A. K. Larkwood

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Rhode Island

A. K. Larkwood's The Unspoken Name is a stunning debut fantasy about a young priestess sentenced to die, who at the last minute escapes her fate; only to become an assassin for the wizard who saved her. What if you knew how and when you will die? Csorwe does—she will climb the mountain, enter the Shrine of the Unspoken, and gain the most honored title: sacrifice. But on the day of her foretold death, a powerful mage offers her a new fate. Leave with him, and live. Turn away from her destiny and her god to become a thief, a spy, an assassin—the wizard's loyal sword. Topple an empire, and help him reclaim his seat of power. But Csorwe will soon learn—gods remember, and if you live long enough, all debts come due. “In the vein of Le Guin's magnificent Tombs of Atuan—if Arha the Eaten One got to grow up to be a swordswoman mercenary in thrall to her dubious wizard mentor. I love this book so much."—Arkady Martine, author of A Memory Called Empire "I cannot recommend it enough." -- Tamsyn Muir, author of Gideon the Ninth

The Unspoken Name

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Iris

Max Gladstone

NOW A LOCUS AWARD FINALIST!

"A classic space opera...a universe we''ve never seen before." --Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestselling author

From Hugo Award finalist Max Gladstone comes a smart, swashbuckling, wildly imaginative adventure; the saga of a rag-tag team of brilliant misfits, dangerous renegades, and enhanced outlaws in a war-torn future.

A wildly successful innovator to rival Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, Vivian Liao is prone to radical thinking, quick decision-making, and reckless action. On the eve of her greatest achievement, she tries to outrun people who are trying to steal her success.

In the chilly darkness of a Boston server farm, Viv sets her ultimate plan into motion. A terrifying instant later, Vivian Liao is catapulted through space and time to a far future where she confronts a destiny stranger and more deadly than she could ever imagine.

The end of time is ruled by an ancient, powerful Empress who blesses or blasts entire planets with a single thought. Rebellion is literally impossible to consider--until Vivian Liao arrives. Trapped between the Pride--a ravening horde of sentient machines--and a fanatical sect of warrior monks who call themselves the Mirrorfaith, Viv must rally a strange group of allies to confront the Empress and find a way back to the world and life she left behind.

A magnificent work of vivid imagination and universe-spanning action, Empress of Forever is a feminist Guardians of the Galaxy crossed with Star Wars and spiced with the sensibility and spirit of Iain M. Banks and William Gibson.

"Empress of Forever is tense and vast, complex and twisty, a space opera epic that''s a lot faster on the draw than Star Wars or Star Trek ever dreamed of being. But at its core, it''s an epic about the value of empathy and the importance of compassion. It''s amazingly good."--Locus


"With Empress of Forever, Max Gladstone''s remarkable talent is operating at full stretch, demonstrating the strength, power, and originality at his command. This unique and propulsive novel yields a deep, cellular-level enchantment filled at every turn with curiosity and delight."--Peter Straub


"Empress of Forever is a story that will make you weep with wonder. The whole book is filled with the kind of snark that I love and an endless majesty of stars. It broke me to pieces and then stitched me back together with golden thread. Simply glorious."--K.B. Wagers, author of Behind the Throne

"Galaxy-saving space opera with cool original settings and a unique band of adventurers that change each other for the better. It was a wild ride and I really enjoyed it."--Martha Wells, Hugo Award-winning author of The Murderbot Diaries


"Incorporates wonder and wit to create a feminist, humanist playground. Introduces one mind-blowing concept after another, capitalizing on the concept of personal power while candidly addressing personal failure. This feast for the imagination intelligently captures the complexities of a variety of relationships in an adrenaline-fueled series of escapades and will leave readers both exhausted and elated."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A fantastic tale of adventure on the grandest scale of epic space opera, spanning galaxies full of battles and traps as well as trade and negotiation, all told with humor as the crew seeks allies, weapons, and ships to fight back against The Empress to save the galaxy--and so Viv can find her way home."--Booklist, starred review

"Vivian is an amazing woman: with no more than her sharp wit in a universe of AIs and enhanced beings, she still ends up being the key to the truth. Gladstone''s epic space opera and fast-paced adventure will thrill readers."--Library Journal, starred review

Empress of Forever

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Erika Swyler

There is an unused book card taped to the inside cover it came with. 

A Long Island Reads 2020 Selection * A Real Simple Best Book of 2019 From the bestselling author of The Book of Speculation, a “tender and ambitious” (Vulture) novel about time, loss, and the wonders of the universe. Eleven-year-old Nedda Papas is obsessed with becoming an astronaut. In 1986 in Easter, a small Florida Space Coast town, her dreams seem almost within reach--if she can just grow up fast enough. Theo, the scientist father she idolizes, is consumed by his own obsessions. Laid off from his job at NASA and still reeling from the loss of Nedda's newborn brother several years before, Theo turns to the dangerous dream of extending his daughter's childhood just a little longer. The result is an invention that alters the fabric of time. Decades later, Nedda has achieved her long-held dream and is traveling aboard the space ship Chawla, part of a small group hoping to colonize a distant planet. But as she floats in zero gravity, far from earth, she and her crewmates face a serious crisis. Nedda may hold the key to the solution, if she can come to terms with her past and the future that awaits her. For fans of The Age of Miracles and The Immortalists, Erika Swyler's Light from Other Stars is a masterful and ambitious novel about fathers and daughters, women and the forces that hold them back, and the true meaning of progress.

Light from Other Stars

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Alina Boyden

Never Read! Slight bend on front cover, pictured. 

"A charming dragon fantasy novel where a trans girl named Razia runs away from home, finds a community of trans women known as hijras, falls in love, and steals back her dragon. By night, Razia Khan is one of the most sought-after dancing girls in the desert city of Bikampur. Later in the night, she is its most elusive thief. When Razia finds herself dancing for the maharaja's son, the handsome prince Arjun, she knows that she's playing with fire. As a trans girl, known as a hijra, she can never be a wife to any man, and as the former crown prince of the Sultanate of Nizam, she guards her identity carefully, lest her father's assassins find her. But in the dragon-riding prince of Bikampur, Razia sees not just a ticket out of the gutter, but a kindred spirit. As their romance blossoms, Razia finds herself once more thrust into the dangerous world of politics in Daryastan, and in order to survive, she will need the skills of a courtesan, a thief, and a warrior princess"--

Stealing Thunder

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Wesley Chu

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

A Novel

A "superb fantasy saga" (Helene Wecker) of martial arts and magic, about what happens when a prophesied hero is not the chosen one after all--but has to work with a band of unlikely allies to save the kingdom anyway, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lives of Tao
 
"An ambitious and touching exploration of disillusionment in faith, tradition, and family--a glorious reinvention of fantasy and wuxia tropes."--Naomi Novik, New York Times bestselling author of A Deadly Education

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Gizmodo, Kirkus Reviews, The Quill to Live

So many stories begin the same way: With a prophecy. A chosen one. And the inevitable quest to slay a villain, save the kingdom, and fulfill a grand destiny.
 
But this is not that kind of story. 
 
It does begin with a prophecy: A child will rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, a cruel immortal god-king, and save the kingdom. 
 
And that prophecy did anoint a hero, Jian, raised since birth in luxury and splendor, and celebrated before he has won a single battle. 
 
But that's when the story hits its first twist: The prophecy is wrong. 
 
What follows is a story more wondrous than any prophecy could foresee, and with many unexpected heroes: Taishi, an older woman who is the greatest grandmaster of magical martial arts in the kingdom but who thought her adventuring days were all behind her; Sali, a straitlaced warrior who learns the rules may no longer apply when the leader to whom she pledged her life is gone; and Qisami, a chaotic assassin who takes a little too much pleasure in the kill.
 
And Jian himself, who has to find a way to become what he no longer believes he can be--a hero after all.

The Art of Prophecy

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Olivia Clems, a vampire is caught up in the complex political plots of sixth century Byzantium

A Flame in Byzantium

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#ya #youngadult #fantasy #chloeking #trilogy 

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

The Fallen; the Stolen; the Chosen

Chloe King is a normal girl. She goes to class (most of the time), fights with her mom, and crushes on a boy…or two. But around her sixteenth birthday, Chloe finds that perhaps she isn’t so normal after all. There’s the heightened night vision, the super fast reflexes – oh, and the claws. As she discovers who she is – and where she comes from – it is clear she is not alone. And someone is trying to get her. Chloe has nine lives. But will nine be enough?

The Nine Lives of Chloe King

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#paperback #scifi #romance #fantasyromance #spaceopera #femaleled #booktok #sciencefiction #feminist 

One seat on the intergalactic Sakien Empire's supreme ruling body, the Council of Seven, remains unfilled, that of the Empress Apparent. The seat isn't won by votes or marriage. It's won in a tournament of ritualized combat in the ancient tradition. Now that tournament, the Empress Game, has been called and the females of the empire will stop at nothing to secure political domination for their homeworlds.

The battle for political power isn't contained by the tournament's ring, however. The empire's elite gather to forge, strengthen or betray alliances in a dance that will determine the fate of the empire for a generation. With the empire wracked by a rising nanovirus plague and stretched thin by an ill-advised planet-wide occupation of Ordoch in enemy territory, everything rests on the woman who rises to the top.

The Empress Game

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#sciencefiction #paperback #scifi #spaceopera 

Drew Williams's The Stars Now Unclaimed, the first volume of The Universe After series, is a fun, adventure-filled space opera set in a far-future galaxy.

"The only thing more fun than a bonkers space battle is a whole book packed with bonkers space battles. Come for the exploding spaceships, stay for the intriguing universe."--Becky Chambers, author of A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Jane Kamali is an agent for the Justified. Her mission: to recruit children with miraculous gifts in the hope that they might prevent the Pulse from once again sending countless worlds back to the dark ages.

Hot on her trail is the Pax--a collection of fascist zealots who believe they are the rightful rulers of the galaxy and who remain untouched by the Pulse.

Now Jane, a handful of comrades from her past, and a telekinetic girl called Esa must fight their way through a galaxy full of dangerous conflicts, remnants of ancient technology, and other hidden dangers.

And that's just the beginning . . .

The Stars Now Unclaimed

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#paperback #fiction #celesteng #newyorktimesbestseller #drama #huluseries #booktobigscreen #booktok #littlefireseverywhere

The #1 New York Times bestseller!

Now a Hulu original series starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.

"I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting." --Jodi Picoult

"To say I love this book is an understatement. It's a deep psychological mystery about the power of motherhood, the intensity of teenage love, and the danger of perfection. It moved me to tears." --Reese Witherspoon

"Extraordinary . . . books like Little Fires Everywhere don't come along often." --John Green

From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned--from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren--an enigmatic artist and single mother--who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town--and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides.  Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood--and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

Named a Best Book of the Year by: People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads, Library Reads, Book of the Month, Paste, Kirkus Reviews, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and many more...

Perfect for book clubs! Visit celesteng.com for discussion guides and more. 

Little Fires Everywhere (Movie Tie-In)

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#sciencefiction #paperback #fantasy #sff #starwars 

Blending the space operatics of Star Wars and the swagger of Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Star Renegades is a galaxy-hopping adventure that blasts its way from seedy spacer bars to sacred temples guarded by deadly creatures—all with a cast of misfit characters who have nowhere to go and nothing to lose. SyFy Wire—January Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books to Pick Up as soon as Possible The Verge—18 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Read in January Chicago Review of Books—Best New Books of January Cade Sura holds the future of the galaxy in his hands: the ultimate weapon that will bring total peace. He didn’t ask for it, he doesn’t want it, and there’s no worse choice to wield it in all of space, but if he doesn’t, everyone’s totally screwed. The evil Praxis kingdom is on the cusp of having every star system under its control, and if that happens, there’ll be no contesting their cruel reign. Especially if its fanatical overlord, Ga Halle, manages to capture Cade and snag the all-powerful weapon for herself. Cade can’t hide from Praxis, and he can’t run from the destiny that’s been shoved into his hands. So he only has one option: He has to fight. Cade’s not going to let destiny send him on a suicide run, though. With some help from his friends—rebels and scoundrels alike—Cade’s going to use this weapon to chart a new destiny for the galaxy, and for himself. He just has to do so before everyone around him discovers that he’s a complete and total fraud.

Elsie’s Sci Fi Shop