The Otherworld Songbirds

At a village harvest festival, as the chilled winds breathe the onset of winter, the young farmer Andris meets Rhian, a mysterious young woman that somehow seems familiar from his past. She bears an iron sword, unusually heavy and off-balance, and she tells him a false name.

That night, she pulls him into her violent struggle to save her family, as he learns that she is the princess of their small kingdom, who had helped to try to save his father's life ten years ago. Rhian is pursued by shapeshifters and necromancers, and she pleads to Andris to help her search for the aid of a legendary folk on a hidden island. Rhian explains that it was Andris himself who warned her of these dangers and bid her to find the island, all during a dream that she lived through weeks earlier.

"This fantasy tale creates an earnest, gleaming world that's hard to leave." - Kirkus Reviews