A masterly, haunting new novel from a writer heralded by the Washington Post Book World as «the 21st-century daughter of Chinua Achebe,» Half of a Yellow Sun re-creates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra's impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in Nigeria in the 1960s, and the chilling violence that followed.

With astonishing empathy and the effortless grace of a natural storyteller, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie weaves together the lives of three characters swept up in the turbulence of the decade. Thirteen-year-old Ugwu is employed as a houseboy for a university professor full of revolutionary zeal. Olanna is the professor's beautiful mistress, who has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos for a dusty university town and the charisma of her new lover. And Richard is a shy young Englishman in thrall to Olanna's twin sister, an enigmatic figure who refuses to belong to anyone. As Nigerian troops advance and the three must run for their lives, their ideals are severely tested, as are their loyalties to one another.

Epic, ambitious, and triumphantly realized, Half of a Yellow Sun is a remarkable novel about moral responsibility, about the end of colonialism, about ethnic allegiances, about class and race — and the ways in which love can complicate them all. Adichie brilliantly evokes the promise and the devastating disappointments that marked this time and place, bringing us one of the most powerful, dramatic, and intensely emotional pictures of modern Africa that we have ever had.

From Booklist

Sixteen-year-old orphan Seph McCauley is a wizard, one of the Weir, an underground magical society first introduced in companion novel The Warrior Heir (2006). But Seph has had no wizard training, and magical mishaps occur wherever he goes. When one such accident causes a death, Seph is sent to the Havens, an exclusive boys' school in rural Maine, where he finds the Alumni—a student group of wizards led by Headmaster Leicester. Seph is excited to explore his gifts, but when Leicester attempts to initiate him with a terrifying blood ritual, the teen realizes that this training comes at the price of his soul. In his combined independence, bravado, and vulnerability, Seth is an appealing character, making the psychological torture Leicester inflicts upon him all the more horrifying. Unfortunately, the pace lags once Seph escapes Leicester and the Havens, at which point new and returning characters appear, and the chaotic politics of the Weir come to the forefront. Persistent readers will find that the momentum picks up again, though, and most will emerge satisfied by this absorbing, suspenseful follow-up. Hutley, Krista
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

Sixteen-year-old Seph McCauley has spent the past three years getting kicked out of one exclusive private school after another. And it's not his attitude that’s the problem.  It’s the trail of magical accidents—lately, disasters—that follow in his wake.  Seph is a wizard, orphaned and untrained--and his powers are escalating out of control. 

After causing a tragic fire at an after-hours party, Seph is sent to the Havens, a secluded boys’ school on the coast of Maine. At first, it seems like the answer to his prayers. Gregory Leicester, the headmaster, promises to train Seph in magic and initiate him into his mysterious order of wizards.  But Seph's enthusiasm dampens when he learns that training comes at a steep cost, and that Leicester plans to use his students' powers to serve his own dangerous agenda.

In this companion novel to the exciting fantasy The Warrior Heir, everyone's got a secret to keep: Jason Haley, a fellow student who’s been warned to keep away from Seph; the enchanter Linda Downey, who knew his parents; the rogue wizard Leander Hastings, and the warriors Jack Swift and Ellen Stephenson. This wizard war is one that Seph may not have the strength to survive.

The covenant that was meant to keep the wizard wars at bay has been stolen, and Trinity must prepare for attack. Everyone is doing their part -- Seph is monitoring the Weirwalls; Jack and Ellen are training their ghostly army; even Anaweir Will and Fitch are setting booby traps around the town's perimeter. But to Jason Haley, it seems like everyone wants to keep him out of the action. He may not be the most powerful wizard in Trinity, but he's prepared to fight for his friends. When Jason finds a powerful talisman --a huge opal called the Dragonheart--buried in a cave, his role takes on new importance. With so much to lose, what will Jason and Maddie be willing to fight for -- and what will they sacrifice? Every man is for himself in this thrilling conclusion to the Heir trilogy.

They called it the Thorn Hill Massacre—the brutal attack on a once-thriving Weir community. Though Jonah Kinlock lived through it, he did not emerge unscathed: like the other survivors, Jonah possesses unique magical gifts that set him apart from members of the mainline guilds. At seventeen, Jonah has become the deadliest assassin in Nightshade, a global network that hunts the undead. He is being groomed to succeed Gabriel Mandrake, the sorcerer, philanthropist, and ruthless music promoter who established the Thorn Hill Foundation, the public face of Nightshade. More and more, Jonah’s at odds with Gabriel’s tactics and choice of targets. Desperate to help his dying brother Kenzie, Jonah opens doors that Gabriel prefers to keep closed.

Emma Claire Greenwood grew up worlds away, raised by a grandfather who taught her music rather than magic. An unschooled wild child, she runs the streets until the night she finds her grandfather dying, gripping a note warning Emma that she might be in danger. The clue he leaves behind leads Emma into Jonah’s life—and a shared legacy of secrets and lingering questions.

Was Thorn Hill really a peaceful commune? Or was it, as the Wizard Guild claims, a hotbed of underguild terrorists? The Wizards’ suspicions grow when members of the mainline guilds start turning up dead. They blame Madison Moss and the Interguild Council, threatening the fragile peace brokered at Trinity.

Racing against time, Jonah and Emma work to uncover the truth about Thorn Hill, amid growing suspicion that whoever planned the Thorn Hill Massacre might strike again.

Les Sept Royaumes vont trembler ! Pour aider sa famille à survivre, Han a renoncé à sa vie de voleur. Ses bracelets d’argent suffiraient à la nourrir, mais un sort mystérieux les scelle à ses poignets depuis toujours. Et ses mésaventures ne font que commencer : quand il prend possession d’une étrange amulette, il est loin d’imaginer qu’elle a appartenu au Roi Démon, qui a failli détruire le monde mille ans auparavant... et qu’il vient de s’attirer les foudres d’hommes impitoyables. Raisa est princesse, mais elle aussi doit se battre... contre le mariage que lui impose sa mère. Pas question de se laisser faire ! Elle préfère partir au galop vers l’aventure et rêver d’Hanalea, la guerrière légendaire qui libéra le monde de l’emprise du Roi Démon. C’est ainsi qu’Han et Raisa vont se rencontrer et, à leur insu, réveiller les forces obscures qui avaient autrefois mis les Sept Royaumes en péril...

Han Alister está haciendo todo lo posible para ganarse la vida con honradez. Un día, él y su amigo Bailarín capturan a tres jóvenes magos que intentan prender fuego a la montaña sagrada. Tras la confrontación, Han se lleva un amuleto de Micah Bayar para asegurarse de que jamás es utilizado contra ellos. Pero pronto descubrirá que el amuleto perteneció al Rey Demonio, el mago que estuvo a punto de destruir el mundo. Y ahora sabe que los Bayar no se detendrán ante nada con tal de recuperarlo.Mientras tanto, Raisa ana’Marianna, princesa heredera, tiene sus propias batallas que librar. Ha disfrutado de casi tres años de libertad y sus intereses están muy lejos del rígido mundo de la corte. Ella aspira a ser como Hanalea, la legendaria guerrera que salvó el mundo, pero su madre tiene otros planes.Una extraordinaria novela de fantasía capaz de atrapar por igual a lectores de todas las edades: nos transporta a un mundo inolvidable y verosímil, donde es posible vivir aventuras fabulosas.

Han Alister creía que había perdido a todas aquellas personas que amaba, pero cuando encuentra a su amiga Rebeca Morley en las montañas del Espíritu y cerca del abismo de la muerte, comprende que no existe nada más importante que salvarla.No obstante, pronto descubrirá también que esta chica hermosa y misteriosa no es otra que Raisa ana’Marianna, heredera de la familia que mató a su madre y su hermana. Pero, para evitar que Raisa se haga con la herencia, algunos intentarán, una y otra vez, acabar con su vida. Para evitarlo, Raisa sólo podrá confiar en su ingenio y en su voluntad de hierro.

Obsesionado con la muerte de su madre y de su hermana, Han Alister viaja hacia el sur para comenzar a recibir educación en Casa Mystwerk, en el Vado de Oden. Pero es imposible huir del peligro: los Bayar, la poderosa familia de magos, lo acechan intentando recuperar el amuleto que les robó. Además, Casa Mystwerk tampoco es un lugar tan seguro: allí Cuervo, un mago misterioso, se convierte en su tutor para enseñarle todo lo que sabe sobre las artes más oscuras de la bujería, tras sellar un pacto del que Han podría arrepentirse.Por otra parte, la princesa Raisa ana’Marianna escapa de un matrimonio forzoso acompañada por su amigo Amon. El lugar más seguro para ella es Casa Wien, la academia militar en el Vado de Oden, donde logrará conseguir la educación que necesita para convertirse en la próxima reina de los Lobo Gris. Pero cuando los caminos de Han y Raisa se cruzan, el orden de sus vidas se ve trastornado por completo.