Under Heaven
Book of the Month
February’s Book of the Month is Guy Gavriel Kay’s Under Heaven.
Honour is beyond measure
But its price may be an empire…
For two years Shen Tai has mourned his celebrated father and lived like a hermit beyond the borders of the Kitan Empire. There, by a mountain lake, the bones of the soldiers killed in great battles between the Kitai and the Tagurans lie unburied and their wailing ghosts strike terror into the living.
Tai has laboured alone, laying to rest the mingled dead of both empires, until a letter arrives. It contains the promise of a poisoned chalice: Tai will be given two hundred and fifty Sardian horses by the Tagurans, legendary steeds from the far west, as a reward for his courage and piety.
Now, Tai must try to return alive from solitude to a glittering, dangerous court. For to give a man even one of the famed Sardians is to honour him greatly; to give him so many is a reward which would overwhelm an emperor, and could be Tai’s death warrant.
Tags: Book of the Month, Guy Gavriel Kay, Under Heaven
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This month’s ‘Book of the Month’ comes from Cinda Williams Chima, author of the New York Times bestselling Heir series of young adult fantasy novels. Excitingly for us (and you), The Demon King marks the start of a brand new fantasy series which follows the adventures of an unlikely group of companions in their struggle to save the world.
When 16-year-old Han Alister and his Clan friend Dancer encounter three underage wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea, he has no idea that this event will precipitate a cascade of disasters that will threaten everything he cares about.
Tags: Book of the Month, Cinda Chima Williams, Han Alister, Heir, New York Times bestseller, The Demon King
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From the New York Time bestselling author, Cory Doctorow, comes For The Win, a provocative and exhilarating tale of teen rebellion against global corporations and a call to arms for a new generation.
Set in the not too distant future, Doctorow’s novel tells of a world in which workers in special economic zones are trapped in lives of poverty with no trade unions to represent their rights. Matthew and his friends labour day and night as gold-farmers, amassing virtual wealth that’s sold on to rich Western players, while in the slums of Mumbai ‘General Robotwallah’ Mala marshals her team of online thugs on behalf of the local gang-boss, who in turn works for the game-owners. They’re all being exploited, as their friend Wei-Dong, all the way over in LA, knows, but can do little about.
Until they begin to realize that their similarities outweigh their differences, and agree to work together to claim their rights to fair working conditions. Under the noses of the ruling elites in China and the rest of Asia, they fight their bosses, the owners of the games and rich speculators, outsmarting them all with their unbeatable gaming skills. But soon the battle will spill over from the virtual world to the real one, leaving Mala, Matthew and even Wei-Dong fighting not just for their rights, but for their lives…
If you haven’t read a Doctorow, now is the time to start. Just be warned that once you have, you’ll find it near-impossible to stop.
Tags: Book of the Month, Cory Doctorow, For the Win, Makers
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