Epic War

Stephen R. Platt is widely respected for his incisive nonfiction, particularly in regard to his knowledge and understanding of China. With Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom, Platt details the absorbing narrative of the Taiping Rebellion, which resulted in the loss of 20 million lives. Occurring in the 1850s, this is the story of a cultural movement characterized by intriguing personages such as influential military strategist Zeng Guofan and brilliant Taiping leader Hong Rengan.

Tragedy has struck His Majesty's Aerial Corps, whose magnificent fleet of fighting dragons and their human captains valiantly defend England's shores against the encroaching armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. An epidemic of unknown origin and no known cure is decimating the noble dragons' ranks, forcing the hopelessly stricken into quarantine. Now, only Temeraire and a pack of newly recruited dragons remain uninfected; they stand as the only means of an airborne defense against France's ever-bolder sorties.

The fatherless boy, exiled from his tribe (whom listeners have been following in Wolf of the Plains and Lords of the Bow, has grown into the great king, Genghis Khan. He has united the warring tribes and even taken his armies against the great cities of their oldest enemies. Now he finds trouble rising west of the Mongolian plains. His emissaries are mutilated or killed; his trading gestures rebuffed.

In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" - the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker - offered a bottle of bourbon to the first US fighter pilot to break his record of 26 enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Shattering and Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects delivers a sensational tie-in to the newest World of Warcraft game expansion. What does it take to turn the peacekeeper into a warmonger? Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War gives World of Warcraft fans the opportunity to see what happens when a beloved peacekeeper is pressed to the limit by an inconceivable horror. Will it change her forever? Break her? Or redefine her role on Azeroth?

Seven years have passed since Mordecai’s battle with the Shining God, Celior. Since that time, his control of his abilities has vastly improved. He has, at last, envisioned a use for the ‘God-Stone’, but the gods want vengeance and now seek to destroy everything he has built. The secrets of the past threaten the future of his kingdom, his family, and perhaps humanity itself, unless Mordecai can discover the meaning of ‘Illeniel’s Doom’.

Bahzell Bahnakson of the Horse Stealer hradani had never wanted to be the champion of the War God. Unfortunately, the War God had insisted. Which was how he had found himself among hostile strangers in the Empire of the Axe - except that that was only the least of his problems. For a start, there was the Order of Tomanak, who were horrified that their deity had chosen a hradani as champion, and were resolved to rectify the matter in a most unpleasant fashion.

Dragsons, the true children of Krynn, are power incarnate, and they know it. They come in all guises and forms. Their personalities are as varied as thier colors. Their magical abilities are virtually unlimited. And nothing is so terrifying as dragons on the wing. In this collection, a follow-up to the popular The Dragonss of Krynn anthology, Dragonlance creators, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman serve up a fantastical array of dragon tales featuring the motley races of Krynn and the deadliest creatres of the Dragonlance saga.

This is the second official tie-in novel to the hugely successful God of War series of video games, set in the rich and thrilling world of Greek mythology. In this sequel, Kratos, the game's protagonist, is a great warrior who seeks revenge on the gods of Olympus after repeated betrayals. On his journey to Olympus, Kratos must battle great monsters of legend - and fight his own inner demons.

The Romans invaded Britannia in AD 43 confident of victory. They swept through a divided and ill-equipped enemy, scattered across tough terrain. But one man was not prepared to surrender. Caratacus - quick-witted youngest son of a a tribal king - had been trained from birth to be a warrior of power and grit. Sent to be schooled by the Druids in his boyhood, his training meant that an already strong and cunning prince returned to his father's kingdom as a war machine.

Major Sharpe, in the bitter winter, must attempt a desperate rescue and face his most implacable enemy. Newly promoted, he is given the task of rescuing a group of well-born women, held hostage high in the mountains by a rabble of deserters. And one of the renegades is Sergeant Hakeswill, Sharpe's bitter enemy. Sharpe has only the support of his own company and the new Rocket Troop - the last word in military incompetence - but he cannot afford to contemplate defeat.

Themistocles stands as an archon of Athens: the might of the city is his to command. Yet he is no nobleman, distrusted by many for his modest birthright. For his presumption. But those who stand against him cannot argue with two things: his victories as a warrior and the vast Persian force heading their way. And so Themistocles must fight. To survive the game of politics, to make his name, he must prove himself again and again in battle. On the sea. On land. In the arena of public opinion.

When Britain intercepted a French ship and its precious cargo, an unhatched dragon's egg, Captain Will Laurence of HMS Reliant unexpectedly became master and commander of the noble dragon he named Temeraire. As new recruits in Britain's Aerial Corps, man and dragon soon proved their mettle. But now China has discovered that its rare gift, intended for Napoleon, has fallen into British hands, and an angry Chinese delegation vows to reclaim the remarkable beast.

Rukiya Moonborn is a slave, a werewolf whose master forces her and many others to fight to the death for the entertainment of the wealthy. Named "Dogs" after the lesser beasts, wolves like Rook live short, violent lives. The masters dangle the illusion of hope in front of the Dogs by insisting any wolf who survives 100 fights in The Ring can win his or her freedom. Rook is on her 18th fight against the West Coast Champion - the biggest she-wolf anyone has ever seen. As if this weren't enough, Rook finds a wolf pup who is destined for slavery as a Dog and helps the child escape.

Since the beginning of time, the angelic forces of the High Heavens and the demonic hordes of the Burning Hells have been locked in the Eternal Conflict for the fate of all Creation. That struggle has now spilled over into Sanctuary - the world of men. Determined to win mankind over to their respective causes, the forces of good and evil wage a secret war for mortal souls. This is the tale of the Sin War - the conflict that would forever change the destiny of man.

The flames of war devour Ansalon. The army of dead souls marches toward conquest, led by the mystical warrior Mina, who serves the powerful One God. A small band of heroes, driven to desperate measures, leads the fight against overwhelming odds.Two unlikely protagonists emerge. One is a dragon overlord who will not easily relinquish her rule. The other is an irrepressible kender who has been on a strange and remarkable journey that will end in startling and unforeseen fashion.

Teyo Verada wants nothing more than to be a shieldmage, wielding arcane energies to protect his people from his world’s vicious diamondstorms. When he’s buried alive in the aftermath of his first real tempest, the young mage’s life is about to end before it can truly begin - until it doesn’t. In a flash, a power he didn’t know he had whisks him away from his home, to a world of stone, glass, and wonder: Ravnica. Teyo is a Planeswalker, one of many to be called to the world-spanning city - all lured by Nicol Bolas, the Elder Dragon.

Thrall, wise shaman and the warchief of the Horde, has sensed a disturbing change . . . Long ago, Azeroth’s destructive native elementals raged across the world until the benevolent titans imprisoned them within the Elemental Plane. Despite the titans’ intervention, many elementals have ended up back on Azeroth. Over the ages, shaman like Thrall have communed with these spirits and, through patience and dedication, learned to soothe roaring infernos, bring rain to sun-scorched lands, and otherwise temper the elementals’ ruinous influence on the world of Azeroth.

After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead. Despite her losses, Rin hasn’t given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges—and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation.

Some of the parchment pages were the color of cream, thick and substantial, made to last many, many lifetimes. Other pages were thin and desiccated, positively yellow from age, and crackled alarmingly as Van Richten turned them over. There were no ornate illuminations, no fussy borders, only lines of plain text in hard black ink. The flowing handwriting was a bit difficult to follow at first; the writer's style of calligraphy had not been in common use for three hundred years.