QUEEN OF FACES is the first in a YA fantasy trilogy, perfect for fans of Marie Lu and Leigh Bardugo, and the animanga Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Ghost in the Shell.
QUEEN OF FACES
by Petra Lord
TBD
(via Park & Fine Literary and Media)
Anabelle Gage is trapped in a boy’s body, and it’s rotting from the inside out.
In the nation of Caimor, the wealthy buy and swap fabricated bodies like clothes. But Ana, a mere scullery maid, can only afford a grey, withering form for herself, and by her seventeenth birthday, it’s already falling apart. Attending Paragon Academy, Caimor’s elite magic school, is her last shot at a new body—but when Ana fails the entrance exam for the third time, she puts her illusion magic to the task of stealing one instead.
Except Ana is caught, and by no less than the Paragon headmaster. He offers her a choice: die for her crime, or become a mercenary under his command, working secretly against those who would see the nation’s magical elite toppled. Desperate, Ana accepts. No matter how dangerous or illegal the job is, if she earns enough money, she just might be able to escape her body before it kills her.
But revolt brews in Caimor’s smog-choked underworld, and at its helm is Khaoivhe, the most infamous outlaw mage in history. As Ana steals, fights, and kills for the school of her dreams, she is drawn into the dark, tangled web of Khaoivhe’s machinations…and she discovers secrets that will upend her idea of who the heroes of her story are—and that threaten to leave her world in ruins.
Petra Lord is a biracial trans author. She has a BFA in TV Writing from New York University, which she uses to recommend Netflix shows to her parents and predict the endings of Marvel movies. She’s currently based in Los Angeles, where she feeds her dual addiction to Sweetgreen and Korean barbecue and sustains herself off videos of her cat. QUEEN OF FACES is her debut novel.
For most of her life, Izzy has been looking forward to fulfilling her mother’s dream of studying abroad in Italy. Going into her senior year, Izzy is counting down the days until she can leave her humdrum life behind, until Alberto, a handsome and mysterious Italian exchange student shows up for his stay with her family. Now life in her hometown doesn’t seem so drab, as Izzy, and everyone else, is immediately charmed by Alberto and his irresistible accent.
Amanda Pruitt needs redemption. She is the one, after all, who turned her sister in for murder and anonymously broadcasted her trial to millions on TikTok. And she was wrong. Her sister is innocent, making Amanda the villain—not the hero—all along.
Plain, poor, plus-size, and autistic, Alesta grew up trying to convince her kingdom that she’s too useful to be sacrificed—like so many of their country’s poor—to appease the infernal monster across the poison sea in hell. When Alesta’s attempt to prove herself with inventions goes awry, her best friend and heir to the throne, Kyrian, takes the blame expecting leniency—and ends up tithed in her place. To end the sacrifices forever, Alesta plans to kill the monster that killed her friend. She travels to the depths of hell only to find Kyrian, alive, but monstrously transformed. There’s no escaping hell or their deeper feelings for one another, and the farther they go, the closer they come to uncovering a truth about the tithings that threatens to invoke the wrath of not only monsters but the gods as well.
Wren Nightingale isn’t supposed to have any powers. Born of magickal parents but not under a moon sign, she was destined for life as a Mundane—right up until she starts glowing on her eighteenth birthday. In a heartbeat, Wren’s life is turned upside down, and she’s suddenly leaving her home for the mystical Academia de la Luna—a secret magickal school on a hidden island off the Seattle coast. Lee Young has always known about his future at the Academia. He has one goal: pass the trials, impress the Moon Council, and uphold his family’s reputation. But he wasn’t expecting to be attending alongside the girl he’s been secretly in love with for as long as he can remember. As Wren and Lee are thrown into the Academia’s grueling trials, they quickly learn there’s something different—and dangerous—about the school this year. Wren will have to navigate a web of secrets, prophecies—and murder. And Lee will have to decide who to protect—his family’s legacy or the girl he loves.