Waiting on Wednesday-Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear

Back in 2010, I read a slim little YA book that I adored--Bone and Jewel Creatures, by Elizabeth Bear. Here's what I said:

"I shall start by saying flat out that this is a book for fans of Patricia McKillip (like me). Which is to say--this is a book where language and description and things hinted at in the shadows and old histories hanging between characters are of paramount importance, and plot and character motivations aren't spelled out in obvious ways. I loved it."

It was a book full of untold backstory, and I wanted to stay in the world for pages and pages more....

Yesterday I saw a mention of 2 forthcoming books by Elizabeth Hand, and I had to check to see if this was the Elizabeth with Monosyllabic Surname whose book I had liked so much, and of course it wasn't.* But happily for me I found that E. Bear has a new book coming out, set in the same world as Bone and Jewel Creatures!

It is called Range of Ghosts (Tor, March 27) and here is its blurb:

"Temur, grandson of the Great Khan, is walking away from a battlefield where he was left for dead. All around lie the fallen armies of his cousin and his brother, who made war to rule the Khaganate. Temur is now the legitimate heir by blood to his grandfather’s throne, but he is not the strongest. Going into exile is the only way to survive his ruthless cousin.

Once-Princess Samarkar is climbing the thousand steps of the Citadel of the Wizards of Tsarepheth. She was heir to the Rasan Empire until her father got a son on a new wife. Then she was sent to be the wife of a Prince in Song, but that marriage ended in battle and blood. Now she has renounced her worldly power to seek the magical power of the wizards. These two will come together to stand against the hidden cult that has so carefully brought all the empires of the Celadon Highway to strife and civil war through guile and deceit and sorcerous power."

But in the meantime, do try Bone and Jewel Creatures!

*There also Elizabeth Moon, and Elizabeth Wein (who I don't get confused with the others, because her last name isn't a noun in English). There is also Elizabeth Goudge, but she isn't a contemporary writer of sci fi/fantasy, so that's ok.

Waiting on Wednesday (which I always think of as Waiting, on Wednesday) is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.