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The Ascending

A year has passed since the Tanaan dragon Jaax and his human ward, Jahrra, came to live within the protected boundaries of Lidien, the great City of Light. But even the safest places in Ethöes can harbor enemies, and one cannot hide from one's fate forever.At the onset of yet another departure, Jahrra realizes there is more to this next step in her journey than she previously thought. With Lidien fading in the distance, she understands she is finally leaving behind not just her friends, but also her childhood and a life once filled with dreams and illusions of safety and love. The road ahead is perilous, and Jahrra knows she will face many trials before coming to stand before her destiny. With each passing day, the threat of the Crimson King grows stronger, and Jaax and their allies will need the help of the legendary Creecemind dragons if they wish to overthrow their common enemy.Before they can present their case before the king of the Creecemind, however, Jahrra and her Tanaan...
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Lament

Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind . . . Lament is a dark faerie fantasy that features authentic Celtic faerie lore, plus cover art and interior illustrations by acclaimed faerie artist Julia Jeffrey.
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Brute

Brute leads a lonely life in a world where magic is commonplace. He is seven and a half feet of ugly, and of disreputable descent. No one, including Brute, expects him to be more than a laborer. But heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and when he is maimed while rescuing a prince, Brute's life changes abruptly. He is summoned to serve at the palace in Tellomer as a guard for a single prisoner. It sounds easy but turns out to be the challenge of his life. Rumors say the prisoner, Gray Leynham, is a witch and a traitor. What is certain is that he has spent years in misery: blind, chained, and rendered nearly mute by an extreme stutter. And he dreams of people's deaths - dreams that come true. As Brute becomes accustomed to palace life and gets to know Gray, he discovers his own worth, first as a friend and a man and then as a lover. But Brute also learns heroes sometimes face difficult choices and that doing what is right can bring danger of its own.
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The Beyonders

The Beyonders were shapes in the forests who bribed and promised, and only a few men knew that when the Beyonders came in their full strength they would not be stopped. But before they could conquer Earth, they had to rule one hamlet, and the folk there had been hunters and riflemen for as many generations as they had lived in the mountains.
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01 Birth of a Killer

From School Library JournalGr 6-8-This adventure story traces the early life of master vampire Larten Crepsley. Sent to work in a Dickensian factory, young Larten kills the abusive foreman and flees. He takes shelter in a cemetery crypt where he meets the 500-year-old vampire General Seba Nile, who explains to the terrified youngster that vampires aren't evil. Although they drink human blood, just as the legends say, they do not harm those on whom they feed. When he invites Larten to travel with him as his assistant, the boy agrees. As the first entry in a projected series, this story includes quite a bit of exposition. The plot action covers more than 20 years, taking Larten through his first "blooding" and into full vampire status, and features his first meetings with mysterious Cirque owner Hibernius Tall; Seba's vampire ally Paris Skyle; and the vampaneze Murlough. At times, the pacing feels rather rushed with the effort to introduce many important characters, settings, and themes from Shan's "Cirque du Freak" saga (Little, Brown). Transitions are often abrupt, jumping several years between chapters. A cliff-hanger ending promises further revelations. "Cirque du Freak" aficionados will be intrigued by this glimpse into Crepsley's formative years, but the uninitiated will want to read the original books first.-Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Product Description_The highly anticipated prequel to the New York Times bestselling Cirque Du Freak series!_ Before Cirque Du Freak... Before the war with the vampaneze... Before he was a vampire. Larten Crepsley was a boy. As a child laborer many centuries ago, Larten Crepsley did his job well and without complaint, until the day the foreman killed his brother as an example to the other children. In that moment, young Larten flies into a rage that the foreman wouldn't survive. Forced on the run, he sleeps in crypts and eats cobwebs to get by. And when a vampire named Seba offers him protection and training as a vampire's assistant, Larten takes it. This is his story.
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The Reluctant Guardian: Homeward V

After Bieja flees her home in the village of Chemestúk, burned to the ground in a civil war, she soon realizes she has only one place left to go. Her niece, Magiere, owns a little tavern in the port town of Miiska—which is unfortunately a long journey away on the west coast. Bieja has never traveled more than a few leagues from her hut in all of her life.Undaunted all the same, she sets off through her war-torn homeland with what she could scavenge from the blackened remains of her village. All too soon, she finds herself on unfamiliar paths and facing the risk of both deserters and conscripted soldiers who are as desperate as she is. She has always been independent, but she might not survive this journey alone... until happenstance trips her up with a most unusual guardian.The problem is, this guardian might be as dangerous as anything else Bieja will have to face.About "Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga"...No knowledge of the Noble Dead Saga or related works is necessary to read and enjoy these stories. They are written for fantasy enthusiasts in general and not just our established readership. Readers new to this world can step into it through any of these short works.Tales are organized into “collections” where all stories therein share a theme and/or premise. When one or more link together, subsequent stories will mention “sequel to…” on their covers to guide you. Even so, each is self-contained enough to be your first adventure into this world.—Barb & J.C. Hendee **
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Deathlands 074: Strontium Swamp

ETERNAL FIREIn their darkest moments, few citizens of the twentieth century could have envisioned the firestorm that plunged the world into the chaos of a nuke-altered reality. Twenty-second-century America may not be much worth fighting for, but Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists push on, clinging to the deep wellspring of human hope that somewhere in the raw, violent frontier of a rad-blasted tomorrow is someplace they can call home.SHADOW MONSTERSWeary, sick and hungry, the group barely survives a trek through the torturous deserts of the Southwest which leads into the bayous of what was once Louisiana, a place one of their own first called home. The eerie, lifeless silence of the swamps warns of trouble ahead. But nothing can prepare them for Dr. Jean, a madman who has harnessed pre-Dark tech to create an army of crazed zombies marching toward his own twisted vision of Deathlands domination.Welcome to the Deathlands, a place that welcomes no one.
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