We’re doing things a little differently this time around.
I mentioned last year when I shared a list of 51 independently published fantasy books published in 2021 that it was difficult to create a list of upcoming releases because indie publishing works on a very different timeline. And because of that, indie fantasy books don’t get the same kind of attention.
For an indie author, there is so much hard work put into their books, and I wanted to celebrate that and create a resource for those looking to try some fantasy they may not have heard of.
It is still difficult to compile, so it is by no means a complete list, but this has been several months in the making and hopefully you will find something new and wonderful to add to your TBR pile!
This year, the list is a big one as I tried to add to it throughout all of 2022. Because of that, I’ve split it into young adult and adult fantasy categories. Rather than me making a poor attempt to summarize the book blurbs, I’ve included them in their entirety this time around, as well as links to Goodreads and Amazon in case you want to buy one or add it to your TBR. Let me know if you like it this way or if you prefer how I did it last year!
Once again, all of the books on this list are standalones or the first in a series, so you can pick it up right away!
Here are 105 indie fantasy books published in 2022!
Young Adult Fantasy
1. If Light Above (A War of Whispers #1) by Lily Anne Crow
The kingdom’s only hopes are a wounded soldier, a dead-beat noble, and a killer.
Osmund Benwickery, former captain general in the king’s army, burdened by a useless left arm and a dwindling sense of self-worth, has been hired for the most important job of his life. The young queen is dead, the newborn prince is missing, and the king has narrowly survived assassination. Osmund must solve the treacherous plot before either the infant prince is lost forever or the king’s assassins return – and succeed.
Phrai, a hired blade with a bloody reputation, wants nothing more than to numb the pain of the past. Tamrion Kinto, an idealistic young nobleman with a clever tongue, can’t seem to stay out of trouble. When their paths intertwine, Phrai and Tamrion find themselves dragged into dangerous complications that will change the way they view the world, themselves, and each other.
Shinowyn Alva, castle seamstress and dressmaker to the late queen, slips among the shadows, watching the deadly game of power unfolding in the capital city. But what secrets does Shinowyn hide behind her peculiar smile and mismatched eyes? Is she simply another pawn, or will she have the nerve to play?
The game is conspiracy and the pieces are set. As Fate weaves these four lives together, events unfold that will threaten their kingdom and challenge their very beliefs. Can they put aside their differences and band together long enough to hold back the darkness?
2. Seeds of Glory and Ruin by Melanie Cellier
Two sisters. Two seeds of power. One Mage’s Guild, and an unprecedented new power—but which sister does it belong to?
Cadence and her sister possess the seeds of glory and ruin—or so their father always insisted. Cadence never understood what he meant until Airlie’s seed of power is activated, turning her into the most powerful mage in generations. Despite knowing it must mean her own dormant seed is much more malevolent, Cadence is swept away to the distant Mage’s Guild in her sister’s wake. She’s used to living in Airlie’s shadow, but she can’t see a place for herself in this new world.
Nor can she believe in the apparent interest of the charming Zeke. No one has ever chosen her over her beautiful sister.
But leaving her new home isn’t an option. Plagued by questions from her isolated childhood, Cadence needs answers, and the Guild might hold them. But as the revelations grow, Cadence must find a way to conceal the truth from her new companions before the sisters’ secrets turn everyone against them.
And as word of Airlie’s power spreads, new danger emerges. Across the kingdom’s border, a threat is growing among the ruins of their former neighbor—enemies who will do anything to get their hands on the sisters and the seeds they contain. No longer able to shelter behind Airlie, Cadence must make a choice. Will she embrace her power—whatever it might be—or pursue a different path?
3. The Final Heir by Jon Monson
The world is free. The world is mine.
Some call him the Usurper, the Destroyer of Worlds. Mahzun calls himself the Savior of Man. A decade of war has brought him to the precipice of victory.
Zahara, a prodigious mage, is destined to wield the Power of Creation and put an end to the Usurper. But when that power mistakenly falls to Ekarath, her best friend and elite soldier incapable of casting the simplest of spells, destiny must be questioned. Will the Usurper complete his victory? Or will Ekarath find the strength to be the hero he wasn’t destined to be?
4. Worldwalker (The Banneret #1) by Jamie Dalton
The dead start talking when Adalyn’s magic awakens.
Adalyn’s life as a cook in the king’s kitchen will soon end when the spirits of the past reach out to her warning that things are not all as they seem in the Kingdom of Peiruin.
Having long since rid itself of magic the world has not seen a human with magical power in five hundred years. Overwhelmed that her life may be forfeit if her newfound abilities are discovered, Adalyn must find the strength to rise to the challenge of being the only worldwalker.
On her quest to hone her magic, Adalyn enlists the help of the secret race of dwarves and elves and discovers she may be the key to saving them all — or bringing the kingdom a war that’s long overdue.
5. A Quest of Blood and Stone (Seod Croi Chronicles #1) by S. Usher Evans
Find the most powerful magical object ever created, win the princess’s heart – or so they think.
In six weeks, Princess Ayla will assume the throne left vacant by her murdered father. But without the magical Pennlan stone, stolen by her evil fae stepmother, Ayla fears her reign may be short-lived.
Cade, her best friend and wizard apprentice, has been tasked to retrieve the stone from the dangerous fae realm. Completing this quest will be the last step toward becoming a fully-fledged wizard—and may just win the heart of his beloved princess. But Cade’s not going alone. Ward, a knight eager to prove himself, has been tapped to escort him – and has his eye on the princess as well.
But as their journey takes them farther from home, a mysterious fae girl begins to follow them, swearing their quest is a lie and there’s more to the king’s death then they’ve been told. And most importantly: she knows exactly where to find the stone.
6. Bones to the Wind (A Forging of Age #1) by Tatiana Obey
Rasia is determined to destroy her old man’s record in the Forging, a trial each child must succeed to come of age. All Rasia needs to do is hunt down a gonda, hitch its tentacle ass to her windship, and haul it back home in record time. Easy. Or it would be if Rasia wasn’t stuck on the same team as Nico—a know-it-all, spoiled, grubworm who never does anything Rasia tells her to do.
Nico doesn’t care about Rasia’s egotistical dreams of glory. This is her brother’s last chance to pass the Forging or her father is going to banish him from the family. She needs to scour the desert to find whatever team the bones placed him on and help him kill a gonda before it kills him.
Too bad Nico and Rasia can’t get along to steer a windship straight.
7. A Shimmer of Magic (The Crystal Mages #1) by Jane Shand
Elin believes she will never belong
Her magic is too dangerous.
Elin is pulled into a dangerous quest and her life is changed forever when she is found by Kamaria – a mage with her own issues – and a group of rangers. Kamaria is desperate to prove herself and Elin could be the key.
Elin struggles with her burgeoning friendships, learning to control her magic, and her feelings for the grey-eyed ranger, Kai. All while contending with renegade mages, assassins, and deadly creatures from legend. She also learns secrets from her past and the reason why her parents abandoned her as a baby.
She discovers that her dead parents have bequeathed her a heavy responsibility, as well as a key. A key that could release a dark mage.
Elin will need to rein in her dangerous magic before evil is unleashed across the world.
8. Sign of the Knife by R.C. Leach
I clutched the knife under my cloak and stared at the flames rising into the night, stunned at what I’d just done.
Oh, dear gods.
Mira is a fighter, an assassin for the elite Order. But when she’s chosen to kill the crown prince, she accidentally kills the wrong person. As she struggles to fix her mistakes before they cost her life, Mira begins to question everything she’s ever known, including who she really is.
9. Dragon’s Kiss (Blood and Flame Saga #1) by E.A Winters
Every month, the great black dragon comes.
Every month, a child is snatched.
That’s all the village of Kalma knows. But Semra was one of those children, and she knows the truth: there is a dragonlord in the mountain, raising the children into his own personal syndicate of assassins.
When seventeen-year-old Semra learns they aren’t fighting evil but are in fact evil themselves, she risks everything to expose the dragonlord. As one young, nobody assassin against the king’s security and an army of her former colleagues bent on her destruction, Semra must uncover the truth and save the royal family before the dragonlord rips them apart and plunges the kingdom into war.
10. From Crown to Blade (Crown & Blade #1) by J.H. Dark
Twin sisters. One destined to rule; the other destined to fight. A quest that will destroy the fabric of magic.
Princess Naomi, the rightful heir of Wildbriar, learned at a very young age she must neglect her heart in favor of duty, even as she jealously watches her twin sister, Nayeli, do as she pleases.
But the seemingly carefree Princess Nayeli, the King’s Champion, has duties of her own. Despite her passion for training with the soldiers, Nayeli nonetheless dreads the day she’ll become Commander of Naomi’s army and be forced to uphold their father’s legacy-to protect Wildbriar from the war currently raging between three powerful kingdoms on the other side of the continent.
During their eighteenth birthday celebration, the castle is attacked by unknown rogues-and Naomi is poisoned.
In view of her sister’s perilous condition, Nayeli sets her sights on the deadly Mist Isle to find a rare ingredient for the antidote that will save Naomi’s life-and the life of their dear kingdom.
For if Naomi dies, so does her unique magic, the one power that feels and feeds the land.
While Nayeli undertakes her dangerous quest, Naomi becomes a prisoner inside her own body. Yet, the coma that overtakes her doesn’t steal her powers, and with those she discovers the assault on them is just one small piece of a much bigger puzzle.
That the war isn’t as far away as it seems.
And that Wildbriar may be lost-with or without her.
11. Spark (Of Fire and Shadows #1) by Krysta Maravilla
Phe lives a dual life.
Everyone knows Phe as the sickly best friend of Her Grace, Kyra Theonora, the last Water Nymph duty bound by a familial oath to protect the island country of Xafara. Only a select group of people are aware of Phe’s shadow side. Trained by General Bastion to be an assassin and Kyra’s secret weapon.
Everything changes when Kyra is abducted, exposing Phe’s cover and acting as a catalyst to Phe’s own bound magic, thrusting Phe into a world she’d thought a fantasy.
As Phe maneuvers the unfamiliar landscape of magic, grappling with one obstacle after another, she tries to figure out how to save her best friend. Will she survive this new magical world? Will she rescue Kyra? Will she sacrifice herself in the process?
12. Twilight Kingdom (Twilight Kingdom #1) by H.J. Tolson
On the eve of her 16th birthday, Candle Enys discovers her brother has sold her soul to a demon.
Scared for her life, Candle runs away. But the mountains of Hanternos are dangerous, especially for soft-hearted girls who have never learned to fight. At dawn and at dusk spirits crawl from the shadows, searching for bodies to steal. Evil stirs in the deep caves, and the wind smells of black powder.
A chance meeting with an ancient being sets her on the path to power she never knew she possessed. It also places a target on her back.
If she is to survive, Candle must defeat her monsters, or risk becoming one herself.
13. The Dragon’s Thief (Rise of the Golden Dragons #1) by Shelby Hild
After a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger in the woods, a simple farm girl is faced with a desperate dilemma.
Quincy Durand had never planned to become a thief. With her parents both missing, when her younger brother is mortally wounded it falls on Quincy to find a way to save his life. She discovers a possible solution, but the price for help is high: she must steal a dragon’s egg from Dravonya’s acclaimed Silver Wings Academy.
When the egg unexpectedly hatches during the escape, it’s no longer just her brother’s life that hangs in the balance but hers as well as she must prove herself more than just a failed thief.
14. Rise of the New Crown (The Kingdoms’ Oath #1) by Shevy Castle
A broken pact.
A disgraced kingdom.
War on the horizon.
Peace and prosperity once united the kingdoms of Pflanzatar, Amenschen, and Gemwaith. However, after centuries of Gemwaith’s perpetual betrayal, Pflanzatar and Amenschen shunned the third kingdom. A new threat rises as a result, placing three individuals in a precarious position.
Prince Andrew of Pflanzatar is arranged to marry Lady Debra of Amenschen in order to strengthen their kingdoms’ bonds. However, they both harbor the same secret: neither wants to go forth with the marriage. The Prince is in love with another woman and the Lady has no interest in royal politics. Meanwhile in Gemwaith, the hunter Casper is forced to wield the sword of an army he vehemently opposes. He wants only to return to his family but with war coming, fate has other plans.
As tensions between all three kingdoms escalate to even greater heights, the actions of these three people can either help turn the tide for better or for the worst. They are faced with the impossible choice: do they prioritize their respective kingdoms or put their own ambitions and families first? Is peace still attainable for the three kingdoms or will the lands be steeped in destruction and demise?
15. Lost Rings and Other Things (Rathburn #1) by Vanessa Raccio
Travel to the underbelly of a magical school with the daughter of a notorious murderer.
Sixteen-year-old Emily can make anything she touches disappear—not a bad skill for a thief. In a realm ruled by magic, her ability should grant her an easy life. However, stuck in the Commons along with those unlucky enough to be born without magic, stealing to survive is anything but easy.
But when one of the realm’s Masters catches her robbing a supply caravan, Emily is given the rare chance to escape—if she agrees to put her magic to more law-abiding use. Desperate and friendless, she moves to Selwyn castle, where dragons, and the best talents of the realm, are trained to rule.
Yet Selwyn’s holds secrets of its own. Strange attacks and break-ins turn unwanted suspicion onto Emily, throwing her into a race to find the real criminal before she’s sent back to the Commons for good. But the closer she gets to the truth, the quicker her past—and the festering hatred for the non-magical community—catches up to her. And with time running out, she’ll have to return to her old tricks to make it out of Selwyn’s alive.
16. Dragon Tongue (Rise of the Dragon Riders #1) by Ava Richardson
A legend from the past is a kingdom’s only hope…
Cora knows her grandmother’s stories of the noble dragon riders by heart, even though most people consider them just a myth. But for Cora, the legends are a pleasant distraction from her concern for her ailing father, and the enormous debt they owe to the king’s garrison.
Desperate to help her father, Cora becomes a scale scavenger, risking life and limb by entering the territory of the deadly, feral dragons to gather the highly valuable scales. But her first attempt nearly ends in tragedy when she’s trapped by an angry dragon. They are both stunned when she unlocks the secret of communicating with him.
As Cora and the dragon, Alaric, grow closer, they uncover more secrets from the kingdom’s past. There was a dark conclusion to the dragon rider legacy, brought about by a malicious force that sought power at any cost. That force still holds the kingdom in thrall—and has no intention of allowing the dragon riders to rise again.
Can Cora and Alaric reignite a legend from the past, before it’s too late?
17. Fear and Fire by B.B. Salem
Fear. The worst emotion. A motivator to lie.
Alina has been wary of the Azhur army since the moment she can remember. And it turns out it was for a good reason. At just eighteen years old, she learns that her identity has been a lie. All her life she thought that fear would keep her safe, but now she must find the strength to discover the truth. But she quickly realizes she can’t do it alone. She travels to Ifadell where she meets elf royalty. Prince Iolas, a tall man with cheekbones as sharp as the dagger she holds and princess Esta, a sassy and sarcastic wolf killer. After they find the woman they are looking for, everything changes.
She will have to face loss and betrayal, from all sides. And her conflicting feelings for the elf prince make it even harder to make smart choices.
Alina not only discovers the truth about her past, but she also quickly learns she has powers, some that are hidden from the world. She must use these ancient powers to stop the King of Death, a ruler up north. His wolves are deadly, but his plans with the Vannari are much more dangerous.
Will she be able to save the realm or will fear consume her?
18. From Fire and Shadows by J.F. Baptista
A girl with a dangerous power.
A warrior they call the shadow of death.
A world divided and slowly dying.
Six-year-old Theodora grew up at the House, a place for girls born without power. Abandoned as a baby, she has no memory of her past beyond the melody that invades her dreams. So when an ancient presence starts whispering in her ear, she answers.
The reward is fire; the price is the destruction of the only life she has ever known. Yet from the loss comes a chance at a better future… if she can learn to control a power that no one seems to understand.
Across the ocean, Death’s Arm warrior Kai struggles with the changes forcing him out of the shadows. With the neglect of those in power breeding dissent, he is called to do his job as their occasional assassin: cut it at the root.
But when a strange restlessness makes him question an order for the first time… he finds himself on the path he never wanted, but can no longer avoid. After all, he may be the only one capable of stopping what’s coming—a war where death is just the beginning.
19. The Dragon Healer (The Eldrasian Chronicles #1) by Tiani Davids
Elinta Ferran can feel the emotions of a dragon….
Elinta has wanted to be a healer her whole life and is in her third year as an apprentice when she stumbles upon something impossible; a dragon.
The laws of Eldras mandate that the beast be killed, but the dragon is injured and Elinta won’t put aside her training. When she’s discovered with the beast, Elinta’s world is turned upside down and she’s forced to flee her home on the dragon’s back. But an unusual bond has begun to form between them, one that hasn’t been seen in over one hundred and fifty years.
When Lorrin, Prince of Eldras, stumbles upon them while going against the king’s wishes, Elinta must decide whether their fate lies together or apart. One road could lead Elinta to a life of loneliness, but the other will lead her straight into danger. If she goes to the palace with the prince, she’ll be hiding in plain sight of the very people who want the dragon killed.
But the officials of Eldras aren’t the only ones after the dragon. Someone sinister is lurking in the shadows and he’s ready to make his move, and Elinta might just be in the way.
Adult Fantasy
20. The Lost Sentinel (Relics of Power #1) by Emma L. Adams
They say the country of Zeuten no longer has any need for heroes.
Quests have been completed, the great Powers have withdrawn from the world, and the Sentinels who guard the last Relics are largely forgotten. Unlike their neighbours in the country of Aestin, whose Invokers wield the magic of the deities in exchange for glory and prestige, they leave the gods alone, and the gods extend the same courtesy to them.
When Zeuten’s last Sentinel disappears, Zelle, her granddaughter, intends to track her down. Instead she runs into an Aestinian stranger with no memories of his past, who claims to be looking for a long-lost Relic hidden in the mountains by the first Sentinels. To Zelle, the rumours of lost Relics are just stories told to trick gullible travellers, but the hordes of enemies on the stranger’s tail suggest otherwise. Armed with nothing but her grandmother’s sentient (and temperamental) magical staff, Zelle finds herself tasked with keeping them both alive.
Between monstrous beasts, magical storms, and an enthusiastic but inept aspiring assassin and her dragon sidekick, Zelle has her work cut out if she wants to survive long enough to save her grandmother and prevent the destruction of a nation.
Maybe Zeuten is in need of a few heroes after all…
21. The Heart of the Bloodstone by Philinna Wood
Avalan is a hunter in a cage.
In the village of Hydrus, a fastness secluded from the Stone Lands, Avalan was born. He swam its warm waters, hunted through its blackwood forest, played the goat games on its white shore.
Now, he watches the chief erect a mighty palisade to keep his tribe contained, forbid the magic of the birthstones, exile his childhood friend, and punish the tribe of Hydrus for daring to love, hope, dream … As the chief’s madness grows, so does Avalan’s longing to lead the tribe to freedom.
But Avalan’s dagger is no match for the chief’s powerful stone magic. Much as Avalan hates the stones for being the chief’s weapon, he realizes there’s only one path to freeing his tribe: find what was denied to him, the missing piece of his soul…
22. Court of Assassins (The Ranger Archives #1) by Philip C. Quaintrell
MYTH. LEGEND. NIGHTFALL HAS LONG BEEN RUMOURED TO BE NOTHING MORE THAN WHISPERS ON THE BREEZE.
IF ONLY IT WERE SO…
In those halls of darkness, where children are taken from the world and given to shadow and dust, Asher is destined for that same fate. He will become the myth. He will become the legend. He will become the whisper of Death itself.
That which he was is dead, forgotten. Now he is a blade in the dark, a weapon to be wielded by his masters. A killer.
Yet, despite all his training and years of spilling blood, there is a crack in Asher’s conditioning. Something within him is broken, unbound even. A sliver of humanity has survived and dreams of freedom. Now, standing on a knife’s edge, his mind threatens to unravel, taking him from the only path he has ever known and away from the clutches of Nightfall.
It has never been done. Exile is not a choice. It is a death sentence.
But there is another life that calls to him, a life roaming the wilds and protecting the innocent from the monsters which would prey upon them. Hunting monsters, however, is no easy task, especially when Asher himself is hunted by those who would drag him back to Nightfall. Back to the darkness.
23. The Moon’s Eye (Relics of War #1) by A.J. Calvin
Chosen for advanced training by the god of war himself, Vardak is considered a paragon amongst his people, the Scorpion Men. Yet his position and training come with a cost: He must serve the whims of the god, with no questions asked. Only days after his training is complete, he is sent far away from his desert homeland in order to act as the protector of the Fire Maiden’s mortal daughter, Janna.
Janna has been tasked with the recovery of a magical relic known as The Moon’s Eye, but she has little worldly experience to guide her. The Immortals deem the relic’s recovery imperative, for it alone can combat the rise of the Soulless—those sworn to the fallen, nameless god of death. The Soulless are ruthless and powerful, and eager to wage war upon the land in order to appease the god they serve.
Though Vardak is skilled in battle, he must lead Janna through several perilous areas in order to reach the relic she seeks, pushing his abilities to the limit. Unbeknownst to the pair, the Soulless raise an army and begin their conquest, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Will they secure The Moon’s Eye before all is lost, or will the relic itself prove to be their undoing?
24. Shadow Magic (The Divine Key #1) by James E. Wisher
The High Kingdom has known twenty years of peace.
The true reason unknown to everyone save Sultan Vilos the First.
At the height of The Crown War, Vilos made a deal with a powerful sorcerer. Vilos’s reign would be secured in exchange for his first born daughter.
The sorcerer promised to come for the princess on her eighteenth birthday.
That day is today.
The sorcerer is coming to claim his due and if he doesn’t get it, all Hell is going to break loose.
25. The Empire’s Lion (The Imperial Adept #1) by Nathan Tudor
She left a slave. She returns a conqueror.
As an Adept, Reiva blasts fire from her hands and leaps over walls. But when her first solo mission leaves her half-dead amidst a heap of massacred allies, she gets just one chance at redemption.
The Empire orders her to crush the one kingdom she thought she would never see again: Talynis, the land of her birth, the land she left in chains.
Standing in her way is the Wolf, a vicious assassin hell-bent on killing Adepts—and a single cut from his cursed blade will destroy Reiva’s magic forever.
Even if she can survive, victory may come at a price too high to pay…
26. Prince of Shadows (Empire of Ash #1) by R.J. Vickers
Baylore is the world’s last safe haven for magic. And the Whitish are determined to destroy it at all costs.
Twenty years ago, the enchanted Wandering Woods saved Baylore from the Whitish when they picked up their roots and formed a living wall around the city.
Now, Prince Daymin is the only one who can keep the forest wall in place.
As the Whitish prepare once more to attack, the alliance between Baylore and the people of the forest grows strained. If the forest abandons Baylore, it will mean the end of the city and the wholesale slaughter of the magic races. But the people of the forest have no allegiance to the city.
Time is running out. When Daymin’s mother embarks on a dangerous quest to forge an alliance that might save Baylore, Daymin is forced to take the throne he never wanted. Though he is untested and lacking in confidence, he must lead his people into battle—or watch as the last free city of magic falls to the Whitish.
27. Path of the Eternal Sun (The Sentinels Saga #1) by Taylor Crook and Ryan Kirk
Divided under the sun, united against the darkness
For General Sato, a sentinel of Samas, adherence to the Path comes as naturally as breathing. Honor and duty are the pillars of his life. When a new breed of bandit, more cunning and dangerous than ever before, threatens his home, he finds that all his honor counts for little.
The giant known only as Beast, without family or people, is on the brink of achieving his life’s work. He’s never known fear or defeat, but an enemy approaches unlike any he has met before. For the first time in his life, Beast will question whether his strength is enough to save him.
Young Shin lives contentedly as a cog beneath the notice of the system she serves. When that system finally turns its back on her, she must find the will and courage to survive in a new, terrifying world.
Over all, a shadow gathers its forces. It seeks to engulf Samas, the nation blessed by the eternal sun, in a darkness from which there is no escape.
28. Blade of Ghosts (The Lost Sect #1) by Julian Gyll
The Hollow is dying.
Beset by nightmarish creatures from the caverns below, Jason’s tribe is slowly being whittled away. Only a brave few still stand against the darkness.
Jason dreams of joining the glorious Shadowfront and battling the enemy known only as the Void. But, as a lowly Pastfinder, he is denied that path and forced to serve as little more than a glorified scavenger.
It is only when he chances upon the ruins of a long dead civilization that his fortunes change. Jason discovers a forgotten form of cultivation, one fueled by the ghosts of centuries-lost history and powerful, forbidden knowledge.
For the first time in his life, Jason has the strength to join the fight against the shadows.
But, if his fellow tribesmen learn of his new power’s cursed origins, the Void will be the least of his concerns….
29. Scion of Lightning (The Stormcrafter Chronicles #1) by J.T. Moy
A desperate apprentice, a dangerous quest . . . When Jaks almost kills another soldier with his volatile magic, he is forced to tread the fearful path of the electromancer. Succeed, he will be the first in a generation. Fail, he will lose everything.
As the ruthless king of Voros invades the land with axe warriors, skyships and dragons, Jaks and his battlemage master begin a quest to train his powers and uncover a potent artifact that could halt the rampaging enemy.
On their journey through dangerous lands, they are accompanied by a sharp-eyed ranger, a lethal assassin, and a mysterious foreigner with unworldly weapons.
However, nothing is simple when Jaks’ greatest adversary is much closer than he knows.
30. The Queen of Wind and Sunlight by Morgan Cole
From the author of the Chrysathamere Trilogy comes an all-new pair of heroes…
Isonder loved Karina, the Queen of Cravnica, as if she was his own daughter. His only job was to protect her, and he failed. Now his one chance at redemption—and at preserving Karina’s legacy—means traveling into Pashara to rescue her twin sister, Valery. But it’s a quest fit for a hero, and the guilt-ridden guard captain isn’t half the hero he used to be. His guide and only ally is a bounty-hunter with a dark past and an ego almost as vast as the kingdom itself. His enemies number half the world.
Valery’s mother always told her she was destined for greatness. Instead, seduced into a life of crime by a rakish singer, she winds up condemned to serve as a medic in a refugee camp in the war-torn nation of Pashara. The city where she works soon falls under siege, and Valery’s barbed tongue and biting cynicism prove to be poor weapons against the world’s most deadly mercenary army.
On their journey back to Cravnica, the two will face down mad queens, giant centipedes, cannibal warlords, and a dangerous, narcissistic assassin—as well as the painful realization that neither of them is quite the savior the other was hoping for.
31. The Acktus Trials (Spoken Books Uprising #1) by D.T. Kane
What if reading were a capital offense?
In the land of Oration, magic exists only when read aloud from rare books, and only a select few are born able to cast it. To maintain their power, the wealthy elite enslave all such people from birth and never teach them to read. But when a slave named Baztian secretly becomes literate, he’ll start an uprising, whether he wants to or not…
32. Fate’s Long Shadow (The Practice of Power #1) by Marcela Carbo
A magical world in decline. A slave raised among brutal giants. One wrong word could seal their fates.
Jassae should have died the night the giants raided her village. Instead, she is taken captive and placed at the center of a struggle between giant clans.
Fueled by rage and ancient grudges, the giants threaten Jassae at every turn. They fear her and the fate she proclaims.
But she is not meant to be a slave forever. She is the heiress of an ancient, sorcerous bloodline. She must master her own power before it overwhelms her or she is crushed by her captors.
Her own destiny awaits… if she can survive.
33. Fire of the Forebears (Heritor’s Helm #1) by L.A. Buck
Pitted against one another, with the people and country they love in jeopardy, the daughter of a deserter and the son of the king have a chance to fulfill their forebears’ legacy—or destroy it entirely.
Twisted monsters called saja lurk in the shadows of the mountains. Rumors say the Fidelis, human wielders of an ancient elemental magic, again walk the plains. Not all in Avaron believe, and not all welcome the return of legend.
Kura’s a skeptic. But, she’ll cross and befriend centaurs, talking animals, and worse to save her family after the rebellion mistakes her for the land’s prophesied savior. And, while he’d rather negotiate with rebels than fight them, Triston can’t ignore prophecy. That was the sham his father used to steal the crown in the first place.
Over a century ago, their ancestors sailed the oceans in search of peace and died as heroes fighting for it. But heroes—and villains—aren’t always what they seem to be.
34. Rebel Slave (Rebel Slave Saga #1) by Richard Davis
Broken by war…
Enslaved by a corrupt queen…
Imprisoned in a frozen Hell from which no man has ever escaped before…
Charles Raptor is a soldier, loyal and true. But after 18 years of fighting, he has one wish. To retire to a life of peace with a new wife in the country of his birth. But war isn’t finished with Charles Raptor.
Falsely convicted of a crime he did not commit. Torn from his wife and family. Sold into slavery to a tribe of dwarves. Condemned to a life of grueling labor in a prison, a thousand miles from freedom, run by a sadistic overseer who hates men with a passion.
None of this, by itself, could break him. But to see his wife in danger, her life hanging by a thread, while he remains locked in a cage…
To rescue his wife — to redeem his name — to reclaim his freedom, can Charles become the Rebel Slave that will give birth to a legend?
35. Waking Ursa Minor (Riverda Rising #1) by Helen Rygh-Pedersen
As Gesland swelters in extreme heat, Serakela watches the nomadic Clans make their way across the plains on their annual pilgrimage and resigns herself to the monotonous life of servitude at the institution which raised her.
But Serakela is not the orphan she always believed herself to be. On the night a crazed assassin tries to kill her, her heritage is revealed catapulting her into an island-hopping fight for survival, and the search for the fabled Stone of Riverda.
The sundered islands of Riverda are dying. The earth magics that protected and sustained them before the Rivening are unbalanced; dwindling in some areas whilst stifling others. As time runs out and tensions rise, countries teeter on the brink of war, starvation and extinction. A way to save them has just arisen from the realm of rumour but Brother Okrafkus of the Separamus cannot allow this to happen.
Not only will Serakela’s quest lead her to her long-lost family, rumour has it that she who wields the Stone will restore the islands of Riverda to their former glory. Rumour also has it that in doing so, she will unleash the evil that split them.
36. When Shadows Fall (Oshanon Chronicles #1) by D.L. Howard
Banished Dark Gods. Whispering Shadows. Unbridled Chaos.
An ancient feud between gods has reawakened and spilled over into the realm of mortals.
Zaiyel and Torya, twins and heirs to House Asante, never imagined they would need to leave the safety of the Timeless Isles. Not until everything changed after their last Change of Season rites. Favored by the goddess Amesis, the twins gained more than what they hoped for, and secretly wondered if it was good for them.
Dark tidings reached their sacred land, and abroad, forbidden deeds have been set in motion that had been long prophesied. Together, they must embark on a journey across the waters to Oshanon, to find a fabled Guardian, long thought dead, and along the way, help clear the land from the shadows and madness that has befallen its people.
Things aren’t as they appear. People fear what is coming. The twins must be careful not to succumb to the chaos and darkness. If they fail, their one small misstep could cause catastrophic effects and send their entire world into a downward spiral, destroying all in its path.
37. Daughter of the Wolves by K.S. Villoso
Clan, family, duty—the tenets of the Oren-yaro are clear: you are swords first, servants first.
Yet no one expects much from the youngest daughter, not even when your family is sworn to the wolves who rule the land. At an age when most of her sisters have wed and borne children, Anira remain nursemaid to a decrepit father and an ailing mother, forgotten by a world moving too fast for her liking. When her elder brother deserts Warlord Yeshin’s army, she is forced to step up to save her family from disgrace.
Plunged into a world of bloodshed, Anira becomes the unlikely last link to a tyrant’s plans as she is tasked with bringing home the first dragon their kingdom has seen in decades. The arrival of a mercenary band, hell-bent on the same goal, creates a rivalry between her and their stubborn, unyielding leader. With her family’s freedom on the line, Anira must risk vengeful ancients, debased rituals, and even her own sanity to seize the prize.
When death comes calling, who will pay the price for her allegiance?
38. The Blood of the Lion (Vorelian Saga #1) by C.D. McKenna
Destiny is irrefutable.
And Syra, Morei, and Cyrus all have something in common: death.
The Demon Killer, once responsible for the Diyrặllian Massacre, has been found after being lost for centuries. Millions of lives fell victim to this treacherous relic . . . and now Syra holds it. Torn from the sanctuary of her home, she must learn to live on the run in search for freedom, hunted by forces known and unknown.
Fate can be cruel, and Morei Geral knows this firsthand. As the king and sole heir to his bloodline, Morei must hide the twisted truth of who he is becoming. But as the king slips further into his curse, war becomes inevitable, and he will have to make a choice that could undo everything he’s worked for.
Meanwhile, as chaos rages and fear grips the heart of all, attention is turned on the first Dragon Rider to rise in nearly eight centuries. Cyrus wants nothing to do with prophecies and war. But he will protect his dragon, Sozar, above all else. His only choice is to cast aside the life he once knew and traverse the mysterious Releuthian Mountains, said to be the home of the God of Darkness himself.
Everyone has a destiny. No one can be trusted.
Not even the Gods.
39. Dragon Forged (Blood of the Ancients #1) by Dan Michaelson and D.K. Holmberg
The dragons are gone, leaving behind their essence for those who follow.
Firewater is sacred. Touched by the power of the dragons, those who consume it can become more like those ancient beings. Most become dragon forged, their bodies strengthened to help fight the dangerous creatures attacking the valley.
But firewater didn’t change Rob.
When invaders threaten to destroy his people, what Rob discovers may save all he cares about—and provide the key to forging his own power.
40. Broken Sky (Skies of Cyrna #1) by Morgan K. Bell
Dorian Valmont is the sorriest excuse for an aeronaut the crew of skyship Phoenix has ever seen.
Forced to flee his home to protect his magical inheritance from the machinations of his ambitious stepfather, awkward misfit Dorian finds himself poorly suited to the rigors of life in the sky. But when an exiled dragon finds him, injured and desperate for help, Dorian learns it’s not enough merely to run away. Dorian must learn to fight back.
Caught between forces that seek to use or destroy him, Dorian must train and adapt if he wants to survive. But if he can, he might just hold the key to restoring the world’s faltering magic — or destroying it once and for all.
41. Dragon of the Desert (The Khehemni Chronicles #1) by Jean Lowe Carlson
Born to rule, tormented by fate. Can a deposed king save his world from ruin – or is he doomed to destroy it?
In a desert land where magic reigns supreme, one nation stands as its protector – Khehem, crown jewel of the Thirteen Sun Tribes.
Beloved prince of Khehem, Leith Alodwine is a ferocious warrior of the Wolf and Dragon, a conflict magic deadly in battle.
But the ruling Order of Alrahel fear the king Leith is becoming. Like his grandfather the Red Tyrant, Leith’s furious power has the ability to protect his nation from any threat – or tear down the world.
As an evil magic rises, Leith must face the threat for all the Sun Tribes. But to what lengths will he go to stop it?
And to what lengths will the Order go to stop him?
42. The Sword of Kings (Sons of Osiris #1) by Michael Westmoreland
Amid a grueling feud between two dominant royals fighting for their right to rule, an ancient artifact surfaces from hiding.
Eager to claim the limitless power, both brothers march their armies upon the battlefield as winter freezes the land. The feared Black Prince slithers from exile to usurp control over Hostellus and seek his vengeance, and the king rallies his massive forces to defend his homeland while the scavengers of war await in the shadows to pick the slain clean at the end of each day.
A third brother stands between them, unsure of which side to favor. On one hand, support for the king and the bloodthirsty campaign he sends forth, and on the other, treason against the crown to aid a banished enemy as the true intentions for the Sword of Kings rise.
Chaos spreads across the lands, and sacrifices must be made. Will the three Sons of Osiris brothers find a peaceful conclusion, or will bloodshed tear their family apart?
43. The Wandering Sword (The Last Eternal #1) by Jacob Peppers
The hardest war is the one a man fights alone.
One hundred years ago, the Eternals, thirteen men and women of immense power, closer, many believed, to gods than mortals, stood against the greatest threat the world had ever faced.
And they lost.
They died.
All save for one, known as the Youngest, who managed to flee with the enemy leader’s weapon, a cursed blade of incredible power.
He has traveled for a hundred years since, alone save for his companion, Veikr, the only remaining horse of a legendary breed.
The last just as he is the last.
Hunted by creatures out of nightmare, he seeks only to survive, to keep the magical blade from the enemy’s grasp. Not to save the world, for the time for saving it is past. Instead, he seeks only to delay its ending.
It is a battle he fights alone, for after they defeated the Eternals, the enemy used their magic to pose as their conquered opponents, taking over rule of the world in their stead.
For the last hundred years, the people have believed that the legendary Eternals triumphed, that they are safe. Only the wanderer knows the truth, that the world crouches with its head resting on the executioner’s block, waiting for the axe to fall.
And the only thing keeping that axe at bay is him.
He had a name once, but he has it no longer.
He is simply the Last. The Youngest.
He is the Wandering Sword.
44. Archwilde (Archwilde #1) by Marcy Mahoney
A hidden doorway unlocks a power that could save her kingdom …
Julia is devoted to training with her village’s Townsguard, protecting and providing for her community. Her life is full of warmth and purpose, despite being raised by her stern grandmother in the cold and inaccessible Northern Isles. But when her twentieth birthday arrives and Julia officially comes of age, her grandmother shares secrets of their past that will change the course of Julia’s life forever.
Thrown into a world of magic, intrigue and murder, Julia finds herself hunted by Azor Torr, a tyrant king bent on destroying everything to get to her. But she also finds new friends, family, allies—and most unexpectedly, love.
With the fate of two nations hanging in the balance, Julia must learn to use her newly discovered powers to stop King Azor from his legacy of blood magic and devastation. Julia’s quest reveals her true purpose as a protector, and a destiny greater than she could have ever imagined.
45. The Reluctant Queen (Ascension of the Nine Realms #1) by Melissa A. Craven
Heir to the Valkyrie throne, Alithea believes she is better suited to the battlefield than the throne room.
On the eve of her betrothal ceremony where she will finally meet the young man the queen’s council has chosen for her–the man raised to serve her every need–Alithea makes a desperate decision that will change her life forever. Rejecting her birthright, she flees across the broken bridge to the human realm where she must hide her true Valkyrie nature.
When the queen’s Berserker bounty hunter finally catches up with her, Druan gives her no choice but to return to a war-torn world where her mother and all those she loves are trapped, powerless to resist the vicious usurper queen. To save her people, Alithea will have to do the one thing she swore she would never do. Ascend to the Valkyrie throne and take her seat as the High Queen of the Nine Realms, all while keeping a dangerous secret that could destroy everything.
46. Crown of the Phoenix by C. A. Varian
Two Human Sisters.
A Magical Fae Realm under siege.
A Vulnerable Portal into the human realm.
And the Barbarians who aim to take it all.
Aurelia Vesta did everything with her sister, Septima… including running away from home. When their father announced their arranged betrothals, her sister vowed to die before following through with the marriage. Aurelia, determined to find a place where Septima would be allowed to be with another woman, led the way into the Howling Forest, but their late night escape landed the pair in a fantasy realm full of death and danger.
Their new world grants her sister equal rights, but that freedom comes with a heavy cost. Aurelia finds herself among the fae as their world teeters on the precipice of a war, and suddenly the blissful future she’d promised Septima doesn’t feel so certain. But, even with the promise of violence hanging over their heads, the Vesta girls find love… until dark secrets and hidden betrayals taint their new lives.
When her closest ally deceives her and a blood-thirsty king threatens to conquer both worlds, can Aurelia find the courage to survive? Or will the magical warfare claim her as a victim?
47. The Druid (The Dawning of Muirwood #1) by Jeff Wheeler
Eilean was born a “wretched”—a lowly foundling raised by the Aldermaston of Tintern Abbey. Then she’s chosen to assist in establishing the new abbey of Muirwood, now the site of a castle in the swampy Bearden Muir. Eilean’s role is as night servant to the druid Mordaunt, the king’s exiled advisor—and prisoner. He’s clever, dangerous, and invaluable to the Aldermaston.
Mordaunt’s priceless secret: the hiding place of an ancient tome that reveals the existence of other worlds and the magic between them. Mordaunt knows how potent its words are and how dangerous they could be in the wrong hands.
But can Eilean win him over? All she must do is gain Mordaunt’s confidence and trust and persuade the apostate to divulge his secret to her. But as she learns more from Mordaunt, Eilean’s loyalties begin to fray. And the risks are greater than she imagined.
Despite betrayals, deceptions, and the deadly motivations of others, a girl from the flax fields is about to rise above her station. By exploring the potential of the power of an ancient spoken magic, Eilean is coming into her own.
48. Dreams of Dust (Will of the Wayfinder #1) by Lily Anne Crow
The immortal lilka heal the wounds of a fractured world, but when the spirits of nature are silenced…
Thaniel Swift’s life is about to change. The inexperienced Wayfinder sets out on his first mission to explore the untamed wilds of Koranth. But when he joins a band of storied heroes to uncover the cause of an ominously deserted village, the hunt will lead Thaniel far from home, into the remnants of a long-forgotten civilization, and dangers beyond his dreams.
In the east, an ancient sorceress wields forbidden magic to attain the object of her obsession, no matter how much nature itself cries out in fear and pain. To achieve her desires, she will destroy not only the guardian spirits of the land, but the humans as well, leaving the continent of Koranth in desolation.
Thrown into the unpredictable wilderness, with growing talents he barely understands, Thaniel uses magic and skill to lead his new allies further into a dying land, seeking answers. Only with the wisdom of the lilka, and the enigmatic aid of one of the Builders, will Thaniel and his companions have any chance at all.
But will it be enough to stop the Queen of Dust?
49. The Roar of the Lost Horizon (Southern Echo #1) by K.N. Salustro
An Unusual Skill
All his life, Nate has dreamed of using his wind magic as a sailor in the imperial navy. By law, all Skilled must serve the Solkyrian Empire with their magic, and it’s a fate that Nate willingly embraces. Unfortunately, while Nate’s Skill makes him highly sensitive to the element, it’s not strong enough for him to control the wind, and his dreams of serving in the navy unravel. Disgraced, Nate is forced to resign himself to an unwanted fate, but that changes when he meets pirate captain Iris Arani.
A Legendary Treasure
After learning of Nate’s Skill, Captain Arani invites him to join her crew and carve out a new life free from the empire. But Arani wants Nate’s help finding something that only his magic can track down. Something so steeped in legend, Arani will need to risk the trust of her crew and her captainship to get it.
An Epic Adventure
As part of Arani’s crew, Nate will learn to use his Skill in ways he never thought possible. He hopes that will be enough to secure him the life he’s always dreamed of, if he can survive long enough to return home. But danger is everywhere on the high seas, even for a ship full of pirates, and Nate must learn to harness his true magic before Arani steers her ship and her crew into the heart of it all.
50. The Umbral Storm (The Sharded Few #1) by Alec Hutson
A thousand years ago the Heart of the World was shattered, its fragments scattered across the lands. In the chaos that followed, martial orders arose to gather these shards, for it was found that great powers were granted when these pieces were bonded to the flesh of the chosen. These are the Sharded Few, warriors imbued with the divine energies that once coursed through the Heart, and driven to absorb enough fragments to claim godhood.
Deryn has known nothing in his life except suffering. Orphaned at the edge of the realms, indentured to a cruel slaver, he can see little chance of escaping his circumstances. But elsewhere in the world ancient powers are stirring, new alliances threaten the peace of the old order, and in the cataclysms that are coming a slave will become a hero.
51. A King’s Radiance (Bonds of Kin #1) by L.R. Shulz
Three siblings… a rebel, a prince, a prisoner
The sun’s light shines bright over the land of Zapour, and only a select few can harness its power. But all power comes with a cost, and the world is not kind to those who refuse to pay it.
Raiz Glaive, a strong shine wielder, was born into royalty, though even royals have to answer to someone. When the King-Radiant sends one of his precious underlings to the Kingdom of Trost, Raiz quickly learns who holds the true power in the realm. After his sister is taken prisoner simply for having the violet eyes of a mystic, Raiz swears vengeance. But when an unwilling father stands in his way, Raiz promises to take revenge into his own hands.
Dazen Glaive remains heir to the throne of Trost, and a sworn defender of the King-Radiant, but he has not forgotten what happened to his sister, and will not forgive their cruelty.
Forced to be the centrepiece of her “master’s” twisted human art gallery, Isha remains a prisoner. Though she has not lost hope. Finding friends among fellow captives, she begins to formulate a plan for escape. Though what she discovers has a much more sinister bearing on the fate of all of Zapour.
52. Petition (Resonance Crystal Legacy #1) by Delilah Waan
In the Dominion of Aleznuaweite, anyone can rise to the greatest heights—if they are willing to pay the price.
Failure is a luxury Rahelu can’t afford. Her family sold everything, left their ancestral home, and became destitute foreigners for the sake of her resonance skills. Now she can manipulate emotional echoes to discern truth from lies, conjure the past, and even foretell the future.
But an act of petty revenge by her rival destroys her chance at joining one of the great Houses. Desperate to prove her family’s sacrifices were not in vain, Rahelu calls upon the most dangerous magic of all—altering fortune.
A slight twist of fate is enough to restore her way forward…with deadly consequences she never bargained for. The Houses make a pawn of her in their bitter struggle for control of the Dominion. A shadowy cult grows ever closer to completing an ancient ritual.
And Rahelu discovers that fulfilling her oath to her family might come at the cost of her mother’s life.
53. Bridge of Echoes (The Book of Gods and Kings #1) by Jared Loewe
They prayed to their gods to save them. Their gods have something else in mind.
As the mighty Atuminian army marches toward the provincial kingdom of Yahuv, Elekesh, a retiring scribe, comes to believe he has been chosen by his long-dormant god to pursue an impossible destiny.
In Atuminia, the masked king who calls himself a god sends Anamitmir, his inexperienced daughter, to lead the expedition against Yahuv. If she is to succeed, Anamitmir must be willing to sacrifice the lives of everyone under her command, but the price of failure is too terrible to contemplate.
Anamitmir and Elekesh, both unequal to their tasks, find themselves on a collision course while in the wilderness surrounding their lands, bandits, demons, monsters, and unknowable gods prepare for a conflict that could remake the world.
54. Graveyard Gods (Raider and Rapier #1) by Steve Higgs, J.K. Daniels and Bryan Arneson
The currents sweep east, but the dead float south. This corpse laden tide carries with it the destinies of a tomb raider, a knight turned captain, and an empire fraying at the seams.
A grave robber who dabbles in the alchemical arts, Edmond Mondego has spent the last seven years in search of a God Grave. He hopes to find magic within to relinquish his murdered wife’s soul to the land of the living. What he finds instead is an imprisoned goddess stripped of her power but in full possession of divine secrets, including a rumor: every five years, one living soul is returned to the Emperor of the Gilded Islands.
Meanwhile, the Lord Captain Augustin Mora, newly appointed commander of His Imperial Majesty’s Ship Intrepid, guards the forbidden waters for his Emperor. Edmond’s profane plundering of a God Grave and the machinations of the admiralty send Augustin on a quest to capture the tomb robber. But an enemy from his past muddies the waters, and Augustin is forced to reunite his old knight’s guild and put hand to hilt once again.
And so, Edmond sets every ounce of cunning and guile to raise himself through the ranks of nobility, evading Augustin Mora and all manner of assassins; he has only one goal—to convince the Emperor to use the magical boon for his wife’s soul, and, failing that, to take the throne for himself.
55. Profane Rites by P.J. Wilson
Sister Honorata is a woman of unshakable faith, ready for priesthood. It is what she has always wanted. What she was brought up to be.
Honorata’s Trial leads her on a perilous journey into the wild jungles of Pala, a place infested with foes determined to wage war, no matter the consequences. Caught between the threat of a supernatural monster and the subtle influence of scheming mystics, Honorata’s resolve is tested as she is thrust into a deadly battle for survival and forced to confront an evil that threatens to destroy the very foundations of her religion.
56. The Beast Hunters (The Beast Hunter of Ashbourn #1) by Christer Lende
When a monster brutally kills her parents, Ara is saved by two beast hunters. Becoming their apprentice, she discovers serums, secret bestiary knowledge, and remarkable abilities-all to save unsuspecting souls from the same fate her parents suffered. But, terrifying creatures lurk everywhere and Ara must master the art of beast hunting quickly if she is to uncover the elusive beast plaguing the village of Cornstead.
57. Masters of Mendry by Michael Clark
From a secluded island, Rook waits for permission to enlist in his father’s war. Thinking he would be nothing more than a mere foot soldier, his real motivation is to experience a world he’s never seen before. But when an unexpected group of warriors arrive at his home, Rook learns that his father had much bigger plans for him.
The group is an elite team of weapon-conjuring mendricks mentored by his father. Their new mission is to train Rook so that one day he could defeat the tyrannical king and return Viandian back to its former glory.
If having to sail a savage sea, build a new army, and become the greatest warrior his world has ever known weren’t enough, Rook must also contend with the king’s daughter—who he’s falling for—and she has no intentions of stepping aside.
58. South Breaks (Winds of Destiny #1) by Hannah Steenbock
South Rabbit thought she could accept giving her life to sustain the magical Veil protecting the Holy Empire. Fate proves her wrong, but can she escape the Priest’s wrath?
As a Wind, South supplies power to the Pillars working their magic in the service of the Holy Empire. She has already watched her beloved Moon die on the top of a pyramid and her own Sacrifice is approaching. When Fate changes the path of her life and reunites South with her family, she realizes that everything she has been taught was a lie.
Feeling beyond lost, South struggles with finding a new purpose for her life and her own powers. Just as she finds her bearings, disaster strikes her newfound family. South has to sneak back into the Empire and risk everything to avert new tragedy and even more death.
59. An Inheritance of Ash and Blood (Heirs of War #1) by Jamie Edmundson
The One They Fear is The Hero They Need
Sorcery is dying out.
No one misses it.
Feared and despised in equal measure, Sanc is only tolerated because he’s the son of the powerful Duke of Morbaine.
But Sanc is more important than he knows. When his life is threatened, he is forced to confront his true inheritance.
For a new god has arrived in Dalriya. Unstoppable, Ezenachi brings only conquest and slavery.
Sorcery is dying out, and now Dalriya needs a sorcerer more than ever.
60. Blade and Bone by D.K. Holmberg
Sanaron is a city of fog and violence; a place where even the past can disappear.
Kanar Reims, an ex-soldier known as the Blackheart, hides a dangerous secret. Exiled from the Realmsguard, he wants nothing to do with the kind of magic that destroyed his life.
That is until his team of mercenaries is offered a job they can’t refuse.
He’ll need the help of others working in the city: An assassin who uses the bones of her enemies in her art. An archer with strange skills. And a stranded sailor whose loyalties are unknown.
Impossible wealth awaits if they succeed, but far more is at stake if they fail, for a deadly magic will be unleashed upon the world.
61. Conspiracy (Wahrheit #1) by A.C. Cobble
The Truth is a weak thing. It has no power. The only power the Truth holds is the power we grant it.
For six hundred years, the kingdom of Wahrheit was ruled by an unbroken line. It rose on a wave of technology and magic and stood alone—a bastion of stability built on pillars of economic and military might. The nation and her people thrived due to the strength of soldiers and the protection of dragons.
But the line has ended—the king is dead.
Noble houses vie to carve out their own domains. Foreign armies march across Wahrheit’s soil for the first time in memory. Without leadership, the king’s army watches helplessly. The fae, a source of enchantment and treachery, work unseen to secure their share of Wahrheit’s blood. And far beyond the kingdom’s borders, a growing threat looms—an empire built to right a bitter wrong.
Only a small band of conspirators stand between the kingdom and chaos: Otto Tilly, captain of the king’s Dragon Knights, the steel fist that shields the weak. Gerhard Fisher, a spy and assassin, who owes more than his life to the former king. Ilse Brinke, the quartermaster, the keeper of the kingdom’s secrets and magic. The wizard, an ancient soul who understands the cost of failure. And by fortune’s curse or fortune’s favor, two orphans from the growing war must carry the kingdom forward. As has always been, the burden of the future lies across the shoulders of the young.
62. Under the Earth, Over the Sky by Emily McCosh
In the woods where human lands meet fae, an ancient king born before the history of men finds a dying baby.
Iohmar will take in the child and care for him until a suitable home in the human realm is found. But best laid plans often go awry in the lands of Látwill, where winds carry fae across the star-strewn sky, the woods ensnare the weak-minded with their sinister song, and even Iohmar, King Beneath the Earth, is susceptible to the will of the immortal mountains.
Magic long tethered to Iohmar’s soul will crumble. Unknown shadows and monsters of mirrored glass will encroach upon the borders of their land. And memories thousands of years lost will unravel as Iohmar struggles not only to properly rule his fair folk, but protect the fragile human son he never should have saved in the first place.
63. Knight of Sword & Shadow (Order of the Ravens #1) by Ava Speirs
In a world of shadow, can one hero shine
When scandal and disgrace fall upon the Order of the Conclave, Bastian and his Order are forced to hide who they are proud to be. Cast out, shunned and scorned by those who were once honoured to use their services, Bastian and his men are left with no choice but to become mercenaries. Moving across the Five Kingdoms, they restore peace for coin, shedding blood for others’ gain.
Tasked with the job of escorting a noblewoman and her handmaiden across the Sand Seas, Bastian soon realises not all is as it should be. Something evil poisons the lands, as whispers of revolt and rebellion are once again murmured among the courts.
In the halls of his Order, Bastian is entrusted with a mission. He knows this shouldn’t be his fight, but the duty to his Order, his comrades, and his mysterious travelling companions weighs heavily on him.
The mission is so dangerous and deadly only a fool would take it…and only a coward would refuse it.
64. The Forest Girl (A Clash of Stone and Steel #1) by J.H. Dahler
Kiri, a resolute young warrior, kills a retired Sandamedan soldier in his bed—a man guilty of heinous crimes against the Forest people. Hours later, she finds herself keeping charge of the man’s twelve-year-old son, Ulek.
Only, Ulek doesn’t know Kiri killed his father, or that she is a Forest girl.
The duo stumbles upon a Sandamedan army outpost where a mounted horde approaches. The outnumbered garrison soldiers evacuate the area to escort the locals to the capital before they’re slaughtered. Kiri and Ulek join the exodus, but Kiri hasn’t completed her task. At the behest of her people, she must assassinate the Sandamedan army commander, even if it costs her life.
If she fails, the empire will continue to attack Forest villages.
Kiri’s mission becomes increasingly difficult. The horde draws closer, she doesn’t know how she’ll reach the commander, and the soldiers will kill her if they discover she’s a Forest girl. Meeting Ulek’s trusting eyes gets harder every day, and Kiri finds herself drawn to a young officer who knows she’s hiding something. Kiri is determined to save her people, but with the horde closing in and the risk of discovery, she might not survive long enough to fulfill her mission.
65. War for Our Mother’s Throne (The Rust Void #1) by Mitchell Powell
A young woman exiled…her people tarnished…a war for the fractured realm…
Akira Nettle is a cursed woman. Having been raised isolated and ostracized, she is forced to fight for the person she cares about most, her father, while her people face a predetermined fate. Illusive and apocryphal magic rules the Heartlands, but Akira’s only window into this hidden realm stems from an exotic traveler, his carnal ambitions uncertain.
Heartmother Celeste is meanwhile beset by enemies on all sides, forcing her to work with uneasy allies in a city of fire and ancient pedigree.
And Rudo, a druid intoxicated with the occult, acts as the linchpin to it all, bringing together rogues and ladies, priests and outlanders, soldiers and zealots, to forge a path for new gods
66. Shadebound (The Last King #1) by David Estes and G.D. Penman
For a shadebound mage like Artemio Volpe, the ghosts of the past are his constant companions as well as a source of untold power.
The legendary House of Seven Shadows is responsible for training the best of the best shadebound mages to harness the magic of the dead. For most students, the dead are kept at a safe distance, but not for Artemio. Their tortured souls seep into his body and mind, granting him a wellspring of power that would carve most men hollow. Their magic comes at a terrible price, but it’s the only thing that’s kept him alive this long.
An outcast from society for no reason other than his unfortunate birthright, Artemio wants nothing more than to study, learn, and develop his talents. But when nobles start to die under mysterious circumstances, he’s forced out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
Torn between his duty to the kingdom and his studies, Artemio finds his loyalties divided and time running out. After all, the fires burning to the north are not mere barbarian’s pyres. They’re dragon fire…
67. Mage of No Renown (Tales of Terralor #1) by Kel Kade
Wesson is still years from becoming a man when an immense darkness stirs within his core. The sinister power bursts free during a confrontation with an old enemy, and Wesson’s tranquil life is left in tatters. Forced to flee a murderous mob, Wesson stumbles onto a tumultuous path where he must confront the destructive power he has awakened. He must learn control over the power he wields or risk being consumed by it. As he wrestles with his training, an assassin stalks his every move. This new enemy is sent by a mysterious foe, one who will force Wesson to choose between the kindness in his heart and the seductive power in his soul.
68. Empire of Exiles (Books of the Usurper #1) by Erin M. Evans
Twenty-three years ago, a Duke with a grudge led a ruthless coup against the empire of Semilla, killing thousands. He failed. The Duke was executed, a terrifyingly powerful sorcerer was imprisoned, and an unwilling princess disappeared.
The empire moved on.
Now, when Quill, an apprentice scribe, arrives in the capital city, he believes he’s on a simple errand for another pompous noble: fetch ancient artifacts from the magical Imperial Archives. He’s always found his apprenticeship to a lawman to be dull work. But these aren’t just any artifacts — these are the instruments of revolution, the banners under which the Duke lead his coup.
Just as the artifacts are unearthed, the city is shaken by a brutal murder that seems to have been caused by a weapon not seen since the days of rebellion. With Quill being the main witness to the murder, and no one in power believing his story, he must join the Archivists — a young mage, a seasoned archivist, and a disillusioned detective — to solve the truth of the attack. And what they uncover will be the key to saving the empire – or destroying it again.
69. The Crew (The God Dust Saga #1) by Sadir S. Samir
THIS AIN’T A JOB FOR THE GOOD GUYS
Varcade fled to the deserts of Harrah to escape his past as an Educator, a member of an order of zealot warrior-monks that aims to shape the world according to their sacred Teachings by force. Varcade makes his living as a reckless sword-for-hire, caring only about himself, until his self-centered lifestyle is turned on its head when he is contracted to recruit a misfit team of unruly assassins and take out the mighty Bone Lord of Akrab.
But the Bone Lord is aware of the plot and sends her band of Dusters to stop them; individuals who have gained bizarre and lethal magical powers by snorting the pulverised bones of dead gods. Hunted by Educators and Dusters in a city-state where an escalating conflict between the human and demon population threatens to boil over in a civil war, will Varcade and his ragtag crew save Akrab from the cruel Bone Lord, or will they make things even worse?
70. Kalyna the Soothsayer by Elijah Kinch Spector
A plucky, sardonic con artist must “prophesize” her way out of peril—discovering along the way that power and politics are nothing more than stories sold as truth.
Kalyna’s family has the Gift: the ability to see the future. For generations, they traveled the four kingdoms of the Tetrarchia selling their services as soothsayers. Every child of their family is born with this Gift—everyone except Kalyna.
So far, Kalyna has used informants and trickery to falsify prophecies for coin, scrounging together a living for her deteriorating father and cruel grandmother. But Kalyna’s reputation for prophecy precedes her, and poverty turns to danger when she is pressed into service by the spymaster to Rotfelsen.
Kalyna is to use her “Gift” to uncover threats against Rotfelsen’s king, her family held hostage to ensure her good behavior. But politics are devious; the king’s enemies abound, and Kalyna’s skills for investigation and deception are tested to the limit. Worse, the conspiracy she uncovers points to a larger threat, not only to Rotfelsen but to the Tetrarchia itself.
Kalyna is determined to protect her family and newfound friends, but as she is drawn deeper into palace intrigue, she can no longer tell if her manipulations are helping prevent the Tetrarchia’s destruction—or if her lies will bring about its prophesized downfall.
71. The Dragon Rogues (The Dragon Rogues #1) by D.K. Holmberg
An incredible thief. An impossible heist.
Fresh out of prison, Jonathan Aguelon wants one big score before he leaves the city for good. The job will be more complicated than any that he’s ever attempted, but this time he can steal more than money, he can get revenge—but only if he follows a mysterious benefactor’s plan.
With the right team, Jonathan can succeed, but much in the city has changed during his time away, and the Dragon doesn’t have the draw he once did. The team of outcasts he assembles needs time to prepare, but time is the one luxury they don’t have.
As his benefactor pushes him into action, Jonathan refuses to be used by anyone, but can he refuse when his team might be all that stands before a coming war—if they can find a way to work together first?
72. An Ocean of Others (Dance of the Sibling Suns #1) by Joshua Scott Edwards
REMEMBER WHAT’S REAL OR YOUR HEAD WILL BE THEIRS
Survival is never easy, but it’s never been harder for Grim, the last bounty hunter in Liwokin. He survived the Great Riot that killed Liwo by the thousands, endured the bloody chaos that ruled the city in its aftermath, and avoided the crushing fist of the Agency created to quell the unrest. Rule of law returned, but following the rules doesn’t put food in your belly.
On a job gone wrong, Grim stumbles into a conspiracy that targets Ulken, the Head of the Agency, a man who has done more to ruin Grim’s life than any other. Struggling to earn honest coin, Grim plans to use this information to rise quickly through the ranks of the organization so an empty purse never worries him again. He becomes a Finger of the Agency, joining a sardonic ranger, two fugitive siblings, a stone-skinned Skardwarf, and a powerful dark mage—none of whom know any better than Grim what they’ve gotten themselves into.
Grim’s Hand soon discovers the Agency’s furtive work is far deadlier than hunting bounties. While fighting to save his home from monsters who once were men, Grim discovers the conspiracy runs deeper than just Ulken and the Agency—what was unleashed is spreading, and if Grim’s sanity doesn’t prevail, it will consume the minds of the Bright Empire and beyond.
73. Swords of Empire (The Shaman’s Sword #1) by Robert Ryan
They killed him. They stole his power. They split his empire into chiefdoms. But he foretold a day when his descendant would rise against their sorcery…
Shar was no ordinary girl. Her clan was the Fen Wolves, a poor tribe that dwelt in the marshes. Yet she meant to bring them glory.
She was a young warrior, but few men could stand against her. If they were strong, she was fast. If they were skilled, she was more adept. If they sought to intimidate her, she defied them. But now her chance of a new life had come.
The shamans announced the Quest of Swords where fortune seekers searched for the fabled blades of the long-dead emperor. None had ever found them. She vowed to change that.
Yet the shamans kept a secret. The swords were not meant to be found, and the quest was a trap. Dark sorcery guarded the blades, for any who could wield them were of the emperor’s blood. And they must be killed…
74. Arcane Mercenaries: Captain (Arcane Mercenaries #1) by Mark August
Magic ignited a war. Grant Gwydian fought to save humanity—and himself.
Grant has been leading his band of mercenaries into the heart of battles for years, thriving on impossible missions for the highest bidder. But there’s a secret to his success: Grant is a StarTouched mage, and his band of Arcane Mercenaries comprises some of the most powerful wizards from every nation.
But when a siege threatens to become a deadly clash of arms, Grant’s promise to bring his soldiers home faces its ultimate test in the fires of battle. Negotiations falter, and assassination and kidnapping mar the ceasefire. Grant’s hand-picked team of Touched warriors races across enemy territory to rescue the royal heiress. Betrayal, political agendas, and ancient enemies dog his frantic quest. Can he overcome the odds and save not only his soldiers but the fate of an empire?
In this epic fantasy adventure, heroism and magic collide in a thrilling tale of war, politics, and sacrifice. If you love fast-paced stories steeped in political intrigue, Arcane Mercenaries: Captain will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
75. The Relic Bond (The Lost Riders #1) by Jasper Alden and D.K. Holmberg
Dragons will rise again…
The Dragon War has raged for years, but ancient relics of power may be the key to stopping it for good.
When the discovery of a rare relic awakens a long lost power within Hal, he learns a truth of the war that challenges all that he believes.
Mastering his new connection may bring about peace—or it might fully destroy the kingdom.
76. The Burning Prince (The Flames of Burasal #1) by Georgina Makalani
A witch on the run. Two brothers determined to help her. A king scouring the kingdom for revenge, and a holy man burning it to the ground.
The Kingdom of Burasal has been hunting out and destroying witches long before the great fire that took the life of the new prince, and destroyed half of Sunsong Castle. The fire fuelled the hunt, and the new king is determined that no witch shall survive, particularly the one responsible for his son’s death.
Nelda has spent her life hiding who she truly is, not that she knew what was until that night she was lost to the flames. A night that has scarred a kingdom, a king and her brother. But in all the years they searched for her, she remained hidden. Until the man burning his way across the kingdom flushes her out.
Now she is running for her life again, with two brothers, and a young witch. They are only drawing more attention from those she is trying to hide from. Should she have abandoned them to save herself? Is she leading them to danger, or are they leading her? If they are discovered she will be killed on the spot, and the young men she is trying to protect will burn with her.
77. The Phoenix and the Sword (The Crane Moon Cycle #1) by J.C. Snow
Cursed with immortality and destroying fire, Aili Fallon will cross life and death to find the truth.
Aili is desperate.
Determined to escape her past, the young woman refuses to let anything impede her training as a combat nurse. But when the woman she loves binds her with blood and disappears, Aili is transformed into a magical killer, a blood-bound healer, an immortal being.
Gambling with her own existence, she crosses through phoenix gates into a new world. But when she is reunited with her lost love, she learns they have been pawns in an ancient game of immortals, the keystone in a demon’s curse.
Will Aili’s newfound power and the secrets of her past destroy her, or can she and her lost phoenix unravel the binding of life and death?
78. The Crystal Shore (The Tempered Soul #1) by Jo de-Lancey
Killian O’Shea is a charlatan who masks his painful past with a smirk and a shrug. One night, the neurotic Ren Thorncliffe walks into his life and changes it forever. Ren’s father is dying, and the only thing that can save him is an enchanted artefact hidden on an uncharted island. According to Ren, Killian is the only person who can find it, and he’s willing to pay handsomely for his services. Killian agrees to help, seeing it as a way to make amends for his past by saving a life to pay for the two he lost.
Killian seeks out untouchable pirate captain Lily Rothbone for convenient transportation and inconvenient feelings. They share a turbulent history, but as long as they can keep from bickering about it, the mission should be easy. She will become rich, and he will put the ghosts of his past to rest by doing something good for once in his life.
After discovering the artefact locked away, Killian’s only choice is to throw himself into a hole in the ocean, known as the Demon’s Drop, to find the key. He awakes alone and in another world where he’s forced to prove his worth to a mysterious race by completing increasingly dangerous tasks. Failure will guarantee Ren’s father’s death and Killian’s too. A lonely death without redemption.
79. An Incarnation of Shadow and Light by S.A. Christianson
Four magicians abuse their magic to gain power in a corrupt Victorian inspired world.
In the Kingdom of Verchiél only a handful of people known as Incarnate can use magic. Equally feared and respected, they are revered as saints and indulged like gods. But the sudden deaths of Verchiél’s rulers unleashes a power struggle between four Incarnate, each seeking power to fulfil their own desires.
Gabriel, a charismatic socialite who takes darker paths to avoid slipping back into powerlessness.
Zoe, the daughter of a disgraced merchant, determined to create a new path for her life.
Niklas, an exiled prince trying to escape the ghosts of his past.
Silje, an assassin who will stop at nothing until she’s seized the adoration she has always been denied.
Infighting and betrayal run rampant as each becomes worse than their problems in order to solve them.
80. The Broken Horn (The Story of Rain #1) by Don Elliott
In the desert, only the relentless survive.
After centuries of war, Djeodi, a recovering alcoholic, has found salvation with a community hidden in the mountains. But when an ancient enemy rises, he must embrace his violent past and lead his people to refuge across a wasteland of sand and stone.
Not far away, Roan, a sandrunner with a bounty on her head, accepts a job transporting a mute girl through the desert. When she discovers assassins and a crime lord are on her tail, she must risk her life or abandon the girl to save her own skin.
The Broken Horn is the story of an old man’s quest for redemption and a proud woman’s struggle to love. Two hardscrabble fighters, each battling their own demons, hurdling toward each other in a harrowing struggle between civilizations and the survival of a living, breathing planet.
81. Elder of Storms (Blueguard #1) by D.J. Jacobson
A furious storm. A fight for survival. An impossible adventure.
Five years ago, a great expedition set sail for lands unknown, captained by the Empress’s own cousin. They swore to find what lay across the Sunfire Sea for the glory of the Decadin Empire…
They never returned.
Today, Early Wills spends his days swabbing decks. But at least the planks he battles with his mop belong to the Pride of the Empress, the tallest, mightiest ship in Her Majesty’s Blueguard navy. Joining an expedition to learn the royal cousin’s fate seemed a good deal more exciting to young Early than helping his parents bring the day’s catch to market.
The salt air is bracing, and the promise of the unknown a powerful lure. But danger lurks beyond each wave in the Sunfire Sea.
As great thunderheads gather over the Pride, Early can’t help but remember the sailors’ tales about the ancient horror that broods in the clouds. Relic of the Lost Gods. Lightning incarnate. The Elder of Storms.
Will Early and his companions discover what became of the Lost Expedition?
Or will they fall prey to a power humankind was never meant to face?
82. Broken Shells (The Ashling Saga #1) by Nathaniel Edson and Nikita Hart
It has been almost twenty years since the royal family of the Altus Empire was overthrown. Liora never knew a time when the Corvus family was in power. All she knows is scrubbing down the rooms of the pleasure house where she and her twin brother live as slaves. But when Liora discovers an abandoned trinket in one of the rooms, her investigation of it spirals into a horrifying nightmare as an epidemic of madness suddenly besets the city.
Forced to ally with old enemies and unexpected strangers, Liora must fight to survive and learn the truth about what happened nearly two decades ago.
83. Dawn of Unity (Last of the Seekers #1) by Nitish Sharma
A boy despised by society, another elevated to prominence, both linked by a war.
“Die a criminal or serve your country in this war,” the knight who recaptured seventeen-year-old Will Farmer told him. Locked away for murder, Will escaped only because of a powerful object he found. He takes the knight’s mercy to prove he’s not the monster they say he is. A battle later he’s captured by a boy from the opposing side who holds an object like his.
“Capture an enemy, bring him to the capital, and you will be grand vizier,” the sultan told sixteen-year-old Ahmed Sharfi. He’s improved over nine years at the University of Magi, since the day he accidentally burned down his town’s souk. To sit by the sultan’s side, it’s everything he thought he wanted. Thus he heads to war. Yet, a powerful object, found during his studies, points him to someone in the aftermath of a battle.
Their nations say they should be enemies, but it isn’t so. They don’t understand the war, but for different reasons. Will wants redemption, while Ahmed cared only about his studies, yet they seem to get along so well. They realise their powerful objects may be able to guide them. But who are two boys to change a war others failed to stop?
84. Bane in the Stone (Return of the Gryphons #1) by L.J. Hutton
He’s fallen into another world. They need a hero!
Legend has it that the dukes of Palma can control the fabled stone gryphons of Staer-Dushan, and that together they will defend the Duchy’s people against all enemies. So when the current duke is murdered in strange circumstances, it is imperative that his errant son and heir is found and forced to return. The only problems are firstly finding Marcus, and then when they do, finding he’s not the man they thought he was!
Mark was just another ex-soldier trying to forget his demons when he woke up somewhere else, and with no idea how he got there or how to get home. Worse, he’s the double of missing Marcus but without a scrap of his magical powers. Persuaded to act as Marcus to prevent wide-spread panic amongst the people, it isn’t long before Mark is up to his neck in assassination attempts. But what neither he nor his new friends expect is for the gryphons to suddenly start moving! He can’t control them, the duke’s remaining brother can’t either, but it becomes clear that somebody can. Who has this long-lost power, and what do they want?
As the gryphons rain chaos onto the city of Staer-Dushan, and long-lost magic reappears, against the odds it is Mark’s experience of a very different kind of fighting which might yet avert disaster!
85. Lyoness Rampant (Lyoness #1) by L.E. Mearman
The time of the Shadow is magical. Anything could happen.
Though the falling Arc in the sky brings the fearful Shadow of winter, Princess Sabina of Castellis sees hope. After all, the old legends claim that the time of the Shadow is magical. Anything could happen. She could even escape the loveless marriage she was forced into fifteen years before. But everything, especially freedom, comes at a cost.
When an oracle’s prediction offers the chance to escape, Sabina finds herself caught between dangerous courtly factions in a kingdom ruled by men. Navigating a medieval world on the cusp of a techno-magical revolution, Sabina must protect her family, uphold the King’s will, and learn that strength isn’t shown with a blade alone.
86. A Twist of Fate (Order’s Trials #1) by Austin Windsor
Order is fragile. Fate is volatile. Chaos is inevitable.
Bounty hunter Richard Ordowyn thought he would live out his days plagued by fragmented memories. But as he meets a sorceress who lures him into a journey to take down the Empire, the foe waging war against his homeland, his memories begin to piece together as shadowy forces vie to control him.
Freedom fighter Elaeínn Tinaíd is a terrorist to some. Having spent her life as an outcast for her inability to connect to magic, little did she know that this disconnect would connect her to a creature of legend.
Ruthless crime syndicate leader Elton Redwinter thought he would reign over the Free City of Dannos until his death. But when he meets a vampire who warns him of a crisis that only he can prevent, his morals are truly tested as he prepares to fight.
For all three, their paths are fraught with danger, deception, and mystery. And their fates are destined to be intertwined.
87. Blink of the Sun (The Lunar Triumvirate #1) by Ross Kingston
A broken weapon of legend. An unsuspecting mercenary. An immaculately presented butler who won’t leave him alone.
Salvatore Oxenheart took his latest job with one thing in mind: providing for himself and his family. But as he dives headlong into an abandoned estate and seizes the remains of a once-powerful Artefact, his life is thrown into turmoil.
Now, the realm’s authorities want him dead, and other interested parties are making their moves – including a mysterious servant who refuses to leave his side.
As his situation spirals out of control, Salvatore will be forced to work with unlikely allies to escape his fate.
Battered, bloodied and far from home, he will stand witness to the Blink of the Sun.
88. Dance of Jesters (The Great Dance #1) by D.W. Hawkins
Life is a dance of jesters until the daggers appear.
Esteban Audaz had everything—wealth, power, and respect. A storied name and rule of a prosperous, oceanside city. He had the love of a beautiful woman.
Until he was betrayed, attacked, and left to die at sea.
Wounded, he washes up on an island shrouded in myth, a place his people have cursed with fearful whispers for centuries. The bones of a dead civilization lay under its tropical forests, haunted by a mysterious man who keeps a deadly secret. Older, darker things sleep in its ruins—powers that might have turned an island paradise into a graveyard.
Determined to reclaim his home, Esteban resolves to forge himself anew. To defeat his enemies, he’ll need to sharpen himself into a vengeful blade. War is coming, and all of Vilancia could be consumed in the conflagration. Esteban may be the spark that ignites a terrible blaze, or the flame that cleanses the rot from the heart of the realm.
89. The Severing Son (The Sundered Nation #1) by Vaughn Roycroft
Tales of the Bringer of Urrinan had been told for generations, but never had the prophecy felt so near to so many. Elan wasn’t sure if she even believed one man could cause the sort of upheaval that would change the world. And yet, just as the prophecy foretold, dark forces were on the rise—including the many Spali warbands raiding across the borderlands.
It was in pursuit of one such warband when Elan’s host discovered the hidden compound of the Outcast. She’d heard how the former chieftain of the mighty Amalus Clan had been unjustly accused of murdering his rival. How the conflict had begun over a woman. How the Outcast’s son—born of that same woman—perfectly matched the prophecy’s foretelling of the Bringer.
Prophecy aside, it seemed that fate had led Elan into the midst of a legend. Because of a choice made in the heat of battle, Elan found herself bound to an outlaw hunted by friend and foe alike. Whether she believed in the prophecy or not, she found herself entangled with a lone figure who vowed to seek the sort of upheaval that might just change the world.
90. The Eye of Nissi’I (Legion of the High Bloods #1) by Ronald Wilcox
Slavers on the loose . . .
When Gallian of Orsanyiu baits his friend, Beábe, to accept a wager that he can hunt a baxis by playing a “magical” flute, the two Chaatiu Rangers set out into the verdant grasslands where the lumbering beetle-like beasts graze. Eschewed by hunters, baxi have at least one valuable commodity—chitin, which Gallian extracts from a carcass to sell to Lord Drohemy for making a cuirass for the king’s army.
On his return home, his life is shattered: he finds his home invaded, blood stains on the wall, his wife and children missing. Hearing reports the offenders were skull-masked raiders, he suspects slavers are involved—Black Scions, amongst the most notorious legions of Torsk.
Mystery brews when a lone mercenary, Rhugardt of Caladhin, visits the rangers, claiming to know who abducted the rangers’ families. He offers to guide them through the harsh Dead Lands of Bruille; a former Black Scion, Rhugardt seems the perfect guide for the rangers’ needs. Gallian accepts the mercenary’s offer.
Desperate to rescue his family, Gallian forms his own legion, the High Bloods, to confront one of the most ruthless warlords of Torsk, Brubat of Narzwar, a renegade high priest of the Shakhahedrin. But to infiltrate the warlord’s court, the High Bloods must swear an oath of fealty, bonding them to criminal life to fulfill any whim the warlord commands.
At the Temple of Lyrk, where Brubat is believed to hold the abductees from Hazsolask, the High Bloods become pawns in a deadly game of politics, sorcery, and diplomacy. Gallian’s fate leads him to resolving the mystery of an ancient artifact, the staff of Volniccia, that opens the Eye of Nissi’I, a portal allowing travel to all the continents of Markham. Caught in a web of intrigue, he must treat his adversaries with utmost diplomacy, or face death.
91. The Last Archdruid (Moonruin Saga #1) by Amy Sanderson
Rue Silverclaw has been hunting monsters since she was old enough to hold a sword, but her latest job isn’t one she signed up for. A man calling himself the Archdruid has tasked her with killing the mysterious Moonchild – and he means to hold Rue’s mother hostage until it’s done.
Nor is his request all it seems. The Moonchild is surrounded by an enchantment only Rue can pierce, and by secrets that have lain buried for hundreds of years. In doing the Archdruid’s bidding, Rue risks unleashing a new threat – none other than the dark magic she’s carried all her life.
A magic so powerful that its last wielder almost tore the world apart. Can Rue both save her mother’s life, and stop herself doing the same?
92. The Unbinding by Noor Marji
The Southern Prison has been destroyed. The Fallen King has escaped.
These are the words Prince Itsuki Oyama, sole heir to Kabelan’s throne, had feared for twenty years, ever since his father killed his mother and left him to die in an unnatural inferno. Now that his father escaped, it’s his responsibility to keep the tyrannical king from destroying all of Kabelan… again. Reports from the South are not promising, though. The entire prison has been burned down, and the unholy, sentient fire has traveled to the nearest village, turning any human it touched into a beastly taint. With the reemergence of vibrant colors beyond Itsuki’s greatest imagination, only one conclusion can be drawn:
Old Magic is returning, and the Unbinding has begun.
Joined by his advisor and an eccentric band of mercenaries, Itsuki travels to the Southern Prison in search for answers. Magic appears at every turn of their journey, bringing life and vivid color back to the desaturated land. Only with the help of the heretical Order Solis will they make it through this adventure alive. The closer they get to finding King Inon, the more Itsuki realizes this is no longer a mission to stop his father from repeating a twenty-year-old tragedy. His escape was only part of a larger plan to make the entire known world burn—and the Fallen King is but a pawn to a much greater master.
What Itsuki learns could change his kingdom’s very identity, if he’s willing to be the first person to tell the truth.
93. Queen & Conquerer (The Queen’s Red Guard #1) by Isabelle Olmo
How does one conquer a kingdom without spilling blood? You offer your hand in marriage to the king who killed your husband.
Almira’s father raised her in political cunning. Since childhood, she’s prepared for this moment. She lays out the players one by one like pieces on a board.
One. King Alton, the brother-killer. The spare heir who killed his brother for the throne.
Two. The perfect seamstress. The people must admire a queen and welcome her with open arms even when she arrives with a deadly armada behind her.
Three. The Queen’s Red Guard. These warrior women have one purpose; to protect the queen at all costs. Even from her husband. Even from herself.
94. Twelve Blades in Contempt (Epic of Egaisha #1) by Jorden Darrett
Her clan believes she is nothing. She’ll have to start over, and prove herself to everyone.
Aiya is a Ginju, a hidden assassin of the Egaishan Empire. She is the black sheep of her clan, grappling for a connection with her deity. Her world is one of ridicule by her own family, forced into doing their biddings. Chafing under the heavy expectations of her father, a collision with a rival clan provides her with the chance to prove herself.
But a grievous mistake causes their plan to backfire, forcing Aiya to choose between loyalty and independence. As civil unrest widens cracks in the empire, Aiya must decide for herself how best to forge her path. To protect her brothers and win respect in her land, she’ll need to turn a new leaf and oppose her clan and her empire. She must conspire with clans once held in contempt and reach new heights of power and create a new world of their own, in a world of spirits, deities and conniving lords. Along the way she will be forced to find her place, her morality and her strength.
95. Apprentice Gone (Rampant Dawn #1) by J.W. Meyer
When an important errand for his master goes completely awry, a young spellcaster is thrown into a life-or-death struggle that could affect the fate of the entire realm.
Along the way he meets an unlikely friend, and together they discover their unique abilities are able to break through unimaginable boundaries—but nothing can prepare them for the unparalleled dangers they will be forced to overcome.
Follow Kresdin and Fuke on their wild adventure into an enchanted world of magical wonder, and see if they can unlock the mystery of a long-forgotten artifact.
96. The Rise of the Markless (Heart of Dragons #1) by J.D. Neptune
There is nothing more terrifying than a girl with nothing to lose.
In the Skarrian Empire, societal class is determined by one factor, a factor which no one, neither emperors nor servants, can control: the Marks on their skin.
Ayla Helero is a Markless orphan who refuses to accept her dismal fate of oppression and servitude. Voices whisper to her in the night, promising a chance at a better tomorrow, if only she would listen. Will she bow down and capitulate to the evil hands that bind her, or will she listen to the voices, risking everything for a chance to be free?
Ayla listens. She hears the voices. She whispers back.
The Markless will rise.
97. Carved Amidst the Shadows (Brands of Taelgir #1) by M.T. Fontaine
When the gods shaped the continent into five kingdoms to be ruled by their progeny, they did not account for the greed of men. When they created the Order from their god-blessed followers to mediate between realms, they neglected to plan against the hoarding of power. War between the royalists and the godly was inevitable.
Five centuries later, the borders between kingdoms are impenetrable. No branded-born Marked can cross them without burning to ash, except the Order’s Stewards. But a damaging new war has been prophesied, one that haunts the Order, one that will come to pass if Carved traitors roam free and brandless-born Flawed are left alive.
It starts with one girl that survives the impossible. Kaianne, the Carved. It takes shape through one prince with ambition. Andreiyes, the Marked. It hinges on one grieving man who is ready to give up hope. Rau, the Steward. Three people bound by fate – whether they like it or not.
98. The Last Ranger (Ranger of the Titan Wilds #1) by J.D.L. Rosell
Betrayed. Hunted. Left for dead. But not even death itself can keep the last ranger from vengeance.
Leiyn “Firebrand” is no stranger to a fight. A brash ranger of the Titan Wilds, she takes up her bow to ward against the colossal spirit creatures known as titans, ever a threat to the colonies she has sworn to protect.
But no amount of skill can guard against treachery.
When tragedy strikes the rangers’ lodge, Leiyn vows to avenge the fallen. But if she is to succeed, she must embrace a power within her she has long denied.
Power to move mountains and rivers.
Power over life and death.
She did not choose this path, but Leiyn knows her duty. For if she fails, the legacy of the rangers dies with her—and all the Titan Wilds will fall into shadow.
99. Sunchaser by Emily Barlow
Glorya is a sunchaser, someone born with the ability to bend the weather to their will. She has spent the last five years of her life training, honing her body, her ability, and her mind in an attempt to become the most effective weatherworker the world has ever seen–but will it be enough? Or will the raw power of nature defeat her before she has a chance to prove herself?
Sunchaser follows Glorya as she struggles against the vagaries of both nature and humanity in her quest for independence. Traveling from port to port, she pays for her passage by ensuring smooth sailing on the journey, but her skill is tested time and again as she faces ever-greater natural threats. Her insular upbringing on a small, inland farm has left her with little exposure to the world at large–a world full of new experiences that she now must navigate entirely on her own.
100. Vessel of Starfire (Outlaws of Interra #1) by Allison Carr Waechter
SISTER. ASSASSIN. VESSEL.
Echo Rodrigal isn’t just a survivor; she’s a success. But in a land where the law is there are no laws, the terms of success rest on a knife’s edge, and Echo’s luck is about to change.
The Vindicata are one of the top vengeance crews in the Ten Realms of Interra. Their oaths to only commit crimes of justice have earned them the respect of their peers. But the Vindicata are more than a crew, they’re a family. And ever since they adopted Echo, she’s cared about one thing: making her family proud.
For years, that’s meant becoming the continent’s most feared assassin. But each kill wreaks havoc on her soul, no matter how justified. Echo’s unraveling fast, complicated by the mysterious rift growing between her and her beloved sister. Miyala’s keeping dangerous secrets, and Echo cannot find the key to unlock her sister’s trust.
When the Warlord orders the Vindicata to transport foreign dissidents to a new prison, they must put their personal issues aside to face an impossible choice: die for defying orders, or die for breaking their oaths to uphold justice. Between meddling gods returning to the continent, mercenaries around every corner, and an ancient prophecy that foretells the end of all worlds, the pressure on Echo is mounting fast.
Can she make enough right moves to save her family? The fate of many worlds rests in Echo’s next choice.
101. The Bleeding Stone (The Spellbinders and the Gunslingers #1) by Joseph John Lee
The island nation of Ferranda is the jewel of the Acrarian Kingdom, and its Founder, Aritz a Mata, is revered as a god amongst men. But twenty-five years ago, Aritz was merely a man, a colonizer, an Invader seeking glory and fame in the name of his King and Queen, and Ferranda was a nameless union of indigenous Tribes, reverent of the heightened powers and aptitudes granted to them by their Animal Deities, but sundered by the foreigners claiming their lands to the south.
In the unconquered north, the Stone Tribe has for fifteen years offered a safe haven for the southern Tribes displaced by Aritz’s Invaders, whose occupying march north has been ostensibly halted by a dense forest barrier dividing north and south. Among the Stone people lives Sen, an outcast for the circumstances of her birth, preserved in society only by her status as daughter of her Tribe’s Chief. Forever relegated to the fringes of society, she is forced to watch as countless of her kin, including her sister and brother, complete their rites of passage into adulthood and accordingly earn their aptitudes by the Deity to whom they share an affinity – the Bear, the Wolf, or the Owl.
Despite this, Sen finds comfort in her life of forced solitude with her close inner circle, but hers is a comfort in days of waning tenuous peace. When Aritz’s technologically-advanced forces push north, Sen is thrust into a singular quest to rescue one of her precious few captured in the ensuing struggle. While her goal is earnest – save someone dear to her and prove her worth to her Tribe – her people’s goal is far more dire: survival in the face of uncertainty.
102. Jaguar Sun (Jaguar Empire #1) by Jessica Wood
An evil spell. A family torn apart. An empire in ruin.
Ten years after the Jaguar Empire was cast into darkness, The Emperor’s missing son Toa is back and seeks revenge for the death of his mother. Before he can proceed, he is magically bound to a member of the Jaguar Knights. He can only earn his release and exact his revenge by retrieving his three missing sisters, the lost princesses. This will prove even more difficult than revenge. Toa and his sisters never got along and won’t join him willingly. What’s more, he is bound at the wrist to a Jaguar Knight who refuses to trust him.
Can Toa succeed in his quest or is this the end for both the Jaguar Empire and his family?
103. Daughter of the Storm (Warriors of Aerinda #1) by Marie-Josée Paquet
As temperamental as a storm
Sublime as a white flower
Wicked by her own
Blessed by a dragon
With a temper to rival a storm and abnormally pale hair, Azéna grew up accused of practicing sorcery by her own people. When one of those vile dragons attacks the city, it bonds with her. Confronted by a choice, she leaves everything she knows to forge a new life. But that’s not so simple when she becomes involved with a thief that is trying to get their hands on a powerful artifact that is isolated from the world for sinister reasons.
104. Deathless Beast (Kallattian Saga #1) by Andrew D. Meredith
Fates intertwine – Pantheon calls – Darkness Grows
Far too many blame their own bad luck on Hanen and Rallia Clouw. When opportunity knocks, they leap to put their past behind them.
In the turmoil of a holy order fraught with lies, frustration, and heresy, the paladin Jined Brazstein is called to deeper faith.
When Katiam takes up a seemingly ageless seed pod from a botanist’s desk, she cannot imagine the change it will bring.
Life stirs within that seed, the path to deeper faith beckons, profits are made upon the road, darkness moves-a winged, deathless wrath invisible to the gods.
For those who seek the heroes path,
Fate takes more than bargained for.
Hubris breeds a deathless wrath,
That always hungers after more.
105. Phoenix Rising (Feather & Flame #1) by Beth Ball
Three of the six titans have abandoned our world. They leave behind their champions, the beacons of hope against the betrayer goddess Alessandra’s pressing night.
But as the years pass, that hope fades. We wait in twilight. Over a decade ago, the champions went into hiding. In their absence, the fires of rebellion flicker and dim. We fight for glimpses of embers, for a spark of hope to reignite the flame.
Marcon’s ember flares to life upon the battlefields of Respite. A deadly conflagration sets his path apart.
Quindythias’s revolutionary fire is trapped in the shadow of his sister’s fading light.
In the heart of the vast Emeraude, a nameless witch enkindles her dream with a match—to restore her forest home.
Yet the brightest flame of all flickers within the dense woodlands of Lis-Maen, where a father teaches his young daughter the secret to stoking the fire: Restore Verdigris, little Rowan, and make the world whole. Do this to fulfill your destiny and the vanished titan’s promise.
All the while, Alessandra looks on and smiles. Into ashes, she knows, we all shall return.
Happy Reading!
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ALYSSA LOST IN SPACE 
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