River Readers

Brilliant high school misfit Quentin Coldwater is leading an average life until he gets invited to sit for exams at a magical college. He is one of the few who passes the exam. Evenutually he learns that the Filori books (similar to Narnia) that he loved growing up are descriptions of a real place. Its been described as Harry Potter on Irish Whiskey.

Lady Evie Everly, 17th in line for the throne lacks the traditional magical capabilities that her family has. What her family doesn't realize is that Evie's special form of magic is being able to nullify other people's magic. Described as a cross between Gladiator and Game of Thrones.

It has a dark past--one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself "Murderbot". But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don't want to know what the "A" stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks...MRRL Catalog

2nd in the MurderBot series. Fast read, fun sci-fi.

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company.

The third in the Court of Thorns and Roses series finds Feyre back in the Spring Court feigning loyalty to the Spring Court and Tamlin but in reality she is spying on him and Hybern. Prythian is on the brink of war with Hybern and since he has the Cauldron, the High Lords are scrambling to find a way to defeat him but that means an alliance with Courts that are sworn enemies.

Sarai has lived and breathed nightmares since she was six years old.

She believed she knew every horror and was beyond surprise.

She was wrong.

In the wake of tragedy, neither Lazlo nor Sarai are who they were before. One a god, the other a ghost, they struggle to grasp the new boundaries of their selves as dark-minded Minya holds them hostage, intent on vengeance against Weep.

Two Queens have been prophesied, one a Blood Queen and one a Sun Queen. Rielle has kept her magic hidden because she is able to manipulate all of the elements (eg. water, fire, shadows....) which is impossible. When she rescues the crown prince Aubrick, she unveils her multipowers and is forced to prove herself worthy of being the Sun Queen. At the same time an angel starts communicating with her in her head. Many generations later an assassin for the empire named Eliana witnesses the abduction of her mother (who was supposed to be safe because Eliana was working for the empire.

This was quick story, but it was a nice addition to the Magnus Chase series. I liked learning more about the supporting characters and more about the Norse legends.

The stakes keep rising with Nathan's 12th birthday coming up. Emma and Ray attempt to come up with ways to prevent him from being shipped out (and subsequently eaten by demons), but Nathan has plans of his own. Mom presents Emma with a disturbing opportunity.

This series is pretty dark, but surprisingly free from gore. Will our earnest protagonists survive? Only future volumes will tell.

Jetta and her family are the most talented shadow puppeteers in Chakrana, mainly due to Jetta's unique supernatural abilities. She is able to bind the souls of the dead to her puppets, creating spectacles never before seen. As impressive as her talents are, she must never let anyone outside of her family know what she can do since necromancy is illegal. Nevertheless, she and her family hope to parlay their increasing fame in shadow puppetry into a trip to Aquitan, the overseas seat of power.

Volume 3 of this dark fantasy manga series find our characters in more dire circumstances than they've ever seen. As escape plans coalesce and former enemies become allies, hopes are also higher than ever until Mother decides to play her hand, throwing all plans into disarray.

When Elli was a young child, she was identified as the next Valtia, or queen of Kupari. The Valtia is the only person in the kingdom to have perfect mastery over both fire and ice magic. To this end, the Valtia is the primary protector of the entire country. The Kupari don't even have a military, such is their trust in the powers of the Valtia. When the current Valtia dies, Elli will be her successor and has trained for it her entire life. Unfortunately, when the current Valtia does actually die, the magic fails to move into Elli as its supposed to.

One of the last things that the farm boy Worstley expects is to have a surly pixie bestow Chosen One status upon him. Although the pixie giving his goat the ability to speak was also unexpected. Worstley and the goat, Gustave, head off to meet their destiny at a nearby bramble-encased castle containing a sleeping princess and her equally unconcious court. It seems like as good a place as any to meet one's destiny.

Mia is on a mission to save her sister. To do that she has to bring back valuable tech from Gaia, a new world that has opened up because of a message from an alien race. Mia runs into Jules on Gaia and they decide to team up after he promises her tech no one knows about. Jules is the son of the man that decoded the message from the Undying and the man who ruined his career trying to convince people the message was dangerous. Jules and Mia are off to a temple no one really knows about but they are not alone. They come under the power of a group of mercenaries who also want the tech.

Boetema is fed up with her parents. They have just moved to a new city after her it was revealed her father kind of made up his skill set. But instead of finding work in this new city the parents take off to become salt farmers in the desert leaving Boetema and her brother Inotu own their own. When Inotu gets in trouble with the authorities, they too escape to the desert. At the same time, Boetema is having strange dreams of other worlds and learns that she can astral project.