This Dark Descent

Seventeen-year-old Mikira is a talented horse jockey and scion of a renowned family of enchanted equine breeders whose fortunes have declined since attracting the ire of cruel Lord Rezek Kelbra. When Rezek discovers that Mikira’s father is an unlicensed enchanter, the lord sets an ultimatum: win the Illinir, a series of deadly races, on an unenchanted horse, or forfeit her father and the family business. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Arielle, also an unlicensed enchanter, hides a secret—she can create golems, powerful creatures from a forbidden magical tradition whose enchantments can go undetected. The girls’ paths collide when Lord Damien Adair, the youngest son of an upstart noble house, approaches them with a plan to win the Illinir, taking his own revenge on house Kelbra in the process. Josephson (The Crow Rider) merges grounded magical lore with electromechanical technology to develop a grim and corruptly governed city populated by morally ambiguous characters. Via Mikira and Arielle’s witty alternating perspectives, Josephson presents them as ever-evolving figures with interestingly complementary approaches to the world and the circumstances they find themselves in. Jewish folklore involving golems and dybbuks is woven throughout, and Jewish history strongly informs the backstory of this fantasy world’s people. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)