Tag: Epic fantasy

Magic of Lies: Book 1 of the Altira Series

Princess Eirian Altira has always walked on a knife’s edge with flowers chasing her footsteps. Born with magic, she struggles to balance her ability to give life with the desire to kill. Raised by mages, the day comes when she must return home to a kingdom she left as a child, and a father she has not seen in 20 years. Surrounded by a strange court with expectations she was not prepared for, Eirian hides her magic until she’s faced with the choice between becoming queen or returning to the mages.
With secrets around every corner and war with a neighboring kingdom on the horizon, Eirian discovers her power means more than she realized. As does her long-standing friendship with the crown prince of the elven nation they’ve been allied with for generations. But the whispers in her mind and the rumors spreading through her court threaten everything Eirian holds dear, and she will do anything to protect the ones she loves.
“You don’t know what I’m capable of or what I’m willing to do. Don’t underestimate me. You might regret it.”
When Eirian Altira returned home after decades away, she thought it would be a fresh start. Raised a mage in a distant city, she struggles to adjust to life as a princess in a court where magic is undesired. Caught between two thrones, she knows where her duty lies. With assassination attempts, and rumors of war, Eirian proves to those around her that she is not one to hide from confrontation. Even when it risks her life.
Torn between her love for a man sent far from her side, her attraction to the captain of her guards, and the best friend she has always needed, Eirian refuses to bow to the demands of her advisors. Determined to be the queen her kingdom needs her to be in the face of war, Eirian seeks the truth behind who she is and why the enigmatic land they have never had dealings with is seeking an alliance. But the answer may not be what she expected, and the repercussions could cost her the very throne she must defend.

Book Reviews

Secrets of the Sorcery War: Ruarnon Trilogy, Book 2

Secrets lie across the seas.
Heir Ruarnon seeks allies to free their parents from unpredictable sorcerer-king Nartzeer. The reclusive Urai are not who they had in mind but can offer far more than Ruarnon anticipates. However, negotiations are interrupted when Nartzeer’s murderous grey-hided damars are sighted sailing towards Tarlah.
The damars’ human handlers are lost Aussie Linh’s chance to confirm that her gateway home —and sorcerers able (and hopefully willing) to operate it— lie in the dangerous West.
When Linh sets sail to confront the handlers, she learns that magic is very much still wielded on Umarinaris. That some of the Sorcery War’s deadliest weapons survived. And that Nartzeer somehow knows all of this, and has his own plans for those weapons.
But is Nartzeer the villain everyone in the East believes? What do his fleets truly seek in the Eastern Seas? And why have the damars become so formidable that they threaten to sink Ruarnon’s ship and overrun all of Ruarnon’s potential allies?

Book Reviews

Test of the Four: Book Two of the Serrulata Saga

“Outside the Realm, everything is unknown.”
Having paid a high price to pass through the Border, the Four depart the only lands they’ve ever known. They’re faced with immediate problems and unknown dangers as they begin the perilous journey toward the fabled city of New York.
As they travel, Leora struggles to hone her powers. Roland and Aurora attempt to explore their new romantic relationship, and Leopold battles with his inner demons.
Meanwhile, all is not right within the Realm. The young sovereign continues to wield his new powers erratically, threatening the lives of every citizen. Now, several members of the gentry must navigate through the chaos to protect their homes and families.
Can the Four survive their journey? And if they do, will there be a Realm for them to return to?

Book Reviews

Rebellion is Due: Ruarnon Trilogy Prequel

Everywhere he looks, 15-year-old Urmllian sees his people suffering under brutal foreign occupation. High taxes drive poverty and malnutrition, while the execution of anyone suspected of resistance has the people of Tarlah on their knees. Urmilian longs to join his father’s uprising and free his people, despite father’s orders to protect the family home. When occupying soldiers turn on the Tarlahans, Urmilian’s younger brother calls for aid. But the streets are filling with soldiers. If Urmilian doesn’t help cut them off, the city will be overrun. So he risks both their lives by abandoning his household’s defence and joining his older sister on the front line.
An action-packed YA Fantasy short story (7500 words), set before Manipulator’s War.

Book Reviews

The Rarkyn’s Familiar

An orphan bent on revenge. A monster searching for freedom. A forbidden pact that binds their fates.
Lyss had heard her father’s screams, smelled the iron-tang of his blood. She witnessed his execution.
And plotted her revenge.
Then, a violent encounter traps Lyss in a blood-pact with a rarkyn from the otherworld, imbuing her with the monster’s forbidden magic—a magic that will erode her sanity.
To break the pact, she and the rarkyn must journey to the heart of the Empire. All that stands in their way are the mountains, the Empire’s soldiers, and Lyss’ uneasy alliance with the rarkyn.
But horrors await them on the road—horrors that even rarkyns fear. The most terrifying monster isn’t the one Lyss travels with.
It’s the one that’s awoken inside her.
Monsters of a feather flock together.

Book Reviews

Gathering of the Four: Book One of the Serrulata Saga

One peasant woman will be the catalyst for a revolution.
“In the Realm, every citizen knows their place.”
Leora of Mae is a young woman orphaned at birth and raised on a remote farm. As a wielder of Xanthcraft, her abilities set her apart from her adoptive family and the other villagers.
Shortly before her twentieth birthday, she learns of her family’s plot to sell her into servitude. Fearing for her life, she flees from the only home she’s ever known—defying societal conventions and breaking the edicts of the Realm.
As she runs, Leora meets Roland Shallowbrook, a traveler on the Thieves’ Road; Lady Aurora Verte, daughter of a powerful member of the gentry; and the White Rider Leopold, a soldier with a secret.
Together, this found family will have to band together to survive.