Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Sarah Beth Durst is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Spellshop, as well as over twenty-five fantasy books for adults, teens, and kids, including the Queens of Renthia series, Drink Slay Love, and Spark. She has won an American Library Association Alex Award and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for the Andre Norton Nebula Award three times. She lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her children, and her ill-mannered cat.From the bestselling author of The Spellshop comes the award-winning first book in an adult epic fantasy series of malevolent nature spirits, a young woman’s uncertain destiny, a deadly competition, and family found along the way—available in trade paperback for the first time.
Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . .
Only those spirits want to kill you.
It’s the first lesson that every Renthian learns.
What is a queen?
In Renthia, the queen is the one human with enough magical power to prevent the spirits from destroying every man, woman, and child. For the very spirits the humans rely on to live—wood, earth, water, air, fire, and ice—at the same time possess an instinctual drive to exterminate them. The queen is chosen for her ability to control the spirits, but she is also mortal, so to ensure the humans’ survival, potential heirs to the queen’s role are rigorously trained to take her place. And there is concern that Fara, the current queen, is weakening.
What is a champion?
With the stakes literally life and death, competition at the academy is fierce and demanding. Years ago, spirits slaughtered almost everyone in her village until young Daleina was able to drive them off with power she didn’t know she possessed. Now struggling to equal the magical strength of her fellow trainees at the academy, she comes under the tutelage of a disgraced champion, Ven, who has spent his exile secretly fighting against the growing number of spirit attacks, and the mysterious healer Hamon.
What is a family?
Joining forces, they embark on a treacherous quest to find the source of the spirits’ restlessness—a journey that will test their courage and trust, and force them to stand together against both enemies and friends to save their land…before it’s bathed in blood.
An idealistic young student and a banished warrior become allies in a battle to save their realm in this first volume of a mesmerizing new epic fantasy series filled with political intrigue, violent magic, malevolent spirits, and thrilling adventure
Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . .
But the spirits that reside within this land want to rid it of all humans. One woman stands between these malevolent spirits and the end of humankind: the queen. She alone has the magical power to prevent the spirits from destroying every man, woman, and child. But queens are still only human, and no matter how strong or good they are, the threat of danger always looms.
Because the queen’s position is so precarious, young women are specially chosen to train as her heirs. Daleina, a seemingly quiet academy student, is under no illusions as to her claim to the throne, but simply wants to right the wrongs that have befallen the land. Meanwhile, the disgraced champion Ven has spent his exile secretly fighting against the growing number of spirit attacks. When Daleina and Ven join forces, these daring partners embark on a treacherous quest to find the source of the spirits’ restlessness—a journey that will test their courage and trust, and force them to stand against both enemies and friends to save their land . . .before it’s bathed in blood.