Misti Eildelmann is a Vagari—a race whose innate crafting ability is connected to the creatures of the world. She’s also a Moon Knight. Misti is fighting a banished one when he slips a pendant around her neck that saps her strength. The pendant is dangerous. Deadly even. It harnesses crafting in a way not seen before, so she sets off to find help. Old and new friends join her on this quest, including her longtime crush Dylori Clyofis and a villager named Arias Silverstone. The journey is risky—filled with frightening suncreatures, evil worshippers, and twisted betrayal. Misti is thankful to have friends on this path into the scorching light, but something much bigger is waiting for them in the sunshine. Her pendant is just a piece of puzzle.

Rare goods trader Orenda Silverstone leads a happy life with her wife and friends. She’s an Elu—a race whose crafting is centered on protection—but her power is broken. Now, her sword is her strength. When her wife gets kidnapped and Orenda has to use her trading skills to complete some nearly impossible tasks to get her back, a good sword arm won’t be enough. Orenda’s time is rapidly coming to a close. She needs help. But she’s been forced into silence. Two sun goddess worshippers, twins Lan and Lyra, decide to join Orenda’s quest in order to guard one of the rarer items to its destination. Orenda’s not sure she can turn her back on either one, but with no other options, she competes against the sunrises to complete her tasks before her wife is killed. Between racing against the coming dawns and battles at every turn, Orenda’s list now seems insurmountable. No longer certain of who is friend or foe, she must come up with a plan to save them all before the sun rises on her wife’s final day.

No scribe has ever returned from the Sunglade. It’s a continent of burning sunlight and terrifying suncreatures, and the home of the worshippers of Ponuriah, the evil sun goddess. When Adaris Kavari, a disgraced wandering scribe with a lame leg, finds herself following her curiosity too far and gets captured by those worshippers, she’s forced to record their side of history in order to survive. Much to the worshippers’ glee, Adaris is also a Divus—a race whose crafting is used mainly to heal, and sometimes to hurt—and a terrifying young researcher immediately latches onto her because of it. But Adaris isn’t the only prisoner here. She meets an attractive and snarky painter named Rhonwen with an unfortunate link to Adaris’ past. Wanting to save them both, Adaris conforms to the sun goddess worshippers’ ways while looking for an escape. She knows that once she’s free, she’ll have recorded a keystone story that would help restore her tarnished reputation and might even turn the tide of the upcoming war. The sun goddess worshippers’ influence is strong, especially with the new elements of crafting Adaris encounters—elements that could turn her pitiful crafting into something new and powerful—and her scribe’s curiosity twists into something even she didn’t anticipate. As a scribe, she’s recorded many heroes’ adventures. Now, it’s her turn to become the hero—by any means necessary.