Thornlost

Rawn follows Touchstone and Elsewhens with an immersive, satisfying, and creative third tale of magical Renaissance theater. Cayden Silversun is the tregetour (wizard playwright) of the controversial and creative Touchstone theater company. For better and worse, the company has attracted the attention of powerful nobles, as well as rival troupes. Plots and schemes abound, from an archduke and an unpleasant theater troupe using magic to spread intolerance to a foreign princess trying to advance the rights of women, but in a smart move, Rawn makes the most important conflict of the story far more simple and personal: Cade is desperate to save his best friend, Mieka, the troupe’s illusionist, from a prophesied future of total self-destruction. Rawn’s characters are so intimately involved with their world that their new innovations in illusion seem as natural and exciting as the intrigues they’re swept up in. Despite looming issues of class differences, bigotry, and addiction, at heart, the Touchstone players just want to stay together and make great art. Agent: Russ Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh. (Apr.)