Eldritch

Maevyth Bronwick is a mortal woman shunned by her own people in Foxglove Parish. An old, hostile magic has woken there and made the world darker, colder and hungrier. Monsters that eat flesh roam the land, and a curse moves through the population like a plague.

Whatever humanity the parish once had has burned away. Zevander Rydainn, an assassin cursed in the magical realm of Aethyria, is her companion. The only way out for the two of them runs through the forest the villagers call The Eating Woods, which keeps whatever it takes.

The crossing goes badly. Facts about Maevyth's past begin to come apart, and the chance that she never leaves the mortal lands becomes real. Time is also short for Zevander. Without vivicantem he slides toward madness, and something sinister hunts him in the darkest parts of his own mind.

The book turns on whether Maevyth can save him a second time. It is the middle volume of the Eating Woods trilogy, a gothic dark fantasy romance that follows Anathema and leads into a concluding volume, Vasmora.

The word in the title names the book's own magic system, so this is not cosmic horror in the Lovecraft sense. Expect a plot-heavy, atmospheric read with a slow-burn romance, a detailed magic system and a real streak of body horror. It is written for adult readers of dark romantasy and runs to roughly 770 pages.