Showing results by publisher "Recorded Books" in Action & Adventure

Kiana Strade can dive deeper into blood memories than anyone alive. But instead of devoting her talents to the temple she’s meant to lead, Key is determined to use her skill as a researcher for the Museum of Human Memory. . . and to avoid the public eye in opulent, cutthroat Asheburg. Valerian might look like a delicate country girl, but her lightning-fast swords protect Key from murderous rivals and her own enthusiasm alike. Vale cares about Key as a friend—and maybe more—but most of all, she needs to keep her job so she can support her parents and siblings in the storm-torn south.

Ester’s family was torn apart when a manticore killed her mother and baby brother, leaving her with nothing but her father’s painful silence and a single overwhelming need to kill the monsters that took her family. Ester’s path leads her to the king’s Royal Mews, where the giant rocs of legend are flown to hunt manticores by their brave and dedicated ruhkers. Paired with a fledgling roc named Zahra, Ester finds purpose and acclaim by devoting herself to a calling that demands absolute sacrifice and a creature that will never return her love.

No longer a mere lich, Tenebroum has chosen a name, devoured a god, and ascended to godhood itself. As formidable a victory as this was, though, it came at a steep price: its secrecy. Now, with the Lord of Light slain, the sun itself has been plucked from the sky, the entire world knows of its existence. The newborn Lord of Shadows will encounter countless foes ready to challenge it, both on and off the battlefield. To meet these new threats and satiate its bottomless hunger, the dread god will wage war upon the entire world, even the gods themselves.

Mercia, 878. Witch-warrior Niamh discovers a new order called the Hidden Ones is seeking to establish a foothold in Lunden. Her land is already scarred by Viking raiders, bloody wars, and clashing cultures. Determined to protect what remains of her homeland, she infiltrates this new group to discover whether they stand with her...or against her. Yet when Niamh learns the Hidden Ones have stolen an artifact sacred to her people, her own loyalties are challenged.

Now counted among the top ranks of Adventurers, Glenn must find a new path. After two years standing vigil at the gates of his hometown, Glenn finally has a chance to fulfill his dream of joining the Blazers, traveling the world, adventuring with his childhood love, and helping people beyond Wolfpine. And all it cost was his best friend, his family, and a life with everyone he loves.

The Acrasian army has swept through Eledore, nearly massacring the entire race in fear and hatred of the magic they possess. This same magic is all that was keeping the demon incursion at bay, but now the great evil that was banished is seeping into the world. Watchers are formed to warn of any sightings of the demons, but little can be done if one encounters them in shadow or at night.

Friends since their orphanage childhood, Joel “Ridge” Breckinridge and Garrett “Rett” Kennard rose through the ranks of the Landrian army together, from teenaged conscripts to seasoned fighters. Together, they became the most feared team of assassins in Landria. When wandering mystic Yefim Makary becomes the darling of disenchanted aristocrats, Rett and Ridge fear Makary - or the Witch Lord, as his followers call him - is a threat to the crown. As treasonous whispers spread, Ridge and Rett go rogue to stop the threat, save the kingdom, and protect the king.

London, 1851—When Pierette, a daring acrobat performing at the Great Exhibition, rescues the mathematician Ada Lovelace from a gang of thugs, she becomes immersed in an ancient feud between Assassins and Templars. But Lovelace is gravely ill, and shares her secrets with Pierette, sending the acrobat in search of a terrible weapon–the Engine of History–which she’d been developing for a shadowy figure known as “the Magus”. Pierette’s only ally is Simeon Price, Lovelace’s childhood friend who belongs to a Brotherhood devoted to freedom.

Kalyna's family has the Gift: the ability to see the future. For generations, they traveled the four kingdoms of the Tetrarchia selling their services as soothsayers. Every child of their family is born with this Gift—everyone except Kalyna. So far, Kalyna has used informants and trickery to falsify prophecies for coin, scrounging together a living for her deteriorating father and cruel grandmother. But Kalyna's reputation for prophecy precedes her, and poverty turns to danger when she is pressed into service by the spymaster to Rotfelsen.

After uncovering a conspiracy that shakes his beliefs to their foundation, Glenn Graybreaker chooses to become a Truth Seeker: an elite Blazer tasked with investigating crimes and solving mysteries that baffle others. When a Blazer encounters a mystery they can’t solve, they call in a Truth Seeker.

Emrael Ire is a student of war with lofty ambitions, despite being so poor his boots are more hole than leather. He and his talented younger brother Ban work hard to build themselves a better life at the Citadel, a school that specializes in both infusori Crafting and military arts. Their lives are upended when the power-hungry Lord Governor of the neighboring province invades the school with the help of a sinister sect of priests devoted to the newly awakened Fallen God of Glory. Many of the infusori Crafter students are captured, including Ban.

With San Francisco doomed to fall off the continent, the bard must summon the Nightflyers, the soul-devouring shadow creatures from the dreaming world.

After a brutal war between the gods, Hessa—High Priestess of the Eangen—has brokered a fragile alliance between warring tribes and bought peace to her home. But a new threat is growing in the remnants of the once-great Arpa Empire. Three factions are vying to take the throne, the vast well of raw magical power only accessible to the Emperor. Hessa knows she cannot let this chance pass by—she must intervene, to protect her peoples’ hard-won future. With the peace she has sacrificed so much for at stake, Hessa must lead an army of Algatt and Eangen warriors into the heart of enemy territory.

This collection of short stories and novelettes includes the previously published stories "The Potter's Daughter" (a prequel to the novel The Element of Fire), "Holy Places", "Rites of Passage", "Houses of the Dead", "Reflections" (the Giliead and Ilias stories, prequels to the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy), as well as "Night at the Opera" (a Nicholas and Reynard story original to this collection, set before the Nebula-nominated novel The Death of the Necromancer).

In Desdemona and the Deep, the spoiled daughter of a rich mining family must retrieve the tithe of men her father promised to the world below. On the surface, her world is rife with industrial pollution that ruins the health of poor factory workers while the idle rich indulge themselves in unheard-of luxury. Below are goblins, mysterious kingdoms, and an entirely different hierarchy.

Yske, daughter of the legendary warrior priestess Hessa, has dedicated her life to medicine and pacifism in service to Aita, the Great Healer. When her twin brother Berin, hungry for glory, gathers a party to investigate rumours of strange sightings in the Unmade—shadows in the darkness at the end of the world—Yske joins the mission, to keep him safe. Their journey east takes them through primal forests, walking paths last trod when gods were at war and ancient, powerful beasts were defeated and bound.

After its victory over the Count, the Lich’s domain now reaches far from Blackwater in every direction. It has gathered monstrous allies, constructed undead abominations, and enslaved small gods to its cause. However, none of that will be enough to sate its appetites. Instead, it has set its sights on goals so large that individual lives are almost meaningless, and whole nations and religions are nothing but stepping stones. The Lich is deathless and, therefore, unbound by mortal time scales. So, it can think bigger than anyone has dared before now.

Thray is the Last Daughter of Winter, half immortal and haunted by the legacy of her blood. When offered a chance to visit the northern land of Duamel, where her father once ruled, she can't refuse—even if it means lying to the priesthood she serves and the man she loves. In Duamel, Thray's demi-god siblings rule under the northern lights, worshipped by arcane cults. An endless winter night cloaks the land, giving rise to strange beasts, terrible storms and a growing, desperate hunger.

In Darkover’s dim past, before the tumultuous Ages of Chaos, small kingdoms still vied for power. But with the rise of psychic abilities called laran, unscrupulous leaders turned to half-trained sorcerers for an advantage. One such struggle arose between the realms of Hastur and its ambitious neighbor, Carcosse. Leora Hastur is still a child when her laran awakens, and the resulting crisis almost claims her life. Her beloved older sister, Neave, and her father’s small circle of telepathic workers manage to save her, but nothing can shield her from the horrors of the impending war.

The Water Wars have scrambled the world. Flood refugees are on the run. Disrupters and the nostalgia militia roam the roads wreaking havoc. Invisible Darknet Lords troll the internet, solidifying their power, while Cinnamon, her three Circus-Bots, and two dogs work with a community of farmers, Motor Fairies, and Wheel-Wizards to provide housing, health care and education for flood refugees. As Cinnamon confronts threats from the Darknet Lords and the nostalgia militia, she must determine how best to honor her elders and her history while building a future for herself and her charges.