Half Sick of Shadows
Ace Books (Verlag)
9780593437025 (ISBN)
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A Popsugar Best Summer Read of 2021
A Bibliolifestyle Most Anticipated Summer 2021 Sci-fi and Fantasy Book
"Magical, haunting, unique--I haven't been so excited about an Arthur book since I read The Once and Future King ."--Tamora Pierce, #1 New York Times bestselling author
The Lady of Shalott reclaims her story in this bold feminist reimagining of the Arthurian myth from the New York Times bestselling author of Ash Princess.
Everyone knows the legend. Of Arthur, destined to be a king. Of the beautiful Guinevere, who will betray him with his most loyal knight, Lancelot. Of the bitter sorceress, Morgana, who will turn against them all. But Elaine alone carries the burden of knowing what is to come--for Elaine of Shalott is cursed to see the future.
On the mystical isle of Avalon, Elaine runs free and learns of the ancient prophecies surrounding her and her friends--countless possibilities, almost all of them tragic.
When their future comes to claim them, Elaine, Guinevere, Lancelot, and Morgana accompany Arthur to take his throne in stifling Camelot, where magic is outlawed, the rules of society chain them, and enemies are everywhere. Yet the most dangerous threats may come from within their own circle.
As visions are fulfilled and an inevitable fate closes in, Elaine must decide how far she will go to change destiny--and what she is willing to sacrifice along the way.
Laura Sebastian grew up in South Florida and attended Savannah College of Art and Design. She now lives and writes in London. Laura is the author of the New York Times bestselling Ash Princess series: Ash Princess, Lady Smoke and Ember Queen.
1
I will die drowning; it has always been known. This was my first vision, long before I knew it for what it was, and I've had it so many times now that I know each instant by heart. Where most visions are ephemeral things, shifting and changing in different lights and at different angles, this one is always so solid that it leaves its bruises on my mind and soul long after it ends.
The water will be cold against my skin. It will rush around me like a storm, tearing my hair in different directions until it clouds my vision. I won't be able to see a thing. I will want to kick up to the surface, to breathe the air I know is only a few meters away, but I will stay frozen and sink lower and lower in my whirlpool until my feet finally touch soft sand. My eyes will be closed, and everything around me will be darkness.
My lungs will burn, burn, burn until I fear they are going to burst. The surface will be so close, I could reach it if I just kick up . . . but I won't. I won't want to.
In a week or a year or a decade, I will die drowning. When I do, it will be a choice.
2
There is peace at the loom, in the steady rhythm of my fingers dancing over the silk strands like a musician with a lyre, peace in the threads weaving in and out, in the future revealing itself to me stitch by stitch, possibility by possibility. Such small movements, repeated again and again and again, each one small and meaningless on its own-but when the tapestry begins to take shape and tell its story, the infinitesimal becomes infinite.
As a child in Shalott, I learned how to change the color of the threads to render an image, frozen forever in time, but now I use only white. The magic-imbued strands glisten like opal in the afternoon sunlight that filters into my workroom through the oversized window.
Outside, the staggering cliff my cottage sits on juts out over rolling, pearl-tipped waves. They crash against Avalon's shore, the sound loud enough to reach me even in my cottage, but I don't mind it. The steady sound soothes my mind, turning it soft and malleable and blank, receptive to the magic that buzzes its way through me from my fingertips to my toes.
I keep my eyes on the threads, watching them weave together tight and solid, the waves pounding in my ears and chasing all thoughts away so that nothing exists at all outside of me in this moment-not Avalon or my friends, not the past or the futures fracturing before me like cracks in glass. Only me, only now.
The expanse of whiteness begins to shift, like shadows dancing across it, rippling over its shining surface. The threads vibrate softly beneath my fingers, emitting a glow all their own. I feel the change throughout my body as well, something unnamable tugging at my skin and sparking in my mind, threatening to pull me into it, into whatever the Sight wants me to see.
Though I've had hundreds if not thousands of visions over the last ten years, I don't think I will ever grow used to this feeling: how for just a moment, my body and my mind cease to be my own.
A rattling knock yanks me out of it, my fingers stilling against the white silk strands. I settle into myself once more, and the world around me suddenly feels too sharp, too bright, too real.
I look up, letting my eyes focus and adjust, and find him standing on the other side of my window, his knuckles still resting against the glass and a mischievous smile playing on his full lips. In the light of the Avalon sun, he is pure gold.
"Come on, Shalott," he says, his voice muffled through the glass. He jerks his head backward toward the beach, windblown black hair glinting in the sunlight. Behind him, I can just make out the other
| Erscheinungsdatum | 01.07.2021 |
|---|---|
| Verlagsort | New York |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 228 mm |
| Gewicht | 522 g |
| Themenwelt | Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy |
| Literatur ► Historische Romane | |
| Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie | |
| Schlagworte | Adventure • adventure books • Alternate History • arthurian • Arthurian legend • Ash Princess • books fiction • Classic • England • EPIC • Epic Fantasy • Epic Fantasy Books • Fables • Fairy tale • Fairytale • Fairy tales • Fairytales • Fantasy • Fantasy book • fantasy books • fantasy books for adults • Fantasy Fiction • Fantasy novel • fantasy novels • feminist • feminist gifts • Fiction • fiction books • Folklore • Folktales • Folk Tales • Historical • Horror • King Arthur • Lady of Shalott • Legend • Love • Magic • Medieval • Mythology • Myths • Novels • relationships • Romance • Science Fiction • science fiction and fantasy • Supernatural • Urban Fantasy • war |
| ISBN-13 | 9780593437025 / 9780593437025 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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