In time one shall be hailed a king, another as Betrayer. Their third shall do an evil thing when freedom is denied her. Now Four and Five shall not survive; misfortune Six to gain by Seven’s will at least until reunion on the Plain. Though seven heroes journey forth; prepare their final stand, not all; I fear, shall chance to peer upon their journey’s end. Three children will seal the fate of nations: Lorelei the rebel vixen princess of Eludoran; measured against the yardstick of her heroic brother. Malachi her sidekick and cousin; resigned to mull over a love he can never have. And exotic Pendarynn; son of a jealous sorceress driven mad by revenge. Their paths cross in Eludoran, where they find solace with each other. Little do their feuding parents suspect what’s been going under their noses; a friendship the like of which has never been heard of before: One which might shatter old grudges and usher in a new age of tolerance and reason... --or bring everything crashing down around them.

When Lorelei; the younger daughter of a rebel chieftain, encounters Pendarynn she has little idea that her illicit relationship with the older boy will threaten their current way of life. With their respective parents at violent odds with each other over injustices perpetuated years in the past, it seems unlikely that permission is forthcoming—forcing Lorelei to take matters into her own hands and initiate a relationship with Pendarynn on the sly. This innocent act has far-reaching repercussions culminating in jealousy, betrayal and a re-evaluation of everything she has ever known.

A tall, yellow-haired young European traveller calling himself “Mogor dell’Amore,” the Mughal of Love, arrives at the court of the real Grand Mughal, the Emperor Akbar, with a tale to tell that begins to obsess the whole imperial capital. The stranger claims to be the child of a lost Mughal princess, the youngest sister of Akbar’s grandfather Babar: Qara Köz, ‘Lady Black Eyes’, a great beauty believed to possess powers of enchantment and sorcery, who is taken captive first by an Uzbeg warlord, then by the Shah of Persia, and finally becomes the lover of a certain Argalia, a Florentine soldier of fortune, commander of the armies of the Ottoman Sultan. When Argalia returns home with his Mughal mistress the city is mesmerised by her presence, and much trouble ensues. The Enchantress of Florence is a love story and a mystery – the story of a woman attempting to command her own destiny in a man’s world. It brings together two cities that barely know each other – the hedonistic Mughal capital, in which the brilliant emperor wrestles daily with questions of belief, desire and the treachery of sons, and the equally sensual Florentine world of powerful courtesans, humanist philosophy and inhuman torture, where Argalia’s boyhood friend ‘il Machia’ – Niccolò Machiavelli – is learning, the hard way, about the true brutality of power. These two worlds, so far apart, turn out to be uncannily alike, and the enchantments of women hold sway over them both. But is Mogor’s story true? And if so, then what happened to the lost princess? And if he’s a liar, must he die?

The seventh and youngest Valeri, Valashu Elahad, noble warrior and prince of the royal house of Mesh, has sought the mythical Lightstone in a quest to stop the dreaded Dark Angel Morjin from enslaving all of Ea.With his stalwart companions, Val braved great dangers and fought many battles in their search for this elusive totem. And find the sacred object they did. But sometimes fulfilling a quest doesn't bring serenity but instead madness untold. Now that the Lightstone has finally been found, Morjin will use all of his talents to get it back. Val's victory in Argattha was only the beginning of a war with Morjin. Val knows that he alone must protect the sacred vessel. But he is coming to understand just what powers he is confronting and he is not sure that he is strong enough to follow the path of righteousness. He wonders who he can trust to help him as he encounters treasonous plots and betrayal by those closest to him, evidence of Morjin's power to destroy him and take the Lightstone.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE SEATTLE TIMES, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. To investigate, Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to its equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the vibrant city of Ul Qoma. But this is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a seeing of the unseen. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them more than their lives. What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities. BONUS: This edition contains a The City & The City discussion guide and excerpts from China Miéville's Kraken and Embassytown.

Can loving the enemy you hate be the only way to defeat him? Valashu Elahad, son of an ancient line of kings, must claim the throne of Mesh if he is to have any hope of defeating Morjin, the fallen Elijin, the great Red Dragon. It seems impossible that he will ever do this. He has endured injustice and disgrace, and has lived as an outcast, practically as an outlaw. He has fled his land in shame to seek the Maitreya: the one person for whom the stolen Lightstone was meant. If he can regain the Lightstone for this great-souled being, then the golden cup might be used to quicken the peoples of the universe of Eluru in a great cosmic event called the Valkariad: the Ardun, the people of the earth, will be raised up as Valari who in turn will become immortal Elijin - even as the Elijin become the great Galadin who can never be killed. And the Galadin will go on to become Ieldra in creating new universes out the substance of their bodies and souls. If Val does not place the Lightstone in the Maitreya's hands, then Morjin will free his master, Angra Mainyu, the Baaloch, once the greatest of the Galadin who has been imprisoned on the world of Damoom for a million years. Through a hole in the earth known as the Skadarak, Angra Mainyu sends a swirling blackness to slay Val. The more Val fights it, the more he hates it, the more power it gains and the more it harms him. So it will be if he faces Morjin in the great battle that has been building for years and ages. Val fears fighting this battle because a great scryer has foretold that: "His fate is yours. If you kill him, you kill yourself." More than death, though, he fears himself. If hate triumphs and Val fails, then Ea will fall and all of Eluru will fall into corruption and irreversible decay, becoming a dark universe that the Ieldra will need to destroy. The Diamond Warriors brings to a magnificent conclusion the internationally acclaimed Ea Cycle that began with The Lightstone, Lord Of Lies, and Black Jade. If you enjoy fast-paced adventure, a startling new cosmology, and an intricately-made world as rich as Tolkien's and with all the magic of an Arthurian romance, you'll love this book. Buy The Diamond Warriors today to take part in an epic journey as old as time.

From the Newbery Medal–winning author of The Hero and the Crown: the story of a princess who flees her father’s unwanted attention and finds an unexpected new life. Princess Lissla Lissar is the only child of the king and his queen, who was the most beautiful woman in seven kingdoms. Everyone loved the splendid king and his matchless queen so much that no one had any attention to spare for the princess, who grew up in seclusion, listening to the tales her nursemaid told about her magnificent parents. But the queen takes ill of a mysterious wasting disease and on her deathbed extracts a strange promise from her husband: “I want you to promise me . . . you will only marry someone as beautiful as I was.” The king is crazy with grief at her loss, and slow to regain both his wits and his strength. But on Lissar’s seventeenth birthday, two years after the queen’s death, there is a grand ball, and everyone present looks at the princess in astonishment and whispers to their neighbors, How like her mother she is! On the day after the ball, the king announces that he is to marry again—and that his bride is the princess Lissla Lissar, his own daughter. Lissar, physically broken, half mad, and terrified, flees her father’s lust with her one loyal friend, her sighthound, Ash. It is the beginning of winter as they journey into the mountains—and on the night when it begins to snow, they find a tiny, deserted cabin with the makings of a fire ready-laid in the hearth. Thus begins Lissar’s long, profound, and demanding journey away from treachery and pain and horror, to trust and love and healing.

Early Readers are stepping stones from picture books to reading books. A blue Early Reader is perfect for sharing and reading together. A red Early Reader is the next step on your reading journey. When the little boy tells his mother he has seen a big, roaring, yellow, whiskery lion in the meadow, she decides to make up a story for him too and gives him a matchbox with a tiny dragon inside. A brand new Early Reader edition of this beautiful classic story.

The bestselling and much-loved children's poetry classic, Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg is celebrating its 30th anniversary! With a fresh new look for a brand new generation of school children to take to its heart, every teacher, parent and child should have a copy. Nobody leave the room. Everyone listen to me. We had ten pairs of scissors At half-past two, And now there's only three. This witty collection of school poems by Allan Ahlberg, re-jacketed for its 30th anniversary and for a whole new generation of school children to fall in love with, is full of typical classroom events that will be recognized and enjoyed by everyone. From never-ending projects, reading tests, quarrelling, making-up, excuses and 'Please, Sir, it isn't fair.' Fritz Wegner's line drawings beautifully complement the hilarious and poignant verses. Please Mrs Butler was voted the most important twentieth-century children's poetry book in a Books for Keeps poll. Praise for Please Mrs Butler: 'Hilarious and poignant school verses about primary school life. A real winner' - Guardian 'Clever, funny and nostalgic, the collection is a delight' - Sunday Times PLEASE MRS BUTLER - The most important 20th-century children's poetry book' - Books for Keeps poll Praise for Allan Ahlberg: 'By far our best writer for the young,' - Telegraph