I'm trying to find a fantasy novel I read about the life of a wizard. He started out as a normal person, but became a servant of a god (I think the god treated him as a friend and student). He played a kind of puppet master role in the history of the world he lived in, which he affected over a long timespan (thousands of years?). There were other wizards who were also servants of this god, and I seem to remember that one of them was or became a rival or the bad guy, potentially serving another god in the process.  I think the book was published in the 90's, but I'm not certain of it. I also think there were other books in the series after it, or that this book was a prequel of some kind.
27662
I remember reading a book series around 2008 - 2009 — probably as an ebook but maybe a hard copy — which for the life of me I cannot recall. My google-fu skills have failed me too. So here are the details I remember   The name of series started with B... something like Bar@@@@ Set in fantasy time with medieval setting. There was a ancient wizard, who was sort of immortal, or maybe just very very old, disguised as a common man at the start Hero was a young boy, introduced as an orphan, working in some rich noble's kitchen or kitchen farm Magic was used ages ago, but common folk have mostly forgotten about it There are several kingdoms, one in snow, one is an island, one is open grassland, and then there is a huge, big bad evil kingdom in north Wizard helps forge / renew alliance between all kingdoms slowly, having to work through some politics Wizard keeps training the boy in various arts as the series progresses There is eventually a war, but the good kingdoms sort of manage to defeat the evil king (he may have been crazy / megalomaniac) After war, wizard and boy go to the location where evil god (something with T... Tarturs or something) is sleeping, but whose evil keeps seeping into the world The boy, now trained and grown up, fights the god and eventually wins There may have been a middle aged woman, fiery in temper, also a witch, probably daughter of ancient wizard, and mother of hero   I also remember not really liking the books then, sort of having too many deus ex machina, but for some reason have them stuck in my mind recently. Any help would be deeply appreciated!
44901
The first book starts where the main character shows creativity, and is sent presumably to his death. He then ends up in a secluded area run by a caretaker where they learn to use their creativity and art as magic. The two sides go to war, one led by the main character and the other by his twin on the other side. In later books, they learn that they live on an island in a chain, and multiple books deal with those other islands. They learn from someone from our world that they live in the Bermuda Triangle, and they also wrap around to the other side of the island chain if they go to the end via a giant waterfall. Some random things in there are magical sentient whiteboards and statues. A sequel series was released recently, detailing the children and their adventure. That's about all I can recall, can't remember names of anything.
7438
I am searching for a book series ... people were transfer from Earth by way of being reduced to a mathematical pattern and recreated on the other end.  Some people appear as "wizards" on the receiving planet, turns out they just had a connection to the computer and the computer was materializing the object by using the "object" formula and using energy to mater transfer from an energy universe.  I think there were multiple books in the series and I seem to remember that the main character may have undergone a magical sex change at some point.
13287
This was a thick book that I read over fifteen years ago that I never finished reading because someone borrowed it and didn't return it to the school library. I want to find its title.  The story takes place in a kingdom that is preparing for the a cycle of war, where every time the winds changes (50 or 100 years), invaders will try to cross the sea from another continent using airships with air balloons, filled with soldiers and warlocks. The kingdom has made several man-made island fortress along their coastline, filled with soldiers with war machines, sorcerers, and enchanters who act as the main guard/defence for the kingdom, calling lightning and fireballs, and using machines to stop and destroy and bring down as many of the invader airships as possible while countering the warlocks on board.  The book involved a man and a girl whose journey brought them apart in preparing for the imminent war.   The women found herself adept in magic and went to the academy in the capital to learn to be a sorceress.   The man found a different calling. With a good memory, he was sent to learn to become a mnemonic storyteller (to train with battle staff and fighting skill and mnēmonikos skill) who carried the history, literature of the entire culture in their heads. They used their knowledge to convey the kingdom's literature, poetry, history and stories to the people from generation to generation.  Both eventually "graduate". Sadly, and with great emotion, both have to part ways. She was sent to a fortress island and began her role as a sorcerer who will stand guard there. He, as a storyteller, began his own journey without her, going from town to town, village and soldier barrack, across the kingdom, telling stories of great men and their deeds, and courageous heroes who fought the war, to uplift the spirit of the people and bring valor to the soldiers stationed at the border and people in the coming war.   In brief, he meets a dragon (who used to be involved in the war in ages past), long thought to be extinct. He finds himself able to communicate with it and has a "born" friendship with it. The dragon teaches him to become a "dragon rider", a long-lost ability of his people (due to the "extinction" of dragons.)   The wind changes with the dread of war hanging on the kingdom.  Airships start to blacken the sky again with soldiers and war machines battling each other.
90738
I'm looking for a fantasy novel I read in the 90s. Heroine begins the story overweight and has to go on a long quest (don't remember why). Along the way she acquires a group of animal/spirit? sidekicks, including a smartass pig, I think. By the end of her quest she has lost weight - not the main point of the book of course, but it's a detail that sticks out.   I think she developed magical powers during her quest, which she may have been surprised to discover? That's about all I can come up with. Cover was a girl walking in typical fantasy/forest scene with the animals, as I recall.It was a humorous, lighter fantasy. Any ideas?
49604
I remember reading this book back in late 90's. It is about a slave that gathers some friends and goes into a desert to find/fight a dragon. There is also a revolt/uprising in the slaves' home town. I can't remember if this is a single book or a trilogy.  I think the rulers were called Sorcerer-lords or Sorcerer-Kings. And I remember one character was called Boris or Borys.
106960
I read this series around 5-10 years ago. There were two parallel universes, ours and the universe of demons, and much of the series revolved around attacks in which demons created gateways to cross into our universe to kill people and wreak havoc, and had to be stopped by human magicians. Three youngsters (one guy from modern times, one from a few decades ago, and a girl from ancient Celtic times, all with funny names) end up being the key to the war when it's revealed that they are the three components of a mythical superweapon. These three are the only point-of-view characters in the series, each book being told from the PoV of just one of them. At the very end, they   destroy our entire universe so that, after killing all the demon masters, they can rebuild it and make sure everything happens as before up until the very last moment.  As they begin recreating the universe, the current PoV character (the one from modern times) says something like the following, the very last lines of the series. (sic on the quotation marks)  &quot;In the beginning, there was nothing but darkness. Then [name] said, 'Let there be light!'&quot; And there was light. Coolio!
29920
I'm trying to find the title of an old fantasy book I read at least 20 years ago, but I have very little to help identify it.  Obviously I don't remember the author name, I think it was written in the 80s or late 70s.  It was a classic premise with a modern day man from our world, transported to a fantasy setting. The world I remember was on the brink of an Ice Age and the main character and  wizard mentor found a keep to save the human race.  In the keep they found ancient machinery to produce light, warmth and food.  The magic in this world was glyph based, using the true meaning of word to change reality. Obviously the main character becomes a magician even if not really that skilled.  I think there was also a triangle with the main character, a princess and a dead husband who was not so dead after all, but it's all really foggy.  There were at least two books in the series.
72119
I'm trying to figure out how far back I need to go to get the full picture of the current Magic: the Gathering story.  There's a full list  which seem to be split into various cycles not all of which are relevant, and is missing the web articles.   For the sake of simplicity, I'm interested up until the Theros series which seem to  the last full length novels, then I can read the web article stories. In less there're relevant articles from before the Theros series.
35353
I am trying to recall the name of a story I read when I was fairly young (maybe 20 years ago, but not sure how old the story is).    What I remember: A man acquires a set of creatures that he keeps in his house, I think in an aquarium.  They evolve over time, quickly, and think of him as their benevolent god. They build statues in his likeness.   Then, I believe some sort of accident happens, and the statues they build become a little less benevolent, which bothers him.  This pattern continues on with his cruelty increasing and their depiction of him becoming more cruel.
53897
I lost a series books during a move and I'm thinking I might like to get them for my son.  They are about a teenage orphan who lives with a (sort of) wizard who's primarily known for his prize pig. There is a "bad guy" but he doesn't do much - he starts off the action in one by scaring the pig, and the boy has to chase after it. He goes on several such adventures, notably one to "find his true nature" that ends with him staring into a pool.  I suppose it could be the early books of , but I'm pretty sure I read them in the 1980s, not 90s, and title seems wrong. And unlike the Wiki description, in the series I'm thinking of, there's no real magic to speak of - its "out there" but does not seem to be part of the action that I recall.
59660
I am trying to remember a young adult series I read perhaps 15 years ago, but I don't remember many details. One of the characters was named Briar. As I recall, there are four main characters that channel elemental power, and they have a meditation routine to unlock this power where they inhale and exhale to a seven count. Sorry it's not much to go on, I will try to add more details if I remember any.
53801
I really want to reread a book I read years ago. I can't remember the title, but I remember that for most of the book it just appears to be a classic fantasy book, but part way through the main character finds a ruined city and a robot, and it turns out it is a post-apocalyptic future several millennia after a nuclear war. Does anyone know what book this is? I really want to read it again.  As a side note, it could be by Philip K. Dick, but I'm not positive on that one.
101387
I originally read this in the 1980s or 1990s; the author was considered up-and-coming at the time, but not really well-known.  The two main characters were a 'courier' and a wealthy student:   the 'courier' wasn't a messenger so much as an escort into the 'hidden worlds'. The hidden worlds were only accessible through a tunnel on the blasted world; this led to a world of high-tech that was treated as magic; from there, there was another tunnel to a world of real magic (by invoking sprites/imps/demons/etc).  the wealthy student was ostensibly studying the hidden worlds, her real purpose was to study the courier/escort. She was also trying to get away from a smothering bodyguard, who managed to follow them into the hidden worlds.    The denouement involved a revelation that there was a fourth world, where the demons invoked on the third actually came from, and there was a subplot involving a character trying to bring a demon into the high-tech world.
92694
Are there other schools for witches and wizards in the rest of the world? In the books they only speak of 3 schools, but what about Asian or American people?  And even more, were they affected by the events happening in Europe?
94047
I'm looking for a manga and just can't remember the name of it. It's about a boy who was killed in his (today's modern) world but he wasn't supposed to die, but another &quot;evil&quot; god intervened in his life. God sends him to another world to reincarnate with some abilities as an apology. He ends up reincarnating as a kid, like a 6-10 year old boy. The evil god had interfered again, making it so he arrived in the body after his parents had abandoned him for not having any skills show up at the ceremony kids go through that shows that. He ends up going to the adventurer's guild and becoming an adventurer, befriending a middle-aged who works there who has a scar on his face and so most people don't approach him. Larucu (what the boy calls himself) learns magic and ends up becoming friends with a lot of high-positioned people, like the king. I don't think this series was finished yet.
83833
As a child, I read a book that I can't seem to remember. All I seem to get from my memories are pictures and scenarios from my imagination while reading the book. I remember the book including Bastet, the cat goddess, a type of tunnel where they went to an underground place (I think), a boy and a girl (possibly) walking in a type of room or something, and a part where there might be an owl involved. I read the book definitely after 2010 but I am more than sure that it was written before that, possibly. In the part where they were in a type of room, I think I remember hieroglyphs floating around in the air. That is kind of all I remember from the book. Some of this information may be wrong and confusing but I think that is all I remember from the book. I really want to read it again because as I remember, it was an amazing book.