Selestra is a witch bound to the King of The Six Isles, gently she is seducing us with her story.
Word by word, one sentence at a time, revealing the elements of her life and her world. The past, the present and the future. Feeding us, the readers, one morsel at a time.
The populace are attending the Festival of Predictions to discover what their future holds - rarely is it good news.
Incorporated within the story are elements of world mythology and fairy tales. In the hall of the mountain king there is feasting and merriment before the ceremony.
Descriptive elements are scattered throughout - the devouring serpent of the King's crest (inspired by Norse/Celtic mythology) used as a symbol of death.
And so, the story continues through the ceremony, meeting additional characters. Selestra's mother Theola Somnistis (Greek/Latin word elements roughly equating to Goddess of sleep).
And still our journey through the story continues, steadily building up, until the last entrant of the ceremony. But there is something different about this one. He is a soldier, but still something different.
Tension is building up as the story progresses and so Selestra performs her ritual duty, it is not the other person's death she sees. . . but her own.
I keep scrolling to read on, but the words have run out, there is no more to read!
I want to read more.
* * * * * *
The cover is delightfully eye-catching, with the devouring snakes and broken crown overlaying the ominous aquamarine mist in the background foretelling the doom ahead.
It would definitely catch my eye in a bookshop begging me to read it.
Word by word, one sentence at a time, revealing the elements of her life and her world. The past, the present and the future. Feeding us, the readers, one morsel at a time.
The populace are attending the Festival of Predictions to discover what their future holds - rarely is it good news.
Incorporated within the story are elements of world mythology and fairy tales. In the hall of the mountain king there is feasting and merriment before the ceremony.
Descriptive elements are scattered throughout - the devouring serpent of the King's crest (inspired by Norse/Celtic mythology) used as a symbol of death.
And so, the story continues through the ceremony, meeting additional characters. Selestra's mother Theola Somnistis (Greek/Latin word elements roughly equating to Goddess of sleep).
And still our journey through the story continues, steadily building up, until the last entrant of the ceremony. But there is something different about this one. He is a soldier, but still something different.
Tension is building up as the story progresses and so Selestra performs her ritual duty, it is not the other person's death she sees. . . but her own.
I keep scrolling to read on, but the words have run out, there is no more to read!
I want to read more.
* * * * * *
The cover is delightfully eye-catching, with the devouring snakes and broken crown overlaying the ominous aquamarine mist in the background foretelling the doom ahead.
It would definitely catch my eye in a bookshop begging me to read it.