Faith and Moonlight continues as an unapologetic out and out serial storyline. Kay did what she had to for her place in the Faith school for Razors. Sleepwalking, nightmare-ridden, all but abandoned by her beloved Roan, can Kay control the dark power rising within her?
Echoes of the Ascended
It’s Echoes of the Ascended day again today in Bite-sized Books. Faith and Moonlight is the last of the 4 strands, where teenage orphans Roan and Kay fight to claim their place within an elite Razor school. Everything Mark Gelineau & Joe King have learnt about serial publishing comes together here in a highly successful instalment.
Justicar Daxton Ellis wants to bring the king’s justice to Lowside. The Chancellor and the First Shield – Dax’s father and brother – are determined to bring Lowside’s crime kingpin, Pious Black, to heel. Once again, Dax is going to have to choose between his family and his loyalty to Alys – but when nobody is telling him the truth, how can he decide?
Alys trades in secrets. Beholden to no-one, she’s respected by Lowside criminals and handy in a dirty fight. Her former lover Dax, a blue-blooded magistrate, is drawn back to Lowside when a noble girl is found dead on the docks. Can they set aside their past to hunt down the killer?
Ferran, Mireia and Riffolk are called into the snowy mountains, chasing Mireia’s visions of a darkness at work. When they find a mining village deserted except for a woman in a crow’s cage, they venture into the depths in search of survivors – and find an older evil than they have ever faced before.
I’ll be revisiting the Echoes of the Ascended novellae regularly in Bite-sized Books (not least because there’s a new one every month, and I’m still playing catch up). A new perspective on Aedaron, with a new hero and a new tone. Rend the Dark shifts to horror as Ferran hunts the Dark that walks in human skin.
Elinor and Con are about to be reminded that corruption is a way of life in the Marches. Already in disgrace, Elinor will have to choose between risking the lives of her engineers or leaving another Reaper’s squad in the hands of a murderous upstart. When honour is for sale, how can she determine what is right?
If the goal of a short story is to leave you wanting more, A Reaper of Stone is a stunning success.
Elinor is the King’s Reaper, duty-bound to demolish the ancient keeps of the marches to prevent them falling into hostile hands. When the Lady of Timberline dies, Elinor is sucked into the vicious politics of Resa’s grasping nobility. Will she confirm the new Lord who seeks the title, or investigate the Lady’s unexpected death?
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