Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

This is the first book in a new epic trilogy that has already become a bestselling sensation in England and Australia, earning comparisons to The Lord of the Rings . It begins with the legend of a nightingale floor in a black-walled fortress-a floor that sings in alarm at the step of an assassin. It will take true courage and all the skills of an ancient Tribe for one orphaned youth named Takeo to discover the... (more)

The Tales of Alvin Maker: Book 3

Prentice Alvin

by Orson Scott Card

The Tales of Alvin Maker series continues in volume three, Prentice Alvin . Young Alvin returns to the town of his birth, and begins his apprenticeship with Makepeace Smith, committing seven years of his life in exchange for the skills and knowledge of a blacksmith. But Alvin must also learn to control and use his own talent, that of a Maker, else his destiny will be unfulfilled.

The Assiti Shards: Book 1

1632

by Eric Flint

1632 is an alternate history written by Eric Flint, the author of Mother of Demons, which was selected by Science Fiction Chronicle as one of the best novels of 1997. Flint is also the co-author, with David Drake, of the acclaimed Belisarius series: An Oblique Approach, In the Heart of Darkness, Destiny's Shield and Fortune's Stroke (forthcoming in June, 2000). The bestselling SF author David Weber says of... (more)

Temeraire: Book 5

Victory of Eagles

by Naomi Novik

Naomi Novik’s triumphant debut, His Majesty’s Dragon, introduced a dynamic new pair of heroes to the annals of fantasy fiction: the noble fighting dragon Temeraire and his master and commander, Capt. Will Laurence, who serves Britain’s peerless Aerial Corps in the thick of the raging Napoleonic Wars. Now, in the latest novel of this dazzling series, they soar to new heights of breathtaking action and brilliant... (more)

The Tales of Alvin Maker: Book 4

Alvin Journeyman

by Orson Scott Card

Alvin is a Maker, the first to be born in a century. Now a grown man and a journeyman smith, Alvin has returned to his family in the town of Vigor Church. He will share in their isolation, work as a blacksmith, and try to teach anyone who wishes to learn the knack of being a Maker. For Alvin has had a vision of the Crystal City he will build, and he knows that he cannot build it alone. But he has left behind in... (more)

Thursday Next: Book 2

Lost in a Good Book

by Jasper Fforde

The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with Jasper Fforde’s magnificent second adventure starring the resourceful, fearless literary sleuth Thursday Next. When Landen, the love of her life, is eradicated by the corrupt multinational Goliath Corporation, Thursday must moonlight as a Prose Resource Operative of Jurisfiction—the police force inside... (more)

Thursday Next: Book 4

Something Rotten

by Jasper Fforde

Thursday Next, Head of JurisFiction and ex-SpecOps agent, returns to her native Swindon accompanied by a child of two, a pair of dodos and Hamlet, who is on a fact-finding mission in the real world. Thursday has been despatched to capture escaped Fictioneer Yorrick Kaine but even so, now seems as good a time as any to retrieve her husband Landen from his state of eradication at the hands of the Chronoguard. It's... (more)

In the Balance: An Alternate History of the Second World War (Worldwar, Volume 1)

In the Balance: An Alternate History of the Second World War (Worldwar, Volume 1)

by Harry Turtledove

From Pearl Harbor to panzers rolling through Paris to the Siege of Leningrad and the Battle of Midway, war seethed across the planet as the flames of destruction rose higher and hotter. And then, suddenly, the real enemy came. The invaders seemed unstoppable, their technology far beyond human reach. And never before had men been more divided. For Jew to unite with Nazi, American with Japanese, and Russian with... (more)

The Tales of Alvin Maker: Book 5

Heartfire

by Orson Scott Card

Peggy is a Torch, able to see the fire burning in each person's heart. She can follow the paths of each person's future, and know each person's most intimate secrets. From the moment of Alvin Maker's birth, when the Unmaker first strove to kill him, she has protected him. Now they are married, and Peggy is a part of Alvin's heart as well as his life. But Alvin's destiny has taken them on separate journeys. Alvin... (more)

Bartimaeus Trilogy: Book 1

The Amulet of Samarkand

by Jonathan Stroud

Presenting a thrilling new voice in children's literature-a witty, gripping adventure story featuring a boy and his not-so-tame djinni. Nathaniel is a young magician's apprentice, taking his first lessons in the arts of magic. But when a devious hotshot wizard named Simon Lovelace ruthlessly humiliates Nathaniel in front of everyone he knows, Nathaniel decides to kick up his education a few notches and show... (more)

His Dark Materials: Book 1

Northern Lights

Published as "The Golden Compass" in North America

by Philip Pullman

"SUPERB . . . WONDER-FILLED." --The Washington Post Book World It was no ordinary life for a young girl: living among scholars in the hallowed halls of Jordan College and tearing unsupervised through Oxford's motley streets on mad quests for adventure. But Lyra's greatest adventure would begin closer to home, the day she heard hushed talk of an extraordinary particle. Microscopic in size, the magical dust--found... (more)

The Guns of the South

by Harry Turtledove

Northern Virginia is ragged and ill-equipped. The battle of Gettysburg has broken the back of the Confederacy and decimated its manpower. Then Andries Rhoodie, a strange man with an unplaceable accent, approaches Lee with an extraordinary offer. Rhoodie demonstrates an amazing rifle; its rate of fire is incredible, its lethal efficiency breathtaking--and Rhoodie guarantees unlimited quantities to the... (more)

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus

Pastwatch: Book 1

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus

by Orson Scott Card

In one of the most powerful and thought-provoking novels of his remarkable career, Orson Scott Card interweaves a compelling portrait of Christopher Columbus with the story of a future scientist who believes she can alter human history from a tragedy of bloodshed and brutality to a world filled with hope and healing.

The Tales of Alvin Maker: Book 6

The Crystal City

by Orson Scott Card

Using the lore and the folk-magic of the men and women who settled North America, Orson Scott Card has created an alternate world where magic works, and where that magic has colored the entire history of the colonies. Charms and beseechings, hexes and potions, all have a place in the lives of the people of this world. Dowsers find water, the second sight warns of dangers to come, and a torch can read a person's... (more)

The Assiti Shards: Book 2

1633

by David Weber, Eric Flint

While the Thirty Years War rages on, a new force emerges in central Europe - the Confederated Principalities of Europe. This is an alliance between King Gustavus of Sweden and the West Virginians, led by Mike Stearns, who were hurled into 17th-century Germany by a mysterious time warp.

Nantucket: Book 1

Island in the Sea of Time

by S. M. Stirling

It's spring on Nantucket and everything is perfectly normal, until a sudden storm blankets the entire island. When the weather clears, the island's inhabitants find that they are no longer in the late 20th century, but have been transported instead to the Bronze Age. Now they must learn to survive with suspicious, warlike peoples they can barely understand and deal with impending disaster, in the shape of a... (more)

What If?

The World's Foremost Historians Imagine What Might Have Been

by Robert Cowley, Stephen Ambrose

Historians and philosophers alike have pondered the crucial turning points of history-events that forever altered the course of civilization, and set the stage for the world in which we live today. In these essays, some of the most respected minds of our time ask the question "What If..." George Washington had never made his miraculous escape from the British on Long Island in the dawn of August 29, 1776? ... (more)

V for Vendetta

Comic Book

by Alan Moore, David Lloyd

V for Vendetta is, like its author's later Watchmen, a landmark in comic-book writing. Alan Moore has led the field in intelligent, politically astute (if slightly paranoid), complex adult comic-book writing since the early 1980s. He began V back in 1981 and it constituted one of his first attempts (along with the criminally neglected but equally superb Miracleman) at writing an ongoing series. It is 1998 (which... (more)

Tilting the Balance (Worldwar Series, Volume 2)

Tilting the Balance (Worldwar Series, Volume 2)

by Harry Turtledove

NO ONE COULD STOP THEM-- NOT STALIN, NOT TOGO, NOT CHURCHILL, NOT ROOSEVELT . . . The invaders had cut the United States virtually in half at the Mississippi, vaporized Washington, D.C., devastated much of Europe, and held large parts of the Soviet Union under their thumb. But humanity would not give up so easily. The new world allies were ruthless at finding their foe's weaknesses and exploiting them. Whether... (more)

Weapons of Choice (The Axis of Time Trilogy, Book 1)

Weapons of Choice (The Axis of Time Trilogy, Book 1)

by John Birmingham

On the eve of America’s greatest victory in the Pacific, a catastrophic event disrupts the course of World War II, forever changing the rules of combat. . . . The impossible has spawned the unthinkable. A military experiment in the year 2021 has thrust an American-led multinational armada back to 1942, right into the middle of the U.S. naval task force speeding toward Midway Atoll—and what was to be the... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Browse Subjects: alternate history

Top Books

by Lian Hearn

by Orson Scott Card

by Eric Flint

by Naomi Novik

by Orson Scott Card

by Jasper Fforde

by Jasper Fforde

by Harry Turtledove

by Orson Scott Card

by Jonathan Stroud

Published as "The Golden Compass" in North America

by Philip Pullman

by Harry Turtledove

by Orson Scott Card

by Orson Scott Card

by David Weber, Eric Flint

by S. M. Stirling

The World's Foremost Historians Imagine What Might Have Been

by Robert Cowley, Stephen Ambrose

Comic Book

by Alan Moore, David Lloyd

by Harry Turtledove

by John Birmingham