Book Club Contemporary Drama Fantasy Novels

The Sixth Borough

Name: The Sixth Borough
Rating: 4.4 (1004 reviews)
Author: Alan Bradley

Alan Bradley July 29, 2024

4.4 1k Ratings

Ongoing Status

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Synopsis

After a series of traumatic events, Sander discovers he can access supernatural abilities, but magic in this world is like a shotgun, violent and almost impossible to control. Haunted by tragedy, he is drawn into a secret world hidden behind the façade of New York City, a world of occult power and conspiracy where a vicious struggle for power will determine the fate of the city.

Books similar to The Sixth Borough

Crossroads and the Himalayan Crystals

★ 4.33

C. Toni Graham

An ordinary school day in Middlefield turns into a mystical tale filled with endless adventures of magic, fairies, flying horses, and danger. A modern-day saga of four young teens who find themselves trapped in another realm-"The Otherworld"-where they must abide by an evil druid's bidding or risk endangering the lives of their loved ones and the magical beings they have befriended.

Epilogue

★ 4.63

Etzoli

Revised version now available! Amazon paperback, ebook, audiobook, Kobo, B&N, Google

In the war-torn land of Cyraveil, four heroes strove to overthrow an empire. By cold steel and elemental sorcery, they brought peace to a warring land on the brink of destruction. As the flames died, the realm needed strong leadership, and who better than the champions who had saved the kingdom? But when the people sought out their saviors... they vanished.

Matt, Blake, Jen, and Carl: the four mysterious companions, who together had deposed an insane ruler and saved countless lives, were gone—spirited back in a whirlwind of magic to a sleepy suburb in Mellbridge, Oregon, never to return. The friends found themselves home in the real world, exactly as they'd been the night they were taken, as if no time had passed... except only three came back.

Hi there! This was my entry for National Novel Writing Month, because why only write one series at a time? The more the merrier! (meanwhile, my keyboard bursts into flames...)

I'm also the writer of The Last Science, an ongoing low-fantasy/speculative sci-fi series. If you're familiar with that, you know what to expect here: lots of character-focused drama and dialogue, not a whole lot of traditional action. However, I'm writing a bit differently than usual here, and in a very different structure, so there should be some surprises for returning readers. I hope you enjoy it!

[Discord] — for those of you who want to hang out and chat.

Cover art (fullsize): Path of Revelation, by taenaron (Tobias Roetsch), modified by Etzoli. Normally I like to do my own cover art from scratch, but I was in a rush for the contest. Might be replaced down the line if I get time.

[winner of the NaNoWriMo Royal Road 2018 challenge—Most Favorites]

Sokaiseva

★ 4.75

s-alvette

Erika Hanover received her magic on her twelfth birthday—far earlier than anyone was supposed to—and suddenly, everything in her life made sense. Magic could solve everything. Magic was all she'd ever wanted.

When she was offered a spot on the roster of a mercenary group policing magic-tinged crime in her home of upstate New York, she jumped at the chance. Anything to get away from her hometown. It didn't matter what the work was. She didn't care.

Now, though, with almost a decade between herself and her time as a child soldier with the Radiant, things aren't as clear as they used to be. Part slice-of-life, part coming-of-age, part surreal absurdist nightmare, Sokaiseva is the tale of a shell-shocked shadow-war's veteran recounting her time growing up as the last line of defense in a world secretly teetering on the brink of disaster.

Currently complete!

Wolf for Hire

★ 4.81

Quirky Corgi

Allison Jane Avery (AJ) is a recent accounting graduate juggling mundane jobs to afford rent, car payments, and massive student loans. Stuck in a cycle of financial instability, AJ’s life takes a turn when a wild night out leads to an even wilder morning—waking up naked in a park with a mysterious tramp stamp and the unsettling realization that she’s become a werewolf. Not the bloodthirsty Hollywood werewolf that hunts under the moon, but one content with stalking stray animals and digging through trash.

AJ’s more concerned about dealing with the fallout of turning into a mindless creature every month—from losing her favorite pajamas to repeated offenses of public indecency and trespassing. The judge warns she’s one misdemeanor shy of a felony, and her landlord is evicting her for violating her lease’s “No Pet” policy. Struggling to keep her job, her dignity, and a roof over her head, AJ’s life is spiraling out of control as she picks up ever-odder jobs. Anything will do if it saves her from having to work again as a part-time stripper or, worse, move back in with her parents.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I'll admit that the above synopsis is a little inadequate to describe a story that has, since its inception, evolved into an odyssey of misadventure involving an Average Jane trying to get her shit together before the full moon.

But I like keeping it around, if only for posterity—it was this very prompt that got me writing in the first place, after all.

Once Wolf for Hire nears completion (or, at least the first installment, if it continues to garner strong support), I intend to make numerous revisions and edits it in preparation for proper publication. And that includes the synopsis.

So, in the meantime, I invite you to leave comments during your reading experience. Your feedback is valuable to me.

Hope you enjoy.

Dark Tidings

★ 4.83

Fuggmann

In all stories, even the most fantastical or absurd, there exists a grain of truth. Some such tales are those of fancy, born from minds of great creativity and intrigue. Others, come from places of superstition, an attempt to rationalize terrors both internal and external. Regardless of origin, though, all share a grain of truth in their origin.

When humanity began its steps into a truly modern age, fables and fairytales were left behind, left to fade away. With them, went all whom the tales were built around as well, leaving only a brave new world with humans. The age of magic had come to an end.

Until now, that is.

The Old Powers have begun to return, finding a world where faith has waned, and where science reigns supreme. They found a world ripe with prey, prey with whom to play their games.

It’s too bad none of the Old Powers realized that in the modern day, reality is far stranger than fiction. Their return is not met with fear and dismay, but rather overwhelming apathy.

His Forefathers and Mick

★ 4.3

Michael G. Kramer

Extra information about Friedrich (Fritz) Kramer.

The People of Paper

★ 4.07

Salvador Plascencia

Amidst disillusioned saints hiding in wrestling rings, mothers burnt by glowing halos, and a Baby Nostradamus who sees only blackness, a gang of flower pickers heads off to war, led by a lonely man who cannot help but wet his bed in sadness. Part memoir, part lies, this is a book about the wounds inflicted by first love and sharp objects.

For One More Day

★ 4.13

Mitch Albom

"Every family is a ghost story..."

Mitch Albom mesmerized readers around the world with his number one
New York Times
bestsellers, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie. Now he returns with a beautiful, haunting novel about the family we love and the chances we miss.

For One More Day is the story of a mother and a son, and a relationship that covers a lifetime and beyond. It explores the question: What would you do if you could spend one more day with a lost loved one?

As a child, Charley "Chick" Benetto was told by his father, "You can be a mama's boy or a daddy's boy, but you can't be both." So he chooses his father, only to see the man disappear when Charley is on the verge of adolescence.
Decades later, Charley is a broken man. His life has been crumbled by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits bottom after discovering his only daughter has shut him out of her wedding. And he decides to take his own life.
He makes a midnight ride to his small hometown, with plans to do himself in. But upon failing even to do that, he staggers back to his old house, only to make an astonishing discovery. His mother, who died eight years earlier, is still living there, and welcomes him home as if nothing ever happened..

What follows is the one "ordinary" day so many of us yearn for, a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain the family secrets, and to seek forgiveness. Somewhere between this life and the next, Charley learns the astonishing things he never knew about his mother and her sacrifices. And he tries, with her tender guidance, to put the crumbled pieces of his life back together.

Through Albom's inspiring characters and masterful storytelling, readers will newly appreciate those whom they love and may have thought they'd lost in their own lives. For One More Day is a book for anyone in a family, and will be cherished by Albom's millions of fans worldwide.