There’s still too much work to be done, too many battles to be won. Leo Ravence is not ready to give up the crown. With the coronation only weeks away, she must learn quickly or lose her kingdom. She only lacks one thing: the ability to hold Fire. Trained since birth in statecraft, warfare, and the desert ways, Elena knows she is ready. But when Yassen seeks refuge with an old friend, he’s offered an irresistible deal: defend the heir of Ravence from the Arohassin, and earn his freedom.Įlena Ravence prepares to ascend the throne. Now, he’s on the run from the authorities and his former employer. Yassen Knight was the Arohassin’s most notorious assassin until a horrible accident. The Boy with Fire (The Ravence Trilogy #1) by Aparna Vermaĭune meets The Poppy War in Aparna Verma’s The Boy with Fire, a glorious yet brutal tour-de-force debut that grapples with the power and manipulation of myth in an Indian-inspired epic fantasy. You can read my review here, or you can skip it, but either way In The Watchful City is genuinely a must-read. It’s gorgeous and strange and utterly wonderful.

Definitely one of the best of 2021 – possibly even of the new decade. I got to read this early, and it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve read in years. As Anima’s world expands beyond the borders of Ora to places-and possibilities-æ never before imagined to exist, æ finds ærself asking a question that throws into doubt ær entire purpose: What good is a city if it can’t protect its people? Although ær world is restricted to what æ can see and experience through the Gleaming, Anima takes pride and comfort in keeping Ora safe from all harm.Īll that changes when a mysterious visitor enters the city carrying a cabinet of curiosities from around the world, with a story attached to each item. Anima is one of the cloistered extrasensory humans tasked with watching over Ora's citizens. The city of Ora uses a complex living network called the Gleaming to surveil its inhabitants and maintain harmony. In the Watchful City explores borders, power, diaspora, and transformation in an Asian-inspired mosaic novella that melds the futurism of Lavie Tidhar’s Central Station with the magical wonder of Catherynne M. Representation: Asian-coded cast, Nonbinary MCs who use neopronouns, disabled trans PoV character, sapphic PoV character, F/F or wlw Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy

The Flames of Albiyon by Jean Menzies