Orbit strana 2 z 13

From the author of the critically acclaimed Ithaca - A Sunday Times Historical Fiction Book of the Year - comes an exquisite and gripping new tale that breathes life into ancient myth. This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. On the isle of Ithaca, Queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power. Many years ago, her husband, Odysseus, sailed to war with Troy and never came home. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace - but this is shattered by the arrival of Orestes, king of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra. Orestes's hands are stained with his mother's blood. Not so long ago, the son of Agamemnon took Queen Clytemnestra's life on Ithaca's sands. Now, racked with guilt, he is slowly losing his mind. Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the Furies circle him. His uncle, Menelaus, the battle-hungry king of Sparta, longs for Orestes's throne - and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims. Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope fights to keep war from Ithaca's shores. Her only allies are Elektra and Helen of Troy, Menelaus's enigmatic wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own. Each woman has a secret. And their secrets will shape the world.

The Cruel Prince meets For the Wolf in a sizzling fantasy romance inspired by Celtic fae mythology, spinning a magical tale of a changeling princess, her cursed sister, and the dangerous fae lord she must defeat to save her family. In a kingdom where magic has been lost, Fia is a rare changeling, left behind by the wicked Fair Folk when they stole the High Queen's daughter Eala and locked the gates to the Otherworld. When a hidden gate to the Otherworld is discovered, Fia is tasked by the High Queen to retrieve Eala and break her curse. But she doesn't go alone: with her is prince Rogan, Eala's betrothed and Fia's childhood best friend. As the two journey into a world where magic winds through the roots of the trees and beauty can be a deadly illusion, Fia's mission is complicated by her feelings for the prince. . . and her unexpected attraction to the dark-hearted fae lord holding Eala captive. Irian might be more monster than man, but he seems to understand Fia in a way no one ever has.

Discover an epic tale of magic, revenge and an empire on the verge of ruin in the first ever novel set in the blockbuster universe of League of Legends. Camavor is a brutal land with a bloody legacy. Where the empire's knights go, slaughter follows. Kalista seeks to change that. When her young and narcissistic uncle, Viego, becomes king, she vows to temper his destructive instincts, as his loyal confidant, advisor, and military general. But her plans are thwarted when an assassin's poisoned blade strikes Viego's wife, Isolde, afflicting her with a malady for which there is no cure. As Isolde's condition worsens, Viego descends into madness and grief, threatening to drag Camavor down with him. Kalista makes a desperate gambit to save the kingdom: she searches for the long lost Blessed Isles, rumored to hold the queen's salvation, if only Kalista can find them. But corruption grows in the Blessed Isles' capital, where a vengeful warden seeks to ensnare Kalista in his cruel machinations. She will be forced to choose between her loyalty to Viego and doing what she knows is right - for even in the face of utter darkness, one noble act can shine a light that saves the world.

The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with exceptional storytelling, and have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre. The Culture - a utopian human-machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many expert Game Players, and one of the greatest is Jernau Morat Gurgeh. He is Master of every board, computer and strategy - he is The Player of Games. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the cruel and incredibly wealthy Empire of Azad to try their infamous game . . . a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh plays the game, and faces the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death.

The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with exceptional storytelling, and have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre. The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, the End Days for the Gzilt civilisation. An ancient people, organised on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier. Now they’ve made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilisations: they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost in­finitely more rich and complex existence. But, amid preparations, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. Vyr Cossont, a former soldier for the Gzilt, appears to have been involved, and she is now wanted – dead, not alive. Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete a ­final mission; she must ­find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over nine thousand years old, who might just hold the key to understanding what happened . . . The ­final days of the Gzilt civilisation may prove its most perilous.

From the record-breaking, four-time Hugo Award-winning N. K. Jemisin comes 'a glorious fantasy' (Neil Gaiman) - a story of culture, identity, magic and myths in contemporary New York City. The sequel to the critically acclaimed The City We Became, this is the final book of the Great Cities Duology. Every great city has a soul. A human avatar that embodies their city's heart and wields its magic. New York? She's got six. But all is not well in the city that never sleeps. Though Brooklyn, Manny, Bronca, Venezia, Padmini, and Neek have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading—and destroying the entire universe in the process—the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside. In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in order to bring her down for good and protect their world from complete destruction.

Enter the world of the hidden folk - and discover the most whimsical, enchanting and heart-warming tale you'll read this year, featuring the intrepid Emily Wilde... Emily Wilde is good at many things: she is the foremost expert on the study of faeries; she is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encylopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby But as Emily gets closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones - the most elusive of all faeries - she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all - her own heart.

The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games. Ten women. A deadly contest. Only one can win the Sun King's heart. Lor has endured twelve long years of torment under the Aurora King's rule. Her only desire is to get free and pay him back for every moment of misery she's endured. When a surprise release finds her in the hands of the Sun King, Lor is thrust into the spotlight as she competes against nine other Tributes for the role of queen. If she wins his heart, she'll earn her freedom and finally get her revenge. But Lor doesn't belong in the Sun Queen Trials. Not only does she not understand why she was freed, she isn't a citizen of the Sun King's court. The other Tributes resent her presence and will stop at nothing to ensure Lor is wiped off the gameboard, permanently. Now Lor must win, because if she loses, she dies. Or worse, she'll be sent back into the hands of the Aurora King. This addictive TikTok fantasy romance sensation is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Fourth Wing, Raven Kennedy and Jennifer Armentrout. Trial of the Sun Queen is the first book in a series with an eventual happy ever after. **The paperback will include some stunning character artwork**

Freed from the golden clutches of the Sun King, Lor now finds herself in the hands of Nadir, the Aurora Prince. Convinced she's hiding something, he's willing to do whatever it takes to make her talk. But Lor knows the value of secrets-she's been keeping them her entire life-and she's not letting hers go without a fight. When Lor and Nadir team up to search for a lost item that holds the key to her past and her future, she isn't sure if she can trust him. All she knows is she won't fall for his promises and make the same mistakes again. Lor also hasn't forgotten her vow to destroy the Aurora King. As Atlas hunts her across Ouranos, Lor plots to bring down the Imperial Fae who took everything. But she soon realizes that the future of the continent is about so much more than just her shattered legacy. Rule of the Aurora King is spicy romantasy sequel to Trial of the Sun Queen, perfect for fans who love slowburn enemies to lovers, high heat, forced proximity and fated mates.

From the international bestselling M. R. Carey comes a thrilling novel set in the multiverse - the tale of humanity's expansion across millions of dimensions, and the AI technology that might see it all come to an end... INFINITY IS ONLY THE BEGINNING. The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds - except that they're really just the one world, Earth, in many different realities. And when an AI threat arises that could destroy everything the Pandominion has built, they'll eradicate it by whatever means necessary, no matter the cost to human life. Scientist Hadiz Tambuwal is looking for a solution to her own Earth's environmental collapse when she stumbles across the secret of inter-dimensional travel. It could save everyone on her dying planet, but now she's walked into the middle of a war on a scale she never dreamed of. And she needs to choose a side before it kills her. Discover the start of the thrillingly original, mind-bending SF duology The Pandominion, from the author of the million-copy bestseller The Girl With All the Gifts. Perfect for fans of The Space Between Worlds, The Long Earth and Children of Time.

For Elena Aadya Ravence, fire is yearning. She longs to feel worthy of her Phoenix god, of her ancestors who transformed the barren dunes of Sayon into a thriving kingdom. But though she knows the ways and wiles of the desert better than she knows her own skin, the secrets of the Eternal Flame elude her. And without them, she'll never be accepted as queen. For Leo Malhari Ravence, fire is control. He is not ready to give up his crown-there's still too much work to be done to ensure his legacy remains untarnished, his family protected. But power comes with a price, and he'll wage war with the heavens themselves to keep from paying it. For Yassen Knight, fire is redemption. He dreams of shedding his past as one of Sayon's most deadly assassins, of laying to rest the ghosts of those he has lost. If joining the court of flame and serving the royal Ravence family-the very people he once swore to eliminate-will earn him that, he'll do it no matter what they ask of him. But the Phoenix watches over all and the fire has a will of its own. It will come for all three, will come for Sayon itself....and they must either find a way to withstand the blaze or burn to ash.

For the first time, all of the short fiction set in James S. A. Corey's New York Times bestselling Expanse series is available in this collection - including a brand-new novella. Now a major television series on Prime Video. Contents: Drive The Butcher of Anderson Station The Churn Gods of Risk The Vital Abyss Strange Dogs Auberon The Sins of Our Fathers For more fiction from James S. A. Corey, check out the international bestselling Expanse series: Leviathan Wakes Caliban's War Abaddon's Gate Cibola Burn Nemesis Games Babylon's Ashes Persepolis Rising Tiamat's Wrath Leviathan Falls

This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession... S.T. Gibson's sensational novel is the darkly seductive tale of Dracula's first bride, Constanta. Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband's dark secrets. With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death. This beautiful hardback edition will include a bonus short story featuring characters from A Dowry of Blood, titled 'An Encore of Roses'. A Dowry of Blood is a glittering tale of obsession, seduction and power as told through the letters of Dracula's first bride, Constanta.

The Hunger of the Gods continues John Gwynne's acclaimed Norse-inspired epic fantasy series, packed with myth, magic and bloody vengeance Lik-Rifa, the dragon god of legend, has been freed from her eternal prison. Now she plots a new age of blood and conquest. As Orka continues the hunt for her missing son, the Bloodsworn sweep south in a desperate race to save one of their own - and Varg takes the first steps on the path of vengeance. Elvar has sworn to fulfil her blood oath and rescue a prisoner from the clutches of Lik-Rifa and her dragonborn followers, but first she must persuade the Battle-Grim to follow her. Yet even the might of the Bloodsworn and Battle-Grim cannot stand alone against a dragon god. Their hope lies within the mad writings of a chained god. A book of forbidden magic with the power to raise the wolf god Ulfrir from the dead... and bring about a battle that will shake the foundations of the earth.

A WORLD OF WONDER AND MIRACLES UNFURLS IN THIS TIMELESS COMING-OF-AGE FANTASY Off the coast of Ireland sits a legendary island hidden by magic. A place of ruins and ancient trees, sea-salt air and fairy lore, Hy-Brasil is the only home Biddy has ever known. Washed up on its shore as a baby, Biddy lives a quiet life with her guardian, the mercurial magician Rowan. A life she finds increasingly stifling. One night, Rowan fails to return from his mysterious travels. To find him, Biddy must venture into the outside world for the first time. But Rowan has powerful enemies-forces who have hoarded the world's magic and have set their sights on the magician's many secrets. Biddy may be the key to stopping them. Yet the closer she gets to answers, the more she questions everything she's ever believed about Rowan, her past, and the nature of magic itself.

The razor-sharp first novel in the New York Times bestselling Night Angel series from master of modern fantasy Brent Weeks - an astonishing and epic tale of magic, violence and revenge. The perfect killer has no friends. Only targets. For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art. And he is the city's most accomplished artist, his talents required from alleyway to courtly boudoir. For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned the hard way to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint. But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins' world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death.