Releases Aug 2026
I was very fortunate to receive an e-ARC super early. I won’t rate because honestly I’m still wrapping my head around the whole thing. Props to the author for the beautiful writing style and wording - just made it flow so effortlessly.
A fantasy story filled with a lot of political intrigue. This land/continent is on the brink of collapse. The elemental magic in their land (referred to as “Art”) is gone, an empress is waging war and taking over territories one by one and more plots are underway. On one side of the continent we have Tchu - our main character here is Mara. Mara is in training at the institute to become an emissary (a soldier), taken at the age of 5 to enter training, she is the runt, physically weak - but her mind and affinity for magic are strong. What keeps her going is her forbidden love/crush on her fellow trainee Lia. On the other side, we have Velingard - a more civilized society on the other side of a shaky revolution. The main characters here are Livya, Cerra, Kaian and Commander Fonde. A scholar/socialite, her lady’s maid/adopted sister, a low class thief/magic wielder and a soldier. All four are interconnected when murders, a political plots and odd magical occurrences start to ramp up. There is a complicated mix of beliefs (gods and demons), metallurgy and an elemental magic system. And I won’t get into the details because it won’t be brief. This story was filled with twists and turns, and honestly a plot twist I never saw coming. I think I went into this thinking romantasy - and I don’t think it’s quite that - I think this is more fantasy/science fiction, there is romance/love, but it’s not the focus. (At least I didn’t think so)