Posts in "recap"

The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi

The basics

Title: The Last Council

Author:

Series: Amulet #4

- The Stonekeeper (2008)
- The Stonekeeper's Curse (2009)
- The Cloud Searchers (2009)
- The Last Council (2011)
- Prince of the Elves (2012)
- Escape from Lucien (2014)
- Firelight (2016)

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Goodreads Summary:

Emily and her friends think they'll find the help they need in Cielis, but something isn't right. Streets that were once busy are deserted, and the townspeople who are left live in crippling fear. Emily is escorted to the Academy where she's expected to compete for a spot on the Guardian Council, the most powerful Stonekeepers. But as the number of competitors gets smaller and smaller, a terrible secret is slowly uncovered--a secret that, if left buried, means certain destruction of everything Emily fights for.
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The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi

The basics

Title: The Cloud Searchers

Author:

Series: Amulet #3

- The Stonekeeper (2008)
- The Stonekeeper's Curse (2009)
- The Cloud Searchers (2009)
- The Last Council (2011)
- Prince of the Elves (2012)
- Escape from Lucien (2014)
- Firelight (2016)

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Goodreads Summary:

Emily, Navin, and their crew of resistance fighters charter an airship and set off in search of the lost city of Cielis. There they hope to find help from the Guardian Council's powerful Stonekeepers. It's a mission that Alledia's survival depends on, and time is running out--Emily's got to find Cielis before the Elf King finds her.
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Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes

The basics

Title: Gathering Darkness

Author:

Series: Falling Kingdoms #3

- Falling Kingdoms (2012)
- Rebel Spring (2013)
- Gathering Darkness (2014)
- Frozen Tides (2015)
- Crystal Storm (2016)
- Untitled (2017)

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Goodreads Summary:

Prince Magnus has just witnessed torture, death, and miracles during the bloody confrontation that decimated the rebel forces. Now he must choose between family and justice as his father, the cruel King Gaius, sets out to conquer all of Mytica. All Gaius needs now are the Kindred - the four elemental crystals that give godlike powers to their owner. But the King of Blood is not the only one hunting for this ancient, storied magic...

• THE KRAESHIANS join the hunt. Ashur and Amara, the royal siblings from the wealthy kingdom across the Silver Sea, charm and manipulate their way to the Kindred, proving to be more ruthless than perhaps even the King of Blood himself.

• THE REBELS forge ahead. Princess Cleo and vengeful Jonas lead them, slaying with sweetness, skill, and a secret that can control Lucia's overpowering magic - all so they can use the Kindred to win back their fallen kingdoms.

• THE WATCHERS follow Melenia out of the Sanctuary. They ally in the flesh with King Gaius, who vows to use Lucia's powers to unveil the Kindred.

The only certainty in the dark times is that whoever finds the magic first will control the fate of Mytica... but fate can be fickle when magic is involved.
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The Stonekeeper’s Curse by Kazu Kibuishi

The basics

Title: The Stonekeeper’s Curse

Author:

Series: Amulet #2

- The Stonekeeper (2008)
- The Stonekeeper's Curse (2009)
- The Cloud Searchers (2009)
- The Last Council (2011)
- Prince of the Elves (2012)
- Escape from Lucien (2014)
- Firelight (2016)

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Goodreads Summary:

In this thrilling sequel to AMULET #1: THE STONEKEEPER, Emily and her brother Navin head for Kanalis, a beautiful and mysterious city of waterfalls, where they hope to find the antidote for the poison that felled their mother. That cure lies in the eggs of a giant serpent atop Demon's Head Mountain, but the kids' archenemy, Trellis, is headed for the peak, too. A battle that will engulf all of Kanalis is looming. It's up to Em to triumph over evil while controlling the amulet's power . . . without losing herself!
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The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

The basics

Title: The Stonekeeper

Author:

Series: Amulet #1

- The Stonekeeper (2008)
- The Stonekeeper's Curse (2009)
- The Cloud Searchers (2009)
- The Last Council (2011)
- Prince of the Elves (2012)
- Escape from Lucien (2014)
- Firelight (2016)

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Goodreads Summary:

After a family tragedy, Emily, Navin and their mother move to an ancestral home to start a new life. On the family's very first night in the mysterious house, Em and Navin's mom is kidnapped by a tentacled creature. Now it's up to Em and Navin to figure out how to set things right and save their mother's life!
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Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes

The basics

Title: Rebel Spring

Author:

Series: Falling Kingdoms #2

- Falling Kingdoms (2012)
- Rebel Spring (2013)
- Gathering Darkness (2014)
- Frozen Tides (2015)
- Crystal Storm (2016)
- Untitled (2017)

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Goodreads Summary:

After a bloody siege, Auranos has been defeated, its young queen orphaned and dethroned. The three kingdoms—Auranos, Limeros, and Paelsia—are now unwillingly united as one country called Mytica. But the allure of ancient, dangerous magic beckons still, and with it the chance to rule not just Mytica, but the whole world over...

At the heart of the fray are four brave young people grappling for that magic and the power it promises. For Cleo, the magic would enable her to reclaim her royal seat. In Jonas's hands, it frees his nation, and in Lucia's, it fulfills the ancient prophecy of her destiny. And if the magic were Magnus's, he would finally prove his worth in the eyes of his cruel and scheming father, King Gaius, who rules Mytica with a punishing hand.

When Gaius begins to build a road into the Forbidden Mountains to physically link all of Mytica, he sparks a long-smoking fire in the hearts of the people that will forever change the face of this land. For Gaius's road is paved with blood, and its construction will have cosmic consequences.
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Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

The basics

Title: Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Author:

Series: The Raven Cycle #3

- The Raven Boys (September 2012)
- The Dream Thieves (September 2013)
- Blue Lily, Lily Blue (October 2014)
- The Raven King (April 2016)

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Goodreads Summary:

There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray. Mothers can disappear. Visions can mislead. Certainties can unravel.
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Zer0es by Chuck Wendig

The basics

Title: Zer0es

Author:

Series: Zer0es #1

- Zer0es (August 2015)
- Invasive (August 2016)

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Goodreads Summary:

Five hackers—an Anonymous-style rabble-rouser, an Arab Spring hacktivist, a black-hat hacker, an old-school cipherpunk, and an online troll—are detained by the U.S. government, forced to work as white-hat hackers for Uncle Sam in order to avoid federal prison. At a secret complex known only as "the Lodge," where they will spend the next year working as an elite cyber-espionage team, these misfits dub themselves "the Zeroes."

But once the Zeroes begin to work, they uncover secrets that would make even the most dedicated conspiracy theorist's head spin. And soon they're not just trying to serve their time, they're also trying to perform the ultimate hack: burrowing deep into the U.S. government from the inside, and hoping they'll get out alive.
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The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

The basics

Title: The Cuckoo’s Calling

Author:

Series: Cormoran Strike #1

- The Cuckoo's Calling (2013)
- The Silkworm (2014)
- Career of Evil (2015)
- Untitled

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Goodreads Summary:

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
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Ashfall by Mike Mullin

The basics

Title: Ashfall

Author:

Series: Ashfall #1

- Ashfall (2011)
- Ashen Winter (2012)
- Sunrise (2014)

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Goodreads Summary:

Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don't know it's there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our planet.

For Alex, being left alone for the weekend means having the freedom to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a harrowing trek to search for his family and finds help in Darla, a travel partner he meets along the way. Together they must find the strength and skills to survive and outlast an epic disaster.
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