ARC Review: Moonlight & Mechanicals by Cindy Spencer Paper (Gaslight Chronicles #4)

Website | Goodreads 
Publication Date: October 2012
Publisher: Carina Press
ISBN: -
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Steampunk
Source: Netgalley
Lootability: ***

London, 1859
Engineer Winifred "Wink" Hadrian has been in love with Inspector Liam McCullough for years, but is beginning to lose hope when he swears to be a lifelong bachelor. Faced with a proposal from a Knight of the Round Table and one of her closest friends, Wink reluctantly agrees to consider him instead.
Because of his dark werewolf past, Liam tries to keep his distance, but can't say no when Wink asks him to help find her friend's missing son. They soon discover that London's poorest are disappearing at an alarming rate, after encounters with mysterious "mechanical" men. Even more alarming is the connection the missing people may have with a conspiracy against the Queen.
Fighting against time—and their escalating feelings for each other—Wink and Liam must work together to find the missing people and save the monarchy before it's too late...

About the Book

The Gaslight Chronicles are a series of (steamy) steampunk novels about finding love while keeping the supernatural aspects of life under control.
In Moonlight & Mechanicals little Wink Hadrian steps up to play. Now 24 years old and employed as an engineer for the Order (of the Round Table), Wink delights in a chance to aid the Knights, including her foster brother Tom and his best friend Connor. Better yet is Wink’s latest mission, searching for people missing from the poor areas of London, which has given her a chance to work alongside Liam McCullough, the sexy werewolf Inspector she has been in love with since he saved her life eight years ago.

ARC Review: Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder

Website | Goodreads
Publication Date: December 18th, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
ISBN: 0778314189
Age Group: Young/New Adult
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
Source: Provided by the publisher through NetGalley
Lootability: ****
Buy the Book

Hunted, Killed—Survived?
As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avry of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of her friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomanical King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avry is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confident, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.
Though she should be in hiding, Avry will do whatever she can to support Tohon’s opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon’s most horrible creations yet; an army of the walking dead—human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat.
War is coming and Avry is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible ... again.

About the book – beware, spoilers from Touch of Power

Scent of Magic is the second book in Maria V. Snyder’s  Healer series. Avry, the last healer in the Fifteen Realms, was kidnapped and forced into service in order to save Prince Rynn – except, somewhere along the way Avry and her kidnappers formed a comradery and Avry volunteered her healing powers in an effort to save her world.

ARC Review: Renegade by J.A Souders

Website | Goodreads
Publication Date: November 13th 2012
Publisher: Tor Teen
ISBN: 0765332450
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction / Dystopian
Source: Provided by the Tor Teen
Lootability: ***
Buy the Book

Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.
But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. 
Her memories have been altered. 
Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. 
And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.
Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all

About the Book Renegade is the troubling story of Evie, Daughter of the People, as her world crumbles around her. Evie lives in Elysium, an underwater Utopia where a lucky few were chosen to escape from the violence and destruction of the Surface World. She is the adopted daughter of Mother, the revered wise woman who rescued the people of Elysium and now rules over them. She governs who may Couple (marry and breed), allocates designations (jobs) and keeps the city running, with a nearly perfect genetic population. "My life is just about perfect."

30 Days of Books: Day Two

30 Days of Books

Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!) 

Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were 

reading and talking about

Definitely Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books! I'm reading them atm and having a blast. It's too clever for me by far but I enjoy it nonetheless! Thursday is a fun character on a great adventure and it's almost too much to bear!

Day 03 – The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 – A book or series you hate
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 – Best scene ever
Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 – A book that disappointed you
Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve watched more than five times
Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 – Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
Day 15 – Your “comfort” book
Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
 Day 20 – Favorite kiss
Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 – Most annoying character ever
Day 24 – Best quote from a novel
Day 25 – Any five books from your “to be read” stack
Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 – What book are you reading right now? 

Dust blog tour: Devon Ashley's top 10 book picks

Welcome to the next stop on the Dust blog tour! Check out Devon Ashley’s Top Ten Childhood Book Picks and come back on the 21st for my review of the first book in Devon’s exciting new Dust and Darkness trilogy.

Here's a list of some of my favorite books from childhood! All right, I grew up in the 80s so some of these may be waaaay out there! No judging!

1. Anything R.L. Stine: I lived for these thrillers as a young teen, but even then I could figure out the ending by a quarter way through.
2. Choose Your Own Adventure: All right, I don't recall the stories being that great, but the concept of getting to choose my own path in the story...too cool.
3. Trixie Beldon: Kinda like a younger Nancy Drew, which I eventually advanced to. :)
4. Garfield: Of course...everyone read the kazillion books out there about the fat, lazy, lasagna-eating tabby.
5. Bernstein Bears: Never ready anything by Dr. Seuss...go figure! But I loved this bear family.
6. Where the Sidewalk Ends: Some of the best poems ever! LOL. I still remember some of those.
7. More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Can't tell you how many times me and my friends checked this book out of the library. It's just filled with those creepy urban legend stories perfect for freaking out your companions.
8. The Baby-Sitter's Club. Yep...read all those too.


Hmm....I'm not really sure what I read as a really young child, cause my memories are pretty much AWOL on that time. :) For you 80s kids out there, what am I forgetting to mention?

From Raiding Bookshelves: I’m a child of the 90s myself, but I’m going to make a few suggestions. I had a few beloved books from my Mother’s childhood that some of you will know pretty well.
Anything from Enid Blyton (but especially the Far Away Tree books), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, The Finches’ Fabulous Furnace by Roger Wolcott Drury and Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery are all beloved childhood favourites that transcend generations.

30 Days of Books: Day One

30 Days of Books

Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!) 

That's definitely a hard one. I love books so much that I never want any of them to end. I'm tempted to say Juliet Marillier because she is my favourite author(ess) but she hasn't disappointed us by stopping her Sevenwaters but I guess I'd like to see more of her young-adult novels after reading Wildwood Dancing and Cybele's Secret. 

That said I think I'm leaning towards Tamora Pierces Trickster series, with Tricksters Choice and Tricksters Queen.

For a series that has gone on much too long I'm tossing up between a few again. There was one I read in high school that I can't remember the name of for the life of me, though I can picture the covers. Seven books of the same thing. If I remember what it was then I will come back and edit this entry.

I'll have to go with the Ellie Chronicles. I loved the Tomorrow series, and though they almost went on too long, Marsden managed to make them enjoyable, interesting and new. The Ellie Chronicles was a little too much for me.

EDIT: I found the series that I hated. I typed the words "fantasy, series, crown" into Google and it came up as the first result. Who doesn't love Google? It was Crown of Stars by Kate Elliot. I'm not saying they were bad books but I just didn't enjoy them. Elliot was striving too hard to create her own LotRs and unlike Terry Brooks didn't manage it. She seemed very repetitive, but that's just from memory. I'll re-read them one day if I can get my hands on them. But for now, that's the series that went far too long.

Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 – The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 – A book or series you hate
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 – Best scene ever
Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 – A book that disappointed you
Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve watched more than five times
Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 – Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
Day 15 – Your “comfort” book
Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
 Day 20 – Favorite kiss
Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 – Most annoying character ever
Day 24 – Best quote from a novel
Day 25 – Any five books from your “to be read” stack
Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 – What book are you reading right now?

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: July 15th 2001
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
ISBN:  034073356X
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Literature/Adventure/Crime
Source: My beloved bookshelf
Lootability: *****

There is another 1985, where London's criminal gangs have moved into the lucrative literary market, and Thursday Next is on the trail of the new crime wave's Mr Big.
Acheron Hades has been kidnapping characters from works of fiction and holding them to ransom. Jane Eyre is gone. Missing.Thursday sets out to find a way into the book to repair the damage. But solving crimes against literature isn't easy when you also have to find time to halt the Crimean War, persuade the man you love to marry you, and figure out who really wrote Shakespeare's plays.Perhaps today just isn't going to be Thursday's day. Join her on a truly breathtaking adventure, and find out for yourself. Fiction will never be the same again... 

Jasper Fforde has made the world of literary classics into an intriguing and fascinating world of mystery and conflict. With Baconian’s and Oxford supporters promoting the ‘true’ author of Shakespeares plays, SpecOps fighting werewolves and a super-villain who can’t be caught on film, Fforde creates a literary world surrounding LitTech Thursday Next’s adventures.

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: 1999
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN:  0330361937
Age Group: Adult/Young Adult (Mature content)
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Source: My bookshelf
Lootability: *****

To reclaim the lives of her brothers, Sorcha leaves the only safe place she has ever known and embarks on a journey filled with pain, loss and terror. When she is kidnapped by enemy forces and taken to a foreign land, it seems that there will be no way for Sorcha to break the spell that condemns all that she loves. But magic knows no boundaries, and Sorcha will have to choose between the life she has always known and a love that comes only once.

The first book of, in my opinion, Australia’s best fantasy author, Daughter of the Forest is a brilliant start. Marillier published her first book, in her later years, and since it broke through has undertaken the time and effort to research another 11 novels. 

Author Interview: Kristen Callihan

Kristen Callihan is a child of the 80’s, which means she's worn neon skirts, black-lace gloves, and combat boots (although never all at once) and can quote John Hughes movies with the best of them. A life long daydreamer, she finally realized that the characters in her head needed a proper home and thus hit the keyboard. She believes that falling in love is one of the headiest experiences a person can have, so naturally she writes romance. Her love of superheroes, action movies, and history led her to write historical paranormals. She lives in the Washington D.C. area and, when not writing, looks after two children, one husband, and a dog — the fish can fend for themselves.

-Taken from Kristen's website

The Gathering Darkness by Leigh Bardugo

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: 7th June, 2012
Publisher: Indigo
ISBN:  1780621108 
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Source: Bookshelf
Buy the Book
Lootability: ****

The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka.
Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom’s magical elite—the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free?
The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfil her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him.
But what of Mal, Alina’s childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can’t she ever quite forget him?

For the longest time this book felt like it was the book on everyone’s lips, and it was so out of my reach! I recently decided I’m only buying books on sale (my bank account bleeds books) and since I couldn’t find it at any of my local book shops, I was going to have to wait.

Last week however, something interesting happened. I saw The Gathering Darkness on the shelf at Dymocks. Noticing it was by Leigh Bardugo (and under the impression she’d only written one book), I picked it up and…viola!

I’d been looking for Shadow and Bone, while the Australian edition was published under a different title.

Spy in the House by Y.S Lee

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: 6th April 2009
Publisher: Candlewick
ISBN:  0763640670
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Adventure
Source: Bookshelf
Buy the Book
Lootability: ****

Rescued from the gallows in 1850s London, young orphan (and thief) Mary Quinn is surprised to be offered a singular education, instruction in fine manners — and an unusual vocation. Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls is a cover for an all-female investigative unit called The Agency, and at seventeen, Mary is about to put her training to the test. Assuming the guise of a lady’s companion, she must infiltrate a rich merchant’s home in hopes of tracing his missing cargo ships. But the household is full of dangerous deceptions, and there is no one to trust — or is there? Packed with action and suspense, banter and romance, and evoking the gritty backstreets of Victorian London, this breezy mystery debuts a daring young detective who lives by her wits while uncovering secrets — including those of her own past

Victoria Simcox Interview and Giveaway

Victoria was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, to an Austrian immigrant mother, and a Dutch immigrant father. She now lives in Western Washington with her husband, Russ and their three children, Toby, Kristina, and William. Her other family members are a Chihuahua, named Pipsy and two cats, named Frodo and Fritz. Besides being an author, Victoria is a home-schooling mother of twelve years and an elementary school art teacher of eleven years. In her spare time, Victoria enjoys managing her two older children's Celtic band. She also loves writing, reading, painting watercolors, hiking, good movies, and just simply hanging out with her family and friends.

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: May 8th, 2012
Publisher: Harcourt's Children's Books
ISBN:  0547645708
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Fairytale/Romance
Source: Bookshelf
Buy the Book
Lootability: ***

It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.
When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.
The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?

A Curse As Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: March 1st, 2008
Publisher: Scholastic Inc
ISBN: 0439895766
Age Group: Young adult
Genre: Fairy tale/adventure/fantasy
Source: Library
Buy the Book
Lootability: ***

Charlotte Miller has always scoffed at talk of a curse on her family's woolen mill, which holds her beloved small town together. But after her father's death, the bad luck piles up: departing workers, impossible debts, an overbearing uncle. Then a stranger named Jack Spinner offers a tempting proposition: He can turn straw into gold thread, for the small price of her mother's ring. As Charlotte is drawn deeper into her bargains with Spinner-and a romance with the local banker-she must unravel the truth of the curse on the mill and save the community she's always called home

Blog Tour: Ordained by Devon Ashley

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: April 15th, 2012
Publisher: Smashwords
ISBN:  1461001528
Age Group: Young adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Provided by the author, through Smashwords, for an honest review
Lootability: ***

Normally, the school creates the hunters - not the monsters.
Abby Sorrensten likes to play rough. Ripping the horns off the foreheads of demons, manipulating lightning and setting things on fire with the flick of your wrist can give you a serious rush. So she probably wasn’t the best choice for the Order’s experimental training program. Thirteen years of isolation, lack of affection and a bruised and broken body from horrendous training sessions creates more than just an exceptional fighter. It creates an evil within - an evil responsible for several deaths the night she left.
Two hundred years later Abby resurfaces as the very thing the Order trained her to kill: a vampire. A mythical demon has set his sights on the school and only the ordained hunter has the powers to face it. Unbeknownst to the Order, Abby’s their precious ordained one and their only chance for survival. As much as she would love to leave them hanging, she’s not willing to risk the life of Emily, a fellow friend and hunter also fed up with the organization. 
But for Abby, locking herself away in a fortress with angry descendents of those she killed causes suspicions and tensions to run high. Abby must learn the demon’s weaknesses for battle before the Order learns hers.

Thanks for stopping past Raiding Bookshelves, for my part in Devon Ashley's Ordained blog tour. Don't forget to head over to Devon's blog for your chance to win some cool Ordained goodies.
Ordained is the story of Abby, kick ass vampire and demon slayer, with more powers than a body could conceivably contain. As danger approaches the Order, her old training grounds, a place blacked out of her memories because of the atrocities committed against her, and by her, in her thirteen years as a student, Abby and her husband Noel are the only ones who can help.
But Abby has secrets that could put her in danger again, despite how desperately the Order needs her.

Seven Days of Austen: Emma by Jane Austen

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: Originally published 1815
Publisher: 2008, Random House
ISBN:  0099511169
Age Group: Adult/Young Adult
Genre: Classic/Romance
Source: Bookshelf
Lootability: ***

Emma is wealthy, beautiful, accomplished and a self-proclaimed matchmaker. When Emma meets Harriet Smith, a young girl of unknown parentage, Emma is convinced she can find Harriet a suitable husband. But, in her quest to find Harriet the perfect match, Emma jeopardizes Harriet's happiness and, much to her surprise, her own happiness too.

The last of my 'favourite' Austen novels, I can never really decide if I like Emma more or less than Sense and Sensibility. More, I think, probably because Emma Townsend and George Knightley are far more interesting, and possibly more dynamic than any of Austen's other romances.
George was a teenager when Emma was born and has always acted as more of a guardian than a lover, until a rival for her attentions arrives on the scene turning their lives upside down.

Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: June 26th, 2012
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN:  1455508322
Age Group: Adult (VERY ADULT)
Genre: Romance/Adventure/Erotic
Source: Digital Galley provided by Eldeweiss
Lootability: ***

A Masked Man . . . 
Winter Makepeace lives a double life. By day he's the stoic headmaster of a home for foundling children. But the night brings out a darker side of Winter. As the moon rises, so does the Ghost of St. Giles—protector, judge, fugitive. When the Ghost, beaten and wounded, is rescued by a beautiful aristocrat, Winter has no idea that his two worlds are about to collide. 
A Dangerous Woman . . . 
Lady Isabel Beckinhall enjoys nothing more than a challenge. Yet when she's asked to tutor the Home's dour manager in the ways of society— flirtation, double-entendres, and scandalous liaisons—Isabel can't help wondering why his eyes seem so familiar—and his lips so tempting. 
A Passion Neither Could Deny 
During the day Isabel and Winter engage in a battle of wills. At night their passions are revealed . . . But when little girls start disappearing from St. Giles, Winter must avenge them. For that he might have to sacrifice everything—the Home, Isabel . . . and his life.

Seven Days of Austen: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: Originally published in 1811
Publisher: 2008, Random House Publishing
ISBN:  009951155X
Age Group: Young Adult/Adult
Genre: Classic/Romance
Source: Bookshelf
Lootability: ***

Elinor is as prudent as her sister Marianne is impetuous. Both sisters must learn from the other after they are forced to leave their home and enter into the contests of polite society after the untimely death of their father. The charms of unsuitable men and the schemes of rival ladies mean that their paths to success are stocked with disappointment, but together they attempt to find a way to happiness.

7 Days of Austen: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: Originally published 1813
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
ISBN:  0679783261  
Age Group: All Ages
Genre: Classic/Romance
Source: Bookshelf
Lootability: *****


What is it about Pride and Prejudice that makes it such a successfil and romantic love story? Why do Elizabeth (Lizzy to her friends) Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy appeal to us, and make such a dynamic duo?
I first read P&P when I was fifteen and spending the last two weeks of my summer holidays trying not to look like a dunce in literature by reading classics. I expected to struggle, to miss the fantasty realms I was used to, what I didn't expect was to fall head over heels in love with this book.

Wards of Faerie by Terry Brooks

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
Publication Date: August 21st, 2012
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
ISBN:  0345523474
Age Group: Young Adult/Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Source: ARC provided by Edelweiss
Lootability: ***

When the world was young, and its name was Faerie, the power of magic ruled—and the Elfstones warded the race of Elves and their lands, keeping evil at bay. But when an Elven girl fell hopelessly in love with a Darkling boy of the Void, he carried away more than her heart. Thousands of years later, tumultuous times are upon the world now known as the Four Lands. Users of magic are in conflict with proponents of science. Elves have distanced their society from the other races. The dwindling Druid order and its teachings are threatened with extinction. A sinister politician has used treachery and murder to rise as prime minister of the mighty Federation. Meanwhile, poring through a long-forgotten diary, the young Druid Aphenglow Elessedil has stumbled upon the secret account of an Elven girl’s heartbreak and the shocking truth about the vanished Elfstones. But never has a little knowledge been so very dangerous—as Aphenglow quickly learns when she’s set upon by assassins. Yet there can be no turning back from the road to which fate has steered her. For whoever captures the Elfstones and their untold powers will surely hold the advantage in the devastating clash to come. But Aphenglow and her allies—Druids, Elves, and humans alike—remember the monstrous history of the Demon War, and they know that the Four Lands will never survive another reign of darkness. But whether they themselves can survive the attempt to stem that tide is another question entirely.