Books in Shattering of the Nocturnai series

Seventeen-year-old Lilik is gutterborn and sick of it. Done groveling to the tyrannical trader class and watching her family suffer, she is ready to be a hero. And the opportunity has finally arrived. Lilik’s nation is under siege by brutal sea tribes. But there is hope: on a distant volcanic island, a months-long night has fallen. An expedition plans to set sail, including young women—all trader-class—who will harness powerful magic gathering in the island’s dark. Blind to the consequences, Lilik bluffs her way aboard and plunges into the dark. Shortly after landfall, disaster strikes the expedition. Marooned in the oppressive dark, Lilik’s shipmates succumb to primal fears, turning on each other. To survive, Lilik must evade the savages, unravel the island's ancient secrets, and master her own, innate magic before it drives her mad. Anything else will lead to her execution… and a cataclysm unseen since the last millennium.

Lilik is a survivor. After the disastrous expedition to the island volcano, Ioene, she is home with a warning. The malevolent tyrant, Mieshk Ulstat, is gathering devastating magical power. Unchecked, Mieshk will obliterate Kiriilti civilization. But when the ruling Trader Council refuses to heed her, Lilik turns to her own kind: the gutterborn. As Lilik rallies rebels from the slums, she delves into her abilities as a soul priestess through contact with a nightforged dagger. Tyrak, the soul imprisoned within the blade, mistakes Lilik for his love from centuries past. Through their complicated bond, she learns the arts of swordplay and leadership. But when a surprise attack comes from a rogue trader House, she learns the hard truth of war: no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Warships lay siege to the city. Traders and gutterborn clash in the streets. And with each passing day, the true enemy just grows stronger.

Lilik’s gutterborn resistance flattened their oppressors and freed the city, enabling a return to the island volcano, Ioene. But in the hours following Lilik’s victory, a bid to rescue her family from Ulstat clutches led to her capture. Now, cut off from her soul magic and held hostage by the Ulstats, Lilik plots to overturn the situation. She’ll destroy House Ulstat from within, helping herself to the ships and soldiers she needs to retake Ioene. But other forces are in play. In a hideout deep in an abandoned mine, a bandit queen lives amongst mounds of treasure, sharpening her daggers. In the mystical aether pervading the Ulstat’s home island, spirits of the dead wage an epic battle to free Lilik’s magic. And within House Ulstat, allies emerge from the shadows… if Lilik can figure out who to trust.

Lilik is on the warpath. Behind her, House Ulstat is a smoking pit. Ahead, Mieshk Ulstat wields terrible magic from within an impregnable fortress. The battle approaches. Never mind that Lilik’s fighters are actually a ragtag assortment of smugglers and thieves. Forget that something is terribly wrong with the aether, leaving Lilik’s magic unpredictable. Lilik is the last hope for stopping Mieshk’s cataclysm. Unfortunately, Lilik’s problems aren’t limited to insurmountable odds and questionable allies. Ioene still holds secrets. A dark force has awakened in the island’s heart. And it’s hungry.