A Handful of Souls

Summary

Genre: Dark Fantasy with stubborn, cheerful characters

Deep in the cold and wet Northlands, Lark has been kidnapped by a spirit worker who can raise the dead. His sisters must travel to rescue him, pursued by a giant with a bleeding grin and guided by a liar.

• A broad cast of strange characters
• Dark humour, violence and whisky
• Mystery, old gods and young cults
• A restless sea and a dying continent
• A story about family

Rating on Amazon: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5

Rating on Goodreads: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.5/5

Awards

• Semi-finalist in SPFBO 7
  Bookborn
  ‘I’m always a sucker for a sibling story, and one where you don’t know if you can trust the characters or not’

Selected Reviews

• Indie Book Spotlight
  ‘Something I found really quite cool about this story was how unlike so many other fantasy reads it is. Like, it’s grimdark family drama in a world that brought to mind everything from Westeros to Ketterdam.’
• Andrew’s Wizardly Reads
  ‘I really enjoyed this book! A fantasy book that’s not afraid of embracing it’s creepy side.’
• JamReads
  ‘I cannot express how well-written Lily is. Her chapters are certainly the most interesting, and it’s a character that I loved from the start. She was prickly and hard-headed and might have a small problem with certain substances, but also a real force in this book’

Audience

Everyone old enough to deal with swearing, drug use and messy violence.

Setting

A Brief Tour of the Landed Ring

The Landed Ring is a lonely continent surrounded by the Split Sea. If there are any other continents, they are unreachable, as the vortex current circles faster the further one gets from the shore. Trading fleets and raiders ride these waters clockwise in an endless circle, each spreading wealth in their own particular way.

The Split Sea gets its name from the Split, which is a tempestuous channel that separates the Northlands from the rest of the continent. The people living on this island keep themselves isolated by choice, but wouldn’t even have that if not for the Long Path, a mysterious and ancient crossing that winds across deadly waters.

From beyond the vortex current, spirits called the Tar-Agran float closer to the shore. Each of the old kingdoms deals with them differently, scrambling for ways to defend themselves from these fickle and hungry creatures.

The Roaming Watch

Most of the continent is claimed by a military group called the Roaming Watch. Little is known about them, but they seek stability at all times, allowing monarchs or militaries to hold or seize power as long as any conflict is swift and their taxes are paid. Watchmen are arrogant and peerless fighters, and are often accused of using taxation to deliberately suppress their vassal territories.

Branera

At the beginning of this novel, Lily, Lark and Rose are living with their adoptive father in Branera; the proudest, richest city of the Northlands. The most hospitable soil - tough and gritty as it is - was kept for farming, so the trading settlment which controls those lands was built on mud and slop. Despite this, Branera is a tall city, with towering, teetering buildings that elevate the aristocracy out of the mud. Wealth of all sorts is crammed into every nook and cranny, from the Low Ends to the soaring boardwalks.

The Journey

Northers don’t hold with stories of magic. They don’t have to. Their island is cut off from the continent by a raging channel, and their soil is hostile and infertile ground for spirits. But when Lark is kidnapped and taken south, his sisters are thrust into a southern world far stranger and darker than the one they grew up in.

Acknowledgements

• Edited by Hannah from Black Cat Editorial Services
• Cover art by Dale from ebook launch.

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