Fantasy/ Sci-Fi/ Historical Fiction 2009
Explore the best Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Historical Fiction books of 2009! Discover top-rated novels, hidden gems, and must-read titles in these captivating genres.
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The Immortal Fire
by Anne Ursu
As Philonecron plots to destroy the gods, transform the Underworld, destroy humanity, and remodel Olympus, Mr. Metos takes thirteen-year-old cousins Charlotte and Zee to join the Prometheans, who have an age-old weapon that may help protect them.
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The Magic Thief: Lost
by Sarah Prineas
Never mix fire with magic! Conn may only be a wizard's apprentice, but even he knows it's dangerous to play with fire . . . especially around magic. His master, Nevery, warns him that it could all blow up in his face. Besides, they have bigger problems to deal with. There is evil afoot in the city of Wellmet, an evil that isn't human. But Conn is drawn to the murmurs he hears every time he sets off an explosion—something is trying to talk to him, to warn him. When none of the wizards listen, Conn takes matters into his own hands. His quest to protect everything he loves brings him face-to-face with a powerful sorcerer-king and a treachery beyond even his vivid imagination. Sarah Prineas works her own spells as she transports us to an extraordinary world where cities are run on living magic and even a thief can become a wizard's apprentice.
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Dragon Spear
by Jessica Day George
As far as Creel is concerned, all is finally right with the world. The dragon king, Shardas, and his queen, Velika, have made a home for themselves on the Far Islands, and for the first time in centuries it seems dragons and humans might be able to live together in peace. So what better time for Creel and Luka to plan their wedding. But then Velika gets kidnapped by a band of rogue dragons in need of their own queen. And Creel and Luka leap to aid Shardas and rescue her-only to discover that Luka's father has set his sights on taking back the Far Islands from the dragons. Torn between her love for Prince Luka and her friendship with Shardas and Velika, Creel must make the most difficult decision of her life if she stands any chance of getting to the church on time.
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The Sorceress
by Michael Scott
While armies of the Shadowrealms gather and Machiavelli goes to Alcatraz to kill Perenelle Flamel, fifteen-year-old twins Sophie and Josh Newman accompany the Alchemist to England to continue their search for the Codex.
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The Time Quake
by Linda Buckley-Archer
While sinister Lord Luxon makes himself at home in twenty-first century Manhattan, Peter and Kate, aided by Gideon, pursue The Tar Man through the streets of eighteenth-century London, when history is at its tipping point.
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The Trouble with Kings
by Sherwood Smith
Princess Flian finds herself the unwilling object of desire of three royals. Is the one she wants a villain or a hero? Waking up in a strange place, Flian Elandersi at first doesn t know who she is. One wicked prince tells her she is secretly engaged to an even more wicked king who wants to marry her right away. But before that happens, yet another wicked prince crashes through a window on horseback to sweep her off her feet. Memory returns, and Flian realizes that all any of them seem to want is her considerable wealth, not her pleasant-but-ordinary self. She longs to escape the barracks-like, military atmosphere and return to civilization and her musical studies. Flian endures another abduction, this time in the middle of a poetry reading. Who is the villain? Prince Garian Herlester languid, elegant, sarcastic? Prince Jaim he of the dashing horsemanship? Or King Jason Szinzar, whose ambiguous warning might be a threat? Flian decides it s time to throw off civilization and take action. The problem with action is that duels of wit turn into duels of steel and love can t be grabbed and galloped away.
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Once a Princess
by Sherwood Smith
Swashbuckling in a magic world-L.A. style! Sasharia en Garde! book 1. Sasha's mother, Sun, was once swept away from a Ren Faire to another world by a prince-literally-but there was no happy ending. Sun's prince disappeared, and a wicked king took the Khanerenth throne. In the years since, Sasha and Sun have been back on Earth and on the run. Mom and daughter don't quite see eye to eye on the situation-Sasha wants to stand and fight. Sun insists her prince will return for them one day; it's safer to stay hidden. Then Sasha is tricked into crossing the portal to Khanerenth. She's more than ready to join the resistance, kick some bad-guy butt, and fix the broken kingdom. But...is the stylish pirate Zathdar the bad guy? Or artistic, dreamy Prince Jehan? Back on Earth, Sun is furious Sasha has been kidnapped. Sun might once have been a rotten princess, but nobody messes with Mom! Warning: This title contains a kick-butt mother-daughter team, a wicked king, a witty pirate with an unfortunate taste for neon colors, inept resistance fighters, a dreamy prince who gallops earnestly hither and yon, and a kick-butt princess in waiting.
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Mearsies Heili Bounces Back
by Sherwood Smith
CJ and her gang of friends gather around the 13-year-old queen, Clair Sherwood, and find themselves beset by magical spells and various villains in the middle of Mearsies Heili's woodland.
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Cat Among the Pigeons
by Julia Golding
Catherine "Cat" Royal, an orphan who lives at the Drury Lane Theater in 1790s London, rallies her friends to try to save Pedro from the clutches of Mr. Hawkins, a slavemaster who considers Pedro his property.
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The Silver Blade
by Sally Gardner
As the Revolution descends into the ferocious Reign of Terror, Yann, now an extraordinary practioner of magic, uses his skills to confound his enemies and help spirit refugees out of France, but the question of his true identity and the kidnapping of his true love, Sido, expose him to dangers that threaten to destroy him.
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Daughter of the Flames
by Zoë Marriott
After learning that she is the sole heir to the Ruan throne, orphaned Zira, trained in weaponry and martial arts as a warrior priestess, must unravel the secrets of her identity, decide her people's fate, and accept her feelings for a man who should be her enemy.
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The Hollow
by Jessica Verday
High school junior Abbey struggles with the loss of her best friend Kristen, who vanished on a legendary bridge, but her grief is eased by Caspian, an attractive and mysterious stranger she meets in the Sleepy Hollow cemetery.
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Fire
by Kristin Cashore
In this suspenseful prequel to Graceling, Fire, a beautiful girl with the power to control the minds of others, must do all she can to stay alive during the deadly times facing her land in the Dells with impending war upon them.
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Forest Born
by Shannon Hale
Unable to find comfort amongst the tall trees in the forest she calls home, Rin takes her secret and moves to the city to be with her brother in the hopes of getting answers to questions that have been plaguing her mind her entire life.
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Twice a Prince
by Sherwood Smith
Sasha's prince is wicked, Sun's is missing-they take up the sword, L.A. style! Sasharia En Garde Book 2 In the magical world of Khanerenth, there's a long way to go before Sasha and her dream prince, Jehan, can get to perfect. Jehan's deception has left her unable to trust him, and grimly determined to search for her missing father. Jehan only wants to protect Sasha from the dangerous undercover mission he's undertaken to heal the broken kingdom, but he knows she can't afford to listen to him-not when he's the one living a lie. Enemies, allies-and temptation-make the ballroom floor as dangerous as pirate raids. In a world where love is danger and honor is difficult to define, the crown is not the only thing on the line for a wicked prince and a princess with a core of steel. There's a royal price for love.
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Spell Hunter
by R. J. Anderson
Forget everything you think you know about faeries. . . . Creatures full of magic and whimsy? Not in the Oakenwyld. Not anymore. Deep inside the great Oak lies a dying faery realm, bursting with secrets instead of magic. Long ago the faeries mysteriously lost their magic. Robbed of their powers, they have become selfish and dull-witted. Now their numbers are dwindling and their very survival is at stake. Only one young faery—Knife—is determined to find out where her people's magic has gone and try to get it back. Unlike her sisters, Knife is fierce and independent. She's not afraid of anything—not the vicious crows, the strict Faery Queen, or the fascinating humans living nearby. But when Knife disobeys the Faery Queen and befriends a human named Paul, her quest becomes more dangerous than she realizes. Can Knife trust Paul to help, or has she brought the faeries even closer to the brink of destruction? Talented newcomer R. J. Anderson creates an extraordinary new fantasy world and weaves a gripping tale of lost magic, high adventure, and surprising friendship in which the fate of an entire realm rests on the shoulders of one brave faery rebel.
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The Healing Wars: Book I: The Shifter
by Janice Hardy
Nya is an orphan struggling for survival in a city crippled by war. She is also a Taker—with her touch, she can heal injuries, pulling pain from another person into her own body. But unlike her sister, Tali, and the other Takers who become Healers' League apprentices, Nya's skill is flawed: She can't push that pain into pynvium, the enchanted metal used to store it. All she can do is shift it into another person, a dangerous skill that she must keep hidden from forces occupying her city. If discovered, she'd be used as a human weapon against her own people. Rumors of another war make Nya's life harder, forcing her to take desperate risks just to find work and food. She pushes her luck too far and exposes her secret to a pain merchant eager to use her shifting ability for his own sinister purposes. At first Nya refuses, but when Tali and other League Healers mysteriously disappear, she's faced with some difficult choices. As her father used to say, principles are a bargain at any price; but how many will Nya have to sell to get Tali back alive?
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The Demon's Lexicon
by Sarah Rees Brennan
Sixteen-year-old Nick and his family have battled magicians and demons for most of his life, but when his brother, Alan, is marked for death while helping new friends Jamie and Mae, Nick's determination to save Alan leads him to uncover a devastating secret.
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Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia
by Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz and Grandpa Smedry make a pilgrimage to Crystallia in the Free Kingdom where they are shocked to find the city under siege by the Evil Librarians--led by Alcatraz's own mother.
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Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
by Brandon Sanderson
A hero with an incredible talent for breaking things. A life or death mission to rescue a bag of sand. A fearsome threat from the powerful secret network that rules the world the evil librarians. Alcatraz Smedry doesn't seem destined for anything but disaster. But on his thirteenth birthday he receives a bag of sand and his life takes a bizarre turn. This is no ordinary bag of sand and it is quickly stolen by the cult of evil Librarians who are taking over the world by spreading misinformation and suppressing the truth. The sand will give the evil Librarians the edge they need to achieve world domination. Alcatraz must stop them all by infiltrating the local library, armed with nothing but eyeglasses and a talent for klutziness.
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Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones
by Brandon Sanderson
Thirteen-year-old Alcatraz Smedry and his companions seek Al's father and grandfather in the Great Library of Alexandria, where they face undead, soul-stealing wraiths called the Curators of Alexandria, and one of the Scrivener's Bones, a part-human, part-machine mercenary.
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Eyes Like Stars
by Lisa Mantchev
With an iron-willed girl hero whose magic is with words, and a universe that is also the ultimate theater, "Eyes Like Stars" is the most unusual fantasy I've read this year! I recommend it to anyone who loves drama, strong girls, and rowdy faery folk.--Tamora Pierce.
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Wondrous Strange
by Lesley Livingston
Since the dawn of time, the Faerie have taken. . . . Seventeen-year-old actress Kelley Winslow always thought faeries were just something from childhood stories. Then she meets Sonny Flannery. He's a changeling—a mortal taken as an infant and raised among Faerie—and within short order he's turned Kelley's heart inside out and her life upside down. For Kelley's beloved Central Park isn't just a park—it's a gateway between her ordinary city and the Faerie's dangerous, bewitching Otherworld. Now Kelley's eyes are opening not just to the Faerie that surround her, but to the heritage that awaits her . . . a destiny both wondrous and strange.
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Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos
by R. L. LaFevers
Twelve-year-old Theo uses arcane knowledge and her own special talent when she encounters two secret societies, one sworn to protect the world from ancient Egyptian magic and one planning to harness it to bring chaos to the world, both of which want a valuable artifact stolen from the London museum for which her parents work. Reprint.
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Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris
by R. L. LaFevers
When mummies go missing all over London, eleven-year-old Theodosia puts aside her fight against the Serpents of Chaos to save her father, who is suspected in the thefts, all the while avoiding a string of new governesses.
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Flight of the Phoenix
by Robin L. LaFevers
In 1928, when timid ten-year-old Nate learns that his parents have been lost at sea, he joins his father's cousin on a flight to Arabia where they must oversee the death and rebirth of the phoenix, thus beginning his training as a "beastologist."
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Oracles of Delphi Keep
by Victoria Laurie
In 1938, three orphans--Theo, Carl, and Ian, ages ten to thirteen--lead three teachers through a portal that takes them from Dover, England, to Morocco in their quest to locate six silver boxes before the ancient prophecies therein are found by the evil Demogorgon's offspring.
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The Amaranth Enchantment
by Julie Berry
When Lucinda Chapdelaine was a small child, her parents left for the royal ball and never returned. Ever since, Lucinda has been stuck in perpetual servitude at her evil aunt's jewelry store. Then, on the very same day, a mysterious visitor and an even more bizarre piece of jewelry both enter the shop, setting in motion a string of twists and turns that will forever alter Lucinda's path. In this magical story filled with enchanting surprises, Lucinda will dance at the royal ball, fall under the Amaranth Witch's spell, avenge her parents' death, restore justice to a town that does not yet know the corrupt danger around them, and maybe - just maybe - Lucinda might capture the heart of a prince.