REDEEMER

Two youths from opposite sides of a divided kingdom unexpectedly come into power in Weems’ YA fantasy novel.

In the rigidly stratified Balkan kingdom, a boy called Zaki turns 14, his Calling Day finally come. He must travel to the great desert city of Garu to stand in the Hall of Inquiry and be tested to determine if he is Gifted or not. As a member of the Barren caste, the odds of Zaki being Gifted with magical powers are close to zero, as the Barren haven’t produced a single Gifted in over a century. But when Zaki’s time comes, unimaginable amounts of power course through his veins, establishing him as a powerful Gifted and breaking the oppressed Barren’s unlucky streak. All eyes in the kingdom are now on him, including the Gifted within the ruling Conclaveand the Uppers, the kingdom’s most powerful citizens. Up in the Northern Wilds, a young teenage girl named Emlyn gets lost while out with her sister foraging in the woods. Her misadventure leads to a staggering discovery about King Balkus, an ostensibly benign monarch on a mission to unite the world; he is the most potent Gifted in existence. Emlyn inherits enormous might, just as Zaki did on the other side of the kingdom. As Zaki and Emlyn navigate the intricacies of power and politics, their developing skills may well turn the very foundation of their world upside down. With a narrative that primarily follows Zaki and Emlyn on their parallel journeys, this meticulously crafted introduction to a new fantasy series features well-developed characters, an adventurous plot, and an interesting magic system that underscores the politics and social structure of the haves and have-nots: “He would not give her the satisfaction of his failure. He would deny them all. Here in this Hall of Inquiry, this pain and everyone watching him represented the world pushing him down. He was expected to fail. Yet he reached with every fiber of his being for the unexpected.”The mysteries and magic within this tale are sure to tantalize readers.

A promising start to a fantastical adventure.