Mani

by Jacob Gamber, Ferdinand Ladera

Mani — The silver world, ruled by elemental forces and an Archlord who openly defies them.


Lyn is a young woman with white hair and mysterious superpowers. With everyone she ever loved dead or kidnapped, Lyn sneaks into the dark lord's palace to rescue her loved ones from the clutches of a tyrant king. But when the princess herself and a powerful High Mage pull her into their confidence, Lyn is swept into an epic quest for the ancient secrets of her world and her superpowers. For a girl can only for so long hide the fact that a monster lurks inside her, an alien strength unknown to her world — irresistible to those with power.


First in The Mother Trilogy , Mani is a genre-bending action-adventure debut. Classic fantasy meets Superman in this young adult fusion of science fiction and fantasy — A tale of colliding worlds, exploring the boundaries of what holds a magical world together, and what can unravel it? Follow this first-person narrative through the eyes of Lyn, the teenage girl caught in the middle.


This may be for you if you like:

Action-packed fantasy with a sci-fi edge
Quick pacing, smooth prose, explosive sword-and-sorcery fight scenes
Detailed, hard worldbuilding with cool maps, geography and/or magic systems
No-nonsense first-person YA fiction without all the romance and sass

This may NOT be for you if you like:

Romance, love triangles, general sappiness, teen angst
Poetic writing, long-winded description or slow-burn character building
Complex political intrigue and morally grey characters

Genres: Fantasy

428 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 23, 2024

About the author

Jacob Gamber grew up in Araluen, Alagaësia and Fablehaven, and spent the remainder of his childhood in rural Pennsylvania, telling stories to sheep. When the time came to embark on his own journey to a fantasy world, he botched it thoroughly several times and eventually got a full-time factory job. Presently, he lives in eastern Ohio with his wife and children. He enjoys music, role-playing games and puzzles, and is reportedly allergic to bad love triangles.

Jacob Gamber enjoys writing Fantasy and Science Fiction—usually erring on the side of Fantasy. As a Christian writer, he likes to uphold traditional values and biblical morality on the broad scale, but his stories are not allegorical and are mostly mainstream. He aims to challenge teen and adult readers with thought-provoking concepts and situations that could only arise in Fantasy, but without all the graphic content and tenuous morality commonplace in today's literature.

Early inspirations include C.S. Lewis, Brandon Mull, John Flanagan, Rick Riordan, Brian Jacque, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, to name a few. For more things writing-related, you can check out his personal blog, The Idea Engine, or subscribe to his monthly newsletter. His fantasy web novel, Tales from the Earthen Sky, can be found there or on Royal Road.

His YA sci-fantasy debut, Mani, was released Sept. 23, 2024, followed by Book Two, Gaea, on March 18, 2025. Book Three, Luna, releases in early 2026.

Reviews

[Jacob Gamber]

Jacob here. Be sure to check it out on Royal Road if you're curious about the series. Or you can buy it at this link. The first ten chapters of the sequel, Gaea, are available to read on there as well.

Excerpt:

Prologue

(Planet Mani—Nytaea
Mani’Tor 20, 984—Night Season)
Lynchazel gathered her strength and leapt the city wall. She clutched her precious bundle with her left arm, extending upward with her right, as the force of her jump carried her through the air. Her ascent slowed just as she came within reach of the stone battlement at the top of the wall, some thirty feet in the air. Her right arm grasped the stone and she pulled herself onto the wall. Movement in this world was absurdly easy.
Here she stopped, looking both directions. The stone walkway on top of the wall was only about four feet wide, just wide enough for two of these lightworld men to walk abreast.
Fortunately, there were none in sight at the moment.
Lynchazel turned, scanning the horizon behind her. Still no sight of Sol. She was pretty sure this was the third day she’d been on this world, and yet no dawn. The dark sky changed color and the auroras came and went, almost like a normal day cycle, but who could say when full daylight would be back?
Twenty-eight days, he said. Fourteen days of sun, fourteen days of night. A strange world, this Mani . . . the thought of living here made her shiver, despite her certainty that it was a far better home for her daughter.
Lynchazel turned back toward the city. Nytaea, he had called it. The land of her child’s ancestry. She scanned the alabaster buildings and watched the starlight play off of silver-plated rooftops. The white Nytaean Palace loomed high over the other buildings, at the center of the city. Weak though this world may be, she had to admit . . . it was quite beautiful.
She glanced down at the bundle in her arms, which she un-wrapped gently—just enough to reveal the perfect face of her first and only daughter, named after herself.
“Lynchazel,” she said softly. “We’re here. Your new home.”

Coninue on Royal Road.

[Sophia Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into Mani, but I was quickly pulled in by the fresh mix of classic fantasy elements with a sci-fi edge. The worldbuilding is ambitious and detailed you can tell the author put a lot of thought into how the magic, geography, and elemental forces fit together. I also really appreciated the inclusion of maps and a clear sense of place; it helped me visualize the journey and the stakes.

Lyn, the main character, is easy to root for. She’s strong but vulnerable, and her inner conflict about the “monster” inside her makes her more than just the typical chosen one type. The book doesn’t get bogged down with romance or teenage drama, which was a plus for me it keeps the action moving at a quick pace with plenty of sword fights and twists.

[Dr. Lehman L Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It starts with the trope of an orphan who discovers they are not like others and is apparently destined for greater things. The main characters are likable and the villains vile. This book involves a quest for knowledge but the goal is open and unclear. Since this is the first book in a series there is a lot of character building but when the scenes become active the prose is engaging. I look forward to the next book.

[Rachel Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was such an enjoyable read and it was so easy to get lost in the lives of the characters! Throughout the book you are left with enough questions about Lyn and her past and the world and its history to keep you reading and never enough answers to allow you to become bored. The book was also clean and did not contain anything off color or risqué which I really appreciated as those things tend to distract so much from the story!

[Tamara Barringer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is weak on the world building and pretty slow in places. First person is easy to write, but it allows for weaker development of characters and worlds. There are solid ideas and the plot flows well enough.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Won a kindle edition of this book in Goodreads giveaway. I enjoyed this story.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Won this book on Goodreads giveaway winner. This was an interesting journey.