The Book Of Maladies Books
Fate brings them together. Their magic will bind them. In the city of Verdholm, canals separate the highborns in the center sections of the city from the lowborns along the outer sections. The city is isolated, surrounded by a deadly swamp and steam fields which should protect the people of the city from the dangerous outside world. Until it doesn’t. For Sam, an orphaned thief who wants only to protect her brother, protection means stealing enough so she can one day buy her way into a better section. She’s a skilled thief, and when she’s offered a job that can change everything for her, what choice does she have but to take it? Alec is an apothecary who longed to join the prestigious university and become a physicker, but they rarely accept students from the merchant class, and he’s now too old to enroll. The surprising discovery of strange magic can change his fortunes, but only if he can fully understand it. When the natural protection of the city fails and her brother is thrown into danger, Sam must become more than a thief to save him, but she can’t do so by herself. Somehow, she and Alec are linked through an ancient magic and together they might be the only ones able to stop an attack that threatens to disrupt the balance within the city and bring the dangers of the outside world to them.
Decades of peace has ended. The real battle is still to come. Sam and Alec work to understand their connected magic, but the limited supply of easar paper limits them. Worse, Marin has again disappeared, leaving questions unanswered. How can they be ready for another Theln attack if they don’t have an opportunity to train with their abilities? New power complicates everything. Sam wants to use it to continue taking jobs that will eventually buy her way into the nicer sections of the city, but Alec sees a higher purpose to their magic. When an opportunity Alec thought he would never have is offered, he needs to decide whether to follow his heart or his mind. Sam feels like she should be more than a lowborn, but what is she without her Scribe? Strange attacks in the city leaves her thinking she and Marin aren’t the only Kavers remaining, but why would Marin keep that from her? Finding the answers she and Alec need puts both of their lives in danger but might be the key to knowing whether she’ll ever be anything more than a lowborn. The safety of the city just might depend on it.
Betrayed. Broken. Poisoned. No longer alone, Sam and Alec struggle to find time to continue their studies together. Sam knows that she is more than the lowborn she’d long believed, now living and training in the palace, but still doesn’t feel as if she quite fits in. Worse, it seems as if Alec has moved on without her, preferring his new life in the university. Alec has quickly risen in rank, but that only draws attention to him. Learning from master physickers has its benefits, but there are dangers and he’s not certain whether he can trust the new friends he’s made. Evidence continues to mount of a conspiracy within the university, and it’s one he’ll need Sam’s help in understanding. While Alec tries to reach out to Sam, she searches for Marin and answers that might unlock her full potential. What she finds instead is a threat to the safety in the city, protections that have long prevented the Thelns from reaching Verdholm, if they haven’t already breached them. Together, they are the key to stopping Marin, but can they master their new places in the city in time?
Finding the truth means risking everything. While trying to track down her brother, Sam discovers she isn’t through with Marin quite yet. An attack proves that a traitor sympathetic to Marin remains active in the city, but training prevents Sam from finding answers. With the Thelns once more in the city, Elaine doesn’t believe Sam should be involved in the search, which means she has to go off on her own. Doing so risks her position at the palace, but any other choice puts her brother in danger. Alec continues his studies and realizes how much he still has to learn at the university. Now that he knows some of the master physickers are also Scribes, he wants answers, but his search places him at odds with someone far more powerful than him. When Sam asks for his help with her quest to find the traitor, Alec has to make a dangerous decision and the fallout will change their lives in the city. Failure means more than another Theln attack upon the city—it means they might lose everything they have discovered about themselves.
Finding the truth in the present means understanding their past. Newly promoted to full physicker, Alec still struggles with his place in the University. Friends treat him differently and the master physickers no longer allow him to study with them. After everything that has happened, he’s still an outsider. When his father arrives at the university for healing, Alec must use everything he learned from him in order to save him, but even that might not be enough. He must discover the secret of his illness by finding a way to work with the master physickers, but what he finds is unexpected and hints at a greater plot taking hold. Sam wants nothing more than to head toward the Theln lands after her brother, but with Alec needing her help, she postpones the journey. Rather than having the opportunity to help Alec, she finds herself chasing details of the past Marin has hidden, only to realize the deception to the city runs much deeper than she could ever had imagined. Could it be that Marin had actually saved Tray as she claimed? Though they have both progressed in knowledge and ability, it still might not be enough to stop a plot against the city that has gestated for years and finally threatens to come to fruition. The truth behind the plot has the potential to destroy the city, if it doesn’t destroy Sam and Alec first.
Deception runs deeper than the canals in Verdholm. Traveling to the Theln lands will be dangerous and possibly deadly, forcing Sam to ask for help from an unlikely ally. What she learns reveals how she is woefully underprepared for the journey, but she doesn’t dare wait any longer. Her brother’s life might depend upon her ability to reach him. While Sam prepares, Alec uses the newly discovered secret of the canal eels to try and understand the key to making easar paper. A visit with his father reveals that his deception runs deeper than Alec had ever imagined and that his mother might hold the key to what he’s searching for. Just as Sam and Alec think they understand what must be done, a shocking revelation proves another deception, one that threatens not only the safety of the city, but of the ruling Anders family. Somehow, they are the only ones able to challenge a foe who has planned an attack for a decade or longer, leaving them to question everything they have learned about themselves. The penultimate volume in The Book of Maladies.
Blood magic can either save or destroy their city. With the true threat revealed, Sam and Alec search for Master Helen and decide upon a dangerous gamble to uncover her plot. When Kavers turn up injured and drained of blood, they fear they might already be too late. The search for Helen leads to a discovery that changes everything Sam thinks about the Thelns and convinces her she needs to go after her brother. Reaching him is dangerous and will leave the city unprotected, but if she doesn’t, a far worse fate awaits. As Helen’s plan unfolds, Sam and Alec race to stop it, but they must discover what she truly intends or everyone with blood magic will suffer. The key to stopping her is a secret kept from everyone in Verdholm for decades, but that same key might be integral to her success. The final volume in The Book of Maladies.