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Science Fiction & Fantasy |
The Children of Hurin by J. R.R. Tolkien
The history and descent of the main characters are given as the leading paragraphs of the book, and the back story is elaborated upon in The Silmarillion. It begins 500 years before the action of the book, when Morgoth, an incarnated immortal spiritual being possessed of great supernatural abilities and the prime evil power, escaped from the Blessed Realm of Valinor to the north-west of Middle-earth. From his fortress of Angband he endeavoured to gain control of the whole of Middle-earth, unleashing a war with the Elves that dwelt in the land of Beleriand to the south.
Poison Sleep by T.A. Pratt
The plot centers around Genevieve Kelley, an apprentice magician who retreated into a coma of sorts after she was raped, decades prior to the book's action. She has been kept in the Blackwing Institute, a sanatorium for mentally disturbed magicians -- an important place, as a mentally disturbed magician is a very dangerous person. Genevieve herself is a "reweaver" -- she can rearrange reality to match her dreams. As the book begins, she has escaped, and she is more or less randomly reweaving reality in Felport, transporting people to a world of her dreams every so often.
Firestarter by Horror/SF
The story is a simple one, and one I'm sure everyone in the free world knows. I mean who HASN'T seen this movie? Andy McGee and his daughter Charlie are on the run from the government-sanctioned "The Shop", a sort of scientific CIA, formally known as DSI, the Department of Scientific Intelligence. While in college Charlie's parents Andy McGee and the former Vicky Tomlinson participated in an experiment testing the properties of Lot 6 which was supposed to be "a mild hallucinogenic". Turns out it was a pituitary extract which granted Andy the ability to control others with mental domination (Vicky is also granted a mild dose of telekinesis in the novel, but this is never explored in the movie). When these two fall in love and get married, their daughter is born with pyrokinesis, the ability to start fires with your mind.
Thunderer by Felix Gilman
ISBN-10: 0553806769
ISBN-13: 978-0553806762
"Gilman takes his readers on a journey through a world of deep and wondrous impossibilities where marvels lurk around every corner. His infinite city and the lives of its people quickly become an irresistible compulsion— I imagine an evening where Dickens, Miyazaki, and Jules Verne sat down to dream up a metropolis and its wrangling multitudes. Thunderer will leave you wide eyed, breathless and hoping for more."—David Keck, author of In the Eye of Heaven
The Born Queen by Greg Keyes
ISBN-10: 0345440692
ISBN-13: 978-0345440693
In The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, Greg Keyes has crafted a brilliant saga of magic, adventure, and love set against a backdrop of clashing empires and an ancient, reawakened evil. Now, with The Born Queen, Keyes brings his epic to a masterly close, gathering the strands of plot and character into a stunning climax that both completes and transcends all that has gone before. The Briar King is dead, and the world itself follows him to ruin. Aspar White, wounded and tired, must embark on one last quest to save the forest and the people he loves, but he has little hope of success. |
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