Recommendations based on "Brigands and Breadknives"

This #1 New York Times bestseller is a "bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story" that brilliantly reimagines the life of Circe, formidable sorceress of The Odyssey (Alexandra Alter, TheNew York Times).In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world.#1 New York Times Bestseller -- named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, the Washington Post, People, Time, Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Newsweek, the A.V. Club, Christian Science Monitor, Refinery 29, Buzzfeed, Paste, Audible, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Thrillist, NYPL, Self, Real Simple, Goodreads, Boston Globe, Electric Literature, BookPage, the Guardian, Book Riot, Seattle Times, and Business Insider.

The acclaimed national and international bestseller“Epic, romantic, and enthralling from start to finish.”—Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series“An all-consuming work of literary fantasy that is breathtaking both for its beauty and its suspense."—BookPage, starred reviewA captivating and romantic debut epic fantasy inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e, in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm.Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.Daughter of the Moon Goddess begins an enchanting duology which weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of immortals and magic, of loss and sacrifice—where love vies with honor, dreams are fraught with betrayal, and hope emerges triumphant.

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy War“Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the Industrial Revolution, turns it over, and shakes it out.” -- Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of BrassFrom award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide…Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman’s determined quest to seize a final chance at glory—and write her own legend.Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.

Teeming with life and crackling with energy - a love song to modern Britain, to black womanhood, to the ever-changing heart of LondonGirl, Woman, Other follows the lives and struggles of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years.Joyfully polyphonic and vibrantly contemporary, this is a gloriously new kind of history, a novel of our times: celebratory, ever-dynamic and utterly irresistible.'A daring evocation of black British history... Sexy, punchy [and] fresh' Independent on Sunday on The Emperor's Babe

'Dreamy prose, characters so vibrant they breathe on the page, a romance that smoulders, and a spellbinding world to get lost in. Prepare to meet your next obsession' Rebecca Ross, author of Divine Rivals ***THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER!*** From New York Times and multi-million-copy bestselling author Rachel Gillig comes the next big romantasy phenomenon: a gothic, mist-cloaked tale of a prophetess who is forced on an impossible quest with the one devilishly handsome knight whose future is beyond her sight. Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum's windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams. Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral's cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god. Praise for The Knight and the Moth: 'The Knight and the Moth delivers pure joy: gargoyles! gods! girls in armour! alongside a serious examination of faith, fealty, and the powers they serve. It's a fairy tale with bruised knuckles, perfectly balanced between the mythic and the desperately human. Simply stunning' Alix E. Harrow, author of Starling House 'Haunting, elegant and lovely, The Knight and the Moth is that rare fantasy gem: both a thrilling quest and an exquisite love story' Tasha Suri, award-winning author of The Burning Kingdoms trilogy 'With the headiness of dreams and the darkness of haunted abbeys, The Knight and the Moth is dazzlingly transportive tale of love, salvation, and freedom that cements Gillig as one of the finest fantasy writers of our age. You will never want to surface from these enchanting, depthless waters' Ava Reid, author of A Study in Drowning 'I'm obsessed with Rachel Gillig. The Knight and the Moth is achingly romantic, richly imagined, and told with a gossamer delicacy that keeps the pages flying' Hannah Whitten, author of The Foxglove King 'A gothic, romantic fairy tale that feels like falling into a dark, strange dream - one you won't want to wake from. Gillig has done it again - I'm obsessed' Amélie Wen Zhao, author of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night 'Brimming with beguiling prose, and a dangerous magical world, The Knight and the Moth sparkles with wit and a slow burn romance that left me breathless and impatient for the next instalment' Isabel Ibañez, author of What the River Knows 'The Knight and the Moth is a lavender-drenched dream. Readers won't be able to put down this adventurous, dark gem of a book' Kalie Cassidy, author of In the Veins of the Drowning

Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek. The story of a hero's descent to the underworld. Two academic rivals from Cambridge must travel to hell to rescue the soul of their advisor. Getting there was easy. Surviving it - and each other - is another thing entirely. 2025's most unexpected love story is going to be hell in the new novel by Sunday Times Numb[Bokinfo].

One of the New Windmills series for schools, this is the story of Offred, one of the few women in the Republic of Gilead left with functioning ovaries, whose only function it is to breed. If she deviates, she will be hanged as a dissenter. But Offred is determined to find a way out.

***PRE-ORDER THE FIRST BOOK IN THE GRIPPING AND EPIC DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL SERIES *** THE APOCALYPSE WILL BE TELEVISED! You know what's worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what's worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic, intergalactic game show. That's what. And now Coast Guard veteranarian Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, must try to survive the end of the world--or just get to the next level--in a video game-like, trap-filled, fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that's actually the set of a reality TV show with countless viewers across the galaxy. So not only do they have to stay alive, but they also need to earn ratings based on their performance. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain't your ordinary game show. Keeping viewers entertained is essential. Survival, however, is not. WELCOME TO THE FIRST BOOK IN THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL SERIES BY MATT DINNIMAN. --- PRAISE --- "Fresh. Creative. Hilarious. I'm obsessed...Princess Donut is my queen." - Actor, producer and New York Times bestselling author Felicia Day "I don't always say nice things about a book just because the writer has compromising pictures of me engaging in some very complicated international crimes, but when I do, I say them about Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl! Also, this series has no goddamn business burying so much depth and emotion and complexity under its bawdy, gory surface, but it does so anyway. What a wild-ass and unexpected delight." - New York Times bestselling author Scott Lynch "[A] comically cosmic adventure series...often laugh-out-loud funny...Grind your way to dungeon mastery alongside Carl and Princess Donut." - The Wall Street Journal "This is the book for anyone who ever wondered what it would be like to be a role player in a game with the best game master ever. Also for anyone who wants to read a good book. Or maybe anyone who has been outside at night--in their underwear--looking for their cat and wondering 'What's the worst thing that could happen?' Once you start, you won't put it down." - Patricia Briggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Mercy Thompson series "One of the most bananapants, funny, inventive books I have read in a while." - Book Riot "If there's a better LitRPG than Dungeon Crawler Carl, I haven't read it." - Shirtaloon, author of He Who Fights Monsters "Dungeon Crawler Carl is just one big smile all the way through. Put on your best pair of boxer shorts and sit back for a truly fun and enjoyable read."--New York Times bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson "Dungeon Crawler Carl is the best start to a series I've read this year. I wish I'd tried it sooner." - Will Wight, author of the Cradle series "To describe the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and the first book in particular, one must blend the darkest, grittiest science fiction with the humour of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It mixes fun, whimsical absurdity, and serious, dark themes with dire consequences...it is so spectacularly good that I cannot recommend it high enough." - Grimdark Magazine "Dinniman's Douglas-Adams-but-playing-D&D romp was so much fun that I immediately went out and got the next two books...genuinely joyful." - LitHub.com

Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence.