A historical, sci-fi dystopian danmei romance in a post-apocalyptic world. "One day, we'll both be free from here. I promise." Six centuries after the Golden Age of civilization came to a catastrophic end, the remnants of humanity survive in a seemingly utopian paradise. Nehemiah Tumen is the only friend of Crown Prince Erik Nylund, but he is forced to keep secret the truth about their world, and about himself. Nehemiah possesses a great and dangerous power—one that keeps their society at peace, but also threatens to destroy it. As Nehemiah sets out to protect Erik, he begins to learn that there is more to his world than it seems. The truth may be far too dangerous for anyone to bear. What really is this power that he possesses? How did their society come about? And is he willing to sacrifice it all to protect the prince?
Yisei Ishkhan is the pen name of a Canadian historical fiction, alternate history, sci-fi, and danmei author. His works include End of Serenity, Ten Thousand Lights, and The Tales of Abel and Mitra.
(This is a general review of the whole trilogy, not just this book)
I don’t know if I can class End of Serenity as danmei as, as far as I can tell from the internet, the author is not Chinese (is that a requirement for being danmei?), but I bought volume 1 believing that it was as I discovered it in “customers also bought” when buying other danmei, & also due to the cover!
Either way, it could be summarised as “a gay & multicultural AOT” but that barely scratches the surface of this world and its mysteries.
In the Age of Serenity, what remains of humanity live on the Ark of Aelia, in a dystopian age of peace which is only maintained by strict control of knowledge & the 3 individuals who bear the seraphim which have been passed down for centuries & act as human weapons.
Erik Norden is the prince & the only friend he’s allowed is Nehemiah Tumen, but Nehemiah can’t tell Erik anything about the real state of the world or that he is a seraphim.
But all Erik wants is to be free from his confines in the palace and to be with Nehemiah, and to save the world when he witnesses its suffering.
Throw in some time travel, monsters, and the Adversary, and humanity seems to have always been on the brink of extinction, but no matter what, Erik loves Nehemiah and Nehemiah loves Erik and I love this series so much and I am OBSESSED!
(Only the 1st book seems to have a physical copy but the whole series is on Kindle Unlimited which is handy because there are so many real life place names that I kept having to look up which obviously, Kindle does a lot easier than when you’re reading an actual paper book.) (That said, the pages of book 1 are so smooth to touch which makes my autism happy and the cover is so beautiful that I’m really glad I have a physical copy of it!)