I was planning on writing this monthly blog post last Sunday (my posting schedule is the first Sunday of every month) but I've been so busy with the final preparations for publishing Drowning Deceit that I'm only getting round to writing this now, on the very day Drowning Deceit is published.
Drowning Deceit is the fourth and final book in the Ethra Born series, the culmination over over a decade of work. I feel that I've developed as an author during this process and am so grateful for all that I've learnt along the way. In this pivotal moment, I look back over the journey so far, as well as ahead to the stories which are going to be forthcoming.
In the Ethra Born series, Lowenna is a healer priestess who has vivid dreams which connect her to Ethra, the world's spirit. Lowenna is Ethra born. Yet she fears her power almost as much as she fears those who would annihilate all she holds sacred. Her daughter, too, has unusual abilities. Hope embodies her namesake. She offers hope to those in pain, who are suffering and alone. Yet not everyone welcomes her help. She must learn to trust those who will help her in return. She must come to realise that not everyone can be saved. In a world of magic and monsters, Lowenna and Hope are forced to understand their powers before their powers are used against them.
Their adventure starts in Gathering Darkness where Lowenna meets Theo and she comes to realise who who truly is. This is also the start of Hope's journey as she is born into a tumultuous world. A decade later, in Strengthening Spirit, Lowenna is forced to embrace her powers, with Theo and Hope desperate to help her as her life hangs in the balance. In Risking Honesty, Hope embarks on her own adventure, aiding the mysterious messenger, Harrison, as they evade the King's Watch after being falsely accused. Finally, in Drowning Deceit, Hope risks everything to aid her friend and is forced to make a decision which will change her life forever.
This is the end of the Ethra Born series. (For now. I have some ideas for a follow on series but it's too soon to share the details.) In the meantime, I have been working on another series, set in the same world but a hundred years earlier. In the Ethra Born books, Theo talks about his great-grandparents, the legendary Jossryn Hawk and Siria Fey, and it is their adventures which we will be exploring in the next series.
Until then, thank you for reading the Ethra Born series. Please do leave a review. I am so grateful for your support. I wouldn't be able to do this amazing job without you. Thank you.
