“Primal forest, dim light and the muscular grace of a large predator sliding through the undergrowth. Mika twitched, caught up in her dream. Gnats swarmed above the moss coated pools. The crashing of beasts in the distance and the humming of bees. She threaded her way through, blinking in the green light.”

Fifteen year old Mika is to be married to a foreign boy she has only met once, despite her family mourning the recent disappearance of her twin brother, Kaylan. Forced to live in a strange land far from her home in Cassai, she is resigned to her life as a lady until the day she discovers her new family dead around her. The Medici Chronicles charts twenty years of her life through her marriage and subsequent escape into the Medici – a caste of healers and doctors.

 

Woman, Shapeshifter, Healer

 

The countries of Cassai and Ackbarr have held an uneasy truce for many years, with Cassai hidden between its ring of mountains and the sea beyond. In Ackbarr Mika disguises herself as a boy so she can continue to learn and attempts to contain her latent abilities from sliding out of her control while tensions between her adopted country and her homeland rise.

 

“The wind rustled through the leaves outside the window, soft sounds calling her soul to come out and play. Silky kitten steps tracked through her mind, a presence stealthily moving closer. The sway and twitch of a tail, hypnotic, tense, every hair alive with anticipation. She smiled with the memories of hunting, alive in the night…”

 

Always the outsider, in her search for the truth about her brother’s disappearance Mika uncovers more than she bargains for - she has been lied to - about her past, her people and her country.

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A high fantasy novel with elements of Trudi Canavan, Robin Hobb and with a sprinkling of Tamora Pierce!