Elayne Audrey Becker

Rora is a shifter, as magical as all those born in the wilderness--and as feared. She uses her abilities to spy for the king, traveling under different guises and listening for signs of trouble.

When a magical illness surfaces across the kingdom, Rora uncovers a devastating truth: Finley, the young prince and her best friend, has caught it, too. His only hope is stardust, the rarest of magical elements, found deep in the wilderness where Rora grew up--and to which she swore never to return.

But for her only friend, Rora will face her past and brave the dark, magical wood, journeying with her brother and the obstinate, older prince who insists on coming. Together, they must survive sentient forests and creatures unknown, battling an ever-changing landscape while escaping human pursuers who want them dead. With illness gripping the kingdom and war on the horizon, Finley's is not the only life that hangs in the balance.… (más)

This was one of my favorite kinds of fantasy - a high-stakes, epic quest with some light enemies to lovers romance.

Rora and her brother Helos are shifters, who have an uneasy arrangement with the royal family in their borrowed country of Telyan. All magical people are viewed with suspicion, and outright hunted in a nearby country. But Rora serves the king as a spy, which gains her a place. But when non-magical people began falling ill and dying of a mysterious illness called the Fallow Throes, including Prince Finley, the only friend Rora and Helos have, they agree to go on a quest to retrieve stardust from the giants to save them. Unfortunately, the King insists on sending Prince Weslyn, who has never seemed to like Rora And Helos, and has secret missions of his own. Even worse, Rora and Helos will have to travel to the Vale, a magical place where the very land shifts beneath them and everything wants to kill them. Thanks to Prince Weslyn's presence, the party also finds themselves entangled in political situations that come to a boil, straining the bonds between some characters and strengthening the ties between others.

This book features nonstop action, strong friendships between characters and a fierce, big-hearted protagonist who's willing to face the place that scares her most in order to save her best friend and others.

Thank you to Tor Teen for the advance review copy of this book.… (más)