Emotionally precise, darkly enchanting, and hard to put down.
James opens the Tales from Valla series with a single, impulsive act that ripples outward into devastating consequences. Escala Winter only wanted to understand love. One forbidden kiss leaves a mortal dead, her best friend lost, and a dangerous vengeance awakened. Exiled from the Court of Dreams, Escala is pushed into a dangerous new world, chased by enemies and bound to a task she never asked for. As fey politics grow more dangerous and old resentments return, Escala must reckon with the consequences of her curiosity before both worlds are lost. Can remorse lead to redemption?
Escala enters the story not as a chosen hero, but as a restless young pixie searching for something she cannot name. Her wish to understand love feels less like defiance than a response to what she has been denied. When that curiosity sets off a chain of irreversible harm, the novel offers no easy forgiveness. James handles her grief with notable restraint, allowing it to unfold in small, honest moments. Her growth comes quietly, shaped by persistence rather than victory.
The fey realm stands out as a fully realized presence rather than a decorative setting. The Court of Dreams, so often linked with beauty and harmony, is shown instead as rigid, political, and unyielding. Law is enforced without sentiment, justified as protection against chaos no matter the cost. The ever-present threat of the Wane—erasure of both life and memory—hangs over the story, turning justice into something chillingly precise. Power here is inherited and institutional, maintained under the language of order rather than mercy.
The novel approaches romance with a refreshing sense of patience. The bond develops slowly, shaped by trust and shared hardship rather than confrontation. This gentler approach gives the story emotional stability amid its darker turns. Throughout, the novel returns to relationships fractured by responsibility and grief. Escala’s relationship with her father is tender yet limited, a love he cannot fully honor without dismantling the system he believes in. That struggle defines the book’s central tension. In the end, the novel centers on accountability in a system that resists absolution. It explores whether redemption remains possible after real harm, and whether love can justify the consequences of breaking sacred rules.
Readers who loved Uprooted by Naomi Novik and Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts won’t want to miss this one.
Trash Panda Publishing
Pub date December 10, 2025
ISBN 979-8999979902
Print length 541 Pages
Price Price $32.29 (USD) Hardcover, $12.99 Paperback, $5.99 Kindle edition, $0.00 Kindle unlimited