CROWNED

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Protect the princess with your life: that is the single order Fu Xinlan is given, and it is the first she fails to carry out. As the Captain of the Royal Guard, Xinlan lives to serve the emperor, and is now hard pressed to find a new heir for the throne when the princess dies. Xinlan turns to unconventional allies—including the assassin who killed the princess—to chase rumors of the prince who had been declared dead nine years prior.

Find the prince. Bring the assassin to the capital for justice. Reinstate the prince to his rightful position as heir to the throne. Xinlan won’t fail her duty this time, and she won’t open her heart to any weaknesses that will deter her goal. But enemies are all around them, all who want a shot at being emperor, and Xinlan finds herself questioning who may be a foe, and who may be an ally.

Despite herself, Xinlan finds herself caught by the book of contradictions Tanashi is: an enemy with a code of honor, a killer with a heart of gold, and a boy of light weighed down by his sins. But the one thing Xinlan doesn’t know is that Tanashi may have aimed an arrow at the princess, but he was not the one to kill her.

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FU XINLAN -- CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD. loyal to a fault, what should have been xinlan’s greatest strength turns into her most fatal flaw. as captain, xinlan will stop at nothing to save her country, even if it means placing her trust in her greatest enemy.


SONG KALINA -- YINSHE HUNTRESS. as a rising huntress among the mercenaries, kalina is best equipped to lead xinlan to find the missing prince. secretive by nature, kalina doesn’t know when to open up until it’s almost too late, and she finds herself questioning what she’s really fighting for: her nation or her people.

TSENG KAIZHEN -- CROWN PRINCE OF KELAN DAO. previously believed to have been deceased, prince kaizhen is an enigma to be discovered. with the mannerism of a mere commoner but the speech of a noble, kai has to find his footing, to see if he will be the heir his father needs, or fall to ruin.


SHEN TANASHI -- ANSHETTI ASSASSIN. caught by the captain’s kindness, tanashi finds himself aiding her in her quest to find the prince, but instead, he finds that he might have been the very catalyst for a war he so badly wanted to prevent.

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Kaizhen met her gaze, his snarl still forming. “Step aside, Captain. This isn’t your fight.”

“I think it is,” Xinlan stood up, her own frustration and grief spilling, washing away any deference she should have showed to the prince. “I was the one who was by Meizhen’s side all these years. Justice is my right as well.”

Something akin to sadness and self-loathing flashed in the prince’s eyes. He looked as if he was going to throw up or throw the knife. Xinlan wasn’t sure if she was fast enough to block the blade if the prince attacked. Tanashi shifted from where he was still sitting, his eyes so devoid of emotion Xinlan found herself going cold. He looked so much like an assassin at the moment, she forgot he was just a boy, rather than a ruthless creature.

“Why argue?” His voice was quiet, but it carried in the space between the captain and the prince. “We all know where this ends. Do it,” he met the prince’s gaze unflinchingly, “kill me.”

The prince took another step forward, his brown eyes darkening even more at the challenge. Xinlan’s heart leaped to her throat, and her gaze darted between the prince’s hatred and Tanashi’s emptiness. Nothing changed in Tanashi’s expression, almost as if he had been drained of color and feeling. Kaizhen paused, wavering right in front of the assassin.

“Go on,” Tanashi’s voice was still deathly soft. He shifted, tipping his back back even more to expose his throat. “Choose where you want to stab.” Then his dark blue eyes burned. “Would it make you any better than me?”

THE PHOENIX MARK

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A criminal slated for execution. A street thief who ran away from home. A wealthy girl with more power in her hands than the prince. A common boy with the power to destroy everything. A warrior who only wants to heal. Five teenagers with extraordinary abilities and nothing but their hearts to guide them. Thrown together when their worlds individually falls apart around them, they are forced to save each other and set out on a journey to evade capture and somehow save humanity from itself. Or are they saving humanity from themselves?

THEY ARE HUMAN’S LAST HOPE. THEY WILL BE EVERYONE’S DESTRUCTION.

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DYLAN CHADWORTH wakes up with no recollection of who he is meant to be, other than the startling revelation that he is about to be executed for a crime everyone refuses to tell him about. With nothing but the clothes on his back and a girl he wants to remember, Dylan navigates the world blindly, trying to believe that he is destined to be human’s salvation, not its destruction. THE DREAMER.

All LUCY ZHANG wants is to stop running from her past, especially when it means running headlong into a boy who doesn’t remember the two years they spent on the streets. Fierce and unrelenting about what she believes, Lucy refuses to believe all the horrible rumors about Dylan. If she could take Dylan and disappear forever, that is what she would do. THE VANISHER.

TATIANA WELLERS turns eighteen in five months, and that is when she’ll marry the young hotshot businessman, Carter Artis. Part of one of the most powerful families in the Allegiance, Tate doesn’t have to fear starvation or poverty, yet she finds herself tangled in a web of politics that may mean she will lose herself instead. She longs to be free, to fully grasp the power she is meant to wield, and to have all of it for herself. THE ANGEL.

AVERY WOOD wants to save the world. Despite being the best warrior trained in the most prestigious fighting villages of the Allegiance, Avery wishes to heal others rather than to kill. Raised to just be a village girl, Avery never thought of herself as being destined for more. On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Avery finds that she doesn’t have to stand still and watch the world crumble around her: she can go save it herself. THE HEALER.

TYLER OKEKE longs for the ache in his heart to disappear. He wishes he can burn the world down–if it meant he would burn with it. When his village goes up in flames and Tyler is the only one to escape unscathed, he finds that he cannot touch anything living without stealing life energy, especially from humans. Convinced he is cursed beyond redemption, Tyler decides that if is going to be humanity’s destruction, he may as well do it in style. THE DESTROYER.

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WE BURN SO BRIGHT

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THE GODS HAVE ABANDONED US.

For ten years now, the gods have been silent. Magic has gone awry, and more and more deviant magic runs rampant in Ara’an. After five years of civil war, the Fu’hers have risen to power, creating the Council—the democratically elected leadership from those still blessed by the former gods. To restore the peace and stability of the nation, the Council begins to eliminate and punish those who have been cursed: those without magic, or those with affinities aligned with demons rather than gods. The gods’ last command, they claimed, had been to give the Council the essence and power to lead Ara’an to glory.

ARISTEIA HAYASHI stands trial for the murder of a Council member, the one with the same Water affinity as her. Accused of wanting to take power from those the gods have blessed because of her unprecedented growth of magic, Aris narrowly escapes the Council’s punishment and flees with the help of her best friend to the most dangerous parts of Ara’an. She is plunged into a world full of monsters, human and xitan alike, left with nothing but her magic and her trust in her friends.

Determined to overthrow the Fu’hers and restore peace and stability to Ara’an, Aris is joined by a group of revolutionaries who she has no choice but to trust and rely on. Revolution, Aris finds, requires first untangling whatever lies the Council has spun in the five years they have been in power, and she realizes that perhaps the gods have not been so silent after all.

“Humans, you burn so bright.”

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ARISTEIA -- water affinity, the only mortal to have the full power of a god’s affinity, can summon and control water, brave and brash, aris will do anything to defend those she loves, even if it means fighting the gods themselves.


CASTOR -- ice affinity, best friend of aris, is very protective of both her and his sister, sharayah, can only freeze present objects, withdrawn and a follower, castor is willing to follow aris to the depths of hell and back if he had to


SHARAYAH -- light affinity, younger sister of castor, can only summon and manipulate sunlight, fierce and reckless, shar takes more risks than her brother does, she hates to be left behind and won’t be deterred from saving the world alongside the others


IZIAH -- shapeshifting affinity, can turn into a falcon, lives outside of bustling capital, where he hides his xitan related affinity, quiet and reserved, a loyal and trustworthy friend, so caring he sometimes feels it would break his heart completely to lose anyone he loves


SORAKIR -- fire affinity, can imitate fire but is not real, quick to react, hates to talk about himself and has walls to hide his inner self, charming but also somewhat withdrawn, sora saves aris from her trial and allows for her, castor, and shar to escape from the council

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AND SO I RISE

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Many might think Fang Hesen is on a mission of vengeance, but in reality, she is on a mission of truth and equality. Magic has been dying, and sorcerers have turned into a commodity, prized and sold to serve the country, stripped of their human rights. Soldiers sweep through the land, searching for the nearly nonexistent population of hiding sorcerers, and among them, was Hesen’s little sister. Torn apart by her grief of failing to protect her sister, Hesen turns her eyes not on the cruelty of the soldiers, but the corruption of the use of magic, and vows to destroy magic at its source, to level the playing field for everyone.

But first, she needs to find a sorcerer who is willing to help her. By chance, Hesen stumbles upon Yang Enzhe, a boy who uses his magic to help his village survive harsh winters and meager harvests. When soldiers discover his magic and move to arrest him, Hesen steps in, saving his life and his freedom, and promptly ties him to her through that debt. Enzhe is as determined as Hesen to save sorcerers from enslavement, and strives for the same equality that she does, but not in the same way. He’s willing to help her on her quest, but at what cost?

Because Enzhe’s role in Hesen’s quest is to summon the gods—so she can kill them.

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FANG HESEN -- After her sister’s death, Hesen vowed to erase magic from the world, thinking that this would be the best way to prevent sorcerers from being hunted and used without their consent. Driven by the grief she won’t acknowledge, Hesen will let nothing deter her from her goal, not even good hearted sorcerers.

YANG ENZHE -- A sorcerer hiding to avoid the notice of the emperor’s soldiers, Enzhe secretly believes he was gifted magic to be a martyr for some greater cause. He is kindhearted, perhaps overly so, and isn’t quite sure if he’s willing to pledge himself to Hesen’s cause.


LU FAYIN -- Fayin is Hesen’s childhood friend and a trained mercenary, and she agrees to help Hesen after witnessing Helin’s death and her friend’s grief. She wishes first and foremost to help Hesen find a way to work through her grief, even if that means being complicit to her determination to destroy magic.

LIN YUEWEN -- Fayin’s mercenary friend and more. Yuewen is cynical by nature, dry and bitter whereas Fayin may be cheerful and optimistic. She sees herself in Hesen’s desperate flight away from her sister’s death, and in Enzhe’s need for survival, and finds herself torn between the two forces.

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A THOUSAND STARS

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Finnley Reeves was a one-hit wonder, or at least that is how he feels now that it has been a full year since he released his hit album, Silhouettes. He longs to make more music, but he feels as if he’s been drained of words since he got the news that his sister had cancer. Now, a year later, Finn realizes that if he wants to stay relevant in the music world, he has to release something—anything—new soon, or else everyone will forget that Finnley Reeves had ever existed.

His manager team sends him on a country tour to play his songs from Silhouettes, and to tease his new album—the one that doesn’t exist. Although he hates the idea of doing a promotional tour despite not having anything new to present to the world, he agrees because he knows how much his sister loves watching him perform and Finn would do anything to make her happy.

Scarlet Chang doesn’t quite know what she wants to do with her life, other than she doesn’t want to go to college and study meaningless subjects. Working help her older sister support her younger siblings, Scarlet is tired of the numbness that surrounds her at home after her mother’s death two years ago. Guitar in hand, Scarlet wants to write her heartbreak to the world, but she’s too afraid to be so vulnerable.

When she is asked to join Finnley Reeves on his promotional tour as his opening act, Scarlet says yes because this might be her only opportunity to find her courage and to escape her everlasting grief over her mother’s death.

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FINNLEY REEVES --age 19. finn released his hit album, silhouettes, at age 18 and hasn’t been in the spotlight since then. his u.s. tour had only last three months, and for almost a year, finn hasn’t released any new music. his fame is fading as fast as it came, yet he can’t find the words inside him to express the pent up feelings inside him. when his sister, his biggest fan, is diagnosed with cancer, it’s all finnley can do to try to keep his head up and make music for her.

SCARLET CHANG --age 18. it’s the summer after high school, and all scarlet knows is she’s not going to college in the fall. she has a guitar in her hand and words in her head, but scarlet isn’t brave enough to write it down for an audience. especially since the songs are about her mother, her grief, and her insecurities.

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