You know, you do enough of these kinds of posts you start to wonder if you’ve used the same post header twice. But you’re too lazy to look it up to see. That’s me! Moving on to the goodies (all descriptions snatched via Amazon.com unless otherwise stated)…
Talk about eye-catching, right? I’ve not had good luck do far with griffin-based fantasy reads, but I am loving the sound of this one anyway. Releases September 18, 2012.
Author’s site here.
Griffins are supposed to be extinct. So when Yukiko and her father are commanded to capture one for the murderous Shogun of the Shima Isles, they fear their lives are over. After disaster befalls the mission, Yukiko finds herself stranded in the wilderness with only the crippled griffin Buruu for company. Working together, the pair make a stand against the authorities, facing intrigue, betrayal and murder in the hope of seeing their homeland saved and Buruu flying again. The first installment of an exciting new fantasy series, Stormdancer is sure to electrify the growing numbers of steampunk fans as well as lovers of classic epic fantasy.
With Stormdancer, Jay Kristoff presents the Shogunate of Shima, a stunningly original dystopian steampunk world.
I know, right? ( I do worry her pants are coming unzipped/unlaced/undone, tho. Eeep!)
As a fan of Dracula in general, this one sounded like a fun play on the traditional tale. Releases September 18, 2012.
Author’s facebook site here.
Lucy Weston tracks down the novelist Bram Stoker in her search to reveal the dark force who made her a vampire—and regain her humanity in the process.In the steampunk world of Victorian London, Lucy Weston, a character in Dracula, seeks out Bram Stoker to discover why he deliberately lied about her in his popular novel. With Stoker’s reluctant help, she tracks the creature who transformed her from the sensual underworld where humans vie to become vampires to a hidden cell beneath a temple to madness and finally into the glittering Crystal Palace where death reigns supreme. Haunted by fragmentary memories of her lost life and love, Lucy battles her thirst for blood as she struggles to stop a catastrophic war that will doom vampires and humans alike. Ultimately, she makes a choice that illuminates for her—and for us—the true nature of what it means to be human.
A young adult fantasy that sounds interesting. Love the cover. Releases November 13, 2012.
Author’s facebook site here.
A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war
In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable–they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed–but their feelings are too strong.
When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.
I know we hear a lot about how hooded fantasy figures on book covers are so last year, but I like this one. I just do. A young adult read that releases December 11, 2012. Turns out this is a pen name for PNR author Michelle Rowan!
Author’s site here.
In a land where magic has been forgotten but peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms grapple for power–brutally transforming their subjects’ lives in the process. Amidst betrayals, bargains, and battles, four young people find their fates forever intertwined:
Cleo: A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct.
Jonas: Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished–and finds himself the leader of a people’s revolution centuries in the making.
Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past–and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.
Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword…
The only outcome that’s certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?
I noticed this one a few weeks ago and wants it, precious! Releases September 4, 2012.
Author’s site here.
Description via Goodreads:
Snagging a marriage proposal for her client while on an all-expenses-paid vacation should be a simple job for Ciel Halligan, aura adaptor extraordinaire. A kind of human chameleon, she’s able to take on her clients’ appearances and slip seamlessly into their lives, solving any sticky problems they don’t want to deal with themselves. No fuss, no muss. Big paycheck.
This particular assignment is pretty enjoyable… that is, until Ciel’s island resort bungalow is blown to smithereens and her client’s about-to-be-fiancé is snatched by modern-day Vikings. For some reason, Ciel begins to suspect that getting the ring is going to be a tad more difficult than originally anticipated.
Going from romance to rescue requires some serious gear-shifting, as well as a little backup. Her best friend, Billy, and Mark, the CIA agent she’s been crushing on for years—both skilled adaptors—step in to help, but their priority is, annoyingly, keeping her safe. Before long, Ciel is dedicating more energy to escaping their watchful eyes than she is to saving her client’s intended.
Suddenly, facing down a horde of Vikings feels like the least of her problems.
Another young adult entry, the cover caught my eye. First in a new series. Releases October 2, 2012.
Author’s site here.
Description via Goodreads:
Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.
It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.
When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a “delicate situation”—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.
Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio…and come out as beautiful as the fey.
Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discover just how far she will go to become whole again.
I liked the cover on this one a lot, too. Sounds like an interesting new young adult read. Releases August 14, 2012.
Author’s site here.
In an alternate London where magical creatures are preserved in a museum, two teens find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, deception, and danger.Vespa Nyx wants nothing more than to spend the rest of her life cataloging Unnatural creatures in her father’s museum, but as she gets older, the requirement to become a lady and find a husband is looming large. Syrus Reed’s Tinker family has always served and revered the Unnaturals from afar, but when his family is captured to be refinery slaves, he finds that his fate may be bound up with Vespa’s—and with the Unnaturals.
As the danger grows, Vespa and Syrus find themselves in a tightening web of deception and intrigue. At stake may be the fate of New London—and the world.
Ha! I think the girl on the cover of Stormdancer is supposed to be wearing a hakama, which do have those gaps on the side. Traditionally, you’re supposed to wear them over kimono though, so you wouldn’t see skin like that.
LOL, thank goodness for you, yeah, was super worried there. ;D
Ooo. I heard about two of these but I clearly need all of them. They look awesome and the first two come out on my birthday!
April, what a great day then! :D
Oh wow, these all look great. I think I’m going to have to go put them on my anticipating list. And the covers are all gorgeous.
And yeah, what’s up with books with griffins? The only one I could finish was Sword of Fire and Sea and that was….lacking.
You, too, Nicole, on books about griffins? I dunno, but it now feels like a fantasy reading hurdle I must accomplish.
They all look so great, this makes my head spin a little! The covers are gorgeous and the summaries intriguing.
I got intrigued with IN A FIX when Tor talked about it at RT. I can’t wait to read it.
Jackie, it sounds really fun! I’m excited to read it, too. :)