Foul Days
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4.8 • 6 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The Witcher meets Naomi Novik in this fast-paced fantasy rooted in Slavic folklore, from an assured new voice in genre fiction.
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As a witch in the walled city of Chernograd, Kosara has plenty of practice treating lycanthrope bites, bargaining with kikimoras, and slaying bloodsucking upirs. There’s only one monster she can’t defeat: her ex, the Zmey, known as the Tsar of Monsters. She’s defied him one too many times and now he’s hunting her. Betrayed by someone close to her, Kosara’s only choice is to trade her shadow—the source of her powers—for a quick escape.
Unfortunately, Kosara soon develops the deadly sickness that plagues shadowless witches—and only reclaiming her magic can cure her. To find it, she’s forced to team up with a suspiciously honorable detective. Even worse, all the clues point in a single direction: To get her shadow back, Kosara will have to face the Foul Days’ biggest threats without it. And she’s only got twelve days.
But in a city where everyone is out for themselves, who can Kosara trust to assist her in outwitting the biggest monster from her past?
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Immerse yourself in the magic of Slavic folklore with this thrilling, fantastical tale of a morally challenged witch seeking her lost powers while dodging her monstrous former lover. During the twelve Foul Days, monsters have easy access to the magical city of Chernograd—which puts the witch Kosara within reach of her former paramour Zmey, the Tsar of Monsters, who will stop at nothing to get her back. So she accepts a last-ditch bargain with a stranger, who offers to transport her across the Wall to the nonmagical city of Belograd in exchange for her shadow, the source of all her magic. Unfortunately, giving up her shadow makes Kosara fatally ill. Worse still, the stranger who took her shadow is suddenly nowhere to be found. Bulgarian author Genoveva Dimova mixes intriguing world-building, an entertaining team-up with an attractive cop, gripping action sequences, and Kosara’s deeply personal reckoning with her troubled past to keep us turning pages.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dimova dazzles in her immersive fantasy debut. Kosara is a fire witch living in the walled city of Chernograd. Each year during the Foul Days, the 12 days after New Year's Day, the city is plagued by attacks from terrifying folkloric monsters, among them Kosara's ex, the Zmey, the "Tsar of Monsters," who has hunted her since she left him seven years ago. Kosara loses her magical powers when she trades her shadow to a mysterious stranger in exchange for help crossing Chernograd's Wall into the safety and opulence of Belograd. But witches who have lost their shadows eventually fade away until they are mere shadows themselves, and as Kosara begins ailing, she wonders if the trade was worth it. To retrieve her shadow and reclaim her magic, she reluctantly teams up with Asen, a by the book Belogradean cop, who's investigating the murder of the man who smuggled Kosara into the city. It soon becomes clear that the Zmey has gotten his hands on Kosara's shadow. As Kosara's time winds down, she'll have to face the literal and metaphorical demons of her past. Dimova's atmospheric worldbuilding and well-shaded cast make it easy to sink into this fantasy adventure. Kosara is especially vividly rendered and her witty narrative voice is sure to get readers on her side. This is a standout.
