Epic Historical Fantasy

From the end of the 18th century, Americans traveled west to find new homes and new lands. They brought with them the magics of plain people. It is from these roots of the American dream that award-winning writer Orson Scott Card has crafted what the Charlotte Observer called "a uniquely American fantasy." Using the lore and the folk magic of the men and women who settled a continent, and the beliefs of the tribes who were here before them, Card has created an alternate frontier America.

Magical creatures are attacking the capital city, seeking to retake what was once theirs, and no one is safe. Ancient cultists have cursed the highest members of the Church, turning them into twisted abominations. The only hope for a cure lies with Adria Eveson. To learn the cure, she must befriend an imprisoned cultist, and guard her heart against his seductive promises and twisted logic.

Since she was a child, the divine Empress O Shizuka has believed she was an untouchable god. When her uncle, ruler of the Hokkaran Empire, sends her on a suicide mission as a leader of the Imperial Army, the horrors of war cause her to question everything she knows. Thousands of miles away, the exiled and cursed warrior Barsalyya Shefali undergoes trials the most superstitious would not believe in order to return to Hokkaran court and claim her rightful place next to O Shizuka.

Step up to the gates. After years in the wilds, Lenk and his companions have come to the city that serves as the world's beating heart. The great charnel house where men die surer than any wilderness. They've come to claim payment for creatures slain, blood spilled at the behest of a powerful holy man. And Lenk has come to lay down his sword for good. But this is no place to escape demons.

Life is savage aboard a Viking raider. When young Orm Rurikson is plucked from the snows of Norway to join his estranged father on the Fjord Elk, he becomes an unlikely member of a notorious crew. They are the Oathsworn, so named after the spoken bond that ties them in brotherhood, and they ply a casual trade on the ocean wave, selling their swords to the highest bidder.

Bien avant la légende du roi Arthur et Camelot, Avalon était là, majestueuse terre arborant vallées dorées et brumes argentées. Sur cette île, siège de la Déesse Mère, trois prêtresses puissantes façonnent la destinée de l'Angleterre en luttant pour regagner la magie et les traditions d'un monde autrefois moins sombre. Acculées par les envahisseurs, pouvoirs et visions sont leurs seules armes dans ce combat pour la liberté.

Iron Age warriors Dug and Lowa captured Maidun castle and freed its slaves. But now they must defend it. A Roman invasion is coming from Gaul, but rather than uniting to defend their home, the British tribes go to battle with each other - and see Maidun as an easy target.

Given life by gods, the Ogres were the most intelligent and beautful of the early races on Krynn, and they reigned supreme in their perfect kingdom.... Until that fabled race was weakened by clan rivalries and evil ambition, their downfall orchestrated by the hand of the Dark Queen, Takhisis.... Until the once-proud Ogres were cursed by their own mistakes and transformed into one of Krynn's most ugly, despised, and villainous species.... All except a small group, the Irda, who learned to accept goodness, fight for their freedom, and escape to build a utopian civilization of their own on a paradise island in the Dragon Isles.

Caesar's soldiers have murdered, massacred, and pillaged their way through Gaul and loom on the far side of the sea, ready to descend upon Britain - with them are an unstoppable legion of men twisted by dark magic. Somehow Queen Lowa must repel the invasion, although her best general is dead and her young druid powerless. She faces impossible odds, but when the alternative is death or slavery, a warrior queen will do whatever it takes to save her people.

In a world where an industrial revolution is powered by magic, Tyen, a student of archaeology, unearths a sentient book called Vella. Once a young sorcerer-bookbinder, Vella was transformed into a useful tool by one of the greatest sorcerers of history. Since then she has been collecting information, including a vital clue to the disaster Tyen’s world faces.Elsewhere, in an land ruled by priests, Rielle the dyer’s daughter has been taught that to use magic is to steal from the Angels.

Cha Ming and Huxian have faced the heavens and lived.... Crippled and broken, Cha Ming finds himself in an isolated village. Only the efforts of a mortal doctor are keeping him alive. His qi pathways are ravaged, and his organs are failing. It’s only a matter of time before his wounds claim him. Meanwhile, Huxian finds himself in his natural environment - a mountain crawling with powerful demons. To survive, he’ll need to eat or be eaten. It’s a good thing eating is what he does best. One man. One fox. One shared life. If one fails, so does the other.

With the help of Krosp, Emperor of All Cats, Agatha has escaped from the massive airship known as Castle Wulfenbach. After crashing their escape dirigible, Agatha and Krosp fall in with Master Payne’s Circus of Adventure, a traveling troupe of performers dedicated to staging Heterodyne shows - dramatizations of the exploits of Bill and Barry Heterodyne and their allies - who are unaware of Agatha’s connection to the Heterodyne line.

Tyen is teaching mechanical magic at a school respected throughout the worlds. News arrives that the formidable ruler of all worlds is back and enforcing his old laws - including the one forbidding schools of magic. As teachers and students flee, Tyen is left with no home and no purpose...except the promise he made to Vella. Tyen must decide what he is willing to do to free her. After five years among the tapestry weavers of Schpeta, Rielle's peaceful new life has been shattered by a local war.

After his adventures in The Tower of Fools and Warriors of God, Reynevan is on the run again, harried by enemies—some human, and some mystical—at every turn. These are cruel and dangerous times for a man such as Reynevan, and to survive, he must set aside his history as a peaceful healer and idealist and play the brutal role of Hussite spy as crusades sweep through Silesia and the Czech Republic, and the world around him is forever changed.

Set on a planet in a parallel universe where magic is a reality, these three high fantasy novels from the Witch World series transport you to the eastern continent of Estcarp, illustrating why prolific author Andre Norton was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Contains Trey of Swords, Ware Hawk, and The Gate of the Cat.

After clearing his name, Rune Tellarus finds himself a guest in the palace. The plans to harm himself and his Adepts have not been foiled completely, and to do so will require getting close to the most powerful man in the kingdom: King Celtis. At the king’s request, Rune will soon begin his training as a Guardian Elite, and that means bonding to another Adept. And what better woman to bond with than the king’s own daughter, Princess Nolana?

Cairn has finally gained access to the Sanctum…the birthplace of the infernal’s mystic abilities and proving ground for their adolescents, a place filled to the brim with magic and mystery. The power he needs to solidify a major alliance is close at hand. All he needs to do is settle in and prove himself with the help of old friends and new. Simple enough. Or it would be, if Cairn was the only outsider to breach the Sanctum. When he arrives, he discovers an old enemy has sealed the Sanctum from the inside, holding it ransom. Her demands: “Bring me the head of the usurper.”

As Jon prepares for the inevitable battle with Rohaer, strategies must evolve in response to the enemy’s overwhelming advantage. But Rohaer is not Jon’s only concern. Political players among his allies may plan to use the upcoming strife as an opportunity to grab power for themselves. Jon must protect their king from an internal betrayal at the same time that they’re defending their land from an unrelenting force bent on conquest.

In the peaceful land of the Rhiddaer, Jahdo, the rat-catcher's son stumbles upon a secret meeting between a city council man and a dangerous, mysterious woman. Suddenly the boy is tangled in a web of intrigue and black magic that drags him far from home. In the company of a blind bard, Jahdo must travel to Deverry to unravel the evil that binds him. But there the boy is caught up in dangers far greater than he has ever known. Two powerful sorcerers—one human, the other elven—are battling to save the country from a goddess gone mad.

Lord Regent Geder Palliako's great war has spilled across the world, nation after nation falling before the ancient priesthood and weapon of dragons. But even as conquest follows conquest, the final victory retreats before him like a mirage. Schism and revolt begin to erode the foundations of the empire, and the great conquest threatens to collapse into a permanent conflict of all against all. In Carse, with armies on all borders, Cithrin bel Sarcour, Marcus Wester, and Clara Kalliam are faced with the impossible task of bringing a lasting peace to the world.