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Ashael is a hunter-gatherer woman, apprenticed to Bhearra, the healer and spiritual leader of their tribe.
The Zanthar are invaders from another world who extend their own lives by stealing the life-force of everything around them. They were last seen on KalaDene 200 years ago. They have returned, looking for The Vessel, a being prophesied to hold the life-force of the land.
Iwan is a slave to the Zanthar, descendant of those taken as slaves the last time the Zanthar visited this world. He is sent out as a spy, while his mother is held hostage to ensure his compliance.
When Ashael meets Iwan in the forest, neither realise that she is the one the Zanthar are looking for. The fate of KalaDene and all of its people rests on her shoulders.
A strong debut that builds on traditional fantasy... fresh, exciting, and interesting - Alex S Bradshaw, BFS Indie Reviews
A wonderfully constructed novel, epic world building and a fantastic story ... what more can I say? - Peter Hutchinson, TheGrimDarkFiles
"Ashael Rising is an exciting high fantasy debut, with intriguing characters and excellent world building - an easy choice if you love fantasy!" - Sarina Langer, author of the Relics of Ar'Zac series
"This is a strong debut novel and the start of a new series. Kinsella has a sparse writing style that will not satisfy anyone who's after a wordy Hardy or Tolkien-alike and allows the more foolish of us to make some assumptions about this new universe. However, the prose flowed well enough to get me over my initial, jaded assumptions without much work and it is most definitely worth the time. This is not just a faux-medieval fantasy, but a stone-age people dealing with a much more advanced group of returning oppressors - who may be significantly beyond medieval if the series follows the potential "sword and planet" route rather than appearance of "sword and sorcery". Better still, the heroine turns out to be the shaman who rescues herself rather than the princess who waits in the castle." - Jo Thomas, author of 25 Ways to Kill a Werewolf
"Refreshingly original, intense and exciting, Shona Kinsella's Ashael Rising is an impressive debut from a wonderful new voice in fantasy fiction." - Michael Rowley, Fiction Editor and Former Editorial Director of Del Rey UK
Genre: Fantasy
The Zanthar are invaders from another world who extend their own lives by stealing the life-force of everything around them. They were last seen on KalaDene 200 years ago. They have returned, looking for The Vessel, a being prophesied to hold the life-force of the land.
Iwan is a slave to the Zanthar, descendant of those taken as slaves the last time the Zanthar visited this world. He is sent out as a spy, while his mother is held hostage to ensure his compliance.
When Ashael meets Iwan in the forest, neither realise that she is the one the Zanthar are looking for. The fate of KalaDene and all of its people rests on her shoulders.
A strong debut that builds on traditional fantasy... fresh, exciting, and interesting - Alex S Bradshaw, BFS Indie Reviews
A wonderfully constructed novel, epic world building and a fantastic story ... what more can I say? - Peter Hutchinson, TheGrimDarkFiles
"Ashael Rising is an exciting high fantasy debut, with intriguing characters and excellent world building - an easy choice if you love fantasy!" - Sarina Langer, author of the Relics of Ar'Zac series
"This is a strong debut novel and the start of a new series. Kinsella has a sparse writing style that will not satisfy anyone who's after a wordy Hardy or Tolkien-alike and allows the more foolish of us to make some assumptions about this new universe. However, the prose flowed well enough to get me over my initial, jaded assumptions without much work and it is most definitely worth the time. This is not just a faux-medieval fantasy, but a stone-age people dealing with a much more advanced group of returning oppressors - who may be significantly beyond medieval if the series follows the potential "sword and planet" route rather than appearance of "sword and sorcery". Better still, the heroine turns out to be the shaman who rescues herself rather than the princess who waits in the castle." - Jo Thomas, author of 25 Ways to Kill a Werewolf
"Refreshingly original, intense and exciting, Shona Kinsella's Ashael Rising is an impressive debut from a wonderful new voice in fantasy fiction." - Michael Rowley, Fiction Editor and Former Editorial Director of Del Rey UK
Genre: Fantasy
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