Genres

1452-1519

1861-1865

1886-1924

1939-1945

A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas

A post-ep for Unbearable. Sort of. Now AU. Originally posted in 2005.

Abortion

Abortion & Birth Control

Action & Adventure

Adolescence

Adult

Adventure

Adventure stories; American

Alien Contact

aliens

All Ages

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Alternative History

Amarantha (ACoTaR)

Ambition in men

American

American Science Fiction And Fantasy

Americans

Americans - Arctic regions

Amren (ACoTaR)

anne rice

Anti-Catholicism

Appreciation

Archer

Arctic regions

Arizona

Art museum curators

Art museum curators - Crimes against

Art thefts

Arthurian

Artificial Satellites

Asia

Azizex666

Azriel (ACoTaR)

BA

Balloonists

Bedtime & Dreams

Beron Vanserra

bethany

Biographical

Biographical fiction

Biography & Autobiography

blogger

Blood and Ash

blood drinker

blood vivicanti

Boarding School & Prep School

Body

books

Boston (Mass.)

Brigands and robbers

Bron (ACoTaR)

business

Business - Leadership

Businesswomen

Cassian (ACoTaR)

Children of immigrants

Children of immigrants - United States

Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)

Childrens

Children's Books

Children's stories; English

Classics

Code and cipher stories; American

Colorado

Comics & Graphic Novels

Coming of Age

Computer industry

Computer security

Conduct of life

Conspiracies

Contemporary

Courts and courtiers

Cresseida (ACoTaR)

Cresseida/Morrigan (ACoTaR)

Crime

Crime & mystery

Crime & Thriller

Crimes against

Criminals

Criticism

Cryptographers

Cursed

da Vinci;

daemon

Daemon Black

Dark Fantasy

Dating & Sex

David_James Mobilism.org

dawson

Deity

Demonology

demons

Despotism

Discrimination & Race Relations

Domestic fiction

Dystopian

Dystopias

Ecoterrorism

Egyptologists

Elain Archeron

Elain Archeron & Lucien Vanserra

Elain Archeron/Azriel

Elain Archeron/Lucien Vanserra

Elemental Assassin#6

elemental magic

Elixir

England

English

english eBooks

English fiction

English Historical Fiction

Epic

Eris Vanserra

Erotic fiction

Erotica

ESP (Clairvoyance

Espionage

Europe

Explicit

Ex-police officers

Extortion

F/F

F/M

Families

Family

Family Secrets

Fantasy

Fantasy - Contemporary

Fantasy - Epic

Fantasy & Magic

Fantasy fiction

Fantasy fiction; English

fantasy romance

Fantasy:Vampires

Fanworks

feminism; politics; Jacinda Ardern; Michelle Bachelet; Joyce Banda; Hillary Clinton; Christine Lagar

Feyre Archeron

Feyre Archeron/Rhysand

Feyre Archeron's Father

FIC000000 Fiction / General

Fiction

Fiction - Espionage

Fiction - Fantasy

Fiction - General

Fiction - Horror

Fiction - Psychological Suspense

Fiction & Literature

Fiction:Historical

Flesh and Fire

Friendship

From Blood and Ash

General

General & Literary Fiction

George

Global warming

Good and evil

Grail

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Great Britain

Greek gods

Guatemala

Guatemala - Fiction.

half-blood

Hart (ACoTaR)

Helion (ACoTaR)

high school

High schools

Historical

Historical - General

Historical Fiction

Historical fiction; English

History

Horror

Horror - General

Horror & Ghost Stories

Horror fiction

Horror fiction; American

Horror tales

Horror tales; American

Humorous

Identity

Illuminati

Immortality

Infected

Intelligence officers

Interactive Adventures

Interpersonal Relations

Irony

Jack (Fictitious character)

Jeffrey - Prose & Criticism

Jeffrey Archer

jennifer armentrout

jennifer l. armentrout

Juvenile Fiction

Juvenile Fiction / Fantasy & Magic

Juvenile Fiction / Love & Romance

Kallias (ACoTaR)

katy

Katy Swartz

Kievan Rus

Kievan Rus - Fiction

kindle

King of Hybern (ACoTaR)

Langdon; Robert (Ficticious character)

Large type books

leadership

Legal

Legal stories

Leonardo

Leonardo - Appreciation

Leonardo;

Lestat (Fictitious character)

life

Lifestyle

Literary

Literature

Literature - Classics

Literature & Fiction

Literature & Fiction - Drama

Literature: Classics

London (England)

London (England) - Social life and customs - 19th century

Louisiana

love

Love & Romance

Love Stories

Love stories; American

Lucien Vanserra

lux

luxen

Magic

Mallory

Mallory; George

Manhattan (New York; N.Y.)

Manuscripts

Man-Woman Relationships

Marriage

Mayfair family (Fictitious characters)

Medical

Medical novels

Men

Men's Adventure

Meteors

Microbial Contamination

Mind & Spirit

Missing persons

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Modern fiction

Morrigan (ACoTaR)

motivational

Mountaineering

Mountaineers

Mystery

Mystery & Crime

Mystery & Detective

Mystery & Detective - General

Mystery & Thrillers

Mystery and detective stories

Mystery fiction

mythology

Natural disasters

Nesta Archeron

Nesta Archeron/Cassian

Nesta Archeron/Morrigan

New Adult

New Orleans (La.)

New Orleans (La.) - Fiction

New Orleans (La.) - Fiction.

New York (N.Y.)

Nightclubs

Non-Classifiable

nonfiction

Non-Fiction

Nonfiction - General

Novela, Fantástico

Novelists; English

obsidian

Occult

Occult & Supernatural

Occult fiction

Occult fiction; American

onyx

opal

Original Characters

Orphans

Orphans & Foster Homes

Other

Pakistani Americans

Papacy

Paranoia

Paranoia - Patients

Paranormal

paranormal romance

Parapsychology

Paris (France)

Paris (France) - Fiction

People & Places

Personal

Pharaohs

Philosophy

Photojournalists

Physicians

Physicists

Polar bear

Political

Political corruption

Political fiction

Political fiction; American

Politicians

Popes

Precognition

Presidents

Presidents - Election

Prisoners

Prisons

Psychic Ability

Psychological

Psychological fiction

Psychology

Psychosurgery

pure

Race Discrimination

Rape/Non-Con

Reacher

Reacher; Jack (Fictitious character)

Regression (Civilization)

Relato, Fantástico, Terror

Religious educators

Renaissance

Renaissance - Fiction

Retail

Retellings

Revenge

Rhysand (ACoTaR)

Rice; Anne - Prose & Criticism

Rich & Famous

Rich people

Romance

Russia & the Former Soviet Union

Russia (Federation)

Sagas

School & Education

Schools

Sci Fi & Fantasy

Science Fiction

Science Fiction - General

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Science Fiction/Fantasy

Scientists

scifi

Sci-Fi

ScreamQueen

Seattle (Wash.)

Secret societies

Securities fraud

Self-Perception

Sex

Sexual harasment

Sexual harassment

shadows

Short Stories

Short Stories (single author)

Short stories; English

Siberia (Russia)

Signs and symbols

Social Classes

Social Issues

Social Issues - Dating & Sex

Social Science

Soldiers

South Carolina

South Carolina - History - Civil War

South Pacific Ocean

Spirit possession

Sports & Recreation

Submarines (Ships)

Subways

Suicide bombers

Supernatural

Suspense

Suspense fiction

Suspense fiction; American

Swindlers and swindling

Sword & Sorcery

Tahereh Mafi

Tamlin (ACoTaR)

Tarquin (ACoTaR)

Technological

teen

Teen & Young Adult

teen romance

Telepathy)

Terrorism

Texas

Thesan (ACoTaR)

Thriller

Thrillers

Time travel

Time travel Fiction

Totalitarianism

Train robberies

United States

urban fantasy

vampire

vampire academy

vampire action

vampire action adventure

vampire actionadventure

vampire adult

vampire adult fantasy

vampire adult romance

vampire aliens

vampire and mortal love

vampire and zombie

vampire angel

vampire army

vampire book for young adults

vampire books

vampire dating

vampire legends

vampire love

vampire night

vampire science fiction

vampire series

vampire women

Vampires

Vampires - Fiction

Vampires - Fiction.

Varian (ACoTaR)

Vatican City

Vendetta

Venice (Italy)

Venice (Italy) - Fiction

Veronica Roth

Violinists

Visionary & Metaphysical

Viviane (ACoTaR)

War & Military

War stories

Washington (State)

Werewolves

Westerns

Witches

Women revolutionaries

Women Sleuths

World War

ya

ya romance

Young Adult

Young Adult Fiction

young adult romance

Zombie Apocalypse

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter is a wizard. He is in his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The three friends, Harry, Ron and Hermione, are soon immersed in the daily round of Potions, Herbology, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Quidditch. Then mysterious and scary things start happening. First Harry hears strange voices, and then Ron's sister, Ginny, disappears...
Paths of Glory

Paths of Glory

Jeffrey Archer

From Publishers Weekly
A real-life mountaineering mystery serves as the springboard for bestseller Archer's abysmal latest. The plot begins promisingly with the body of mountaineer George Mallory discovered on the slopes of Mt. Everest in 1999, possibly having been the first man to have reached the summit. But hopes of an adventurous yarn are soon dashed as the novel becomes a long flashback, offering stock vignettes of Mallory's childhood, Cambridge days and mountaineering adventures. These passages are hampered by phoned-in writing, clumsy attempts at verisimilitude and a notable lack of psychological depth. Along the way, Mallory marries, becomes a father, serves in WWI and finds himself pitted against Australian mountaineer George Finch as a potential leader of Britain's push to conquer Everest. Archer does eventually offer his opinion as to whether Mallory summited Everest, but by that point all but his most devoted fans will have fled the icy crags of this lifeless novel. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
Praise for Jeffrey Archer:
“A dynamite commercial novel … Archer brings it off with panache.”
---_The Washington Post_ on A Prisoner of Birth
“Bestseller Archer pays homage to Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo in this delicious updating of the adventure classic.… The author’s firsthand knowledge of prison life and legal maneuvers help make this a thoroughly enjoyable entertainment.”
---_Publishers Weekly_ on A Prisoner of Birth
“Like other Archer thrillers, the book is compulsively readable.”
---_Library Journal_ on A Prisoner of Birth
“A worthy successor to the still bestselling The Da Vinci Code.”
---Liz Smith, New York Post, on False Impression
“One of the top ten storytellers in the world.”
---_Los Angeles Times_
The Triumph of the Sun

The Triumph of the Sun

Wilbur Smith

They've come from out of the shifting sands and down from ancient mountains. Mounted on horse and camel, carrying gleaming swords and plundered rifles, the sons of Allah are led by a holy warrior imbued with jihad, driving his army of thousands to wipe out the last Englishmen from the isolated Nile city...
But in Khartoum is a legendary British general, a brilliant, mercenary trader, a beautiful woman and a courageous soldier whose fates have become one. They know that time is running out and rescue is improbable. So they prepare for one last stand--and the beginning of an epic journey of survival...
From a passionate rivalry for a woman to an unforgettable face-off between warriors, TRIUMPH OF THE SUN is adventure fiction writ large--alive with the sounds of throngs, the terror of battle, and the mystical fire of human courage in the darkest moments of all.
From Publishers Weekly
Set in colonial Egypt at the end of Victoria's reign, this sweeping romantic epic reprises Smith regulars—scions of the Courteneys and Ballantynes. (The two fictional British families have provided character fodder for least half of Smith's 30 novels.) Bloodthirsty legions of Arab dervish troops under the command of the Mahdi, or ruling successor to the Prophet Muhammad, have surrounded (but not taken) Khartoum, trapping comely 17-year-old Rebecca Benbrook; her consul general father, David; and her younger twin sisters, Saffron and Amber. The appearance of a cargo boat owned by the dashing, entrepreneurial Ryder Courteney, as well as the subsequent appearance of Capt. Penrod Ballantyne of Her Majesty's 10th Hussars, give hope. Naïve Rebecca falls in love with Ballantyne, who deflowers her before racing off to warn the rescue force commander that the commander is outnumbered 25 to one. The dervish, led by the fearsome Emir Osman Atalan, overrun Khartoum, and Rebecca's father is brutally butchered; the saga continues with Penrod heroically leading troops against Osman. Steamy romance alternates with gore, and it's all done by-the-numbers in a good way—like a junky, absorbing miniseries. Fans will not be disappointed. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
As popular as he is prolific, and as masterful a storyteller now as he has ever been, Smith once again visits Africa, the continent where he was born, the source of his inspiration, and the setting for his supremely adventuresome novels that make authentic and riveting use of history. He took readers to ancient Egypt in the marvelously wrought River God (1994), and now he returns there, this time in the late nineteenth century, at the apex of the British Empire. Smith bases this tightly woven narrative on an actual incident in British colonial history: the holy war conducted by a Sudanese man proclaiming himself the Mahdi, or savior, and his forces' siege of the British garrison at Khartoum, at the convergence of the White and Blue Nile in the Egyptian-held Sudan. Readers who appreciate World War II-era spy thrillers will enjoy this tale of espionage, disguise, and stabbings in the dark, as Smith deliciously elaborates on all the military and religious issues and events surrounding the siege. He marshals telling detail into a story that is--like the Nile itself--swift and powerful. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
To Cut a Long Story Short

To Cut a Long Story Short

Jeffrey Archer

Amazon.com Review
To Cut a Long Story Short reads like a series of modern fairy tales. In each story, Jeffrey Archer presents a moral problem, and a character finds himself tested in a dark hour. Evil manifests itself in the form of selfish relatives, corrupt cops, racist men. Good arrives in the form of unselfish minor characters who suddenly emerge as the real center of the story, or lost souls who come out the other side of corruption and renounce their old ways.
In "The Endgame" Cornelius Barrington decides to fake a bankruptcy. As one of the richest men in his small town, he hopes his sudden plunge into poverty will reveal the true character of his friends and relatives. He calls in debts, asks to borrow money from those he has lent to in the past, only to be turned away time and again.
After lunch Cornelius took a bus into town--a novel experience. It was some time before he located a bus stop, and then he discovered that the conductor didn't have change for a twenty pound note. His first call after he had been dropped off in the town centre was to the local estate agent, who didn't seem surprised to see him. Cornelius was delighted to find how quickly the rumour of his financial demise must be spreading.
"The Endgame" is a complex tale with a clear message. Not all the stories in To Cut a Long Story Short attempt such weightiness. "The Expert Witness" is a delightful parody of the legal system, a portrait of two pub mates--a lawyer and an expert witness--who often find themselves facing off in the courtroom, pretending not to know each other. Certain pieces (glimpses, vignettes) last a mere two pages, but whatever the length or weight of the story, throughout this collection Archer has a light touch, a quick wit, and a thorough understanding of the mechanics of suspense. --Emily White
From Publishers Weekly
Archer (Twelve Red Herrings; The Fourth Estate) maintains his obsession with surprise endings, producing a collection of 14 cleverly twisting tales, nine of which are "based on true incidents." If most of the stories fail to produce a lasting effect, they are characteristically fluid and occasionally satisfying. Among the most successful is "Something for Nothing," inspired by a real story. Jake, a New York City father making a routine telephone call to his elderly mother, overhears another conversation in which instructions are given to pick up an envelope containing $100,000. Jake dashes out of his apartment and intercepts the loot before the intended recipient, but discovers that nothing is ever as foolproof as it sounds. In "A Change of Heart," another fact-based tale, a white bigot in South Africa gets a heart transplantAand discovers the heart belonged to an African man he killed in a car accident. The incident inspires the bigot and others to reconsider their narrow views. "The Endgame" has a smart premiseAa multimillionaire widower tests his family's loyalty by declaring himself bankruptAyet the characters move as predictably as the chess pieces on the valuable set that is the focal point of the tale. "A Weekend to Remember" features bachelor-hotel owner Tony Romanelli and a sexy arts writer named Susie. Tony prides himself on being able to read if a woman is "interested" by the feel of her greeting or parting hug, but he reads the wrong story in Susie's enthusiastic squeeze. Perhaps cutting these fictions short was a mistake, their complex premises demanding lengthier elaboration. However, Archer's following is legion and the collection will doubtless find its readership. (Jan. 7)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown

SUMMARY: While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.THE DA VINCI CODE heralds the arrival of a new breed of lightning-paced, intelligent thriller…utterly unpredictable right up to its stunning conclusion.
Once Upon a Time in the North

Once Upon a Time in the North

Philip Pullman

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up—In this prequel to the "His Dark Materials" trilogy (Knopf), Texas aeronaut Lee Scoresby meets armored bear Iorek Byrnison for the first time. In this short, fantastic adventure, young Scoresby finds himself on the Arctic island of Novy Odense, a community set in an alternate past world. The rich mining company Lars Manganese is trying to control the town, Ivan Dimitrovich Poliakov is a corrupt mayoral candidate, and Captain van Breda is prevented from unloading his cargo unjustly. Scoresby takes on the captain's cause, resulting in an Old West-style shootout. Many readers will likely enjoy this book because of its quick pace and action-filled plot, but some Pullman fans may be disappointed when comparing this short text to the trilogy. Characters are less developed, and events sometimes happen a bit too quickly. The ending is neat and tidy, though it does leave the door open for future adventures. The inclusion of documents and black-and-white engraved illustrations add a nice touch, and the board game Peril of the Pole is tucked into the back inside cover as a bonus.—_Jennifer D. Montgomery, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green_
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From
Starred Review As he did in Lyra’s Oxford (2004), Pullman returns to the world of His Dark Materials trilogy in this story of how aeronaut Lee Scoresby meets and befriends bear Iorke Byrnison. Pullman is as fine a writer as there is for young people, and this book is a small gem—literally—it’s 112 pages and the size of a paperback. The story begins as Lee’s cargo balloon drifts into the Arctic, landing in the icy environs of Novy Odense. The town is about to elect a new mayor, Ivan Poliakov, who wants to rid the place of bears, and Lee (along with daemon rabbit Hester) finds himself embroiled in local controversies. When Lee learns one of Poliakov’s allies is a vicious criminal with whom he once had a run-in, he knows he must choose sides. Beautifully crafted and spilling over with action, the novel has the feel of an old western (one can almost see Gary Cooper as Lee). Matching Pullman’s carefully calibrated prose is the book’s thoughtful design. Everything works together—from the sturdy, blue cloth cover to the the back matter, which features a miniature board game. Lawrence’s stamp-sized ink engravings  set the tale somewhere between fantasy and history. Grades 7-10. --Ilene Cooper
Shadow's Claim

Shadow's Claim

Kresley Cole

#1 New York Times bestseller Kresley Cole introduces The Dacians: Realm of Blood and Mist, a new paranormal series following the royal bloodline of Dacia, a vampire kingdom hidden within the Lore of the Immortals After Dark.
Shadow’s Claim features Prince Trehan, a ruthless master assassin who will do anything to possess Bettina, his beautiful sorceress mate, even compete for her hand in a blood-sport tournament— to the death.
HE WON’T BE DENIED
Trehan Daciano, known as the Prince of Shadows, has spent his life serving his people—striking in the night, quietly executing any threat to their realm. The coldly disciplined swordsman has never desired anything for himself—until he beholds Bettina, the sheltered ward of two of the Lore’s most fearsome villains.
SHE’S BOUND TO ANOTHER
Desperate to earn her guardians’ approval after a life-shattering mistake, young Bettina has no choice but to marry whichever suitor prevails—even though she’s lost her heart to another. Yet one lethal competitor, a mysterious cloaked swordsman, invades her dreams, tempting her with forbidden pleasure.
A BATTLE FOR HER BODY AND SOUL
Even if Trehan can survive the punishing contests to claim her as his wife, the true battle for Bettina’s heart is yet to come. And unleashing a millennium’s worth of savage need will either frighten his Bride away—or stoke Bettina’s own desires to a fever pitch. . . .
About the Author
Kresley Cole is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Immortals After Dark paranormal series. Her books have been translated into many foreign languages, garnered two RITA awards, and consistently appear on the bestseller lists in the U.S. and abroad. Visit her at KresleyCole.com.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
A savage kick to Princess Bettina of Abaddon’s back severed her spinal cord.
A blessing.
The searing pain that had been clawing through her entire being faded below her waist to pinpoints of pressure, then tingles, then . . .
Nothing.
Blessing. She’d long since stopped begging for her life, knew she’d never leave this field of poppies alive.
The four winged monsters who’d dragged her here had plans for her: as much agony as possible before her death.
Just as their kind had delivered to her sorceress mother twenty years before.
Though half demon, Bettina was weak in body, hopeless at fighting. She’d depended on her Sorceri power for protection—the one that these Vrekeners had siphoned from her as easily as they’d snatched the clothes from her body.
No longer could she open her swollen eyes. Her last sight? The leader standing over her, brandishing a scythe, his eyes frenzied. His claw-tipped wings had blocked the light of a low yellow moon. The scythe’s blade wasn’t fashioned out of metal, but of black flame. . . .
Yet Bettina could still hear, was still aware. In the distance, a new age band played in an outdoor arena. Young mortals danced and sang—
The force of one kick jostled her over onto her belly. Her mauled face shoved against crushed poppies. The leader played with her as a hawk would a mouse, ravaging the meat from its bones. His followers jeered and doused her with bottles of spirits.
Menacing yells, steel-toed boots, the blistering sting of alcohol.
Ah, gods, she was too aware. She tried desperately to lose herself in memories of a boy with smiling blue eyes and sun-kissed hair.
He doesn’t know how much I love him. So many things I wish I’d done—
Her upper body exploded with even more pain, as if to compensate for the numbness in her fractured legs. She could perceive her broken ribs jutting from her skin. Her mangled arms draped limply across the ground where they’d fallen when she’d last tried to protect her head. . . . Anguish multiplied.
Or perhaps the Vrekeners’ blows rained down more swiftly. The kill was near.
All she’d wanted was to go to a party with her mortal college friends. She’d been excited, happy to fit in with them, or to appear to—as a halfling, she’d never fit in before. Little did she know that she’d already drawn her enemy’s notice with her sorcery. She’d never intentionally used it—
Over all other pain, she perceived the heat of that burning scythe descending ever closer to her. Hotter, hotter, scorching.
Alcohol on her skin, the black flame . . .
Bettina choked on a sob. They planned to burn her?
Suddenly she felt weightless. This is what dying feels like?
No, she was traveling. Summoned? Dear gods, yes, the demon in her had been summoned across realms. Naked, powerless, sightless, she slipped from that field in the mortal world to her home plane of Abaddon.
In a flash, the poppies were replaced by cold marble, a balm on what was left of her skin. That awareness returned. I’m lying on the floor of my castle’s court, broken, wearing only my blood and the Vrekeners’ rank liquor. The courtiers still gossip and laugh. Can’t they see me?
She tried to scream for help; blood bubbled up over her lips. Can’t scream, can’t move. She could only listen. A conversation between her godfather Raum—the Grand Duke of the Deathly Ones—and another was already under way.
“Now you’ve done it, Raum.” It was Caspion the Tracker. The demon she secretly loved. “Tina hates being summoned with that medallion.” Not at present! “She considers it a leash.”
Her guardians had insisted on it, a condition of her leaving Abaddon.
“Ha! It probably makes her feel more like a demon,” Raum said in a gruff tone, knowing that wasn’t true. They’d had words over his use of the mystical medallion. “Besides, she told me she was coming home from college by month’s end.”
“You know time moves differently in the mortal realm,” Caspion said, amusement lacing his words. “And more, she said she was very busy but would try to visit—”
Bettina heard a courtier gasp. They’ve seen me. Murmurs rose to a furor.
From the front of the court, Caspion demanded, “What is it?” Closer by, he asked, “Who is this pitiful creature? No, no, this isn’t Tina. It can’t be!” A touch on her forehead . . . a sucked in breath of recognition . . . a roar of grief. “Bettina!”
Raum bellowed, “What has happened?”
“Tina, wake up!” Caspion commanded her. “Ah, gods, stay with me. Stay.”
For him, she managed to slit open one eye. His curling blond hair hung over his harried face. His own eyes had gone from midnight blue to black, signaling his emotion. They even started watering as he gazed over her injuries.
She saw a shining hero of old. Her beloved Cas.
He yanked off his warm coat, covering her. “A physic!” he yelled into the crowd. “Now!”
Others gathered around her. She heard Raum stomping closer. “Who’s done this to my little Tina?” Something broke directly. No doubt from his fist. “Damn you, tell me! Who’s hurt her?”
She tried to answer, parting her lips. . . . Her jaw must be broken.
Another anguished roar. Oh, Cas.
Visibly making an effort to control himself, he said, “You hang on and stay with me.”
There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with you.
“I’ll get you through this, Tina. I swear it. You’re going to be all right,” he said, his voice thick. “Don’t leave me.”
Bettina felt the tiniest sliver of hope, something to fight for. Surely Cas returned her feelings, saw her as more than a little sister.
“Will she live?” Raum bit out. “She’s not hardy like a demoness, not strong like we are.”
She hadn’t been a true demon before. Now she was no longer a true sorceress. They took my root power. My soul.
A male she didn’t recognize asked, “Has she frozen into her immortality?” The physic?
Cas answered, “She was on the cusp. Maybe by now . . .”
“We need a Sorceri healer. If we act quickly, the princess could recover,” the physic said, but hastily qualified his statement: “Her body could recover from this.”
What did that mean?
Raum ordered, “Find Tina’s godmother! Don’t return from the Sorceri plane without Morgana!” Coming into Bettina’s line of vision, Raum yelled to Cas, “I should never have let her go! I was too lenient! Things will change in Abaddon!” His eyes were glinting, his voice choked up. The crusty old warrior was at a loss. He began ramming his horns against a stone wall, roaring to everyone, “Heed my words! We return to olden ways!”
Free of the attack, Bettina’s body started trying to regenerate, nerves sparking to life once more. Pain erupted all over her, blistering waves of it.
Even in the midst of her escalating agony and lingering horror, the words olden ways struck fear in her heart.
Prince Trehan Daciano shot awake in the middle of the day, bolting upright from his pallet of furs.
He gazed around in confusion, seeing his usual surroundings—shelves of books, weapons, his sideboard with carafes of mead-laced blood.
Though he’d experienced no nightmare, sleep had been snatched from him, replaced by a marked unease. With each moment, he grew even more on edge, a feeling like . . . like emptiness settling in his chest.
Like dread. So different from his usual numbness.
Brows drawn, he rose, tracing across the spacious room to one of the curtained balconies.
These grand apartments had once been the royal library. Centuries ago, he’d moved in and never moved out, haunting this place until no other member of the family would enter.
Time and history seeped from these familiar stones. He knew every crag and groove as well as he knew his own grim reflection. Like these stones, I quietly endure the ages.
Drawing back the thick curtain, he gazed outside. From this height, Trehan could survey far into the Realm of Blood and Mist, the secreted lands of the mighty Dacians.
The royal city below was still at this hour. Only the sound of Dacia’s bubbling blood fountains could be heard.
Across from his residence stood the majestic black stone castle, the heart of the realm—abandoned without a king. How many of his kinsmen had perished trying to seize that keep? How much deceit and murder surrounded it?
The warring houses of the royal family had once boasted hundreds of members each—now dwindled down to a handful.
For an immortal family, they knew death so well.
Trehan was the last born to the House of Shadow, the assassin arm of the family. Though he was a potential contender for the crown—along with four of his lethal cousins—he had no real aspiration to seize it. A quiet loner by nature, he loathed spectacle and attention, was content to blend into the shadows.
He only wanted to perform his duty. For nearly a millennium, he’d been the enforcer of law, a merciless assassin.
As his long-dead father had oft told him, “You are the sword of the kingdom, Trehan. Dacia will be your family, your friend, your mistress, the grand love of your life. That is your lot, Son. Want for nothing else. And you will never be disappointed.”
Trehan had once foolishly entertained secret hopes, but he’d eventually embraced his father’s teachings. As was logical.
I want for not...
  • *
  • *
Vampire Chronicles 1: Interview with the vampire

Vampire Chronicles 1: Interview with the vampire

Anne Rice

EDITORIAL REVIEW: Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force--a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses.It is a novel only Anne Rice could write...."Magnificent, compulsively readable."CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Vampire Chronicles 2: The vampire Lestat

Vampire Chronicles 2: The vampire Lestat

Anne Rice

EDITORIAL REVIEW: Returning to the hypnotic world she so brilliantly created in **Interview with the Vampire**, Anne Rice demonstrates once again her power to enthrall. With the same richness of drama, atmosphere and incident, she tells the fantastic story of the vampire Lestat, whom we first perceived as the seductive devil-vampire of **Interview with the Vampire** and whom we now follow through the ages as he searches for the origin and meaning of his own dark immortality. And who, more and more, engages our sympathy until he stands revealed as a questing romantic, a vampire-hero with his own strange and passionate courage and morality.As the novel opens, Lestat, having risen from the earth after a fifty-five years' sleep, and infatuated with the modern world, presents himself in all his vampire brilliance as a rock star, a superstar, a seducer of millions. And, in this blaze of adulation, daring to break the vampire oath of silence, he determines to tell his story, to rouse the generations of the living dead from their slumbers and to penetrate the riddle of his own existence.As he speaks we are plunged back into eighteenth-century France, into the castle where we meet the young Lestat: child of impoverished aristocrats, heroic hunter of wolves, at odds with his tyrannical father, running away to join a traveling troupe of actors. We see him in the licentious Paris of the day, first apprentice at a boulevard theater, then its most celebrated actor, idolized, adored by many and--night after night--watched by one . . . until, in a sleep filled with dreams of the wolves he killed as a boy, he is shocked awake by a dark figure and suddenly, horribly, eternally joined to the unholy brotherhood.We follow Lestat as he searches for others like him--in churches and brothels, in gambling houses, huts and palaces--sometimes joined by the vampire-angel Gabrielle, who is bound to him both by blood and by passion; sometimes traveling with his adored Nicolas, the violinist whose music and beauty are equally transcendent. We follow Lestat as he travels from the snowcapped mountains of the Auvergne and the primeval forest of ancient Gaul to Sicily, Istanbul, Venice and Cairo, searching for his origins, sometimes finding clues to the birth of the vampire race, knowing always that the central truth eludes him.But all the while, throughout his travels, through many lands and many times, Lestat has made enemies among his brethren--vampires who are in terror of his questions, who fear he will disturb the uneasy balance in which they exist with the mortal world, and who suspect in him a desire to rule. And when, in the caves below a craggy Greek island, in a sanctuary whose walls are covered with gold-flecked murals, the very first of the living dead awake, the truth at the heart of his quest is at last revealed. Ancient forces held immobile through the ages are irreversibly set in motion, and as the novel rushes to its stunning climax, Lestat's vampire foes converge in pursuit of him on the demonic freeways of the twentieth century.
Vampire Chronicles 5: Memnoch the Devil

Vampire Chronicles 5: Memnoch the Devil

Anne Rice

SUMMARY: In Anne Rice's extraordinary novel, the Vampire Lestat--outsides, canny monster, hero-wanderer--is at last offered the chance to be redeemed.He is brought into direct confrontation with both God and the Devil, and into the land of Death.We are in New York. The city is blanketed in snow. Through the whiteness Lestat is searching for Dora, the beautiful and charismatic daughter of a drug lord, the woman who arouses Lestat's tenderness as no mortal ever has.While torn between his vampire passions and his overwhelming love for Dora, Lestat is confronted by the most dangerous of adversaries he has yet known.He is snatched from the world itself by the mysterious Memnoch, who claims to be the Devil. He is invited to be a witness at the Creation. He is taken like the ancient prophets into the heavenly realm and is ushered into Purgatory.He must decide if he can believe in the Devil or in God. And finally, he must decide which, if either, he will serve.In the first four Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice summoned up for us worlds that are fantastic and distant, making them as resonant, real, and immediate as our own. In this, her most daring and darkest novel, she takes us, with Lestat, into the mythical world that is most important to us--into the realms of our own theology.
Vampire Chronicles 4: The Tale of the Body Thief

Vampire Chronicles 4: The Tale of the Body Thief

Anne Rice

SUMMARY: "A wonderfully mesmerizing adventure, delving into the convoluted mind of one of modern fiction's most famous anti-heroes, the vampire Lestat. Rice's writing is elegant and thought-provoking and her story is a gem."THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNEFor centuries Lestat has been a courted prince in the universe of the dead. Now he is alone and everything he once believed in seems false. So he embarks on a dangerous journey to destroy his doubts and loneliness forever....