Penguin Books strana 34 z 485

A thrilling and epic silkpunk fantasy inspired by the legendary Qing dynasty. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Lim and Xiran Jay Zhao. When Ying left the prestigious Engineer’s Guild and the ghost her father’s death behind, she thought her life would regain a sense of normalcy. But, after her new home is attacked, by the mysterious – and deadly – Blood Phoenix, Ying is thrust back into the tense political world of the Nine Isles and, distressingly, back into the path of the man who broke her heart, High Commander Ye-yang. She’d hoped never to face him again, but Ying and Ye-yang must work together to unmask the elusive mastermind behind a far-reaching conspiracy, before the Nine Isles are torn apart. Can they find a way to defeat their new enemy, or will the cost be too great?

When gifted young knight Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a place on the Round Table, he quickly discovers that he’s too late: the king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table are left. The survivors aren’t the heroes of legend either, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Table, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight, and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill. It’s up to them to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance, even as God abandons Britain and the fairies and old gods are returning, led by Morgan le Fay. They must reclaim Excalibur and make this ruined world whole again. But first they’ll have to solve the mystery of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell. The first major Arthurian epic of the new millennium, The Bright Sword is a story about imperfect men and women who are looking for a way to fight darkness and reforge a broken landWhen gifted young knight Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a place on the Round Table, he quickly discovers that he’s too late: the king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table are left. The survivors aren’t the heroes of legend either, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Table, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight, and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill. It’s up to them to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance, even as God abandons Britain and the fairies and old gods are returning, led by Morgan le Fay. They must reclaim Excalibur and make this ruined world whole again. But first they’ll have to solve the mystery of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell. The first major Arthurian epic of the new millennium, The Bright Sword is a story about imperfect men and women who are looking for a way to fight darkness and reforge a broken land

Discover the bestselling thriller of all time from global phenomenon Dan Brown. Harvard professor Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call while on business in Paris: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been brutally murdered inside the museum. Alongside the body, police have found a series of baffling codes. As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, begin to sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to find a trail that leads to the works of Leonardo Da Vinci - and suggests the answer to a mystery that stretches deep into the vault of history. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine code and quickly assemble the pieces of the puzzle, a stunning historical truth will be lost forever...

A sweeping intellectual history of games and their importance to human progress. We play games to learn about the world, to understand our minds and the minds of others, and to practice making predictions about the future. Games are thought to be older than written language, and have now become the dominant cultural media?bigger than movies, TV, music, and literature combined. They are also fun. But as neuroscientist and physicist Kelly Clancy argues, it’s time we started taking them more seriously. In Playing With Reality, she chronicles the riveting and hidden history of games since the Enlightenment, weaving an unexpected path through military theory, biology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and the future of democracy. Games, Clancy shows us, have been deeply intertwined with the arc of history. War games shaped the outcomes of real wars in nineteenth and twentieth century Europe. Game theory warped our understanding of human behaviour and brought us to the brink of annihilation?yet still underlies basic assumptions in economics, politics, and technology. We used games to teach computers how to learn for themselves, and now we are designing games that will determine the shape of society and future of democracy. Games also inform the basic systems that govern our daily lives: the social media and technology that can warp our preferences, polarise us, and manufacture our desires. Lucid, thought-provoking, and masterfully told, Playing With Reality makes the bold argument that the human fascination with games is the key to understanding our nature.

Gorgeous deluxe clothbound hardback editions with two metallic foils on the cover designs, sprayed edges, unique designed endpapers and ribbon markers. These deluxe collector editions ooze as much romance, glamour and luxury as the Hawthorne family! The perfect addition to any book collector's shelf - and a must-have for all Inheritance Games fans! She came from nothing. Avery has a plan: keep her head down, work hard for a better future. Then an eccentric billionaire dies, leaving her almost his entire fortune. And no one, least of all Avery, knows why. They had everything. Now she must move into the mansion she's inherited. It's filled with secrets and codes, and the old man's surviving relatives - a family hell-bent on discovering why Avery got 'their' money. Now there's only one rule: winner takes all. Soon she is caught in a deadly game that everyone in this strange family is playing. But just how far will they go to keep their fortune?

WHEN GODS TURN VENGEFUL, ONLY THE BRAVE CAN DEFY FATE AND FIND THEIR WAY HOME Discover the stunning conclusion to Stephen Fry's internationally bestselling Greek myths series After the fall of Troy, wily Odysseus, King of Ithaca, sails for home and his steadfast queen Penelope. However, the angry gods curse him to wander the seas for ten long years. Tormented by giants and monsters, tempted by witches and goddesses, Odysseus battles to draw ever closer to home. Awaiting him is Penelope, defying reports of his death. But this queen endures her own tormentors - an army of young suitors eager to claim her hand and the throne . . .

A heartbroken girl, a pact with the bad-boy, and one rule neither of them expected to break: don't fall for each other Fresh off a betrayal by her ex, her sister, and her best friend, Everett "Evie" Riley lands at Camden Academy craving a fresh start. But when she's mistakenly placed in an all-boys dorm, gossip spreads fast - and her only option is to embrace her new bad-girl rep. Enter Salem Grayson: grumpy, emo, and reluctantly helpful. They strike a deal - he'll teach her how to be bad, if she helps him look good for his estranged parents. The plan is perfect… until feelings get in the way. As Salem thrives and Evie flounders, she must decide if she's ready to risk her bruised heart one more time. Come As You Are is a sharp, swoony story about self-worth, second chances, and unexpected love. Tropes: Opposites attract Unexpected love Friends to lovers Relationship Pact Sunshine/Grumpy Romance

Seventy-year-old avant-garde composer Peter Els opens the door one evening to find the police on his doorstep. His home microbiology lab - where he is conducting the latest experiment in his lifelong attempt to find musical patterns in surprising places - has aroused the suspicions of Homeland Security. Panicked by the raid, Els turns fugitive, earning him the moniker 'Bioterrorist Bach'. He hatches a daring plan to transform this disastrous collision with the security state into an unforgettable work of art that will reawaken its audience to the sounds all around it. A gripping escape narrative filled with lyrical wonder, Orfeo is both a portrait of a creative, obsessive man, and a reflection on finding melodies in everyday life.

The definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger space shuttle disaster based on fascinating in-depth reporting and new archival research - this is riveting history that reads like a thriller. On the freezing-cold morning of 28 January 1986, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all seven people on board. Millions around the world witnessed the tragic deaths of the crew, which included New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Yet the full story of what happened that day - and the ominous warning signs recognized but then ignored in the years before - has never been told. Following a handful of central protagonists - from the astronauts and their families to the rocket engineers who tried to stop the fateful launch - Challenger is a gripping tale of human over-reach; of cynicism and cost-cutting; of hubristic 'go fever'; and of an investigation driven by heroic leakers and whistle-blowers determined to bring the truth to light. Blending human drama with fascinating science and political infighting, Challenger is a masterpiece of non-fiction storytelling. The result is a story even more extraordinary and terrifying than any of us remembered - or thought possible.

Jonah, Ruth and Joseph are the children of mixed-race parents determined to raise them beyond time, beyond identity, steeped in song. Yet they cannot be protected from the world forever. Even as Jonah becomes a successful young tenor, the opera arena remains fixated on his race. Ruth turns her back on classical music and disappears, dedicating herself to activism and a new relationship. As the years pass, Joseph – the middle child, a pianist and our narrator – must battle not just to remain connected to his siblings, but to forge a future of his own. This is a story of the tragedy of race in America, told through the lives and choices of one family caught on the cusp of identities.

The world-renowned economist offers a ground-breaking new vision for inclusive prosperity Left behind places can be found in prosperous countries?from South Yorkshire, integral to the industrial revolution and now England’s poorest county, to Barranquilla, once Colombia’s portal to the Caribbean and now struggling. More alarmingly, the poorest countries in the world are diverging further from the rest of humanity than they were at the start of this century. Why have these places fallen behind? And what can we do about it? World-renowned development economist Paul Collier has spent his life working in neglected communities. In this book he offers his candid diagnosis of why some regions and countries are failing, and a new vision for how they can catch up. Collier lays the blame for widening inequality on stale economic orthodoxies that prioritize market forces to revive left behind regions, and on the arrogant, hands-off and one-size fits all approach of centralized bureaucracies like the UK Treasury. As a result, Collier argues, the UK has become the most unequal and unfair society in the western world. Yet the core message of Left Behind is hopeful: bringing together encouraging case studies of recovery from around the world, Collier shows how renewal is achievable through a combination of collective learning, moral leadership and local agency. With keen insight, he draws lessons from such seemingly disparate fields as behavioural psychology, evolutionary biology and moral philosophy to share a bold, galvanizing vision for a more inclusive, prosperous world.

From 'one of our most thrilling and singular innovators on the page' (Laura Van Den Berg), a tightly wound, consuming tale about a 1950s American housewife, for fans of Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen and Taffy Brodesser-Akner A warm Sunday in November 1957. As Sputnik 2 orbits the earth, carrying Laika, the doomed Soviet dog, a couple begin their day. Virgil Beckett, an insurance salesman, isn't particularly happy in his job but he fulfils the role, playing golf with the partners, drinking in the bar, chasing the women. Kathleen Beckett, once a promising tennis champion, with a key shot up her sleeve called 'The Most', is now a mother and homemaker. Somehow these two, who have been together since college, have fallen into the roles expected of them - the prescribed suburban dream they have been sold as something to covet, something that will fulfil their lives. But on this unseasonably warm, early November Sunday, Kathleen wakes up and decides that she will not be accompanying her family to church. No, she feels like a swim. She unearths her old, red bathing suit and descends into the apartment complex pool no other resident uses. And she doesn't want to come out…

1461. Through blood and battle Edward has gained England's throne - king by right and conquest - eighteen years old and unstoppable. Cecily has piloted his rise to power and stands at his shoulder now, first to claim the title King's Mother. But to win a throne is not to keep it and war is come again. As brother betrays brother, and trusted cousins turn treacherous, other mothers rise up to fight for other sons. Cecily must focus her will to defeat every challenge. Wherever they come from. Whatever the cost. For there can be only one King, and only one King's Mother. From the Wars of the Roses to the dawn of the Tudor age, this is a story of mothers and sons; of maternal ferocity and female ambition - of all they can build and all they can destroy.

A love letter to Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell, The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst is a witty novel of manners and gossip, class and family, scandal and romance. 1841 The trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst is not Mrs Montgomery Hurst - as young Miss Amelia Ashpoint well knows. The real trouble is the polite society of Wickenshire, with its inescapable gossip about the arrival of the new Mrs Hurst and - whisper it - her three children from a previous marriage. In Wickenshire, nobody's business is their own. And in this strange match, the local families sense scandal - and they will do anything to expose it. Meanwhile, Amelia Ashpoint, though handsome, clever and rich, is avoiding talk of marriage at all costs. For while society expects Amelia to marry well, her heart is drawing her in a very different direction . . .

A radical examination by a leading financial analyst, commentator and investor of the ills of capitalism and how they can be fixed. What went wrong with capitalism? Ruchir Sharma’s explanation is unlike any you have heard before. Progressives are partly right when they mock modern capitalism as “socialism for the rich,” but what really happened in recent decades is that government in developed nations expanded in just about every measurable dimension, from spending and regulation to the sheer scale of its rescues each time the economy wobbled. The result, Sharma says, is “socialized risk,” expensive government guarantees, for everyone?welfare for the poor, entitlements for the middle class, and bailouts for the rich. Voters say they are disillusioned with capitalism, but a system so distorted by government interventions is a dysfunctional version of free market ideals. As a result, productivity and economic growth have slowed sharply, shrinking the pie for everyone and stoking popular anger. Since these flaws developed as the government expanded, building an even bigger state will only double down on what’s gone wrong. The answer Sharma offers is a series of seven fixes to restore the balance between state support and free markets and lay the path to a more prosperous and happier future.

When a country is torn apart by civil war, Kunle and Tunde are separated, each on opposite sides. Desperate to find his brother, Kunle's search becomes one of atonement, leading him to join an army and to fight in a war he barely understands. Amidst the chaos, he forms deep, lifelong friendships and falls in love. But his ultimate hope remains: to reunite with his family. An emotionally powerful masterpiece, Chigozie Obioma's odyssey of brotherhood, love, and extraordinary courage set against the backdrop of the Biafran War captures the essence of a young man's quest for redemption in a nation ablaze.