Forest of Souls

Sirscha Ashwyn has come up from nothing and means to make something of herself. She has spent years training to become the queen's next royal spy. Then shamans attack and kill her best friend, Saengo, and Sirscha, without understanding how, brings her back to life.

The act marks Sirscha as a soulguide, the first anyone alive can remember. She is summoned to the domain of the Spider King, who has held the kingdoms in peace for centuries through his influence over the Dead Wood, an ancient forest possessed by souls.

That hold is slipping. The trees are growing wild and untamed, and only a soulguide can restrain them. Sirscha has to learn to use her newly awakened abilities while war looms on the horizon.

The stakes are both political and personal. If the trees break the fragile peace between the kingdoms, a war follows. They may also claim Saengo, the friend Sirscha would die for.

This is an epic fantasy and the start of a series. It centres on friendship between young women, and it keeps a tense, urgent pace as the danger in the forest grows.