The world of Ada Ev flourishes under the stewardship of the Beloran, but every now and then, for many generations of mankind, they withdraw for a period of dormancy. The care of the land and its people falls to the work of the Gifted, those who exhibit traits of the Beloran. When the stewards of Ad Ev are absent for extended periods, many doubt their teachings and follow dangerous, deadly paths. It is easiest simply to ignore old tales of the Beloran and t...

Miyamoto Musashi's Go Rin no Sho or the book of five rings, is considered a classic treatise on military strategy, much like Sun Tzu's The Art of War and Chanakya's Arthashastra.The five "books" refer to the idea that there are different elements of battle, just as there are different physical elements in life, as described by Buddhism, Shinto, and other Eastern religions. Through the book Musashi defends his thesis: a man who conquers himself is ready to take it on on the world, s...

Young Samurai: The Ring of Fire is the sixth book in this blockbuster series by Chris BradfordJACK FLETCHER FACES HIS TOUGHEST CHALLENGE YET.After a snowstorm forces him to take shelter, Jack comes across a village in need of protection from raiding mountain bandits. Torn between moving on or helping, Jack is persuaded to stay and fight the villagers' cause.But Jack is the first and only samurai to do so. Now he must enlist other warriors t...

A powerful new fantasy from Hugo award–winning author Elizabeth Bear, Range of Ghosts creates a world both deep and broad, where a sorcerer-prince seeks world domination for the glory of his God.Temur, grandson of the Great Khan, is walking from a battlefield where he was left for dead. All around lie the fallen armies of his cousin and his brother who made war to rule the Khaganate. Temur is now the legitimate heir by blood to his grandfather's throne, but...

He calls himself Farouche, after a character from legend, but his reality is that his memories and identity were stolen from him by a secret enemy.In a far-future world of wizards and walled cities, he finds himself trailing a wealthy merchant’s caravan across a dusty plain. Possessed of a soldier’s skills, he hires on with the merchant and begins to build a life. But his efforts to discover his past reveal a dark prospect: was he a participant in a notorious massacre of innocents?...

A page-turning, sweeping fantasy, full of devastating treachery, deadly magic and ruthless women, perfect for fans of House of the Dragon and The Jasmine Throne.In an ancient matriarchal world of magic, gods and warriors, the last girl – unbeknownst to the five Queendoms – has just been born. As time marches on, the scribes of Bastian find no answers in their history books. The farmers of Sestia sacrifice their crops to the gods. Paxim, the empire of trade and deal...

The Shattered Pillars is the second book of Bear's The Eternal Sky trilogy and the sequel to Range of Ghosts. Set in a world drawn from our own great Asian Steppes, this saga of magic, politics and war sets Re-Temur, the exiled heir to the great Khagan and his friend Sarmarkar, a Wizard of Tsarepheth, against dark forces determined to conquer all the great Empires along the Celedon Road.Elizabeth Bear is an astonishing writer, whose prose draws you into st...

The Burnished King has escaped his tomb.In the demi-god's wake, a stone-plague creeps across the lands and Never must stop the ancient decay before it swallows everyone he cares for.Despite his determination, there is no cure and no guarantee that even his Amouni blood will be enough. Never's search for the means to fight back leads him to the Amber Isle once more, where the island continues to hold its secrets close.But it is there that Never encou...

Elizabeth Bear concludes her award-winning epic fantasy trilogy, The Eternal Sky, with Steles of the Sky.Re Temur, exiled heir to his grandfather's Khaganate, has finally raised his banner and declared himself at war with his usurping uncle. With his companions—the Wizard Samarkar, the Cho-tse Hrahima, and the silent monk Brother Hsiung—he must make his way to Dragon Lake to gather in his army of followers.Temur has many enemies, and they are not idl...

Urza Triumphant The war between Urza and Mishra is over. Brooding on the death of his brother at the hands of extraplanar forces, Urza drifts among the planes. But the end of the Brothers’ War has transformed him into something greater. Deep within his heart, a spark has been kindled to a flame that cannot be quenched. Urza has become a planeswalker.

Hugo Award–winning author Elizabeth Bear returns to the epic fantasy world of the Lotus Kingdoms with The Red-Stained Wings , the sequel to The Stone in the Skull, taking the Gage into desert lands under a deadly sky to answer the riddle of the Stone in the Skull.io9 —New Sci-Fi and Fantasy for MayThe Verge

To harness his newfound magical powers, the mercenary Sun Wolf must cross the desert in search of a witch who can teach him the ways of sorceryAfter a lifetime of brutal war, which he survived only through strength and daring, the mercenary Sun Wolf was shocked to discover within himself an inclination toward magic. Accompanied by his lieutenant, Starhawk, he travels across the forbidding desert to the land of Wenshar, where witchcraft is said to flourish. There he...