The Godstone (#1)
This new epic fantasy series begins a tale of magic and danger, as a healer finds herself pulled deeper into a web of secrets and hazardous magic that could bring about the end of the world as she knows it.
Fenra Lowens has been a working Practitioner, using the magic of healing ever since she graduated from the White Court and left the City to live in the Outer Modes. When one of her patients, Arlyn Albainil, is summoned to the City to execute the final testament of a distant cousin, she agrees to help him. Arlyn suspects the White Court wants to access his cousin’s Practitioner’s vault. Arlyn can’t ignore the summons: he knows the vault holds an artifact so dangerous he can’t allow it to be freed.
Fenra quickly figures out that there is no cousin, that Arlyn himself is the missing Practitioner, the legendary Xandra Albainil, rumored to have made a Godstone with which he once almost destroyed the world. Sealing away the Godstone left Arlyn powerless and ill, and he needs Fenra to help him deal with the possibly sentient artifact before someone else finds and uses it.
Along the way they encounter Elvanyn Karamisk, an old friend whom Arlyn once betrayed. Convinced that Arlyn has not changed, and intends to use Fenra to recover the Godstone and with it all his power, Elvanyn joins them to keep Fenra safe and help her destroy the artifact.
Reviews
"Malan’s elaborate worldbuilding and nuanced characters help keep the pages turning on the way to the slow-building climax. The unexpected plot twists and a subtle hint of romance will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next installment."
"An original, enigmatic fantasy about reluctant heroes drawn into a quest to save the world."
"What elevates this novel...is the characters and the world."
"Violette Malan’s The Godstone offers a single volume epic fantasy novel that is ostensibly about the fate of a world and a particular artifact that could alter it forever, but dives deeply into personal questions of identity, power, and mental health."
"Violette Malan’s The Godstone is thoroughly delightful and totally original. Fenra Lowens is a Practitioner of magic who serves as healer for the residents of a small rural village. When Fenra’s longtime patient Arlyn Albainilr eceives a summons to the City to receive the valuable contents of a long-lost relative’s vault, Fenra volunteers to accompany Arlyn on his journey. But Arlynis more than he seems, and he knows more than he tells. Inside the vault is an object of immense power,and he’s the only one who knows how to stop it from destroying the world. There’s a confident briskness to Malan’s pacing; nothing seems to drag over The Godstone’s 300 or so pages. The momentum is only aided by the superb dialogue throughout. Fenra and Arlyn’s banter is so pleasant, so assured, that it at times reads like classic English literature. Readers would be wise to pick up this exciting start to a new fantasy series."
"This fantasy was a really wild ride [with] amazing characters and a really fascinating world."