After bursting onto the fantasy scene with his acclaimed debut novel, Elantris, and following up with his blockbuster Mistborn trilogy, Brandon Sanderson proves again that he is today’s leading master of what Tolkien called “secondary creation,” the invention of whole worlds, complete with magics and myths all their own. Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn’t like his job, and the immortal who’s still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago. Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren’s capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people. By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.

A tale told between two points of view, spaced between vast oceans of time. Within the depths of her psyche, Ava James grapples with a label that has haunted her since childhood: Crazy. Psychotic. Deluded. She's always suffered with hallucinations featuring a figure straight out of Norse Mythology. But not everything is as it seems. Something is telling her that these hallucinations and dreams are an echo of forgotten memories of her time as an Asgardian herself. As the line between her dreams and reality blurs, Ava discovers a truth that transcends time and sanity: she is not merely Ava James; she is the reincarnation of Sigyn, goddess of loyalty and endurance. But Ava's revelation is only the beginning. Beneath the facade of her mortal existence lies a world teetering on the brink of chaos. For Loki, the deceptive King of Jotunheim and the God of Mischief, seeks to unravel the threads of fate and seize dominion over the mortal realm. And Ava, unwittingly bound to him by threads of destiny, stands at the precipice of a choice that will shape the fate of humanity. As Ava's beautiful nightmare unfolds, she must confront the darkness within and embrace the echoes of her immortal legacy. For in the clash between gods and mortals, the lines between ally and enemy blur, and the fate of existence hangs in the balance. *Prepare to embark on a journey where past and present collide-a tale of love, betrayal, and magic.

Life seems pretty grim for Aaron Cooke. Being forced to move to the small town of Edman, Montana in the wake of his parents untimely deaths, he starts having very bizarre dreams that warn him of a mysterious presence terrorizing local teenagers while they dream. Aaron at first waves off the dream as a result of having too much stress in his life. Things soon take turn for the terrifying when the warning in his dreams prove to be frighteningly true. As his fellow schoolmates begin to suffer from a mysterious illness that pulls them into death, Aaron must work together with newfound allies to control his abilities and master the worlds of dreams to stop a mysterious yet ruthless killer from taking any more victims. Cover by @guyswithguitars