Epic Magic

As the Empress ascends her throne and Numistar Winterborn plots to gain unstoppable power, it falls to a hatchling Star Dragoness to navigate the clash between two almighty forces. Upon her tiny shoulders rests the future of all Dragonkind. Yet, does a sinister mastermind lurk behind the war convulsing the Island-World? A supremely twisted, devious foe? Islands will be toppled from their roots. Nations will be ravaged by sword and talon. Legends will rise. And the courage of a girl born to dance, born to the flame of Dragon life, must withstand the ultimate test.

When the world was young and Gods still walked among their mortal children, a headstrong orphan boy set out to explore the world. Thus began the extraordinary adventures that would mold that youthful vagabond into a man and the man into the finely honed instrument of Prophecy known to all the world as Belgarath the Sorcerer. Then came the dark day when the Dark God Torak split the world asunder, and the God Aldur and his disciples began their monumental labor to set Destiny aright.

The Planeswalkers have defeated Nicol Bolas and saved the Multiverse - though at grave cost. The living have been left to pick up the pieces and mourn the dead. But one loss is almost too great to bear: Gideon Jura, champion of justice and shield of the Gatewatch, is gone. As his former comrades Jace and Chandra struggle to rebuild from this tragedy, their future, like the future of the Gatewatch, remains uncertain.

Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork. And now the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match without using magic...so they're in the mood for trying everything else. To do so, they recruit an unlikely group of players: Trev, a street urchin with a talent for kicking a tin can; Glenda, the night chef who makes a mean pie; Juliet, the kitchen hand turned world's greatest fashion model; and the mysterious Mr Nutt, who has something powerful, and dark, locked away inside him.

As High Prince and Princess, Rohan and Sioned must keep both the peace and the secret of the dragons. But the legacy of their evil predecessor remains - and as their son Pol grows up, the kingdom splits in what may become a bloody battle for the crown. To make things worse, a long-vanquished foe vows to destroy the Prince. The only hope of defeating their dark sorcery lies in reclaiming the knowledge so carefully concealed in the long-lost Star Scroll.

A shadowed past. A vengeful goddess. What price will Gwyn pay to discover her destiny? Wrenched from her mundane life as a herbalist's apprentice, teenage orphan Gwyn learns she is hunted by an ancient goddess. For 17 years she's been protected by her guardian, hidden away like a dark secret. But suddenly, she is thrust into the care of some unlikely companions, pursued by wizards and confronted by the dangerous powers she's spent her life suppressing....

When Lore was thirteen, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the ten years since, she’s lived by one rule: don’t let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city. Mortem, the magic born from death, is a high-priced and illicit commodity in Dellaire, and Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter, and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King.

Andry, the new Sunrunner Lord of Goddess Keep, must master potentially deadly magical knowledge before he can confront the ancient foe who nearly destroyed the Sunrunners ages ago. But the enemy is mobilizing to strike again, drawing on forbidden lore to play an ever-shifting game of treachery and betrayal.

For 500 years, the survivors of the Great Wars lived peacefully in a valley sanctuary shielded by powerful magic from the blighted and dangerous outside world. But the enchanted barriers have crumbled, the borders have been breached by predators, and the threat of annihilation looms large once more. Sider Ament, bearer of the last black staff and its profound power, devoted his life to protecting the valley and its inhabitants.

For the first time as an Orbit special edition, Brent Weeks's blockbuster novella Perfect Shadow tells the origin story of the Night Angel trilogy's most enigmatic character: Durzo Blint. Gaelan Starfire is a farmer, happy to be a husband and a father; a careful, quiet, simple man. He's also an immortal, peerless in the arts of war. Over the centuries, he's worn many faces to hide his gift, but he is a man ill-fit for obscurity, and all too often he's become a hero, his very names passing into legend.

The adventuring industry drives the economy of Arth, a world much like our own but with more magic and fewer vowels. Monsters' hoards are claimed, bought by corporate interests, and sold off to plunder funds long before the Heroes' Guild actually kills the beasts. Of course, that's a terrible arrangement for the Shadowkin; orcs, goblins, kobolds, and their ilk must apply for to become Noncombatant Paper Carriers (or NPCs) to avoid being killed and looted by heroes.

As fate would have it (fate being an elderly wizard with a cunning plan), a thief named Chris the Tout would suddenly be forced to become Erast von Rut, the third son of Baron von Rut, and be sent to the mysterious and distant place called Raven's castle where he'd study magic. However, no one ever accepts a fate forced upon them without a fight, and our newly made baron won't obey his new employer that easily.

While Annise Gäric and her forces march on Castle Hill to retake the northern throne, her cousin, Rhea Loren, wages a naval war against Blackstone. Meanwhile, Roan Loren and Gwendolyn Storm struggle to breach the gnarled, vine-choked undergrowth of the Tangle in their quest to reach Knight's End and learn more of the true purpose of the fatemarked. In the south, a Calypsian empress is murdered, and her daughters fight to claim the empire and wage a civil war against their estranged father's armies. In Phanes, slavery runs rampant while a rebel group fights to free the oppressed people.

While the war for the Four Kingdoms drags on, a new threat emerges from across the sea. To the North, Annise Gäric seek to rescue Lady Zelda and retake Castle Hill from the sellswords known as the Brotherhood. In the back of her mind is a growing fear, something she can't quite explain. Meanwhile, Lisbeth Lorne tries to regain control of the ancient army of Sleeping Knights before they become the horde of death her soulmark has shown to her in visions. In the West, Rhea Loren find herself at a crossroads: continue down the path of destruction or seek another way, another life.

William de Worde is the accidental editor of the Discworld's first newspaper. Now he must cope with the traditional perils of a journalist's life - people who want him dead, a recovering vampire with a suicidal fascination for flash photography, some more people who want him dead in a different way and, worst of all, the man who keeps begging him to publish pictures of his humorously shaped potatoes.

Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois's acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf... and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda... and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore... and Severus Snape? Figures of wisdom and power, possessing arcane, often forbidden knowledge, wizards and sorcerers are shaped - or misshaped - by the potent magic they seek to wield.

Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought. Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet's edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.

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.

Amidst the decaying splendor and poisonous intrigue of Chalion's ancient capital, Cazaril is forced to confront not only powerful enemies but also the malignant curse that clings to the royal household, trapping him, flesh and soul, in a maze of demonic paradox, damnation, and death for as long as he dares walk the five-fold pathway of the gods.

Tiffany Aching is ready to begin her apprenticeship in magic, but life isn't exactly what she thought it would be. She expects spells and magic - not chores and ill-tempered goats! Surely there must be more to witchcraft than this? And Tiffany will find that she needs her magic more than ever, to fight off the insidious, disembodied creature that is pursuing her. This time, neither Mistress Weatherwax (the greatest witch in the world) nor the fierce, six-inch-high Wee Free Men can protect her. In the end, it will take all of Tiffany's inner strength to save herself.