Haunting, fierce, and unapologetically human.
Gateley returns with a dark, emotionally layered fantasy that examines what it means to survive magic that was never meant to be yours. Years after betraying his oaths in pursuit of forbidden magic, Druid physician Dr. Ronan Gallagher is granted a second chance to set things right. But redemption is complicated when a Wraith facility is destroyed in a mysterious explosion, and Phoebe Ashburn, its only survivor, vanishes into the shadows with unstable, stolen magic inside her. Burdened by trauma and pursued by friend and foe alike, Phoebe will stop at nothing to purge the volatile magic within her—even if it means confronting the Druid whose mistakes led to her captivity.
Gateley shifts between Ronan and Phoebe’s third-person perspectives with an ease that amplifies the novel’s emotional complexity. The pacing alternates between moments of pure propulsion and breath-catching interludes that allow the characters room to reflect and unravel. Phoebe is a standout protagonist; abrasive, traumatized, and unwilling to be softened for comfort. Gateley never reduces her to a victim; instead, she explores the mess of survival: the rage, the mistrust, the grim sense of autonomy. Ronan, in contrast, is a man of control and calculation, shaken by how much of himself he sees in her. Their connection, fraught, slow-burning, and deeply human, is where the novel finds its emotional core. From the Druidic twins Amos and Amelia, who straddle the line between rule-following operatives and dark-arts practitioners, to Lennie, the dry, unflappable tactician monitoring operations from afar, the ensemble lends texture and credibility to the novel’s world. The antagonists, especially Nyx, the charismatic and sadistic Wraith crime lord, are grotesque without being cartoonish. Gateley makes it clear that evil in this world isn’t simply magical. It’s systemic, calculated, and dressed in charisma.
The magic system is layered and thematically rich. At the heart of the novel is a magical ecosystem fractured by belief: Druids preach balance, Wraiths seize power, Bearers embody creation, and Wielders mediate the flow. Together, they form a deeply political magic landscape. At its heart, this is a story about aftermath, what comes after survival, and whether healing is even possible. Fans of The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake and The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo will be drawn to the novel’s unflinching emotional depth, morally entangled leads, and its world where magic is as dangerous as the institutions built to contain it.
Grim, grounded, and emotionally resonant, it’s a contemporary fantasy that dares to be both mythic and deeply personal.
Fogberry Press
Pub date May 27, 2025
ISBN 978-1069434715
Price $27.99 (USD) Hardcover, $20.05 Paperback,$7.16 Kindle edition
