Posts in "recap"

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

The basics

Title: The Last Olympian

Author:

Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #5

- The Lightning Thief (June 2005)
- The Sea of Monsters (April 2006)
- The Titan's Curse (May 2007)
- The Battle of the Labyrinth (March 2008)
- The Last Olympian (May 2009)
Spin-off series: Heroes of Olympus

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Goodreads Summary:

All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of victory are grim. Kronos's army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan's power only grows.

While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it's up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.

In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy's sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.
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The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai

The basics

Title: The Daughters of Izdihar

Author:

Series: Alamaxa #1

- The Daughters of Izdihar (2023)
- Untitled (2024)

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Goodreads Summary:

As a waterweaver, Nehal can move and shape any water to her will, but she's limited by her lack of formal education. She desires nothing more than to attend the newly opened Weaving Academy, take complete control of her powers, and pursue a glorious future on the battlefield with the first all-female military regiment. But her family cannot afford to let her go--crushed under her father's gambling debt, Nehal is forcibly married into a wealthy merchant family. Her new spouse, Nico, is indifferent and distant and in love with another woman, a bookseller named Giorgina.

Giorgina has her own secret, however: she is an earthweaver with dangerously uncontrollable powers. She has no money and no prospects. Her only solace comes from her activities with the Daughters of Izdihar, a radical women's rights group at the forefront of a movement with a simple goal: to attain recognition for women to have a say in their own lives. They live very different lives and come from very different means, yet Nehal and Giorgina have more in common than they think. The cause--and Nico--brings them into each other's orbit, drawn in by the group's enigmatic leader, Malak Mamdouh, and the urge to do what is right.

But their problems may seem small in the broader context of their world, as tensions are rising with a neighboring nation that desires an end to weaving and weavers. As Nehal and Giorgina fight for their rights, the threat of war looms in the background, and the two women find themselves struggling to earn--and keep--a lasting freedom.
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The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

The basics

Title: The Battle of the La

Author:

Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #4

- The Lightning Thief (June 2005)
- The Sea of Monsters (April 2006)
- The Titan's Curse (May 2007)
- The Battle of the Labyrinth (March 2008)
- The Last Olympian (May 2009)
Spin-off series: Heroes of Olympus

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Goodreads Summary:

Percy Jackson isn't expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears at his potential new school, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to worse.

In this fourth installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos's army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth - a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.
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Giant Days Volume 3 by John Allison

The basics

Title: Giant Days Volume 3

Author:

Series: Giant Days #3

- Giant Days Vol 1
- Giant Days Vol 2
- Giant Days Vol 3
- Giant Days Vol 4
- Giant Days Vol 5
& more

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Goodreads Summary:

Best friends Susan, Esther, and Daisy are rounding out their first semester at university. The girls, along with their male hall-mates Ed and McGraw, find that college is more than academics and bad microwavable meals. Add some pub-hopping, hookups, breakups, and political scandal and this might just be the most eventful first semester ever.
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Glow by Raven Kennedy

The basics

Title: Glow

Author:

Series: The Plated Prisoner #4

- Gild (2020)
- Glint (2021)
- Gleam (2021)
- Glow (2022)
- Gold (2023)

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Goodreads Summary:

My life has been made up of gilded lies. But death has been shaped from rot.

Like a phoenix caught fire, I will need to rise from the ashes and learn to wield my own power. Because my wings may have been clipped, but I am not in a cage, and I'm finally free to fly from the frozen kingdoms I've been kept in.

Yet the world doesn't want to let me.

That's the thing when you turn against a king—everyone else turns against you.

Good thing I have a different king in my corner.

But even with the dark threat of Slade Ravinger, the other monarchs are coming for me.

So I will fight for him and he will kill for me, and if we need to become the villains, then so be it.

Because so long as I live in this world, I won't be used again.
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Giant Days Volume 2 by John Allison

The basics

Title: Giant Days Volume 2

Author:

Series: Giant Days #2

- Giant Days Vol 1
- Giant Days Vol 2
- Giant Days Vol 3
- Giant Days Vol 4
- Giant Days Vol 5
& more

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Goodreads Summary:

Continuing their first semester at university, fast friends Susan, Esther, and Daisy want to find their footing in life. But in the face of hand-wringing boys, holiday balls, hometown rivals, and the willful, unwanted intrusion of "academia," they may be lucky just to make it to spring alive.
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Gleam by Raven Kennedy

The basics

Title: Gleam

Author:

Series: The Plated Prisoner #3

- Gild (2020)
- Glint (2021)
- Gleam (2021)
- Glow (2022)
- Gold (2023)

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Goodreads Summary:

King Midas made me the woman I am today. Notorious. Unattainable. His.

The thing about being confined is that you believe it’s to keep the bad out... Until you realize it’s about keeping you in.

I’m now in a strange kingdom surrounded by liars, with no allies of my own, but I won’t sit idly by and let myself wither. No, there’s something that’s bloomed from the pit of my repression. Something dark. Something angry.

But the last thing I expected was for my anger to call out to him. King Ravinger.

He’s sinister and powerful and entirely too seductive. I’ve learned my lesson with trusting manipulative kings, so why does my chest constrict every time he’s near? I need to tread carefully, or I’m at risk of losing much more than just my freedom.

Regret and revenge war inside of me, and I need to figure out a plan fast before I get tangled up in the schemes of kings and queens.

Because I won’t be caught in a cage again. No, this time, It’ll be me setting the trap... I just hope my heart comes out of this unscathed.
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Glint by Raven Kennedy

The basics

Title: Glint

Author:

Series: The Plated Prisoner #2

- Gild (2020)
- Glint (2021)
- Gleam (2021)
- Glow (2022)
- Gold (2023)

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Goodreads Summary:

For ten years, I’ve lived in a gilded cage inside King Midas’s golden castle. But one night changed everything.

Now I’m here, a prisoner of Fourth Kingdom’s army, and I’m not sure if I’m going to make it out of this in one piece. They’re marching to battle, and I’m the bargaining chip that will either douse the fire or spark a war.

At the heart of my fear, my worry, there’s him—Commander Rip.

Known for his brutality on the battlefield, his viciousness is unsurpassed. But I know the truth about what he is.

Fae.

The betrayers. The murderers. The ones who nearly destroyed Orea, wiping out Seventh Kingdom in the process. Rip has power sizzling beneath this skin and glinting spikes down his spine. But his eyes—his eyes are the most compelling of all.

When he turns those black eyes on me, I feel captive for an entirely different reason.

I may be out of my cage, but I’m not free, not even close. In the game of kings and armies, I’m the gilded pawn. The question is, can I out maneuver them?
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Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson

The basics

Title: Cytonic

Author:

Series: Skyward #3

- Skyward (2018)
- Starsight (2019)
- Cytonic (2021)
- Defiant (2023)


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Goodreads Summary:

Spensa’s life as a Defiant Defense Force pilot has been far from ordinary. She proved herself one of the best starfighters in the human enclave of Detritus and she saved her people from extermination at the hands of the Krell—the enigmatic alien species that has been holding them captive for decades. What’s more, she traveled light-years from home as an undercover spy to infiltrate the Superiority, where she learned of the galaxy beyond her small, desolate planet home.

Now, the Superiority—the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life—has started a galaxy-wide war. And Spensa has seen the weapons they plan to use to end it: the Delvers. Ancient, mysterious alien forces that can wipe out entire planetary systems in an instant. Spensa knows that no matter how many pilots the DDF has, there is no defeating this predator.

Except that Spensa is Cytonic. She faced down a Delver and saw something eerily familiar about it. And maybe, if she’s able to figure out what she is, she could be more than just another pilot in this unfolding war. She could save the galaxy.

The only way she can discover what she really is, though, is to leave behind all she knows and enter the Nowhere. A place from which few ever return.

To have courage means facing fear. And this mission is terrifying.
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Lore Olympus Volume 1 by Rachel Smythe

The basics

Title: Lore Olympus Volume 1

Author:

Series: Lore Olympus #1

- Lore Olympus Volume 1 (2021)
- Lore Olympus Volume 2 (2022)
- Lore Olympus Volume 3 (2022)
- Lore Olympus Volume 4 (2023)
- Lore Olympus Volume 5 (2023)

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Goodreads Summary:

Scandalous gossip, wild parties, and forbidden love—witness what the gods do after dark in this stylish and contemporary reimagining of one of mythology’s most well-known stories from creator Rachel Smythe. Featuring a brand-new, exclusive short story, Smythe’s original Eisner-nominated web-comic Lore Olympus brings the Greek Pantheon into the modern age with this sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.
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