An information broker whose librarian team uses knowledge to protect a crumbling America and a battle-weary supersoldier who is fighting for survival after refusing to target innocents become rivals and then unlikely partners in a quest to save the world.

"Bones jutted from the sand at angles--not odd angles, though, for that would suggest that there were ways bones could protrude that made sense--and the eyes of those still living stared and saw nothing. Amidst a scene of carnage on a desert battlefield blanketed in metallic snow, Major Konowa Swift Dragon sees his future, and it is one drenched in shadow and blood. Never mind that he has won a grand victory for the Calahrian Empire. He came here...

Orson Scott Card brings us back to the very beginning of his brilliant Ender Quartet, with the novel that begins The Shadow Series and allows us to reenter Ender's world anew.
With all the power of his original creation, Ender's Shadow is Card's parallel volume to Ender's Game, a book that expands and complements the first, enhancing its power, illuminating its events and its powerful conclusion.
The human race is at War with

...

"Sophisticated robot Abel must save teenaged soldier Noemi from capture on a hidden planet, while outwitting armies of deranged service robots and securing medical aid for a plague on Noemi's home world"--

Konowa Swift Dragon, former commander of the Empire's elite Iron Elves, is looked upon as anything but ordinary. He's murdered a Viceroy, been court-martialed, seen his beloved regiment disbanded, and finally been banished in disgrace to the one place he despises the most -- the forest. Now, all he wants is to be left alone with his misery...but for Konowa, nothing is ever that simple. The mysterious and alluring Visyna Tekoy, the highborn daughter...

Devastated by revelations about the Talon dragon organization, hatchling Ember Hill stands beside the rogue dragon, Riley, against her heir-apparent brother, Dante, who has threatened to unleash the greatest threat dragonkind has ever known.

An ex-Confederate soldier accidentally kills a small boy after a bank robbery. Later, the boy's father saves the soldier's life.

In a long-ago war, the all-powerful A.I. ruler of the Voluntary State of Tennessee--Athena Parthenus, Queen of Reason--invaded and decimated the American Southeast. Possessing the ability to infect and corrupt the surrounding environment with nanotechnology, she transformed flora, fauna, and the very ground itself into bio-mechanical weapons of war. Marcia, a former captain from Kentucky, experienced first-hand the terrifying, mind-twisting capabilities...

"This is the age of storm and murder. After the old gods warred and drove themselves to extinction, the cataclysm of their fall shattered the land of Vigrio. Now, power-hungry jarls carve out petty kingdoms, and monsters stalk the shadow-haunted woods and mountains. A world where the bones of the dead gods still hold great power, promising fame and fortune for those brave - or desperate - enough to seek them out. As whispers of war echo over the...

Soldier of fortune Burt Lancaster leads a rugged team of mercenaries to rescue a beautiful woman who has been kidnapped by Mexican revolutionary Captain Rasa (Jack Palance).