What Wakes the Bells
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Inspired by an ominous Prague legend, What Wakes the Bells is a lavish gothic fantasy by debut author Elle Tesch that is perfect for fans of Adalyn Grace, Margaret Rogerson, and V.E. Schwab.
Built by long-gone Saints, the city of Vaiwyn lives and breathes and bleeds. As a Keeper, Mina knows better than most what her care of Vaiwyn’s bells means for the sentient city. It’s the Strauss family’s thousand-year legacy—prevent the Vespers from ringing, or they will awake a slumbering evil.
One afternoon, to Mina's horror, her bell peals thirteen times, shattering the city’s tenuous peace. With so much of the city's history and lore lost in a long-ago disaster, no one knows the danger that has been unleashed—until the city begins to fight back. As the sun sets, stone gargoyles and bronze statues tear away from their buildings and plinths to hunt people through the streets. Trapped in Mina’s bell, the soul of a twisted and power-hungry Saint festered. Now free of his prison, he hides behind the face of one of Vaiwyn’s citizens, corrupting the city and turning it on itself.
As the death toll rises, the only chance Mina has to stop the destruction and horrific killings is finding and destroying the Saint’s host. Everyone is a suspect, including Mina's closest loved ones. She will have to decide how far she’ll go to save her city—and who she’s willing to kill to do it.
Also by Elle Tesch
The Hanging Bones
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After her father's death, 18-year-old Mina Strauss, reeling from grief, is forced to take on the mantle as a bell keeper of the sentient city of Vaiwyn before she's ready. The importance of her position can be overwhelming: if keepers do not cut the perpetually regrowing clappers of their bells, their ringing will reawaken a slumbering evil. Then one day, despite careful maintenance, her bell rings anyway, and Vaiwyn turns against its people. Stone gargoyles and bronze statues throughout the city come to life to hunt citizens, buildings morph to trap inhabitants inside, and the disease that killed her father begins running rampant. Now, Mina; her boyfriend, Max; and the other Keepers—including her often cruel and overbearing mother—must uncover the truth behind what slept beneath the city and how to stop it before Vaiwyn destroys itself. Tesch's debut is rife with imaginative worldbuilding that renders Vaiwyn with as much humanity as headstrong and likable Mina. While the novel's denouement retreads well-worn tropes, there is much to love in this inventive adventure, including the clever setting, ominous atmosphere, and complex character relationships. The protagonists cue as white. Ages 13–up.
