Fairy Fantasy Adventure

Piers Anthony delivers another tale set in the best-selling world of Xanth, filled with magic, surprises, adventure, and a few puns. Here's what the author has to say about his new book: "Five Portraits is a kind of sequel to Board Stiff in that it picks up where the other leaves off, with the same characters. Apart from that, it's one of my favorites within the series.

Many centuries ago, before Robin, before King Richard and Prince John, before even Herne the Hunter, there was Sherwood Forest. And at the heart of it, mystical paths were drawn together to protect the future. But something or someone in Robin’s time has chosen now to make a stand and destroy the past, the present and the future, with the help of the dragons, the ancient beasts of legend. And it will take a true hero to stop them.

A stunning modern-day fairy tale from acclaimed author Anne Ursu.... Once upon a time, Hazel and Jack were best friends. But that was before he stopped talking to her and disappeared into a forest with a mysterious woman made of ice. Now it's up to Hazel to go in after him. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen, Breadcrumbs is a story of the struggle to hold on, and the things we leave behind.

All it took was one phone call and TV show host and archaeologist Annja Creed is in mortal danger. Her producer Doug Morrell has been abducted by a greedy treasure hunter who's seeking the lost raubgold, or looted gold of Nazi Germany. The terms are simple: retrieve the bounty and Doug lives. Fail, and he dies....Now Annja and her friends must find a missing German fighter plane that was shot down over the Alps in 1945.

Eleven-year-old Nicholas Vargas thinks his sucky life has been turned upside down. His developer father has remarried and moved his new wife and daughter into his home in the soon-to-be-completed Melgrove Hollow. So, not only has Nick lost his bedroom to his wacko new step-sister, Laurie (who lugs around this huge book about faeries and wishes her name was Lauranathana...C'mon! How lame is that?!), but his father actually wants him to spend time with her.

Icel is becoming a warrior of Mercia, but King Ecgberht of Wessex still holds the Mercian settlement of Londonia and its valuable mint. King Wiglaf of Mercia is determined that the last bulwark be reclaimed from his sworn enemy to complete his rehabilitation as Mercia’s rightful ruler. In the heart of the shield wall, Icel suddenly finds himself on the wrong side of the battle and thrust into the retreating enemy stronghold where he must take on the pretence of a Wessex warrior to survive and exact a cunning plan to bring down the Wessex force cowering behind the ancient walls.

Fiercely loyal to her country, Nadine will do whatever it takes to destroy the ancient evil threatening her world - anything except allow a wild savage to put his mark on her. Plagued by survivor’s guilt, Magnus the Vast vows to do whatever it takes to bring home the friend he left behind. Claiming the beautiful hellcat who wants his head is a convenient bonus...one he won’t let her get out of.

Against all odds, Roh survived the harrowing Queen’s Tournament, but now something far deadlier awaits her: a formidable quest for the three magic birthstones of Saddoriel. The gems have been scattered across the realms – and only when Roh retrieves them can she take her place as queen. But surrounded by hostile companions and tormented by the dangerous secret she carries, Roh begins to realise that the pursuit of power may prove more destructive than she ever imagined.

On his deathbed, King Tyran divides his land, leaving half to each of his two children - so they'll rule together. However, his son, Albrecht, is not satisfied with half a kingdom. And even though his sister, Ursula, is the first born, he decides that as a girl and were-bear, she is unfit to rule. So he invades her land, slaughtering her people and most of the were-beasts, and claims it for himself. As King Albrecht builds his iron rule and an army of beasts to defend his reign, Ursula is gathering the survivors and making plans to seize back the kingdom.

Norse chiefs meet Christian kings on Midgard's battlefields, as Loki's army of the dead clashes with Odin's golden shields on Asgard. An ancient premonition of death hangs over all. Only two are free to choose their paths, to prevent the annihilation of the Nine Worlds: Ragnar, a storyteller who holds all fates in his hands, and Hilda, a warrior with no fate at all.

The Argyros siblings have lost everything. With their father dead and their family home captured, they’re no longer the rulers of their fractured kingdom—and no longer bound to each other.

The Demonlord Jarsun is poised to claim the Burning Throne and cement his rule over the Burnt Empire. Standing in his way is his daughter, now reincarnated into a new avatar named Krushni, who is determined to avenge her mother’s death by his hand—and put an end to her father’s reign of terror once and for all. Aligned with him is the vast army of the Empire, the One Hundred children of Emperor Adri, and their former guru, the legendary warrior Dronas.

Alyss and Redd, the two enemy queens, are forced to work together to reclaim Wonderland in this suspenseful conclusion to the best-selling trilogy.

When Joey is bitten by an elderly rat, he goes from aspiring seventh-grader to three-inch tall rodent. At first, Joey is amazed by his new rat self. The city streets call to him at night. Smells that would have repelled him before are suddenly tantalizing. (A chicken bone? Yes! A squashed cockroach? Like perfume!) And wow, the freedom! But when a bout of hunger leads Joey to pull the spork from the scone, he finds himself at the center of a longtime rat prophecy.

Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and her father's life. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common - magic. She'll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

When a princess' commoner true love is kidnapped to coerce her into a political marriage, she doesn't give in - she goes to rescue him. When her warrior father, King Sendoa, mysteriously dies, Princess Amarande of Ardenia is given what would hardly be considered a choice: Marry a stranger at 16 or lose control of her family's crown. But Amarande was raised to be a warrior - not a sacrifice.

There's no team better suited to giving Artemis Fowl fans a fairy-level look at the LEP and the world beyond than Foaly, Commander Root, and Holly. With inside access granted by the LEP's finest, listeners will get unprecedented insight into the inner workings of the LEP, the enchanting subterranean world of fairies, and the fairy perspectives on the world above.

Jack Skelton is a recent divorcée who is trying to find his way in life. He lost his mother years ago and now, just recently, his father’s gone off the grid. At least he has his hockey team, the Manchester Bears. Yet something pulls at him, as if there was a little more just beyond his reach. In another, far-off realm, war is building. The Aesir, led by the insufferable Odin, are on the brink of declaring an all-out offensive against the Dark Elves. Rumil Darklighter, daughter of one of the most powerful elves, sets out to stop the Aesir and save her home.

"Talk about out of the frying pan, into the fire! I was pretty sure that my freaky stepsister and that freaky field guide of hers would ruin my life. But now it looks like they're going to ruin all of Florida, too! Okay, maybe that's not fair. Maybe all these stupid giants would be waking up anyway, but if it wasn't for her and that book, I'd be home playing video games and this would be someone else's giant problem!"

World War II has been raging for three years, but a more terrible evil is just over the horizon. The last stones are falling from the Keep of Time, and the Imperial Cartological Society, led by Richard Burton, has collected doors and is building a new tower at the request of an old enemy: the Winter King's shadow. He has a terrible weapon -- the Spear of Destiny -- that can be used to command the shadows of anyone it touches.