10 Buchtitel ohne „U“ | Top Ten Thursday №85

The 1st book of an epic new, Imperial Russia-inspired dark fantasy duology of gods, politics, and deadly magical powers from a Sunday Times bestselling author

As a child, Galina’s village was decimated in a battle between the alurea, a ruling class possessed by gods imprisoned in human bodies. A stranger offers her shelter—and justice against the empress who slaughtered her family. The bargain is Galina will become a vessel for a deity of her own. And when the time comes, she will be a weapon used to take control of the throne.

Twenty years later, the woman who invoked Galina’s god is dead, and she’s on the run with her foster sister, Sera. Both women are fugitives struggling to adapt to the deities within their bodies and forced to finally attempt the mission they were groomed infiltrate the palace and overthrow the cruel empress to end the brutal reign of alurea.

But their duty grows complicated when Sera’s ruthless former partner catches up with her, and Galina finds herself on the verge of losing her heart to an enemy princess. As secrets and lies come to light, both women will discover what they’re willing to do for their people—and how far they’ll go to occupy a blood-soaked throne.

For readers eagerly awaiting the next season of Shadow and Bone or those hoping to find similar reads with a more adult audience and more queer representation, These Monstrous Gods is the perfect new dark fantasy to fall in love with.

A shield maiden blessed by the gods battles to unite a nation under a power-hungry king—while also fighting her growing desire for his fiery son—in this Norse-inspired fantasy romance from the bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom series.

Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.

Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.

Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.

A lyrical and dreamy reimagining of Dracula’s brides, A DOWRY OF BLOOD is a story of desire, obsession, and emancipation.Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband’s dark secrets.With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.

Gabriel de León has saved the Holy Grail from death, but his chance to end the endless night is lost. After turning his back on his silversaint brothers once and for all, Gabriel and the Grail set out to learn the truth of how Daysdeath might finally be undone. But the last silversaint faces peril, within and without. Pursued by children of the Forever King, drawn into wars and webs centuries in the weaving, and ravaged by his own rising bloodlust, Gabriel may not survive to see the truth of the Grail revealed. A truth that may be too awful for any to imagine.

With the promise of finally learning her mother’s secrets, Brinna Fareview and her family gather together. Only somewhere between the truth and lies, Brinna wakes to find she’s trapped in a space in between the world awake and the nightmares of her family. All of them are asleep. Learning she has the ability to move from dream to dream, Brinna tries to find a way out of the dream world, but she’s stuck, unable to fix what’s ailing her family. But then an unexpected thing happens, Lucian Uraiahs, god of day and light, walks into her dream.

While Lucian decided a long time ago that Brinna Fareview was a blight on his peace, he can’t seem to avoid her. She pops up at every turn, all because his brother is god-yoked to her sister. All Lucian wants is to disappear into the oblivion of the cosmos amidst his shame and guilt, but the unbidden feelings he has for Brinna can’t be contained. When Lucian is stripped of his powers, he is imprisoned with only his guilt to keep him company. Except when he falls asleep, he dreams of Brinna and somehow becomes the only link to saving her, her family, and his brother from a spell that could destroy them all.

Brinna and Lucian must work together to uncover the secrets they need to break the sleeping spell, but the longer they share their dreams, the more they realize time is against them.

For a thousand years, Concordia has maintained peace between its provinces. To mark this incredible feat, the emperor's ship embarks upon a twelve-day voyage to the sacred Goddess's Mountain.

Aboard are the heirs of the twelve provinces of Concordia, each graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing.

Except one: Ganymedes Piscero - class clown, slacker, and all-round disappointment.

When a beloved heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people without a Blessing to protect him, odds of survival are slim.

But as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia?

Or will the empire as he knows it fall?

Hey, Over here.
No, look up.
Yeah, I’m the one they talk about.

The headmaster’s prized possession, locked away in the bell tower of Notre-Dame Parochial College. To most of the students I was just a myth. An urban legend. The girl who rings the bells up in the tower, the one who talks to gargoyles.
Frollo’s secret.

Then they showed up, those heathens. Outcasts, just like me. But these men aren’t just dangerous, they’re heartless. They won’t abide or bend to the rules of this deranged school and the secrets it keeps from the world.
Now that they’ve found me, they may never let me go. And maybe I wouldn’t want them to…

Heartless Heathens is a Dark Romance Reverse Harem, loosely inspired from major points of Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris. This is NOT a retelling, it is NOT a fractured fairy tale. All characters are adults. This story does not involve any characters of Romany descent.

This book is dark in nature, please see author's note for trigger warnings. Not intended for readers under 18.

In self-deified Emperor Thracin’s brave new galaxy, Humans are not citizens. Instead, they are laborers indentured to the empire, working to repay the billions in debt they unwittingly incurred when they settled on Gahraan—a planet already owned by someone else.

Asha Akindele has lived her whole life on Gahraan, eking out an existence between factory assembly lines and constant terror—studying stolen aeronautics manuals in the dead of night and trying not to get herself killed for mouthing off to a guard. Then she discovers she has a sister imprisoned by the Emperor, and is forced to make a choice: stay enslaved, but relatively safe, or escape and risk
everything in the name of family.

Obi Amadi is a time-traveller, sick with a legendary disease. Armed only with his prosthetic arm, his ever-constant melancholy, and the humour he uses to mask it, he has spent years travelling through time and space in search of a cure for the sickness currently unmaking him limb by limb. His mandate: Find the cure, go home. And maybe figure out along the way if the prince he thinks sometimes he might love could be that home.

When Obi saves Asha’s life, they make a pact: both will do all they can to get the other to the Emperor’s stronghold unscathed. With the reluctant aid of Xavior, a mouthy deckhand with a mysterious past, Asha and Obi attempt to navigate a galaxy that hates them to find the things they both believe will make them whole.

But a prophecy has started that has other plans, and not only is Asha forced to make a terrible choice, she must soon reckon with the legacy of an ancient religion and its heroes, who may be awakening, reincarnated in ways beyond her comprehension.

A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes.

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success—not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur – Minos's greatest shame and Ariadne's brother – demands blood every year.

When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods – drawing their attention can cost you everything.

In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne's decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover's ambition?

Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this is an exceptional debut novel.