Today I'll be participating in a blog tour for this upcoming fantasy novel! After reading the blurb, I seriously need to read this ASAP.
The Call of the Rift #1
Fantasy
Release Date: April 3rd, 2018
Blurb:
"Philip Pullman meets Avatar in a new epic fantasy series
Seventeen-year-old Kateiko doesn’t want to be Rin anymore — not if it means sacrificing lives to protect the dead. Her only way out is to join another tribe, a one-way trek through the coastal rainforest. Killing a colonial soldier in the woods isn’t part of the plan. Neither is spending the winter with Tiernan, an immigrant who keeps a sword with his carpentry tools. His log cabin leaks and his stories about other worlds raise more questions than they answer.
Then the air spirit Suriel, long thought dormant, resurrects a war. For Kateiko, protecting other tribes in her confederacy is atonement. For Tiernan, war is a return to the military life he’s desperate to forget.
Leaving Tiernan means losing the one man Kateiko trusts. Staying with him means abandoning colonists to a death sentence. In a region tainted by prejudice and on the brink of civil war, she has to decide what’s worth dying — or killing — for."
Seventeen-year-old Kateiko doesn’t want to be Rin anymore — not if it means sacrificing lives to protect the dead. Her only way out is to join another tribe, a one-way trek through the coastal rainforest. Killing a colonial soldier in the woods isn’t part of the plan. Neither is spending the winter with Tiernan, an immigrant who keeps a sword with his carpentry tools. His log cabin leaks and his stories about other worlds raise more questions than they answer.
Then the air spirit Suriel, long thought dormant, resurrects a war. For Kateiko, protecting other tribes in her confederacy is atonement. For Tiernan, war is a return to the military life he’s desperate to forget.
Leaving Tiernan means losing the one man Kateiko trusts. Staying with him means abandoning colonists to a death sentence. In a region tainted by prejudice and on the brink of civil war, she has to decide what’s worth dying — or killing — for."
Excerpt:
Chapter 1 Excerpt
I flumped back onto my bed and stared at the vaulted ceiling. The house was too big. Too empty. Its one room could fit eight, maybe ten families, who would gather around the fire in winter to share food and stories under the gaze of wooden figurines on the mantelpiece. But it was just the four of us and the row of carved birds and bears and wolves.
Sometimes, during windstorms, it sounded like the figurines were howling. Isu said it was the voices of people who used to live in our plank house. I said they should find someone else to bother. They made it impossible to sleep.
Fendul interrupted my thoughts. “We should keep busy. There’s a lot to do before dark.”
I sat up and looked for Behadul, but he was gone. “It’s barely afternoon.”
“If we finish early, maybe we can go set some snares.”
An opportunity to escape Isu. I ducked my head so he wouldn’t see the smile that tugged at my lips. A thought surfaced that I’d rolled around until it was worn smooth. I hadn’t planned to bring it up yet, but I couldn’t wait any longer. “Fen, I need your help.”
“With what?” He sank to the ground, sitting cross-legged with his elbows on his knees.
I dug my fingernails into the packed dirt. “I want to visit the Iyo-jouyen.”
“You can’t. You know the route to their territory is ruined.”
“The storms were six years ago. It can’t be that bad.”
Fendul studied me, his dark brows drawn together. “Who’s going with you?”
“Nili. Her mother already agreed. And . . . Isu said I can go if you come with us.”
“Kako, you don’t know what you’re asking.” He pinched his temples with a thumb and a
forefinger. “What do you want? To see the ocean? You always complained your parents never took you.”
I flicked dirt out of my nails. “It’s not about that. I haven’t seen Dunehein, my own cousin — my last cousin — since he married into the Iyo. Don’t you want to see all the Rin who left?”
“It doesn’t matter what I want.”
“Then do it for us. You’re the okoreni, the future leader of the Rin-jouyen. You’re supposed to help with this stuff.”
My gaze brushed over Fendul’s tattoos. The kinaru on his left arm was wreathed by black huckleberries from his mother’s crest. One day, the interlocking lines around his upper right arm, a finger-width shy of a circle, would be joined just like his father’s.
He shifted his hand over his okoreni tattoo. “We can’t go south, Kako.”
“I need to get out of here, Fen. Something happened this morning. I saw the sacred rioden whole again. There’s only one place dead things come back to life.”
“Aeldu-yan.” He was silent while it sank in. “We should feel fortunate to see it.”
I snorted. “To glimpse a sliver of something, not enough to know if it’s real? That’s how people go insane.”
“Then we’ll find a way to prove it’s real.”
I sat up and looked for Behadul, but he was gone. “It’s barely afternoon.”
“If we finish early, maybe we can go set some snares.”
An opportunity to escape Isu. I ducked my head so he wouldn’t see the smile that tugged at my lips. A thought surfaced that I’d rolled around until it was worn smooth. I hadn’t planned to bring it up yet, but I couldn’t wait any longer. “Fen, I need your help.”
“With what?” He sank to the ground, sitting cross-legged with his elbows on his knees.
I dug my fingernails into the packed dirt. “I want to visit the Iyo-jouyen.”
“You can’t. You know the route to their territory is ruined.”
“The storms were six years ago. It can’t be that bad.”
Fendul studied me, his dark brows drawn together. “Who’s going with you?”
“Nili. Her mother already agreed. And . . . Isu said I can go if you come with us.”
“Kako, you don’t know what you’re asking.” He pinched his temples with a thumb and a
forefinger. “What do you want? To see the ocean? You always complained your parents never took you.”
I flicked dirt out of my nails. “It’s not about that. I haven’t seen Dunehein, my own cousin — my last cousin — since he married into the Iyo. Don’t you want to see all the Rin who left?”
“It doesn’t matter what I want.”
“Then do it for us. You’re the okoreni, the future leader of the Rin-jouyen. You’re supposed to help with this stuff.”
My gaze brushed over Fendul’s tattoos. The kinaru on his left arm was wreathed by black huckleberries from his mother’s crest. One day, the interlocking lines around his upper right arm, a finger-width shy of a circle, would be joined just like his father’s.
He shifted his hand over his okoreni tattoo. “We can’t go south, Kako.”
“I need to get out of here, Fen. Something happened this morning. I saw the sacred rioden whole again. There’s only one place dead things come back to life.”
“Aeldu-yan.” He was silent while it sank in. “We should feel fortunate to see it.”
I snorted. “To glimpse a sliver of something, not enough to know if it’s real? That’s how people go insane.”
“Then we’ll find a way to prove it’s real.”
“I don’t want it to be. Aeldu-yan never changes, but what about the aeldu? Burying my parents and cousins was bad enough. I don’t want to see them after they’ve been dead for six years, wounds, rot, and all. I want to see my living family again.”
He chopped a hand through the air. “No. My father will never agree.”
“Fine,” I snapped. “I’ll figure out some other way so you don’t have to get involved.” I brushed chaff off my legs and stalked off.
He chopped a hand through the air. “No. My father will never agree.”
“Fine,” I snapped. “I’ll figure out some other way so you don’t have to get involved.” I brushed chaff off my legs and stalked off.
Excerpted from The Call of the Rift: Flight by Jae Waller. © 2018 by Jae Waller. All rights reserved.
Published by ECW Press Ltd. www.ecwpress.com
Meet the Author:
Jae Waller
Ooo! This does sound good.
ReplyDeleteRight? Normally I don't do blog tours for books I haven't read yet but I had to make an exception for this one! Thanks for stopping by, Jenny!
DeleteWow, this one sounds interesting! I love the cover and it looks diverse too. Thanks for posting about it.
ReplyDeleteRight? I'm hoping to get a copy soon :) Thanks for stopping by, Di!
DeleteThis sounds really interesting! I love the cover!
ReplyDelete~Litha Nelle
I do too! Thanks for stopping by, Litha!
Delete