Mage’s Blood

After the mage Antonin Meiros created the 300-mile-long Leviathan Bridge, which appears every 13 years at the Moontide, the formerly isolated continents of wealthy Yuros (modeled on Europe) and impoverished Antipoia (modeled on India and the Middle East) have interacted through both trade and two bloody crusades, led by Yuros magi who want to conquer Antipoia. As the next Moontide and crusade approach, turmoil abounds. A famous artifact used to create new mages is missing, and it falls on shunned mage student Alaron Mercer to find it. When the Ankesharan ruling family faces extermination, the mage Elena Anborn, once the family’s enemy, becomes their strongest defender. And Meiros has bought an Antipoian wife, Ramita, hoping their children will bring peace—but her lover, Kazim, wants Meiros dead. This multilayered beginning to the Moontide Quartet plunges readers into a taut network of intrigue and mystery that tightens with each chapter. Hair portrays a stark and beautiful world breaking apart, with both good and evil characters desperate to reshape it through magic, war, and treachery. This strong debut should draw in fantasy readers of all stripes. (Sept.)