Recommendations based on "Bleak Seasons"

Glory never gets old. Clay Cooper and his band were once the best of the best, the most feared and renowned crew of mercenaries this side of the Heartwyld. Their glory days long past, the mercs have grown apart and grown old, fat, drunk, or a combination of the three. Then an ex-bandmate turns up at Clay's door with a plea for help--the kind of mission that only the very brave or the very stupid would sign up for. It's time to get the band back together.

Deploying invulnerable twenty-fifth-century soldiers called Skins, Zantiu-Braun's corporate starships loot entire planets. But as the Skins invade bucolic Thallspring, Z-B's strategy is about to go awry, all because of: Sgt. Lawrence Newton, a dreamer whose twenty years as a Skin have destroyed his hopes and desires; Denise Ebourn, a school teacher and resistance leader whose guerrilla tactics rival those of Che Guevara and George Washington and Simon Roderick, the director who serves Z-B with a dedication that not even he himself can understand. Grimly determined to steal, or protect, a mysterious treasure, the three players engage in a private war that will explode into unimaginable quests for personal grace...or galactic domination

The international bestselling series with over 5 million copies sold in the U.S. alone!Mankind puts its faith in many things—gods, kings, money—anything for protection from the world's many dangers. When a cult springs up in neighboring Clonmel, promising to quell the recent attacks by lawless marauders, people flock from all over to offer gold in exchange for protection. But this particular group, with which Halt is all too familiar, has a less than charitable agenda. Secrets will be unveiled and battles fought to the death as Will and Horace help Halt in ridding the land of a dangerous enemy.The worldwide phenomenon is back with a gripping new adventure. Yet for these Rangers, the peril is only beginning. . .Perfect for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series, and George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire series.

The fate of a world rests on an unlikely hero. . . . Tucked away in peaceful Shady Vale, the young half-elf Shea Ohmsford gives little thought to the outside world. Yet far to the north, the evil Warlock Lord has dispatched shadowy Skull Bearers, creatures twisted by dark sorcery, to hunt him down. At the same time, a black-cloaked giant of a man appears in Shady Vale. He claims to be the mysterious Druid known as Allanon, a wizardly wanderer of vast knowledge and power-and he has come to see Shea. For Shea, he says, is the last descendant of an ancient Elven king. Only he, in all the world, can wield the fabled Sword of Shannara. And only the Sword can stop the Warlock Lord from destroying all that lives. The Sword lies far from Shady Vale, in the Druid castle of Paranor. And Paranor has fallen under the shadow of the Warlock Lord. Yet all is not lost. Shea will rise to the challenge. Together with Allanon and a handful of brave companions, he begins a desperate quest into the very heart of evil. . . . "The Sword of Shannara" Part 1: "In the Shadow of the Warlock Lord" is the newest addition to the Del Rey Imagine program, which offers the best in classic fantasy and science fiction for readers 12 and up.

From USA Today bestselling author David Dalglish Fear comes from the hands of prophets. . . The final installment of the Shadowdance series finds Haern the Watcher returning to his beloved city of Veldaren, only to find it has collapsed into chaos. The Sun Guild has conquered the former thief guilds, destroying the peace Haern fought so hard to obtain. The Trifect is their next target, and Alyssa Gemcroft must reach out to whatever allies she can obtain, even if it means casting aside longtime friends. As the chaos grows, so does the power of the dark god Karak who lays siege to Veldaren. If the city falls, the world will suffer greatly. The legendary Thren Felhorn, broken, guileless, and rejected by his own son, holds the fate of the entire city in his hands. Unless Haern can stop his father, Thren will at last have the legacy of fire and destruction he has always desired. Father or son; some choices must be made in blood. Fantasy author David Dalglish spins a tale of retribution and darkness, and an underworld reaching for ultimate power.

A standalone epic fantasy novella starring Sal the Cacophony, who Pierce Brown called a "protagonist for the ages," from Sam Sykes' widely acclaimed Seven Blades in Black and Ten Arrows of Iron.  Sal the Cacophony does not make friends.  When you have a magic gun, a trusty blade and rogue mages to hunt, you don’t need them. Sal the Cacophony makes enemies. And when her hunt leads to a town on the edge of nowhere, she finds them in spades: an unassuming mage with a secret, a vengeful bandit queen with ideals and steel to spare, and a colossal, centuries-old beast who has decided now is the best time to migrate. Sal the Cacophony could be their savior. But as everyone eventually learns, Sal’s “salvation” is usually worse.

Once the legendary knights of the Gabala defended the nine duchies. Their hearts were beautiful; their armor was beyond compare. They were greater than princes, more than men.But they were gone, disappeared through a demon-haunted gateway between worlds. Only one held back -- Manannan, whose every instinct told him to stay. Now he was the coward knight, and in torment.Murder and black magic beset the land. Rumors circulated that the king was enchanted, changed, that his soul was dead . . . and that a reign of terror was about to begin.Now Manannan realized he would have to face his darkest fears: he had no choice but to ride through that dreaded gate and seek out his vanished companions.And the secret he would learn there would tear his soul apart . . . ."A sharp, distinctive medieval fantasy. Dramatic, colorful, taut." -- Locus

There was nothing Jarek Mace wouldn't do for the right price—including becoming a hero.The Angostin hordes raged over the Southern Borders. Evil sorcery ruled, and the vampyre kings lived once more. The Highland people were in much need of a great hero.Jarek Mace needed nothing and no one—not even that bard Owen Odell, with whom he now traveled. But when Mace harassed the Angostins for his own purposes, he inadvertently aided the Highland people. And now he was being hailed as a hero, a legend, the great Morningstar returned.But Owen Odell knew the real man behind the people's tales. Mace was an outlaw, a bandit, a heartless thief. He was no savior of the people. He was no legend. Or was he?“It seems that every time I read a new David Gemmell novel it is better than the last—and Morningstar is no exception. . . . The main difference between the book and the myths it draws upon is that Gemmell includes some of the less savory characters who we suspect may have been at the basis of both Robin and Arthur.”—Starburst

After more than three decades of captivating epic fantasy readers, the storytelling magic ofNew York Timesbestselling author Terry Brooks’s Shannara saga continues to enthrall. Now the fascinating chronicle of Shannara’s prehistory reaches a thrilling new peak in the sequel toBearers of the Black Staff. For five hundred years, the survivors of the Great Wars lived peacefully in a valley sanctuary shielded by powerful magic from the blighted and dangerous outside world. But the enchanted barriers have crumbled, the borders have been breached by predators, and the threat of annihilation looms large once more. Sider Ament, bearer of the last black staff and its profound power, devoted his life to protecting the valley and its inhabitants—and, in his final moments, gave stewardship of the black staff to the young tracker Panterra Qu. Now the newly anointed Knight of the Word must take up the battle against evil wherever it threatens: from without, where an army of bloodthirsty trolls is massing for invasion; and from within, where the Elf king of Arborlon has been murdered, his daughter, Princess Phryne Amarantyne, stands accused, and a heinous conspiracy is poised to subjugate the kingdom. But even these will pale beside the most harrowing menace Panterra is destined to confront—a nameless, merciless figure who wanders the devastated land on a relentless mission: to claim the last black staff . . . and the life of he who wields it.

The second book in an action-packed science fiction trilogy set on a far future world where the fate of nations is determined by battle-hardened warriors who are trained to compete in brutal single combat.  "That rare book that fully satisfies me as an action fan." – Fonda Lee, author of Jade City on The Combat Codes​ In a world where single combat determines the fate of nations, the Grievar fight in the Circles so that the rest can remain at peace. But given the stakes, things are never so simple. The Daimyo govern from the shadows and plot to gain an edge by unnaturally enhancing their Grievar Knights. Cego and his team return to the world’s most prestigious combat school, The Lyceum. Though he'd like to focus on his martial studies, Cego feels the pull of his mysterious past and two missing brothers. Solara Halberd, daughter of the fighting legend, embarks on her own quest to bury the past. She must utilize every lesson her father taught her to explore unknown lands where evil lurks in the shadows. "Darwin writes violence with the rhythm and surprise of a well-executed sonnet, wedding the smooth grace of choreography with the unflinching brutality of fists breaking bone. The fights are mesmerizing, layered like fascia, twitching and flexing and propelling the story toward a conclusion that both satisfies and opens the door to the next volume." – The New York Times on The Combat Codes