Raven

Walkenwood #1

by Ava Lock

Raven Kryptkee looks like a suicide girl, acts like a rock star, and always carries a golden blaster strapped to her thigh. Her father is a little gray alien man who travels the universe collecting eggs, but she never knew her mother. Her friends are mostly shapeshifting bird people called the Brid. And most of the humans she knows have gotten infected and died from a fatal virus. But she’s got one friend-- he’s something special. But you see, Raven died at the tender young age of 444. That’s right, Raven Kryptkee is dead. Ravens are unique. When they die, they get to remain among the living so that they can find other lost Brid and bring them back into the flock. To do this, Raven must find unattached Brid scattered on other planets. Along the way, she’ll have to show these creatures how to shape shift, fly, and use telepathy. Then she gives each of her fledglings a mystical tattoo of magical inks made from enchanted ingredients only found on Walkenwood. This tattoo binds Raven to the fledgling for all eternity. Raven has been stuck in the polluted city of Kyo Kyron for too long. And when General Aquila’s monkey droid returns with a top secret message, Raven will need to find a way back to Walkenwood. But first, she gathers a rescue party of scruffy avian humanoid misfits. She’ll rely on Vincent Carrion, an acid-spitting vulture who specializes in smelling death—even without a nose. Ditching dead bodies can get tricky, and he’s happy to eat the carcasses along the way. They call him the man in black, because well, he always dresses in black. Vincent’s always right and he’s always got Raven’s back—always. Raven also recruits Hilda Half-Penny, a twenty-four-year-old barn owl, who’s just a Peep compared to the other Brid. Hilda has an impulse control problem, a stubborn streak, and an adorable artificial goat droid. She finds humans incredibly attractive, and so she sniffs them out every time. Like all Brid, she’s telepathic and can raid dreams, but only Hilda can control what happens in the half-light. Because Hilda’s dreams are really real. And they’ll bring Hummer, a green dwarf with a purple beard. He can morph into a hummingbird. Hummer’s got a flitting personality and a dirty little secret. Together they’ll take a lunar taxi to Everstar’s Intergalactic Oasis on Third Moon to ask an old friend for help. That’s where they’ll find Joe Monroe Everstar. This guy knows he’s something special. But he’s so much more than just a handsome, swashbuckling, entrepreneur. He’s a gigantic pain in the ass. Everstar’s always playing games and always has to win. Raven knows how to push his buttons, and even though she loses at bluffball, she manages to earn a trip home through Everstar’s wormhole. Together they all return to Walkenwood. A symbiotic eco-archy with no phones, no money, and no computers. This forest world has a yellow sky and purple water, where the trees go for a nightly stroll simply because they can. Except that while Raven was away, someone snuffed out one of the twin suns, and now the trees are rampaging at all hours. The Brid return to find the once thriving city of Easton Kurr looking like post-apocalyptic ruins. Meanwhile, Jon Donovan has been wrestling with angry trees and other hybrid creatures on Walkenwood. He’s a frustrated human who already had a hand bitten off in a shark attack. Jon’s hunting Fitzroy. Or maybe Fitzroy’s hunting him. It’s hard to be sure. But while all the other humans face extinction, for some unknown reason, Jon is immune. Oh, and he has the most adorable kitten bot ever. Will they all cross paths? You betcha!

189 pages, Paperback

Published August 23, 2018

About the author

Ava Lock is the bestselling author of the Deadly Sins series. She writes from beautiful Reno, Nevada where she shares her lair with her husband and two felines, Bender and Bixby. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, hunting for bargains at flea markets, and collecting crystals, rocks, and fossils.

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