It's time for the holidays and I always like to recommend new fantasy series for gift giving. This year's recommendations include Ignite the Stars, a sci-fi series by debut author Maura Milan, Fire and Heist, a fantasy involving shape-shifting dragons by Sara Beth Durst (The Queens of Renthia series), Shadow of the Fox, a Japanese mythology based fantasy by Julie Kagawa (The Iron Fey series), and The Darkest Star, a spinoff of the Lux series by Jennifer Armentrout (The Lux series).
Ignite the Stars is set in 8921 in the Olympus Commonwealth, the most powerful force in the galaxy. Ia Cocha, a criminal mastermind whose planet was destroyed by the Commonwealth, is captured and sent to their Royal Star Force academy on planet Apehelion. At first she is determined to escape, but slowly she begins to care about her cohorts, including Flight Master Knives, whose father captured her, and Brinn Tarver, Ia's roommate, who is hiding her half-Tawny heritage, which would endanger her safety. As Ia learns to trust her new friends, she discovers her brother, who she has always worshiped, is plotting against her. Chapters alternate between the three protagonists' perspectives as they discover that all is not as it seems in this action-packed sci fi adventure, which is filled with thrilling space battles and political intrigue.
Fire and Heist introduces the Hawkins family, who are wyverns, humans descended from dragons. They are obsessed with hoarding and stealing gold. Since her mother's disappearance, the main character Sky and her family are outcasts in the community. Now Sky is determined to steal a jewel from the leading wyvern family and in the process find her mother and restore her family's credibility. She gathers her crew, including her estranged boyfriend, who still loves her, but was forced to abandon her by his father, who owns the jewel. In attempting the heist, she uncovers a secret about the dragon society that changers her family's fortunes forever.
As Shadow of the Fox, which involves Japanese folklore, opens, the time has come in Iwagoto when a dragon god will grant a millennial wish to anyone who possesses an ancient scroll. The last wish brought such destruction that the scroll was divided into three pieces and hidden. Now both the emperor's concubine Lady Satomi and the head of the Shadow Clan Lady Hanshou are determined to find the pieces so that they can be granted a wish. Tatsumi, demon slayer of the Shadow Clan, who is bound to the sword Kamigoroshi and the demon imprisoned within it, is tasked with finding the pieces. Yumeko, a Kitsune (half fox/half human spirit), who was raised in the Silent Winds temple, manages to escape with a part of the scroll when Lady Satomi sends demons to destroy the temple. She meets Tatsumi and convinces him to head off on a quest to the Steel Feather Temple to find the rest of the scroll. The cliffhanger ending will leave readers anxious for the sequel.
The Darkest Star, the first book in the romantic sci-fi Origin series, introduces 17-year-old Evie, whose father died in the Earth's successful war against the invading space aliens called Luxen. (detailed in the Lux series) When Evie joins her friend at a nightclub patronized by Luxen, who now wear armbands that neutralize their powers, she meets Luc, who is an Origin, a Luxen with heightened abilities. In the days that follow, girls begin disappearing from her school and Luc keeps turning up, whenever Evie is in danger. As the reader ultimately discovers, Evie and Luc's lives are inextricably linked and the suspense as to how and why makes this a real page-tuner.
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