Seraphine’s Chosen Book #1
Epic Science Fantasy – March 21, 2023
The chaotic crew of heisting misfits in Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows meets the familiar yet fantastical, modern landscape found in Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Stairs.
In a fractured fantasy world advancing into the future, technology has replaced most of what’s left of the magic that once brightened its dark corners. Now with darkness looming over the horizon once again, Noa, a killer-for-hire, has been charged with unlocking the special vault that can bring magic back. The catch? There are thirteen keys scattered throughout the world that she’ll have an easier time stealing than convincing everyone she’s worthy of the task.
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Synopsis
“The thirteen emblems given to the original rulers weren’t just symbols. They’re keys to the Vault—one that no one’s ever opened.”
Noa has lived her life as an unsuspecting, ID-burning, face in the crowd that disposes of “problems” for her miscellaneous, secretive employers. So, when Noa’s surrogate father—a Seer—hands her a long-lost emblem, telling her with his dying breath that it’s her responsibility to reignite magic, she laughs at the idea that the fate of their world rests on the shoulders of a killer. Instead, she uses his words and the key he gave her as an excuse to go on one final suicide mission to seek out the power supposedly waiting for her to annihilate his murderer.
Prince Glacier Caelius has lived his life trapped inside a gilded cage, pushed down by the ever-present threat of death as the bastard son of Amarais’s late king. But when the rebels attack during a nationalist party, Glacier’s rescued by none other than Noa and her merry band of thieves, who are scrambling to salvage a failed attempt at stealing his country’s emblem: the Soul of Amarais. When the dust settles, he’s the only person left alive to unlock the palace vault and give the Soul to Noa in exchange for saving his life.
Well, once they’re able to formulate a plan to take the palace back.
Struggling with their tentative, newfound freedom, Noa and Glacier must learn to work together to survive the urban landscape of Avaria’s greatest cities fortified by technology in the wake of dwindling magic. The goal: steal as many keys as they can before their pasts catch up. But the further they go, the more they realize that something worse may be lurking on the horizon, and they may very well be the only ones able to stop it.
Content Warnings
This story contains: alcohol, anxiety, blood, childhood trauma, death, depression, discrimination, mention of drug use, emotional abuse, gore, grief, loss, manipulation, murder, parental neglect, physical abuse, suicidal thoughts, violence, and mention of vomiting.
Representation
POV characters: Bi main character with PTSD and hydrophobia; ace (sex-neutral) main character/love interest with depression (and possible autism); bi and pan polyamorous characters (temporarily separated and later looking for their third); lesbian character with a missing arm birth defect (using a cybernetic prosthetic).
*Please note that not all representation listed here will be explicitly mentioned. It may be inferred, not completely obvious, or detailed in a later installment in the series.