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Anyone looking for their next immersive fantasy read needs to take a look at The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst, the first book in a new epic fantasy series.
Sarah is an award-winning YA author breaking into the adult realm with the story of a young girl training to be queen. But in the kingdom of Renthia, the queen has a special task: she must control the spirits that reside in all natural things–trees, water, wind–and keep them from killing the humans.
Only a few women are born with the ability to control the spirits, and Daleina learns at a young age that she's one of those women. She's taken to a school with the other women with this ability, and as she trains to better control her powers, Daleina also discovers there's something dark and very wrong going on in the kingdom.
Daleina is a great heroine to get behind; she's strong and intelligent, and gathers a great group of characters to help her along the way as she faces political intrigue, violent magic, and malevolent spirits in her quest to protect the realm.
This is a fabulous start to what is sure to be an exciting series, so definitely download the egalley from Edelweiss and dive in!
-Amanda