Outlander (Outlander, #1) by Diana Gabaldon Published by Dell Publishing Company on July 26, 2005
Pages: 850
The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy, #1) by Jacqueline Carey Also by this author: Starless
Published by Tor Fantasy on September 5, 2003
Pages: 1015
The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good... and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.
Phèdre nó Delaunay is a young woman who was born with a scarlet mote in her left eye. Sold into indentured servitude as a child, her bond is purchased by Anafiel Delaunay, a nobleman with very a special mission... and the first one to recognize who and what she is: one pricked by Kushiel's Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one.
Phèdre is trained equally in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber, but, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Almost as talented a spy as she is courtesan, Phèdre stumbles upon a plot that threatens the very foundations of her homeland. Treachery sets her on her path; love and honor goad her further. And in the doing, it will take her to the edge of despair... and beyond. Hateful friend, loving enemy, beloved assassin; they can all wear the same glittering mask in this world, and Phèdre will get but one chance to save all that she holds dear.
Set in a world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, this is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel's Dart-a massive tale about the violent death of an old age, and the birth of a new.
Sins of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder, #1) by Brian McClellan Also by this author: Promise of Blood, The Crimson Campaign
Published by Orbit on March 7, 2017
Pages: 624
The young nation of Fatrasta is a turbulent place - a frontier destination for criminals, fortune-hunters, brave settlers, and sorcerers seeking relics of the past. Only the iron will of the lady chancellor and her secret police holds the capital city of Landfall together against the unrest of a suppressed population and the machinations of powerful empires.
The insurrection that threatens Landfall must be purged with wile and force, a task which falls on the shoulders of a spy named Michel Bravis, convicted war hero Ben Styke, and Lady Vlora Flint, a mercenary general with a past as turbulent as Landfall's present.
As loyalties are tested, revealed, and destroyed, a grim specter as old as time has been unearthed in this wild land, and the people of Landfall will soon discover that rebellion is the least of their worries.
Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3) by Brandon Sanderson Also by this author: Steelheart, Words of Radiance
Published by Tor Books on November 14, 2017
Pages: 1248
In Oathbringer, the third volume of the New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive, humanity faces a new Desolation with the return of the Voidbringers, a foe with numbers as great as their thirst for vengeance.
Dalinar Kholin's Alethi armies won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, which now sweeps the world with destruction, and in its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified.
Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar's blood-soaked past and stand together--and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past--even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization.
Daughter of the Forest (Sevenwaters, #1) by Juliet Marillier Also by this author: Dreamer's Pool, Tower of Thorns
Published by Tom Doherty Associates on February 18, 2002
Pages: 554
Lovely Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Bereft of a mother, she is comforted by her six brothers who love and protect her. Sorcha is the light in their lives, they are determined that she know only contentment.
But Sorcha's joy is shattered when her father is bewitched by his new wife, an evil enchantress who binds her brothers with a terrible spell, a spell which only Sorcha can lift-by staying silent. If she speaks before she completes the quest set to her by the Fair Folk and their queen, the Lady of the Forest, she will lose her brothers forever.
When Sorcha is kidnapped by the enemies of Sevenwaters and taken to a foreign land, she is torn between the desire to save her beloved brothers, and a love that comes only once. Sorcha despairs at ever being able to complete her task, but the magic of the Fair Folk knows no boundaries, and love is the strongest magic of them all...
Age of Assassins (The Wounded Kingdom, #1) by R.J. Barker Published by Orbit on August 1, 2017
Pages: 408
To catch an assassin, use an assassin...
Girton Club-foot, apprentice to the land's best assassin, still has much to learn about the art of taking lives. But his latest mission tasks him and his master with a far more difficult challenge: to save a life. Someone, or many someones, is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it is up to Girton and his master to uncover the traitor and prevent the prince's murder.
In a kingdom on the brink of civil war and a castle thick with lies Girton finds friends he never expected, responsibilities he never wanted, and a conspiracy that could destroy an entire kingdom.
The King's Blood (The Dagger and the Coin, #2) by Daniel Abraham Also by this author: The Dragon's Path
Published by Orbit on May 3, 2012
Pages: 501
The sequel to the acclaimed series launch, The Dragon’s Path, is the perfect summer read for fans of George R. R. Martin.
War casts its shadow over the lands that the dragons once ruled. Only the courage of a young woman with the mind of a gambler and loyalty to no one stands between hope and universal darkness.
The high and powerful will fall, the despised and broken shall rise up, and everything will be remade. And quietly, almost beneath the notice of anyone, an old, broken-hearted warrior and an apostate priest will begin a terrible journey with an impossible goal: destroy a Goddess before she eats the world.
The Vanishing Throne (The Falconer, #2) by Elizabeth May Also by this author: The Falconer (The Falconer, #1)
Published by Chronicle Books on June 21, 2016
Pages: 458
Everything she loved is gone.
Trapped. Aileana Kameron, the Falconer, disappeared through the fae portal she was trying to close forever. Now she wakes in an alien world of mirrors, magic, and deception—a prisoner of the evil fae Lonnrach, who has a desperate and deadly plan for his new captive.
Tortured. Time after agonizing time Lonnrach steals Aileana’s memories, searching for knowledge to save his world. Just when she’s about to lose all hope, Aileana is rescued by an unexpected ally and returns home, only to confront a terrifying truth. The city of Edinburgh is now an unrecognizable wasteland. And Aileana knows the devastation is all her fault.
Transformed. The few human survivors are living in an underground colony, in an uneasy truce with a remnant of the fae. It is a fragile alliance, but an even greater danger awaits: the human and fae worlds may disappear forever. Only Aileana can save both worlds, but in order to do so she must awaken her latent Falconer powers. And the price of doing so might be her life…
The Fifth House of the Heart by Ben Tripp Published by Gallery Books on July 28, 2015
Pages: 400
Filled with characters as menacing as they are memorable, this chilling twist on vampire fiction packs a punch in the bestselling tradition of ’Salem’s Lot by Stephen King.
Asmodeus “Sax” Saxon-Tang, a vainglorious and well-established antiques dealer, has made a fortune over many years by globetrotting for the finest lost objects in the world. Only Sax knows the true secret to his success: at certain points of his life, he’s killed vampires for their priceless hoards of treasure.
But now Sax’s past actions are quite literally coming back to haunt him, and the lives of those he holds most dear are in mortal danger. To counter this unnatural threat, and with the blessing of the Holy Roman Church, a cowardly but cunning Sax must travel across Europe in pursuit of incalculable evil—and immeasurable wealth—with a ragtag team of mercenaries and vampire killers to hunt a terrifying, ageless monster…one who is hunting Sax in turn.
From author Ben Tripp, whose first horror novel Rise Again “raises the stakes so high that the book becomes nearly impossible to put down” (Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother), The Fifth House of the Heart is a powerful story that will haunt you long after its final pages.
The Reapers are the Angels (Reapers, #1) by Alden Bell Published by Holt McDougal on August 3, 2010
Pages: 225
Zombies have infested a fallen America. A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.
For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself - and keeping her demons inside. She can't remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.
So many tomes too! Great list. I have to get to Daughter of the Forest as well.
Lisa @ waytoofantasy recently posted…This Week In Reading: Who Needs Sleep?
Funny how the tomes stay on the TBR a bit longer
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday – Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
Kushiels Dart and Daughter if the Forest are both waiting for me to read them as well ? not enough time!
No kidding! Time is always the issue
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday – Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
Ugh Kushiel’s Dart! I still need to read that too.
Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday [323] – THE WITCH’S KIND by Louisa Morgan
I know, I keep thinking “I’m going to read that soon!” Then I am reminded of the page count, and then I remember review books I still need to read, and then it continues to sit on my TBR
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday – Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
I did read 3 of them and really enjoyed them!
Excellent!
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday – Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
Yeah, I’m terrible at getting to sequels. The King’s Blood and the second Falconer book are book 2s I really need to get to as well.
Kings Blood I bought the day I finished Book 1 because I enjoyed it so much. But somehow never actually read it!
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday – Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
I remember wanting to read the Falconer series- I still should, I always liked the sound of it. I’ve heard good things about Marillier’s and carey’s books also.
Greg recently posted…Top Ten Backlist Books
I really enjoyed the first one in the Falconer series, which I did audiobook for. I kept waiting for audio for books 2 and 3, but it never happened 🙁 Now I still need to read them
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday – Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
Nice list! I’ve had my eye on Daughter of the Forest for a while now. Several bookish friends have been urging me to read it. 🙂 And I’m a huge Outlander fan, so I’m always happy to see people thinking of reading it for the first time.
Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Backlist Books I Want to Read
I love the Outlander show and keep thinking I need to read the books because my guess is that I’ll love them even more.
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday – Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
A great list – I want to get hold of the Jacqueline Carey book, too. I hope you love Daughter of the Forest and The Vanishing Throne as much as I did:)
I loved the Blackthorn and Grim series, so guessing I’ll love Daughter of the Forest as well. And I loved the first book in the Falconer series as well
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday – Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
I need to read Oathbringer and Daughter of the Forest. Oathbringer is so huge though. It just distracts me – even though I’m probably going to love it.
Lynn 😀
I’ve been collecting the Juliet Marillier books and want to read Daughters of the Forest too. Anne – Books of My Heart
Northwoman recently posted…Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews
It’s like you took a peek inside my brain–I need to read like 60% of these too! I should really get started on Oathbringer before I forget everything about the previous two books.
Sins of Empire is AMAZING!!! I recently finished its sequel and it was just as good if not better. Such a great world with compelling characters. I couldn’t recommend it enough.
SANDERSON!!!! That is all.
Nadine recently posted…Surviving Ice (Burying Water #4) – K.A. Tucker