A Magic Fierce and Bright
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Jul 9, 2024
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- $13.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A young technomancer teams up with a handsome thief to save her sister in this propulsive, magic-filled young adult fantasy that is perfect for fans of Gearbreakers and Iron Widow.
Adya wants nothing more than to be left alone. Content to be loyal to no one but herself in the isolated jungles of South India, she dreams only of finding her lost sister, Priya, and making enough money to take care of their family. It’s too bad that her rare ability to wake electric machines—using the magic that wiped them out five centuries ago—also makes her a coveted political pawn. Everyone seems to believe that her technomancy can help them win the endless war for control over the magic’s supernatural source.
These senseless power struggles mean little to Adya. But when her enemies dangle news of her sister before her, she’s all too quick to leap at the chance to bring Priya home—even if it means teaming up with a rakish, disreputable thief in order to do it. With the threat of invasion looming ever larger on the horizon, Adya must reconcile the kind of person she is with the kind of person she wants to be and untangle the web of intrigue, conspiracy, and deceit that threatens to take all of India down with it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this daring steampunk fantasy from Nayak (The Ghost's Tale), set four hundred years in the future, the world's energy exists in infinite wells of swirling magic. Teenage Adya Sachdev, who can communicate with machines using that magic, lives deep in the jungle of Southern India, which is in conflict with colonizing British forces. Recently orphaned, Adya will do anything to keep her siblings alive. Adya's twin Priya, meanwhile, desires to use her own technomancy to help the maharaja defeat the British; she soon abandons the family for her cause. When Adya learns that Priya is in danger, she teams up with an enigmatic thief; the maharaja's runaway princess daughter, a sorceress; and a warlord's prized sentient motorcycle to save her sister, even if it means fighting to the death. Rushed emotional beats result in somewhat shallow character development. Nayak nevertheless weaves an intricately built setting via plentiful sensorial description and sprawling worldbuilding. Ragtag found-family dynamics, discerning dialogue, tightly constructed action sequences, and all the explosive excitement of a Mad Max film further escalate this expansive tale about the triumphant bond of sisterhood. Ages 12–up.