''A dazzlingly shapeshifting novel . . . equally good at action scenes and in-depth psychology'' The Sunday Times ''A thriller with a surprisingly heartfelt and redemptive ending, Billy Summers is a compelling and engrossing read'' Sunday Express From legendary storyteller and No. 1 bestseller Stephen King, whose ''restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained'' ( The New York Times Book Review ), comes a thrilling new novel about a good guy in a bad job. Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He''s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he''ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong? How about everything. This spectacular can''t-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It''s about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption. You won''t put this story down, and you won''t forget Billy.
Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King''s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a Midwestern town.
Stephen King''s HOLLY marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly''s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr Mercedes to Bill Hodges''s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King''s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.
When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl''s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.
Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harbouring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie''s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.
Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmanoeuvre the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.
''I could never let Holly Gibney go. She was supposed to be a walk-on character in Mr Mercedes and she just kind of stole the book and stole my heart. Holly is all her.'' STEPHEN KING
The eagerly anticipated sequel to Fourth Wing . . .
Praise for Fourth Wing "Fourth Wing will have your heart pounding from beginning to end. Brutal games, grumpy dragons, complex characters, sizzling sexual tension, magic, and war... A fantasy like you''ve never read before" -Jennifer L. Armentrout, No.1 New York Times bestselling author "Fourth Wing is an unforgettable adventure from cover to cover. I cheered, laughed, grinned, and refused to put it down. This expertly crafted romantic fantasy is sure to launch the beginning of a brand-new insatiable fandom!" -Lexi Ryan, no.1 New York Times bestselling author "Utterly addictive and completely unputdownable. I devoured every page and fell hopelessly, desperately in love with these characters and the incredible world Rebecca Yarros has so carefully, lovingly crafted. Hands down the best book hangover I''ve ever experienced. I can''t wait for more!" -Helena Hunting, New York Times bestselling author "An exhilarating dragon ride of a fantasy! Brutal, fast-paced, compelling, and simmering with romantic tension that left me on the edge of my seat. Fourth Wing is everything I want in a book and more. Phenomenal! Move this one to the top of your TBR" -Samantha Young, New York Times bestselling author "Kapow, what a story! In Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros gives you gutsy young heroines and sexy bad boys living in a world where no one-not even the mightiest dragon-is safe. This is some sharp, bold, and delicious storytelling!" -Rachel Howzell Hall, critically acclaimed and bestselling author of We Lie Here and These Toxic Things "House of the Dragon meets Divergent in this utterly thrilling, unputdownable new fantasy! Fourth Wing is full of scintillating adventure, soaring dragon flight, and slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance. Climb on and enjoy the ride!" -Amalie Howard, USA Today bestselling author "As smoldering as it is spellbinding, Fourth Wing is a thrilling, dragon-filled delight!" -Cindi Madsen, USA Today bestselling author
A riveting, high-stakes political story like UNDER THE DOME, a love story like BAG OF BONES, a 1950s community like IT, Stephen King's incredibly ambitious, heartstoppingly dramatic time travel novel, 22/11/63 is a WHAT IF? novel like no one's ever read before - a one thousand page tour de force.
American Gods, the extraordinary, highly acclaimed epic novel from storytelling genius and international bestseller Neil Gaiman, was brought vividly to life this year in the hottest major TV show of 2017 , and Amazon Prime video series starring Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning and Gillian Anderson. For fans of The Book of Dust and Mythos by Stephen Fry. After three years in prison, Shadow has served his time. But as the days and hours until his release tick away, he can feel a storm brewing. Two days before his release date, his wife Laura dies in a mysterious car crash, in adulterous circumstances. Dazed, Shadow travels home, only to encounter the bizarre Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America. Together they embark on a very strange journey across the States, along the way solving the murders which have occurred every winter in one small American town. But the storm is about to break . . . Disturbing, gripping and profoundly strange, Gaiman's epic novel sees him on the road to the heart of America.
THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES AND #1 NYT BESTSELLER ''One for Philip Pullman fans'' THE TIMES ''This one is an automatic buy'' GLAMOUR ''Ambitious, sweeping and epic'' EVENING STANDARD ''Razor-sharp'' DAILY MAIL ''An ingenious fantasy about empire'' GUARDIAN Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.
Oxford, 1836.
The city of dreaming spires.
It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.
And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.
Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.
Until it became a prison...
But can a student stand against an empire?
An incendiary new novel from award-winning author R.F. Kuang about the power of language, the violence of colonialism, and the sacrifices of resistance.
''A masterpiece that resonates with power and knowledge. BABEL is a stark picture of the cruelty of empire, a distillation of dark academia, and a riveting blend of fantasy and historical fiction - a monumental achievement'' Samantha Shannon, author of THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE R.F. Kuang''s book ''Babel'' was a New York Times bestseller w/c 11-09-2022.
Welcome to the brutal and elite world of Basgiath War College, where everyone has an agenda, and every night could be your last...
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general - also known as her tough-as-talons mother - has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you''re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away . . . because dragons don''t bond to ''fragile'' humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother''s daughter - like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She''ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom''s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Alliances will be forged. Lives will be lost. Traitors will become allies . . . or even lovers. But sleep with one eye open because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.
A wonderful collection, brilliant and often moving ... Both mind-expanding and cosmic while utterly rooted in our urban reality'' NEIL GAIMAN ''One of the great fiction minds of his generation'' ROLLING STONE In his first-ever short story collection, which spans forty years of work and features many never-before-published pieces, international bestselling author and legendary creator of From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and other modern classics, Alan Moore, presents nine stories full of wonder and strangeness, each taking us deeper into the fantastical underside of reality.
In A Hypothetical Lizard, two concubines in a brothel for fantastical specialists fall in love, with tragic ramifications. In Not Even Legend, a paranormal study group is infiltrated by one of the otherworldly beings they seek to investigate. In Illuminations, a nostalgic older man decides to visit a seaside resort from his youth and finds the past all too close at hand. And in the monumental novella What We Can Know About Thunderman, which charts the surreal and Kafkaesque history of the comics industry over the last seventy-five years through several sometimes-naive and sometimes-maniacal people rising and falling on its career ladders, Moore reveals the dark, beating heart of the superhero business.
From ghosts and otherworldly creatures to theoretical Boltzmann brains fashioning the universe at the big bang, Illuminations is exactly that - a series of bright, startling tales from a contemporary legend that reveal the full power of imagination and magic.
''One of the most significant fiction writers in English ... Moore''s influence can be felt everywhere-in our literature, on our screens, in our politics'' GUARDIAN
'The Fellowship of the Ring' is the first part of JRR Tolkien's epic masterpiece 'The Lord of the Rings'. This paperback edition has the classic black cover featuring Tolkien's own design and includes the definitive edition of the text.
Features stories of the separate adventures of the Companions of the Ring. The adventures include Aragorn, revealed as the heir of the Kings of the West, who joined with the Riders of Rohan against the forces of Isengard, and Merry and Pippin who were captured by Orcs but escape into the forest.
''A magnificent, sweeping epic'' JENNIFER SAINT, Sunday Times-bestselling author of ARIADNE ''Shannon is simply a master of the genre'' C. S. PACAT, New York Times-bestselling author of DARK RISE ''A tremendous triumph'' LONDON SHAH, award-winning author of the LIGHT OF THE ABYSS series ____________________ A return to the world of Samantha Shannon''s Sunday Times and New York Times-bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree ____________________ Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms - but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory''s purpose.
To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hroth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow - exactly where she wants to be.
The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother''s past is coming to upend her fate.
When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.
Intricate and epic, A Day of Fallen Night sweeps readers back to the world of A Priory of the Orange Tree, showing us a course of events that shaped it for generations to come.
**Chosen as a book of 2023 by the Metro, Cosmopolitan, Nerd Daily, PinkNews and Waterstones**
Enter a land of gods and monsters, soldiers and mercenaries, secrets and wishes-the explosive #1 internationally bestselling fantasy debut in a new trilogy for fans of The Witcher and Gideon the Ninth Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren. Formed by human desires and fed by their worship, there are countless gods in the world-but after a great war, the new king outlawed them and now pays «godkillers» to destroy any who try to rise from the shadows.
As a child, Kissen saw her family murdered by a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing them and enjoys it. But all this changes when Kissen is tasked with helping a young noble girl with a god problem. The child's soul is bonded to a tiny god of white lies, and Kissen can't kill it without ending the girl's life too.
Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, the unlikely group must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favor. Pursued by assassins and demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning. Something is rotting at the heart of their world, and they are the only ones who can stop it.
Features a tale of adventure, undertaken by a company of dwarves in search of dragon-guarded gold. A reluctant partner in this perilous quest is Bilbo Baggins, a comfort-loving unambitious hobbit. Encounters with trolls, goblins, dwarves, elves, giant spiders, and conversations with the dragon, are just some of the adventures that befall Bilbo.
Frodo and the Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, and must now continue their journey alone down the River Anduin.
THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'The new Game of Thrones ' Stylist 'Puts Samantha Shannon in the same league as Robin Hobb and George R.R. Martin. Shannon is a master of dragons' Starburst 'Epic fantasy with added dragons. A blockbuster' Guardian , Best Science Fiction and Fantasy An enthralling, epic fantasy about a world on the brink of war with dragons - and the women who must lead the fight to save it.
A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction - but assassins are getting closer to her door.
Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.
Across the dark sea, Tane has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.
Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.
Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell.
Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy "Alex" Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory?even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.
Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can''t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies'' most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren''t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she''ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university''s very walls.
Thick with history and packed with Bardugo''s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.
''You like it darker? Fine, so do I'', writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life - both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel ''the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind'', and in You Like it Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.
''Two Talented Bastids'' explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills. In ''Danny Coughlin''s Bad Dream'', a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny''s most catastrophically. In ''Rattlesnakes'', a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance - with major strings attached. In ''The Dreamers'', a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored. ''The Answer Man'' asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.
King''s ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace remains unsurpassed. Each of these stories holds its own thrills, joys, and mysteries; each feels iconic. You like it darker? You got it.
''As classic as King''s novels are, his shorter fiction has been just as gripping over the years'' - USA Today ''One of the great storytellers of our time'' - Guardian
Modern fictionAn imaginative and eagerly anticipated new novel from this highly acclaimed and award-winning author. Fat Charlie Nancy is angry, confused and a little scared. He has just found out that his estranged father was a god, as is his brother who is attempted, and doing very well at, taking over Fat Charlie's life.
THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION, FULLY UPDATED WITH NEW MATERIAL
A lavishly reimagined tenth anniversary edition of the first novel in the sensational Bone Season series, by the Sunday Times and New York Times-bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree.
''A fabulous, epic fantasy thriller ... Lavish, ebullient, escapist'' The Times
________________________________________________
Welcome to Scion. No safer place.
The year is 2059. For two centuries, the Republic of Scion has led an oppressive campaign against unnaturalness in Europe.
In London, Paige Mahoney holds a high rank in the criminal underworld. The right hand of the ruthless White Binder, Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare and formidable kind of clairvoyant. Under Scion law, she commits treason simply by breathing.
When Paige is arrested for murder, she meets the mysterious founders of Scion, who have designs on her uncommon abilities. If she is to survive and escape, Paige must use every skill at her disposal - and put her trust in someone who ought to be her enemy.>
Continuing the story begun in The Hobbit, this is the first part of Tolkien's epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, featuring a striking black cover based on Tolkien's own design, the definitive text, and a detailed map of Middle-earth.
FATE CAN BE CHANGED. CURSES CAN BE BROKEN. In a shabby house in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil. But when her scheming mistress discovers her scullion is hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to win over the royal court. Determined to seize this chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of power-hungry nobility, desperate kings, holy men and seers, where the lines between magic, science and fraud blur. With the pyres of the Inquisition burning, she must use every bit of her wit and resilience to win fame and hide the truth of her ancestry - even if that means enlisting the help of an embittered immortal familiar, whose own secrets could cost her everything. From Sunday Times bestselling author comes a bewitching novel, brimming with peril in a world where a woman's ambition can prove deadly. PRAISE FOR LEIGH BARDUGO'S BOOKS 'Impossible to put down' - Stephen King 'A pacey read with electric prose' Independent 'Crackling dialogue and sumptuous description. Bardugo dives deep into this world... if you're not careful, it'll steal all your time' New York Times 'A master of fantasy' Huffington Post 'Sultry, sweeping, picturesque' USA Today
Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House and the creator of the Grishaverse (now a Netflix original series) which spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the King of Scars duology-and much more. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies including The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Los Angeles and is an associate fellow of Pauli Murray College at Yale University.
A new B-format edition of this novel, designed to take fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings deeper into the myths and legends of Middle-earth The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien''s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part. The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor. Included in the book are several shorter works. The Ainulindale is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabeth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Numenor at the end of the Second Age and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings. This pivotal work features the revised, corrected text and includes, by way of an introduction, a fascinating letter written by Tolkien in 1951 in which he gives a full explanation of how he conceived the early Ages of Middle-earth.
