She Who Became the Sun

“If he took my fate and died... then perhaps I can take his, and live.”

Názov: She Who Became the Sun 
Séria: The Radiant Emperor #1
Autor: Shelley Parker-Chan
Vydavateľstvo, rok vydania: Mantle - Illumicrate Exclusive, 2021
Počet strán: 414
Hodnotenie GR (v čase písania recenzie): 4,02

Anotácia:

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.

Dcéra zimy

„Ona nemala strach z ničoho. Nezľakla sa tulákov, zlodejov ani vrahov. Nebála sa smrti. Ona bola smrť.“

Názov: Dcéra zimy 
Autor: Vladimíra Šebová
Vydavateľstvo, rok vydania: CooBoo, 2021
Počet strán: 352
Hodnotenie GR (v čase písania recenzie): 4,27

Anotácia:

Sú len dva spôsoby, ako sa stať nesmrteľnou – narodíš sa ako bohyňa alebo sa staneš príšerou. My sme to druhé.
Večný život sa stal ich prekliatím. Keď všetkými obávaná Morena zachráni svoju sestru Vesnu pred popravou, prvý raz za celé veky má nádej na zlomenie kliatby. Na prahu dospelosti ich totiž uväznili vo svete živých. Morena sa stala nesmrteľnou a Vesna uviazla v beznádejnom kolobehu – vždy v najkratší deň roka umrie a následne sa znovuzrodí.
A teraz, po dlhých stáročiach, konečne našli niekoho, kto im dokáže pomôcť. Kým postupne odhaľujú tajomstvo, ktoré sa skrýva za ich prekliatym osudom, musia čeliť nielen samotnému vládcovi podsvetia a bájnym príšerám, ale aj obyčajnej ľudskej zlobe a vlastnej minulosti.

Podarí sa im zlomiť kliatbu alebo s nimi bohovia rozohrajú celkom inú hru?

Six Crimson Cranes

“...wining is not about honor. It’s about surviving to fight again.”

Názov: Six Crimson Cranes 
Autor: Elizabeth Lim
Vydavateľstvo, rok vydania: Hodder & Stoughton - Fairyloot Edition, 2021
Počet strán: 454
Hodnotenie GR (v čase písania recenzie): 4,33

Anotácia:

Shiori, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted, but it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.

Raikama has dark magic of her own, and she banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes, and warning Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.

Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and, on her journey, uncovers a conspiracy to overtake the throne—a conspiracy more twisted and deceitful, more cunning and complex, than even Raikama's betrayal. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she's been taught all her life to contain—no matter what it costs her.

The Wolf and the Woodsman

“But you understood, as I do, that survival is not a battle that you win only once. You must fight it again every day. And so you take your small losses so that you can live to fight tomorrow.”

Názov: The Wolf and the Woodsman 
Autor: Ava Reid
Vydavateľstvo, rok vydania: Del Rey - Illumicrate Special Edition, 2021
Počet strán: 418
Hodnotenie GR (v čase písania recenzie): 3,72

Anotácia:

In her forest-veiled pagan village, Évike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. The villagers blame her corrupted bloodline—her father was a Yehuli man, one of the much-loathed servants of the fanatical king. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king’s blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered.

But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. Except he’s no ordinary Woodsman—he’s the disgraced prince, Gáspár Bárány, whose father needs pagan magic to consolidate his power. Gáspár fears that his cruelly zealous brother plans to seize the throne and instigate a violent reign that would damn the pagans and the Yehuli alike. As the son of a reviled foreign queen, Gáspár understands what it’s like to be an outcast, and he and Évike make a tenuous pact to stop his brother.

As their mission takes them from the bitter northern tundra to the smog-choked capital, their mutual loathing slowly turns to affection, bound by a shared history of alienation and oppression. However, trust can easily turn to betrayal, and as Évike reconnects with her estranged father and discovers her own hidden magic, she and Gáspár need to decide whose side they’re on, and what they’re willing to give up for a nation that never cared for them at all.

In the vein of Naomi Novik’s New York Times bestseller Spinning Silver and Katherine Arden’s national bestseller The Bear and the Nightingale, this unforgettable debut— inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish mythology—follows a young pagan woman with hidden powers and a one-eyed captain of the Woodsmen as they form an unlikely alliance to thwart a tyrant.

Nočný cirkus

 „Tie najpravdivejšie príbehy potrebujú čas, aby sa dostali do povedomia a stali sa tým, čím naozaj sú.“

Názov: Nočný cirkus 
Autor: Erin Morgenstern
Vydavateľstvo, rok vydania: Lindeni, 2021
Počet strán: 368
Hodnotenie GR (v čase písania recenzie): 4,03

Anotácia:

Cirkus snov prichádza bez ohlásenia. Putuje po celom svete a zakaždým v ňom pribúdajú odvážnejšie a nápaditejšie atrakcie. Vo víre dymu a v odlesku zrkadiel, mimo očí bežných návštevníkov, stoja proti sebe dvaja iluzionisti: Celia a Marco. Ich súboj trvá už roky a proti vlnám kúziel, zaklínadiel a ilúzií nie je odolný nik. Obaja mladí iluzionisti mali vrodené nadanie pre mágiu, ale nikto nepredpokladal, že mladí ľudia, ktorí mali byť súpermi na život a na smrť, porušia pravidlá a nevedomky sa do seba zaľúbia. Ich učitelia však majú stále na dosah nitky osudu, pred ktorými nie je v bezpečí žiaden obyvateľ cirkusu, ani mladí zaľúbenci, návštevníci či tvorcovia najneobyčajnejšieho snového predstavenia na svete.

Debutový román Erin Morgensternovej Nočný cirkus vám dovolí vykročiť zo sveta spútaného iba vašou fantáziou. Otočením prvej stránky vyrážate na cestu, kde nedokážete odlíšiť skutočnosť od sna, autorkinu predstavivosť od svojich osobných zážitkov. Nočný cirkus nedokáže spútať nikto a nič, každého čitateľa opantá cirkusová mágia, zaklínadlá z hlbín knižníc a ilúzie jazyka a písma. Otvárame za súmraku, zatvárame za úsvitu.

Sing Me Forgotten

 “If they want me to be a nightmare, then a nightmare I shall be.”

Názov: Sing Me Forgotten
Autor: Jessica S. Olson
Vydavateľstvo, rok vydania:  Inkyard Press, 2021
Počet strán: 336
Hodnotenie GR (v čase písania recenzie): 4,08

Anotácia:

Isda does not exist. At least not beyond the opulent walls of the opera house.

Cast into a well at birth for being one of the magical few who can manipulate memories when people sing, she was saved by Cyril, the opera house’s owner. Since that day, he has given her sanctuary from the murderous world outside. All he asks in return is that she use her power to keep ticket sales high—and that she stay out of sight. For if anyone discovers she survived, Isda and Cyril would pay with their lives. But Isda breaks Cyril’s cardinal rule when she meets Emeric Rodin, a charming boy who throws her quiet, solitary life out of balance. His voice is unlike any she’s ever heard, but the real shock comes when she finds in his memories hints of a way to finally break free of her gilded prison. Haunted by this possibility, Isda spends more and more time with Emeric, searching for answers in his music and his past. But the price of freedom is steeper than Isda could ever know. For even as she struggles with her growing feelings for Emeric, she learns that in order to take charge of her own destiny, she must become the monster the world tried to drown in the first place.