Good Fantasy & Science Fiction Reads 2009
Discover the best fantasy and science fiction books of 2009! Explore top-rated reads, must-have novels, and award-winning titles in this curated list for fans of epic adventures and futuristic tales.
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The Forest of Hands and Teeth
by Carrie Ryan
Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the Unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.
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Chalice
by Robin McKinley
A beekeeper by trade, Mirasol's life changes completely when she is named the new Chalice, the most important advisor to the new Master, a former priest of Fire.
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The Ten Thousand
by Paul Kearney
An exile from the Assurian Empire, the Great King's brother hires a force of elite mercenaries of a legendary race known as the Macht to take the throne by force. But when their employer is killed, the Ten Thousand are abandoned. This story marks the start of a new series by Paul Kearney, one of the finest writers of fantasy.
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Bone Crossed
by Patricia Briggs
An auto mechanic in eastern Washington by day, Mercy Thompson, a shape-shifter with some highly unusual abilities, puts her talents to work maintaining the precarious balance between the human and paranormal worlds, in the sequel to Iron Kissed.
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Return of the Crimson Guard
by Ian C. Esslemont
The return of the mercenary company the Crimson Guard could not have come at a worse time for the Malazan Empire. Drained by constant warfare, weakened by betrayal and rivalries, many see the grip of Empress Laseen weakening. Conquered kingdoms and principalities test their old independence.
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The Judging Eye
by R. Scott Bakker
A new work set in the world of the Prince of Nothing expands on the parameters of the series' myth, violence, and sorcery.
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The Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.
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The Lord of the Rings
by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Presents the epic depicting the Great War of the Ring, a struggle between good and evil in Middle-earth, following the odyssey of Frodo the hobbit and his companions on a quest to destroy the Ring of Power, in a special anniversary volume containing the corrected text of all three volumes of the seminal fantasy trilogy, complemented by maps and cover art by acclaimed artist Alan Lee. Simultaneous.
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The City & The City
by China Miéville
Inspector Tyador BorlĂş must travel to Ul Qoma to search for answers in the murder of a woman found in the city of BesĹşel.
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Warbreaker
by Brandon Sanderson
Starred Review. Confined to the capital city of the Kingdom of Halloran, dead humans reborn as gods rule under the auspices of the all-powerful and enigmatic God King. But two sistersone born to a political marriage to the God King, the other left to make her own, undisciplined pathbecome the fulcrum for a possible bloody and disastrous war. Chosen by the estate of the late Robert Jordan to complete the final volume in Jordan's mammoth "Wheel of Time" series, Sanderson again demonstrates his capacity for handling large and complex themes while creating believable characters. He also succeeds at building a unique fantasy environment, in which color and "Breath" are the basis for magic. This series opener is essential reading for fantasy fans. Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Norse Code
by Greg Van Eekhout
Brought back from the dead to serve as a Valkyrie in the Norse god's army, Kathy Castillo, now known as Mist, seeks the help of Hermod, a Norse god, to help her rescue her murdered sister from the clutches of death.
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The Patriot Witch
by C. C. Finlay
Proctor Brown uses his witch abilities to aid the rebel cause as the American Revolution begins, struggling to hide his supernatural skills from those who would kill him because of them as he uses them against opposing witches.
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A Spell for the Revolution
by C. C. Finlay
Proctor Brown and Deborah Walcott, two young patriots and leaders of a ragtag band of witches, must break the curse of a Hessian necromancer who controls the British troops relentlessly pressing back General Washington's struggling young armies in an attempt to enslave America. Original.
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The Demon Redcoat
by C. C. Finlay
When a powerful demon, summoned by the secret society of European witches known as the Covenant, tries to possess their newborn infant, Proctor and Deborah, embarking on a desperate journey to Europe to destroy the Covenant, uncover a dark, necromantic design of epic proportions. Original.
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The Price of Spring
by Daniel Abraham
Fifteen years have passed since the devastating war between the Galt Empire and the cities of the Khaiem in which the Khaiem’s poets and their magical power known as “andat” were destroyed, leaving the women of the Khaiem and the men of Galt infertile. The emperor of the Khaiem tries to form a marriage alliance between his son and the daughter of a Galtic lord, hoping the Khaiem men and Galtic women will produce a new generation to help create a peaceful future. But Maati, a poet who has been in hiding for years, driven by guilt over his part in the disastrous end of the war, defies tradition and begins training female poets. With Eiah, the emperor’s daughter, helping him, he intends to create andat, to restore the world as it was before the war. Vanjit, a woman haunted by her family’s death in the war, creates a new andat. But hope turns to ashes as her creation unleashes a power that cripples all she touches. As the prospect of peace dims under the lash of Vanjit’s creation, Maati and Eiah try to end her reign of terror. But time is running out for both the Galts and the Khaiem.
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Bloodheir
by Brian Ruckley
The world has fallen from its former state. The war between the clans of the Black Road and the True Bloods has spread. For Orisian, thane of the ruined Lannis Blood, there is no time to grieve the loss of his family, brutally slain by the invading armies. The Black Road must be stopped. However, as more blood is spilled on the battlefields, so each side in the conflict becomes more riven by internal dissent and disunity. Amidst the mounting chaos, Aeglyss the na'kyrim uses his new-found powers to twist everything and everyone around him to serve his own mad desires. Meanwhile, the long-dormant Anain are stirring - and when the most potent race the world has ever known returns, the bloodletting may never stop. BLOODHEIR is the stunning sequel to Winterbirth, one of the most acclaimed epic fantasy debuts of recent years.
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Fall of Thanes
by Brian Ruckley
While the True Blood armies are held back by the Black Road, Anyara struggles for survival against the possessed agent Mordyn Jerain, and dispossessed Orisian prepares for a deadly confrontation.
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The Shadow Year
by Jeffrey Ford
On New York's Long Island, in the unpredictable decade of the 1960s, a young boy spends much of his free time in the basement of his family's modest home, where he and his brother, Jim, have created Botch Town, a detailed cardboard replica of their community, complete with figurines representing friends and neighbors. Their little sister, Mary, smokes cigarettes, speaks in other voices, inhabits alternate personas . . . and, unbeknownst to her siblings, moves around the inanimate clay residents. There is a strangeness in the air as disappearances, deaths, spectral sightings, and the arrival of a sinister man in a long white car mark this unforgettable shadow year. But strangest of all is the inescapable fact that all these troubling occurrences directly cor-respond to the changes little Mary has made to the miniature town in their basement.
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The Strain
by Guillermo Del Toro
The visionary creator of the Academy Award-winning Pan's Labyrinth and a Hammett Award-winning author bring their imaginations to this bold, epic novel about a horrifying battle between man and vampire that threatens all humanity. It is the first installment in a thrilling trilogy and an extraordinary international publishing event. The Strain They have always been here. Vampires. In secret and in darkness. Waiting. Now their time has come. In one week, Manhattan will be gone. In one month, the country. In two months—the world. A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold. In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing . . . So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city—a city that includes his wife and son—before it is too late.
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Flood
by Stephen Baxter
Science fiction. Four hostages are finally released, but they face a world suddenly inundated as vast amounts of water is released from the earth's mantle. As the world's cities and countries disappear under the rising seas, humanity faces unimaginable global disaster
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Ysabel
by Guy Gavriel Kay
While his famed photographer father works to record Saint-Saveur Cathedral of Aix-en-Provence, Ned Marriner wanders the halls and rooms of the ancient structure, uncovering some of the many secrets of the monument and discovering that it is not as empty as it appears. By the author of The Last Light of the Sun. Reprint.