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Hunt the Ever Wild
Not yet published
Expected 23 Jun 26A new gothic standalone that combines the gaslamp fantasy of C. L. Polk’s Witchmark with the slow-burn rivals-to-lovers romance of Isa Agajanian’s Modern Divination and the whimsy of Howl’s Moving Castle.
When the king calls a hunt for the Lichtenwald forest’s elusive phoenix, wizard Sy jumps at the chance. Years ago, he indentured himself to the crown to pay for his magical education, and an unbreakable spell binds him to carry out the king’s every wicked whim, or face certain death. The prize is enough to pay off his debt, but he can’t survive the forest alone. Seeking help, he finds Anya, a skilled huntress living on the Lichtenwald’s edge, and lies about splitting the prize.
But Anya’s lying too. Cursed by a witch after killing her familiar, Anya must find the phoenix and bind it to the witch by the summer solstice, or else suffer a gruesome transformation. With the curse worsening and the Lichtenwald swarming with wizards, she needs Sy on her side – for now.
Neither of them can split the prize, nor win alone. And despite the growing attraction between them, betrayal remains their only option.
But anything is possible in the forest.
And the forest is hungry.
When the king calls a hunt for the Lichtenwald forest’s elusive phoenix, wizard Sy jumps at the chance. Years ago, he indentured himself to the crown to pay for his magical education, and an unbreakable spell binds him to carry out the king’s every wicked whim, or face certain death. The prize is enough to pay off his debt, but he can’t survive the forest alone. Seeking help, he finds Anya, a skilled huntress living on the Lichtenwald’s edge, and lies about splitting the prize.
But Anya’s lying too. Cursed by a witch after killing her familiar, Anya must find the phoenix and bind it to the witch by the summer solstice, or else suffer a gruesome transformation. With the curse worsening and the Lichtenwald swarming with wizards, she needs Sy on her side – for now.
Neither of them can split the prize, nor win alone. And despite the growing attraction between them, betrayal remains their only option.
But anything is possible in the forest.
And the forest is hungry.
336 pages, Paperback
Expected publication June 23, 2026
110 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5⭐
I really love love loved this! This book was so full of magic and whimsy, and the story pulled me in. The magic system was so unique, and I loved the parallel between the structured magic of the Academy versus the magic of the Lichtenwald and all the creatures that live in it. Anya and Sy were really well written, because you can really understand why they were doing all the things they did (the miscommunication in the last 1/3 of the book almost made me lose it though). My only complaint is that , but otherwise I really liked every moment of this story.
I really love love loved this! This book was so full of magic and whimsy, and the story pulled me in. The magic system was so unique, and I loved the parallel between the structured magic of the Academy versus the magic of the Lichtenwald and all the creatures that live in it. Anya and Sy were really well written, because you can really understand why they were doing all the things they did (the miscommunication in the last 1/3 of the book almost made me lose it though). My only complaint is that , but otherwise I really liked every moment of this story.
December 2, 2025
Kiser crafts a vibrant landscape where the glossy veneer of civilization digs questing fingers into the vicious, untamed, and inexplicable. Alive with timely societal parallels in the moral compromises of fettered city scribes, this is a glorious lyrical debut that haunts long after the reader exits its sentient forest
December 22, 2025
Hunt the Ever Wild is an exquisite debut, full of all my favorite things: enchanted forests, a city that glitters as it rots, and a romance that sparkles. Through a gaslamp fairy tale of a world, the story grapples with the true meaning of beauty, riches, and the wild. There is such materiality in Kiser’s writing: to read is to be swallowed by the Lichtenwald, by the flora and fauna and magic. If you love folkloric, romantic tales like Howl’s Moving Castle, this book is for you.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews