Joe Abercrombie writes anti-Tolkien, hard-edged fantasy novels that, in his own words, walk the "fine lines between gritty and too gritty, violent and too violent, interestingly dark and utterly repulsive." His latest is set in the same universe as his First Law trilogy and concerns a young woman's quest to rescue her abducted siblings.

Alchemy, Beethoven, and an enchanted castle each plays a part in this beguiling, hilarious adventure set within  Prague's history-drenched walls. Writers Meg Howrey and Christina Lynch have merged their talents under the sorcerous psuedonym Magnus Flyte in a book that will delight fans of A Discovery of Witches. Simply magical.

A wizardly father, his daughter, and a male companion on an island. Could this be The Tempest redux? There is indeed a hint of Shakespeare's play in this novel about twelve-year-old Minou's precocious engagement with the philosophical underpinnings of life. But ultimately, Mette Jakobsen's debut novel is more in line with such recent delights as The Night Circus and The Magician King.

Orphaned platypus Albert has escaped from the zoo. Now he's on a quest to find the "Old Australia." Instead, he meets Jack, a pyromaniacal wombat and the first of many eccentric creatures -- others include militant kangaroos, menacing dingoes, and a washed-up Tasmanian devil -- that Albert encounters on his journey. Howard L. Anderson's novel is an uproarious introduction to the menagerie of characters living just outside our enclosures.