This month's Year in Reading challenge is to read a dark fantasy novel.
Check out our recommendations.
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Célie Tremblay has always been a good girl: kind and beautiful, a daughter of whom every parent would be proud. She surprises the entire kingdom when she defies tradition to become the first huntswoman--including her new captain and fiancé, Jean Luc, who rules the huntsmen with an iron fist. He isn’t the only one concerned for Célie’s safety, however. Though her friends try to protect her from the horrors of her past, mysterious whispers still haunt her, and a new evil is rising in Belterra--leaving bodies in its wake, each one drained of blood. Determined to prove herself in her new role, Célie tracks the killer to the lair of Les Éternels—ancient creatures only spoken about in nursery rhymes--and catches the attention of their king, a monster who hides his plans for her behind beautiful words and sharp smiles. Now Célie has new reason to fear the dark because the closer he gets, the more tempted she feels to give in to his dark hunger--and her own.
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Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Mah
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"After a con goes wrong, nineteen-year-old Ness finds herself at the center of a criminal syndicate conspiracy, in a city where dreaming means waking up as your worst nightmare"--
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Book
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YA FIC Sch
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The ancient world of magic is no more. Its heroes are dead, its halls are ruins, and its great battles between Light and Dark are forgotten. Only the Stewards remember, and they keep their centuries-long vigil, sworn to protect humanity if the Dark King ever returns. Sixteen-year-old dock boy Will is on the run, pursued by the men who killed his mother. When an old servant tells him of his destiny to fight beside the Stewards, Will is ushered into a world of magic, where he must train to play a vital role in the oncoming battle against the Dark. As London is threatened by the Dark King’s return, the reborn heroes and villains of a long-forgotten war begin to draw battle lines. But as the young descendants of Light and Dark step into their destined roles, old allegiances, old enmities and old flames are awakened. Will must stand with the last heroes of the Light to prevent the fate that destroyed their world from returning to destroy his own.
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Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Pac
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Finding a mysterious letter from her late Grandpa, Dally is led straight to a library of secrets where each book is a portal to a precise moment in time, and she must find the courage to write her own life story as she "checks out" adventure after adventure.
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Book
Call Number:
J FIC Mag
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Having just moved into the West Virginia home they inherited from a distant relative, twelve-year-old Jen is surprised that her father is already dating a local antiques dealer, but more surprised by what the spooky woman really wants.
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Book
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J FIC Hah
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After a mysterious stranger promises to end his boredom with a trip to the magical Holiday House, ten-year-old Harvey learns that his fun has a high price.
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Book
Call Number:
FIC Bar
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Returning to Maine after years at boarding school, Eleanor Zarrin barely remembers her monstrous family, but she sets off a series of events that could destroy them all.
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Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Sza
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Dragons : fearsome monsters from myth and fiction
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Features 44 dragons that appear in myth, folk tales, literature, and movies from around the world.
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Book
Call Number:
J 398.2 McC
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"Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path. But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark. Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants. Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford" --
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Book
Call Number:
FIC Bue
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"Zerfall awakens in an alley, wounded and unable to remember her past. Chased by an assassin out into the endless wastes of the desert, she is caught, disfigured, and left for dead. Her scabbard is empty, but the need for answers-and the pull of her sword-will draw her back to the city-states. When Jateko, a naive youth, accidentally kills a member of his own tribe, he finds himself outcast and pursued across the desert for his crimes. Crazed from dehydration, dying of thirst and hunger, he stumbles across Zerfall. Hunted by assassins and bound by mutual need, both Zerfall and Jeteko will confront the Tauschung, an ancient and deranged religion ruled by a broken fragment of Zerfall's mind. Swarm, the Tauschung hell, seethes with imprisoned souls, but where gods-real or imagined-meddle in the affairs of man, the cost is high. In Swarm and Steel, the power of belief can manifest and shape reality, and for political and religious leaders, faith becomes a powerful tool. But the insane are capable of twisting reality with their delusions as well, turning increasingly dangerous as their sanity crumbles. It is here that a long prophesied evil will be born, an endless hunger. The All Consuming will rise"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Fle
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The darkest part of the forest
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Description:
Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries' seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once. At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointy as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking. Until one day, he does ... As the world turns upside down and a hero is needed to save them all, Hazel tries to remember her years spent pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?
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Audiobook
Call Number:
YA FIC Bla
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This book is perfect for any young person interested in drawing all types of fantasy heroes and villains. Following the step-by-step instructions, artists of all skill levels can tackle even the most advanced drawing projects to make graphic-novel-worthy characters. Insider tips help readers along the way and are like having an art instructor right there with them. With dark epic fantasies such as Game of Thrones all the rage, this book will be a surefire hit with legions of fans.
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Book
Call Number:
741.2 Bea
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Dragon Age : the World of Thedas. Volume 1
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Invitingly designed, illustrated with hundreds of pieces of lush art from the creators of the games, this is the definitive guide to BioWare's dark fantasy masterpiece! For Dragon Age newcomers, this comprehensive volume brings you up to speed on everything you need to know about the regions, religions, monsters, magic, and more! For dedicated fans, never before have the secrets of BioWare's epic fantasy been revealed so completely and so compellingly! This dramatic, accessible, beautiful tome illuminates the darkest corners of the Deep Roads to the most illusory reaches of the Fade, taking readers on a journey through one of the most fully realized fantasy universes of our time!
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Book
Call Number:
793.93 Dra v. 01
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Fiver could sense danger. Something terrible was going to happen to the Warren; he felt sure of it. They had to leave immediately. So begins a long and perilous journey of survival for a small band of rabbits.
Format:
Audiobook
Call Number:
FIC Ada
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"Imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream. There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day. Seventeen-year-old Elatsoe ("Ellie" for short) lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered, in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect façade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Lit
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In the Dominions, the dead linger, violent and unpredictable, unless a bonesmith severs the ghost from its earthly remains. For bonesmith Wren, becoming a valkyr--a ghost-fighting warrior--is a chance to solidify her place in the noble House of Bone and impress her frequently absent father. But when sabotage causes Wren to fail her qualifying trial, she is banished to the Border Wall, the last line of defense against a wasteland called the Breach where the vicious dead roam unchecked. Determined to reclaim her family's respect, Wren gets her chance when a House of Gold prince is kidnapped and taken beyond the Wall. To prove she has what it takes to be a valkyr, Wren vows to cross the Breach and rescue the prince. But to do so, she's forced into an uneasy alliance with one of the kidnappers--a fierce ironsmith called Julian from the exiled House of Iron, the very people who caused the Breach in the first place...and the House of Bone's sworn enemy. As they travel, Wren and Julian spend as much time fighting each other as they do the undead, but when they discover there's more behind the kidnapping than either of them knew, they'll need to work together to combat the real a dark alliance that is brewing between the living and the undead.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Pau