maddie, family historian Rose, and their mother, absent-minded Sylvia--are behaving strangely. The Feierabend women believe that luck is their handmaiden, and so it is, almost as though they are living in a fairy tale. But the price for such gifts is extremely high. Will and Ben will unravel the riddle of a supernatural bargain, hoping to save Livvy from what appears to be an inescapable fate.
Tachyon Publications 2011 237 pages