Nahoko Uehashi – författare

Elin's family have an important responsibility: caring for the fearsome water serpents that form the core of their kingdom's army. So when some of the beasts mysteriously die, Elin's mother is sentenced to death as punishment. With her last breath she manages to send her daughter to safety. Alone, far from home, Elin soon discovers that she can talk to both the terrifying water serpents and the majestic flying beasts that guard her queen. This skill gives her great powers, but it also involves her in deadly plots that could cost her life. Can she save herself and prevent her beloved beasts from being used as tools of war? Or must she face the terrible battles to come?

Ten years have passed since the events of The Beast Player. Elin and Ialu are married, with a young son, living a quiet, peaceful life when one day Elin is called upon to investigate a matter of great urgency: the fearsome Toda are dying and nobody knows why. As Elin investigates, she uncovers a deadly plot and a brewing invasion. Can she protect her homeland without allowing her beloved beasts to be used as weapons of war, or will she have to compromise her principles to save her family?

The first volume of a sweeping fantasy by one of Japan’s most beloved storytellers, and the bestselling author of the Moribito series.The vast Umal Empire has flourished for centuries thanks to the miraculous ohaleh rice, a sacred grain brought from a distant land by the first empress Kokun. Resistant to all parasites, the rice has sustained the empire, ensuring peace and prosperity for centuries—until now. When a mysterious infestation strikes, famine spreads and the empire begins to crumble.Fifteen-year-old Aisha, granddaughter of the deposed lord of West Kantal, flees to the imperial capital with her younger brother after a violent coup. There she meets the reigning Kokun, Olie—an enigmatic girl worshipped for her supposed gift of scent, yet secretly powerless. As Aisha uncovers her own latent ability to perceive the natural world through smell, she and Olie form an unlikely alliance.Together, Aisha and Olie must uncover a hidden history and the truth behind the ohaleh rice, all the while battling forces that threaten not just the empire’s survival, but the very balance of nature.

Van, a former soldier made slave, toils away endlessly in a salt mine. An unexpected chance at liberation drops in his lap when a pack of infected dogs passes through, killing everyone but him and a young girl he names Yuna. Van hopes to make a peaceful life for them both now that they’ve escaped. However, the disease that cleared out the mine begins to spread, endangering the nation and placing Van and his ward at the center of a conflict greater than any the world has ever seen. Thus begins a tale of ecosystems, viruses, and cultural relations.

Van’s chase to rescue the kidnapped Yuna leads him to the Ahfal Oma, the People of the Fire Horse. They reveal that the sickness plaguing Aquafa is no random resurgence but a carefully orchestrated revenge plan, and they want the leader of the Lone Antlers to join. Van can’t abide a destructive quest that threatens all of Aquafa, but he’s still only one man. And how can a single man stop a disease—especially one that already lives within him?

After a pack of infected dogs attacks a group of miners, soldier-turned-slave Van awakens to find himself blessed with preternatural strength. As he effortlessly breaks free of his chains, he notices a young girl-the only other survivor-standing before him. The two escape the mine, but with Van’s captors in pursuit and a deadly disease ravaging the area, how will they survive on the lam?

The search for the kidnapped Yuna leads Van, Sae, and Hohsalle to the sacred Fire Horse Town, an Aquafa settlement that resisted Zol’s conquest. As Hohsalle struggles to find the cure for mittsual, Van wonders why he, a man who lost everything, was chosen to survive the deadly disease. Before long, he’ll find the answers he’s been looking for, as destiny beckons him and Yuna ever forward...Caught in the throes of political warfare and a fight against fate, will Van be able to reunite with Yuna and bring peace to the land?

Gifted physician Hohsalle and his lover Milalle travel to Awana province, home to the medical knowledge of the Pure Heart Creed, to help treat their friend Mana's niece. However, they soon find themselves embroiled in the battle to decide the next emperor of the Zolian Empire...!