Part of The Artisan Trilogy by Stacey McEwan
First published 2027
Nina and Patrick came back to Kenton Hill with nothing. Their coalition of Craftsmen is broken. The Artisan House has seized every mining town across the Brink by force, and conditions there are worse than before the fight began. Kenton Hill is the last place the Artisan military hasn't reached, and it offers only a fragile shelter. Patrick's mother is dying from an illness she has carried for decades. The Crafter leaders who stayed behind believe Patrick abandoned them, and they want more than an apology. Nina and Patrick carry the weight of every town they couldn't protect. But the war isn't finished. The Artisans have recruited a new Alchemist to siphon idium, the source of magical power in Belavere, and that changes the shape of every battle ahead. What the Artisans don't have is Nina. Both sides make promises they cannot honor, and the cost of peace keeps rising. Not everyone in Belavere will survive long enough to see what comes after.
Genres: fiction, adventure, fantasy, young-adult, dark-fantasy, epic-fantasy
Vibes: dark, emotional, gritty, high-stakes, intense, suspenseful
Tropes: chosen-one, found-family, sacrifice-and-loss, war-torn-world
Setting: Kenton Hill, Brink, Belavere
480 pages · Hardcover · S&S/Saga Press
Content warnings: death, violence, war