Fantasy Book Critic: Exclusive Cover Reveal: The Coraidic Sagas (Omnibus Edition) by Alicia Wanstall-Burke

When the first book of The Coraidic Sagas, Blood of Heirs, launched in 2018, a very small part of me wondered if the trilogy would have an ending. Parts of my life, solid and sure, were disintegrating around me. The certainty that I could finish what I’d started slipped more than I care to admit.

There’s something inexplicably daunting in writing something this epic. And I can say for sure that I’m not the same person who set out to write this story. I’ve been through too much. Got more grey hair, more scars. Finishing Legacy of Ghosts was a struggle. Every page, every word, an exercise of determination to realise the second phase of the Saga.

Lidan and Ranoth grow up so much in the years we travel with them. They’re broken down, then rebuild themselves, just to get through another day. There’s darkness and hope in their journey; something that filtered through from our global experience of the pandemic. Empire of Shadows was my isolation novel. A manuscript born amidst the tectonic shifts of 2020 and 2021. When it finally flew the nest in January of this year, there was an immense sense of relief and joy.

I’d done it!

And now it’s time to launch the Omnibus Edition of The Coraidic Sagas—a 443,000-word brick in eBook form—all three volumes in one. Such an enormous milestone warranted a brand-new cover, and a different design approach.

All credit goes to VirginiaMcClain, ever patient and committed to bringing the characters and design elements of previous covers together into one piece. There’s so much more to a “good cover” than a pretty picture, especially in an online marketplace. What looks good on a shelf in a bookstore may not pop off the page when a reader is scrolling through thumbnail sized eBook images. It needs to work in grey scale as well, accounting for devices unable to display colour.

Everything from Ran’s magic, to Lidan’s knives, to her skin colour, the ruins and bushland in the background—it all has meaning and significance in the story. The shafts of light burn across the scene, as if stained by a bushfire off screen. Blood drips from Lidan’s knives. We can’t see who they are fighting, and for a large part of the story, their enemy remains an enigma.

I really enjoyed the collaborative partnership Virginia and I had, working together to build what was in our minds, the best version of these characters and this world. Virginia managed to translate my vague ideas into something incredible, and I’m so excited to see this edition come to life.

*---------------*---------------*---------------*

Official Author Website
Official Author Facebook Page
Official Author Twitter Account

OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: Splitting her time between Central Queensland, Australia and Lancashire, England, Alicia is a writer, a mum, and a cat-herder. There are rumours she may in fact be a quokka in disguise, but these are not to be believed. She began writing in her teens and never grew out of the phase, publishing Blood of Heirs in 2018, Legacy of Ghosts in 2019, and the final book of The Coraidic Sagas, Empire of Shadows in 2022. She is an accomplished editor and holds a Bachelor of Education and has studied a Post Graduate Certificate in Ancient History.

Release date: August 9^th 2022

Pre-order The Coraidic Sagas (Omnibus Edition)

Official Blurb: STUNNING DARK, EPIC FANTASY

The complete trilogy, all in one digital box set. Perfect for fans of Robin Hobb, Devin Madson and Mark Lawrence.

“This is riveting epic fantasy. Fast paced, brutal action, dark & confronting.” - Juliet Marillier, author of the Sevenwaters & Warrior Bards series.

"...solid writing, real characters that you'll end up rooting for, excitement, moments of genuine pathos, and a young girl getting stabby - very likely to please." - Mark Lawrence, author of The Broken Empire, The Red Queen's War, and The Book of the Ancestor trilogies

"Wanstall-Burke is one of the best fantasy authors writing today, hands down." - Dyrk Ashton, best-selling author of The Paternus Trilogy

“Epic fantasy rarely feels this intimate. This close. This dangerous and thrilling.” - John Birmingham, author of The Cruel Stars and the End of Days trilogies.

Book One: Blood of Heirs
How far would you go into the darkness to reclaim what you have lost?

Lidan Tolak is the fiercest of her father’s daughters; more than capable of one day leading her clan. But caught between her warring parents, Lidan’s world begins to unravel when another of her father’s wives falls pregnant. Before she has time to consider the threat of a brother, a bloody swathe is cut through the heart of the clan and Lidan must fight, not only to prove her worth, but simply to survive.

Ranoth Olseta wants nothing more than to be a worthy successor to his father’s throne. When his home is attacked by the aggressive Woaden Empire, Ran becomes his city’s saviour, but powers within him are revealed and he is condemned to death. Confused and betrayed, Ran is forced to flee his homeland, vowing to reclaim what he has lost, even if it kills him.
Facing an unknown future, and battling forces both familiar and foreign, can Lidan and Ran overcome the odds threatening to drag them into inescapable darkness?

Book Two: Legacy of Ghosts

Four years have passed since Lidan’s world was ripped apart, and time is running out to change her father’s mind about the succession before the bargain with her mother expires. Torn between what she wants and what she knows is right, she is faced with an impossible choice; will her brother live, or will he die?

Within the walls of the Hidden Keep, Ranoth holds his secrets close as he tries to harness his wild magic. But when life in the Keep descends into chaos, he is cast once more into the outside world, forced upon a southward path toward unknown lands and untold danger.
With Ran set on seeking justice and revenge, and Lidan fighting to find her feet and follow her heart, journeys will converge, and the ghosts of a past thought long dead will rise.

Book Three: Empire of Shadows

In the aftermath of battle, a truth is laid bare—the world, and the people within it, are not as they appear.

Adrift without an anchor and nursing a broken heart, Lidan steels herself for a task she never thought would fall to her—to hunt down the architect of the horrors that have plagued the South Lands for years.

Ranoth stands on a precipice, his plans in tatters. The path forward leads as easily home as to death. Hungry for answers, he and Lidan set out in pursuit of a common enemy, for dark and fathomless powers are moving beneath the surface of Coraidin.

The unseen realms have awoken and within them, ancient feuds flare to life.

A new and deadly threat looms, and an old bargain will be struck anew. Will Lidan and Ran survive the coming storm to finish what they have begun?