Showing results by publisher "-emdashery books-" in Dark Fantasy

Orjan Varega suffocates under a crisis of faith. Trapped in the form of a fearsome lizard man by an ancient Elven spell, the once-renowned knight sleeps rough, drinks hard, and struggles to survive as a bounty hunter. But after a boy who offers him food falls prey to ruthless thugs, the protective fighter comes to the child’s aid and gains a formidable enemy.

When a mysterious man known only as The Stranger promises to return Kaid to her, Sellah is tasked with finding each one of her love's scattered bones, his severed body hidden in the darkest corners of the realm. The quest is an impossible task, yet she must make the dangerous journey alone using only her faith and fight. But the tasks at hand are brutal. They're battles not easily won.

In the centuries since rising up against a cruel, twisted dynasty, the Seven Cities have done much to move past their horrid histories, the memories of ancient monarchs who once fed on the life and blood of their own people. Those with a talent for magic are no longer hounded and slain. The lands beyond the Cities are safe, spared the atrocities the Alescuans once wrought upon them. For 300 years, there has been peace. Then Eska de Caraval, head of the prestigious Firenzia Company, finds herself framed for murder.

I devoted my life to a king who was not my own. On the road to ultimate honor and glory, I lost everything. Now, in a world ravaged by the whims of those who rule, I must turn my back on a lifetime of friendships and loyalties to face my own fate. The Savage Prince. Heir to the high-fae throne of the Southern Lands, he is known for his brutality and cold heart. But with the kingdom on the brink of ruin, I have no choice but to seek him out.

As secrets of Castle Ravenspire come to light, Elise and Valen discover their enemies hold more power than they ever imagined. It will take more than blades to defeat them: fulfilling a dangerous request from Valen’s imprisoned brother, destroying a prophecy of fate kept in the hands of Elise's brutal sister, and an unwilling alliance with a shadowed thief from a neighboring kingdom that might end in victory or more death. Blood is calling. War will answer.

John Devonte looked to the outskirts of the Draconic Empire for refuge. After adventuring for the past two decades–hunting monsters and collecting coin–he thought the town of Vismuth would provide some solace. Except what he discovered there was the beginning of the end. The Deadlands have come to life, and out of them pour bestial creatures that will devour all in their path. Luckily for John, he’s discovered that he’s a True Dragon. Not only that, but he can use the magic of Soul Gems, and with them, create his Wargear out of the beautiful women who fight alongside him.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of powerful magic—but is now little more than a decaying ruin. Priya is a maidservant, one of several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to attend Malini's chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, as long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides. But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya's true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled.

Legends abound of the glorious - or infamous - deeds of the emperor's sons. Yet almost nothing is known of Alpharius, the most mysterious of them all, for the lord of the Alpha Legion is unparalleled in the art of obfuscation. Such are his gifts of secrecy and deceit that even his rediscovery has remained an enigma - until now. But when the tale comes from the serpent’s mouth, where do the lies end and the truth begin?

At the Convent of Sweet Mercy, young girls are raised to be killers. In a few the old bloods show, gifting talents rarely seen since the tribes beached their ships on Abeth. Sweet Mercy hones its novices' skills to deadly effect: it takes 10 years to educate a Red Sister in the ways of blade and fist. But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don't truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls as a bloodstained child of eight, falsely accused of murder - guilty of worse.

Vireo Reinhold relishes collecting his monarch’s proper dues. Working hard to prolong and fund the king’s never-ending war, the self-centered official revels in the perks of luxury that come with his unorthodox role. But his world upends when he unearths an ancient spellbook that promises to unlock a shadowy, forgotten magic. Embroiled in a secret affair with a fellow noble’s wife, Vireo is mortified when he’s forced to commit an unthinkable act.

Maleneth's return to the City of Echoes is not a happy one – Nightcliff has collapsed into violent, decadent debauchery. Khaine himself is usurped, and her precious coven lies in tatters. Accompanied by an ogor mercenary and a Kharadron anarchist, Maleneth sets out to avenge her sisters, but soon finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy, the ramifications of which threaten not just the city, but the Realm of Shadow itself. To stop it, she must ascend to the blood-soaked summit of Nightcliff’s Bladed Spire, and face an enemy of sky-cracking power before time itself slips out of reach.

As the Four Lands reels under the Skaar invasion - spearheaded by a warlike people determined to make this land their own - our heroes must decide what they will risk to save the integrity of their home. Even as one group remains to defend the Four Lands, another is undertaking a perilous journey across the sea to the Skaar homeland, carrying with them a new piece of technology that could change the face of the world for ever. And yet a third is trapped in a deadly realm from which there may be no escape.

Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two other-worldly beings found themselves at the centre of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, travelled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana's family line.

Princess Maren is a woman with a secret. Ten years ago she sold her soul to the sea witch Edonia, giving up a life underwater in exchange for the love of Prince Aerik on land. But after a decade of abuse and misery inflicted by the cruel prince, Maren wants nothing more than to reverse the spell. An opportunity for escape presents itself when the prince and princess are traveling overseas and are taken hostage by a band of notorious pirates, led by the fearsome Captain Ramsay "Bones" Battista.

Jackal is proud to be a Grey Bastard, member of a sworn brotherhood of half-orcs. Unloved and unwanted in civilized society, the Bastards eke out a hard life in the desolate no-man's-land called the Lots, protecting frail and noble human civilization from invading bands of vicious full-blooded orcs. But as Jackal is soon to learn, his pride may be misplaced. Because a dark secret lies at the heart of the Bastards' existence - one that reveals a horrifying truth behind humanity's tenuous peace with the orcs, and exposes a grave danger on the horizon.

Scyth, known in the Inferno as the tiefling Hakkar, decanus in the worst legion of them all, must gain an audience with Prince Belial to get his hands on the Coals of Hellflame. His friends are also keeping busy. In the meantime, the legates of the Destroying Plague gather an undead horde to march on Kharinza . . .

Dan has accidentally "Noclipped" into the Backrooms—a bizarro, extra-dimensional Alice-in-Wonderland world, overrun with horrific nightmare creatures known as the Dwellers. No one ever gets out. Hell, forget about leaving, if Dan wants to survive the week, he's going to need to harness the strange game-like magic of the Backrooms, make some very sketchy allies, and carve out a little safe haven to call his own.

Tyrion was a good person who had been born to a simple family and raised with love, but the world has shaped him for a different fate. Twisted by violence and torture, he is obsessed with a relentless desire for vengeance, and he has sown the seeds of wrath in his children. The She'Har have offered him the opportunity to be a great leader and usher in a new era of prosperity and peace, but, despite his gentle beginnings, Tyrion is no hero.

On the vastness of the ice there is no room for individuals. No one survives alone. To resist the cold, to endure the months of night when even the air itself begins to freeze, requires a special breed. Variation is dangerous, difference is fatal. And Yaz is different. Torn from her family, from the boy she thought she would spend her life with, Yaz has to carve a new path for herself in a world whose existence she never suspected. A world full of danger. Beneath the ice, Yaz will learn that Abeth is older and stranger than she had ever imagined.

What do you desire in exchange for your soul? Everlasting youth? A million dollars? Women? Power? Bored high-schooler Adam Staples wants for nothing. Such an offer could only be a prank, right? Who would have thought that the prankster is a demon in disguise? After selling his soul and turning into a half-demon, Adam finds himself orphaned and dragged into a realm outside of the world he knew. Training under his benefactor and enrolling in a school made for those who were gifted with powers, Adam ventures around the Outworld to hunt down the demon that turned his life inside out....