Jules Ember was raised hearing legends of the ancient magic of the wicked Alchemist and the good Sorceress. But she has just learned the truth: She is the Alchemist, and Caro--a woman who single-handedly murdered the Queen and Jules's first love, Roan, in cold blood--is the Sorceress. The whole kingdom believes that Jules is responsible for the murders, and a hefty bounty has been placed on her head. And Caro is intent on destroying Jules, who stole...

Told in two voices, sixteen-year-old Comtesse Emilie, whose yearning to be a physician is below her station, switches places with Annette, who needs training to develop her magic, as their homeland is threatened by war.

Inquisitor Glokta, a crippled and increasingly bitter relic of the last war, former fencing champion turned torturer extraordinaire, is trapped in a twisted and broken body - not that he allows it to distract him from his daily routine of torturing smugglers. Nobleman, dashing officer and would-be fencing champion Captain Jezal dan Luthar is living a life of ease by cheating his friends at cards. Vain, shallow, selfish and self-obsessed, the biggest...

Living on a violent planet where everyone develops a unique power meant to shape the future, Akos and Cyra, youths from enemy nations, resent gifts that render them vulnerable to others' control before they become unlikely survival partners.

In a novel set wholly in a new world, but inspired by modern Egyptian history, two young women--Nehal, a spoiled aristocrat used to getting what she wants, and Giorgina, a poor bookshop worker used to having nothing--find they have far more in common, particularly in their struggle for the rights of women and their ability to fight for it with forbidden elemental magic.