Author: Ruth Frances Long
Genres: Genre Fiction
Amberes teeters on a knife-edge. The return of King Francisco brings chaos and resentment, while deep inside the Imperial Temple, the ambitious Inquisitor Tiberius is plotting the downfall of the divine.
When the goddess of Amberes selects Lyta's beloved Sylvian as her Chosen, he must keep the peace in a city lurching headlong into outright revolution, forcing yet another wedge between the pair. But Lyta has worries of her own. From the unnatural shine in her brother Kit's eyes and the glow on his skin, she can guess where the creature that crawled out of the Nether has taken refuge. While Kit struggles against the being nestled inside him, he finds himself drawn to the familiar siren call of sedition and Guild politics. Finding Kit caught between the divine and civil unrest, Lyta worries she may lose him for good.
As Lyta tries desperately to hold her patchwork family and her world together, a dark prophecy about two siblings heralds the coming of a newborn god, a god whose rising could bring about the end of Amberes itself.
At the heart of it all is a long-forgotten ritual. A ritual that starts with the bell, the book and the candle. Bringing all three together will take the heist to end all heists.
Tropes:
Divine magic
Childhood friends to enemies...to lovers
Second chance romance
Alt History Renaissance
Found family
“Sweeps you away with magic books, gods, and a gorgeous second-chance romance. This book is golden!”
- M.A. Kuzniar on the Book of Gold (Book 1)“History and enchantment woven in a seamless, intricate tapestry”
- Sarah Rees Brennan on the Book of Gold (Book 1)“Intricately plotted and vividly imagined, The Book of Gold snatched me away to a dangerous, decadent city populated by thieves and kings; scholars and gods”
- Lyra Selene
Author: Ruth Frances Long
Genres: Genre Fiction
Amberes teeters on a knife-edge. The return of King Francisco brings chaos and resentment, while deep inside the Imperial Temple, the ambitious Inquisitor Tiberius is plotting the downfall of the divine.
When the goddess of Amberes selects Lyta's beloved Sylvian as her Chosen, he must keep the peace in a city lurching headlong into outright revolution, forcing yet another wedge between the pair. But Lyta has worries of her own. From the unnatural shine in her brother Kit's eyes and the glow on his skin, she can guess where the creature that crawled out of the Nether has taken refuge. While Kit struggles against the being nestled inside him, he finds himself drawn to the familiar siren call of sedition and Guild politics. Finding Kit caught between the divine and civil unrest, Lyta worries she may lose him for good.
As Lyta tries desperately to hold her patchwork family and her world together, a dark prophecy about two siblings heralds the coming of a newborn god, a god whose rising could bring about the end of Amberes itself.
At the heart of it all is a long-forgotten ritual. A ritual that starts with the bell, the book and the candle. Bringing all three together will take the heist to end all heists.
Tropes:
Divine magic
Childhood friends to enemies...to lovers
Second chance romance
Alt History Renaissance
Found family
“Sweeps you away with magic books, gods, and a gorgeous second-chance romance. This book is golden!”
- M.A. Kuzniar on the Book of Gold (Book 1)“History and enchantment woven in a seamless, intricate tapestry”
- Sarah Rees Brennan on the Book of Gold (Book 1)“Intricately plotted and vividly imagined, The Book of Gold snatched me away to a dangerous, decadent city populated by thieves and kings; scholars and gods”
- Lyra Selene
Hodderscape
November 20th, 2026
