Rebecca Zahabi – författare

''Beautifully wrought dark fantasy'' NetGalley ReviewerA MAN MARKED BY MAGIC. A WOMAN MARKED BY HER PAST.On the other side of the Shadowpass, rebellion is brewing and refugees have begun to trickle into the city at the edge of the world. Looming high on the cliff is The Nest, a fortress full of mages who offer protection, but also embody everything the rebellion is fighting against: a strict hierarchy based on magic abilities.When Isha arrives as a refugee, she attempts to fit in amongst the other mages, but her Kher tattoo brands her as an outcast. She can''t remember her past or why she has the tattoo. All she knows is that she survived. She doesn''t intend to give up now.Tatters, who wears the golden collar of a slave, knows that this rebellion is different from past skirmishes. He was once one of the rebels, and technically, they still own him. He plans to stay in the shadows, until Isha appears in his tavern. He''s never seen a human with a tattoo, and the markings look eerily familiar . . .As the rebellion carves a path of destruction towards the city, an unlikely friendship forms between a man trying to escape his past and a woman trying to uncover hers, until their secrets threaten to tear them apart.The Collarbound hooks from the opening page and will appeal to fans of magical, brink-of-war settings, like that of The Poppy War and The City of Brass.''Zahabi deftly creates a fully-realized and richly described world, providing a quiet yet striking exploration of the way inequality and injustice often serve as the bedrock of systems of power'' M. J. Kuhn, author of Among Thieves

The rebels on the other side of the Shadowpass are massing, and refugees are flooding in to the city. Scared, penniless and not exactly welcome, they are desperate for the protection of the Nest, and the powerful mages who live there. But there is dissension in the Nest''s ranks, and there is always someone willing to make money from the fearful.The mages believe they have a secret weapon - a captured lightborn, kept prisoner by a magical slave collar and forced to do their bidding. But Tatters and Isha, tentative friends despite their suspicion of each other''s motives, know something the mages do not.The rebels are aware of the lightborn. They know how to deal with it. And they are ready for war...

Freed from his prison cell, the former slave known as Tatters is finally ready to face his past. Now his true nature is known to all, he can use his Lightborn powers freely. But they come at a price, and his loyalties remain conflicted. The renegades about to attack the city used to be his companions, and both sides have treated him badly. He will have to decide which side to choose.Isha had thought Tatters was dead, and is overjoyed to see him return. But her master, one of the most powerful mages, has a past with them both, one which might make their reunion impossible. The mages remain divided, and in order to survive they will need to come together, and put aside past arguments. They too have a choice.And outside the city, the renegades continue to advance. Destruction of the mages is their only goal, and nobody knows if they can be stopped...