Memories of Ash
The Sunbolt Chronicles, Book Two
Author: Intisar Khanani
Cover Designer: Jenny Zemanek
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Release Date: May 30, 2016
Publisher: Purple Monkey Press
In the year since she cast her sunbolt, Hitomi has recovered only a handful of memories. But the truths of the past have a tendency to come calling, and an isolated mountain fastness can offer only so much shelter. When the High Council of Mages summons Brigit Stormwind to stand trial for treason, Hitomi knows her mentor won’t return—not with Arch Mage Blackflame behind the charges.
Armed only with her magic and her wits, Hitomi vows to free her mentor from unjust imprisonment. She must traverse spell-cursed lands and barren deserts, facing powerful ancient enchantments and navigating bitter enmities, as she races to reach the High Council. There, she reunites with old friends, planning a rescue equal parts magic and trickery.
If she succeeds, Hitomi will be hunted the rest of her life. If she fails, she’ll face the ultimate punishment: enslavement to the High Council, her magic slowly drained until she dies.
Link to Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17969479-memories-of-ash
Purchase Links:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Kobo
Armed only with her magic and her wits, Hitomi vows to free her mentor from unjust imprisonment. She must traverse spell-cursed lands and barren deserts, facing powerful ancient enchantments and navigating bitter enmities, as she races to reach the High Council. There, she reunites with old friends, planning a rescue equal parts magic and trickery.
If she succeeds, Hitomi will be hunted the rest of her life. If she fails, she’ll face the ultimate punishment: enslavement to the High Council, her magic slowly drained until she dies.
Link to Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17969479-memories-of-ash
Purchase Links:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Kobo
The world disappears. I’m floating, suspended in night, portals shining all around me like distant stars in foreign constellations. I find the one to Fidanya with hardly a thought. The spider-silk path between us beams bright and strong. It has obviously been traveled by more than a few mages recently. And another one about to come in after me, no doubt.
Tightening my focus, I lean forward. The magic of the portal grips me at once, pulling me along until I’m spinning through a vortex of flickering lights — doorways and their pathways racing by, perhaps even other travelers. I’ve experienced this rush before, a lifetime ago when Blackflame sent Kol and his retinue through a portal to their home. Then, it shimmered past me and I barely caught more than a flash of dizzying lights.
Now, though, I need to concentrate. The mage will likely have entered behind me. Like me, he’ll have identified which path was last used. The moment after I step out of the portal, he’ll follow me out, and I won’t be ready to defend myself. Not against a warrior trained to attack. I need to escape him before then.
As I careen forward, I widen my focus, pressing outward with my mage senses. Three more paths cross mine before my destination. The first hurtles past before I can assess it. The second is bright and shiny — but the last, to my left, glimmers pink so faintly I almost miss it. I swerve onto it with a magic-fueled leap that nearly sends me flying into darkness, the light around me devolving into tangled strands that pull at my body. My bones slam against the sack of my skin as if they might rip through.
I scream into the void, pain obliterating my concentration. Black spots streak across my vision. This is why portals are dangerous. I can feel myself sliding, the route as slippery in my mind’s grasp as fine thread.
No. I cling hard to the portal with its ancient path, push back with all my force, ignore the pain, staring wide-eyed past the darkness that blurs my sight. For a single agonizing moment, I teeter on the edge of a nightmare precipice. Then the momentum of my new direction sucks me in, steadying me as it pulls me forward into a new vortex of light twisting around me.
The open portal flashes before me. With a gasp of relief, I tumble through it. But there’s no city on the other side of this portal, no crowds to lose myself in or alleys to flee down. There is only sun and dust and the broken walls of a forgotten fortress, silent as a tomb.
Tightening my focus, I lean forward. The magic of the portal grips me at once, pulling me along until I’m spinning through a vortex of flickering lights — doorways and their pathways racing by, perhaps even other travelers. I’ve experienced this rush before, a lifetime ago when Blackflame sent Kol and his retinue through a portal to their home. Then, it shimmered past me and I barely caught more than a flash of dizzying lights.
Now, though, I need to concentrate. The mage will likely have entered behind me. Like me, he’ll have identified which path was last used. The moment after I step out of the portal, he’ll follow me out, and I won’t be ready to defend myself. Not against a warrior trained to attack. I need to escape him before then.
As I careen forward, I widen my focus, pressing outward with my mage senses. Three more paths cross mine before my destination. The first hurtles past before I can assess it. The second is bright and shiny — but the last, to my left, glimmers pink so faintly I almost miss it. I swerve onto it with a magic-fueled leap that nearly sends me flying into darkness, the light around me devolving into tangled strands that pull at my body. My bones slam against the sack of my skin as if they might rip through.
I scream into the void, pain obliterating my concentration. Black spots streak across my vision. This is why portals are dangerous. I can feel myself sliding, the route as slippery in my mind’s grasp as fine thread.
No. I cling hard to the portal with its ancient path, push back with all my force, ignore the pain, staring wide-eyed past the darkness that blurs my sight. For a single agonizing moment, I teeter on the edge of a nightmare precipice. Then the momentum of my new direction sucks me in, steadying me as it pulls me forward into a new vortex of light twisting around me.
The open portal flashes before me. With a gasp of relief, I tumble through it. But there’s no city on the other side of this portal, no crowds to lose myself in or alleys to flee down. There is only sun and dust and the broken walls of a forgotten fortress, silent as a tomb.
I loved this book even more than the first one- if that's even possible! This series is seriously absolutely incredible and definitely scores in my top 5 books of all time! The writing was just amazingly good! The storyline is completely captivating and original, the characters complex and intricate, and the action was just non-stop with tons of plot twists thrown in. The intricate details she puts into everything were flawless and the take on the world of the supernatural was refreshing and new, not some of the same old played out cliches that most people stick to. The adventure was a delight to partake in and the characters each had their own unique personalities and emotions that defined them.I was completely captivated and found myself unable to tear myself away from the pages of this amazing series! Definitely chart-toppers!!
OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES:
The winding streets and narrow alleys of Karolene hide many secrets, and Hitomi is one of them. Orphaned at a young age, Hitomi has learned to hide her magical aptitude and who her parents really were. Most of all, she must conceal her role in the Shadow League, an underground movement working to undermine the powerful and corrupt Arch Mage Wilhelm Blackflame.
When the League gets word that Blackflame intends to detain—and execute—a leading political family, Hitomi volunteers to help the family escape. But there are more secrets at play than Hitomi’s, and much worse fates than execution. When Hitomi finds herself captured along with her charges, it will take everything she can summon to escape with her life.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18075001-sunbolt
When the League gets word that Blackflame intends to detain—and execute—a leading political family, Hitomi volunteers to help the family escape. But there are more secrets at play than Hitomi’s, and much worse fates than execution. When Hitomi finds herself captured along with her charges, it will take everything she can summon to escape with her life.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18075001-sunbolt
Wow! This book was an absolutely awesome delight to read! It started off with a bang and had me completely captivated all throughout! The writing was just phenomenally great with an absorbing, original storyline and intricate details. The characters were incredibly detailed with unique personalities and complex emotions that had me feeling right along beside them. I absolutely loved the main character Hitomi and her quirky personality! This book is a completely new take on vampires and magic that almost deserves it's own genre. I completely loved this book an was eagerly racing to pick up the second book in this series!
ntisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. Born in Wisconsin, she has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah on the coast of the Red Sea. She first remembers seeing snow on a wintry street in Zurich, Switzerland, and vaguely recollects having breakfast with the orangutans at the Singapore Zoo when she was five. She currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and two young daughters.
Until recently, Intisar wrote grants and developed projects to address community health with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. Intisar's current projects include a companion trilogy to Thorn, following the heroine introduced in her free short story The Bone Knife, and The Sunbolt Chronicles, an epic series following a street thief with a propensity to play hero when people need saving, and her nemesis, a dark mage intent on taking over the Eleven Kingdoms.
Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter
Until recently, Intisar wrote grants and developed projects to address community health with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. Intisar's current projects include a companion trilogy to Thorn, following the heroine introduced in her free short story The Bone Knife, and The Sunbolt Chronicles, an epic series following a street thief with a propensity to play hero when people need saving, and her nemesis, a dark mage intent on taking over the Eleven Kingdoms.
Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter
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