The Medici Chronicles
“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.
A high fantasy novel with elements of Trudi Canavan, Robin Hobb and with a sprinkling of Tamora Pierce!
“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. Mika escapes the city and disguises herself to travel to Ackbarr, certain she will discover the real reason for her brother’s disappearance.
Meanwhile, her dreams are filled with a predator stalking the forests of her homeland leaving her trembling with the taste of blood.
“The men go mad eventually – unable to separate themselves from the cats they control. The women? They fare little better...”
The words from Lin’s journal haunt Mika as she gains her Medici qualifications. Left homeless by his death, she tries to escape her grief by burying herself in her work, only to discover both old and new enemies waiting in the wings.
“You can’t just invade, they’ll have men with crossbows looking out for you. They use poisoned arrows, they can fell your outriders in seconds.”
Cassai has managed the unthinkable by killing thousands and Ackbarr can no longer ignore the tiny country defying them. Mika must make a choice who she stands with – her adopted country or the homeland who expelled her as an animal. In the meantime, her grip on the human world is sliding…
“The saw rasped against bone and Mika clenched her jaw as her own teeth remembered the red stained ivory sliding beneath them. A crack of powerful muscles and the marrow laid bare. Ears back, eyes hooded - watching. She knows the man will die on the table.”
After five years of hard study, Mika has achieved the rank of Journeyman Medici. Few know that she is a girl pretending to be a boy in the male dominated world of Ackbarr. Far fewer know of the animal concealed beneath her skin.
Searching for any knowledge of her kind, she is determined to travel back to Cassai. The forests of her childhood are seductive, calling to the memories buried deep within but she discovers that her world has moved on without her. Or maybe it never was as she remembers.
Addicted to the drugs she is taking to suppress her changing abilities, Mika is readying herself to take over the position of Court Medici when she hears her sons have arrived at the border between the two countries and are asking for her. They are strangers, she’s not met them since she gave them up thirteen years ago and they have their own problems. Her only hope - and theirs - may lie in the changer community in the mountains.
The Medici Chronicles - Complete
“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.”
All five books in one volume.
