The second book in a rich and fantastical coming-of-age trilogy about powerful teenagers, their dangerous (and occasionally deadly) magic school, and their wider wizarding world
The second book in a rich and fantastical coming-of-age trilogy about powerful teenagers, their dangerous (and occasionally deadly) magic school, and their wider wizarding world, woven through with themes of societal inequality, the power of friendship, and the importance of questioning and challenging the status quo.
Elle is gifted with an incredibly deadly and destructive 'affinity' - even the simplest of household spells could twist into something cataclysmic if she's not on her guard. Elle knows what might happen if she ever gave into using the wrong kind of magic. A prophecy claimed she would cause the downfall of wizarding society as they know it, and so she has fought against her dark affinity all her life.
And outside the school's walls, not all is as it seems. A terrible secret festers at the heart of wizarding society and Elle will have to find people she can trust and embrace her powers - maybe even her dark affinity - in an attempt to set things right and save her world.
About the Author
Naomi Novik is the acclaimed author of the Temeraire series and the multiple award-winning Uprooted. She has been nominated for the Hugo Award and has won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, as well as the Locus Award for Best New Writer and the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel. She is also the author of the graphic novel Will Supervillains Be on the Final?
Fascinated with both history and legends, Novik is a first-generation American raised on Polish fairy tales and stories of Baba Yaga. Her own adventures include pillaging degrees in English literature and computer science from various ivory towers, designing computer games, and helping to build the Archive of Our Own for fanfiction and other fanworks. Novik is a co-founder of the Organization for Transformative Works.
She lives in New York City with husband and Hard Case Crime founder Charles Ardai and their daughter, Evidence, surrounded by an excessive number of purring computers.
