»Der Weltuntergang steht bevor, aber nicht so, wie Sie denken. Dieser Krieg jagt nicht alles in die Luft, sondern schaltet alles ab.« Atomraketen fliegen auf Großstädte zu – und Sie halten den Apparat in der Hand, mit dem Sie die Explosion der Atomraketen verhindern können ... Doch für diese Rettung müssen Sie einen Preis zahlen, der katastrophale Auswirkungen hat: Drücken Sie den Knopf, kommt es zwar nicht zum nuklearen Massenmord, aber Sie vernichten weltweit die Elektrizität – und somit die Lebensgrundlage der gesamten Zivilisation. Sie retten also Millionen Menschen vor dem atomaren Todeskampf, doch katapultieren Sie gleichzeitig die gesamte Welt ins dunkelste Mittelalter zurück. Wie würden Sie entscheiden? Dieses Buch handelt von einer dramatischen Entscheidung und ihren Konsequenzen. Es erzählt eine zutiefst menschliche Geschichte über Fanatismus und Vernunft, über Liebe und Verrat, und der Autor schildert sie auf eine Weise, die den Leser packt und nicht wieder loslässt. »›Als auf der Welt das Licht ausging‹ wird schnell zu einem echten Pageturner, den man nicht mehr aus der Hand legen kann.« Tim Lister

A New York, au début du XXIe siècle, les super-héros sont fatigués : Superman, Batman et les autres ont raccroché les gants, ils sont devenus des hommes et des femmes d’affaires à succès, des vedettes des médias et du spectacle, et ont tous renoncé à leurs super-pouvoirs. Dès lors, qui peut bien vouloir les éliminer un par un ? Car après Robin, l’assistant et ancien amant de Batman, un mystérieux groupe de tueurs menace d’autres cibles. Comme ce dernier, Mister Fantastic et Mystique reçoivent eux aussi d’étranges messages d’adieu, et il semble bien que ce soit dans leur vie privée et leurs comportements sexuels qu’on veuille les frapper. Le détective Dennis De Villa mène l’enquête, tandis que son frère Bruce, journaliste, couvre les événements. Mais ne faut-il chercher ailleurs, quelque part dans leur enfance commune, ce qui les relie à ces super-héros si fragiles ? Vaste fresque post-11 Septembre, le roman de Marco Mancassola est le récit mélancolique et crépusculaire de la fin d’un monde, celui des super-héros, et de celle d’une civilisation, incarnée pendant des décennies par les Etats-Unis. Une civilisation qui est aussi la nôtre.

Amazon.com Review

John Marco, author of the muscular Tyrants and Kings series, departs from the lands of Nar and Lucel-Lor with The Eyes of God--a sprawling juggernaut of high fantasy filled with political intrigue, fairy-tale wonder, flawed heroes, and sympathetic villains. Changing tactics from his Nar books, Marco opens The Eyes of God not with a battle scene but with a peace offering. The young king of Liiria--Akeela the Good--and his champion Lukien, The Bronze Knight, ride into the lands of their ancient enemy Reec to make peace. To seal the deal, Akeela takes a Reecian princess as his Queen, and the stage is set for a full helping of betrayal and woe.

Marco's tale of Akeela and Lukien and the love that destroys them both begins with a deceptively sentimental and occasionally maudlin first act. But just when the reader thinks he or she has inadvertently stumbled into a bodice ripper, Marco brings the hammer down and his idyllic Kingdom of Liiria is twisted without remorse into a decaying kingdom with madness on its throne. Despite some cliché dialogue and a few loose plot ends, this is no lightweight book. Marco's characters are complex and multidimensional, and his seemingly simple story is a rich, complex exposition of high fantasy with an underlying brutal reality. This brutality is punctuated with Marco's skill as a military writer--like his Nar books, the battle scenes in The Eyes of God are massive in scale while remaining rich in exquisite, personal detail. --Jeremy Pugh

From Library Journal

Accompanied by his lifelong friend Lukien, the Bronze Knight of Liiria, King Akeela rides to a rival city to offer a peaceful end to a long and bloody war. In return, he brings home a bride, unaware of the tangled threads of destiny that unite him, his new wife, and his longtime friend in an age-old triangle of love and betrayal. Marco (Jackal of Nar) offers a sprawling tale of military battles, personal and political intrigue, magic, and star-crossed love set against a richly detailed land of warring kingdoms and hidden magic. For most fantasy collections.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

John Marco has worked in the computer and security industries. He now writes full time and is working on a new fantasy series.

Die Nachricht vom Tod eines Ordensbruders lässt Pater Kircher das Blut in den Adern gefrieren. Denn neben der Leiche hat man ein Bernsteinamulett gefunden, das ihm vor Jahren schon einmal begegnet ist: Es gehört dem Skorpion, einem Mann, der einst mit einer grauenvollen Serie von Morden an Jesuitenpatres für Angst und Schrecken sorgte ...

Throughout history cities have been at the center of warfare, from sieges to street-fighting, from peace-keeping to coups de mains. Sun Tzu admonished his readers of that the lowest realization of warfare was to attack a fortified city. Indeed, although strategists have advised against it across the millennia, armies and generals have been forced nonetheless to attack and defend cities, and victory has required that they do it well.

In Louis DiMarco has provided a masterful study of the brutal realities of urban warfare, of what it means to seize and hold a city literally block by block. Such a study could not be more timely. We live in an increasingly urbanizing world, a military unprepared for urban operations is unprepared for tomorrow. Di Marco masterfully studies the successes and failures of past battles in order to provide lessons for today’s tacticians.

Steam trains and electricity are rapidly changing the world. Moth of Calio is obsessed with the airships developed by his friend Fiona's grandfather Rendor, and dreams of taking to the air one day like his heroes, the Skyknights.

But not everyone is happy to see humans reach the skies. For thousands of years, the mysterious and powerful race known as the Skylords have jealously guarded their heavenly domain. But Moth and Fiona are about to breach the magical boundary between the world of humans and the world of the Skylords.