The Return of the Sorceress
Yalxi, the deposed Supreme Mistress of the Guild of Sorcerers, is on a desperate mission. Her lover and confidant seized her throne and stole the precious diamond heart, the jewel that is the engine of her power. Yalxi sets out to regain her magic and find a weapon capable of destroying the usurper. But this will mean turning to unlikely allies and opening herself up to unpleasant memories that have been suppressed for many years. For Yalxi is no great hero, but a cunning sorceress who once forged her path in blood – and must reckon with the consequences.
Set in a fantastical land where jewels and blood provide symbiotic magical powers to their wearers, The Return of the Sorceress evokes the energy of classic sword and sorcery, while building a thoroughly fresh and exciting adventure ripe for our era.
Available as an audio book: Dreamlands (audio, collects the novellas Prime Meridian and The Return of the Sorceress, 2021)
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Publication Year: 2021
Format: Novella
Length: 104 pages
Illustrator: Fang Xinyu
ASIN: 1645240304
ISBN: 9781645240303
Praise
Moreno-Garcia seems to enjoy getting on with the action where other writers might have paused for a couple hundred pages of worldbuilding, as if to demonstrate that S&S fantasy doesn’t need the bloat. On the other, we wouldn’t mind seeing a good deal more of this gritty, treacherous world and its not-entirely-innocent sorceress.
Bestseller Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic) packs an impressive plot into limited space in this dark sword-and-sorcery secondary world fantasy.