Asunder

Publication: August 2024

A decade ago, Karys Eska locked herself into an irrevocable compact with Sabaster: a terrifying eldritch being who granted her the power to speak to the dead. Ever since, she has paid the rent by investigating suspicious deaths around the troubled city she calls home. When an especially dangerous job goes sideways, she meets a dying stranger— an outwardly charming man named Ferain, who offers a ludicrous sum in exchange for her help.

Karys can’t say no.

But Ferain keeps his own desperate secrets, and his enemies will stop at nothing to see him eliminated. While attempting to save his life, Karys accidentally binds him to her shadow — an act that might doom them both.

If they want to survive, Karys and Ferain will need to learn to trust one another. Together, they must journey to the heart of a faded empire, all the while pursued by arcane horrors and the unquiet ghosts of their own pasts.

And all too soon, Karys knows, Sabaster will call in her debt.

Available here.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Kerstin Hall is one of the great imaginative minds writing fantasy today”—Isabel Cañas

“Immensely enjoyable. Kerstin Hall’s writing is simply awesome.”—Ann Leckie

“Asunder is a fast-paced dark fantasy, beautifully, bloodily eldritch, but also a political crime thriller in a setting where even divinity is violently contested.”—Vajra Chandrasekera

“This is a powerhouse.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

 

The Border Keeper (Book 1 in the Mkalis Cycle)

Publication: July 2019

Beyond the desert, at the end of the abandoned railway line, lies a near-forgotten border to the land of the dead. Vasethe —a man with a troubled past and a charming smile— follows the tracks to the border keeper’s house. He would ask her permission to enter the nine hundred and ninety-nine realms of Mkalis, where gods and demons wage endless war.

But old secrets creep closer to the light, and hidden enemies watch from the shadows. When the border keeper agrees to aid Vasethe, she is unaware that their actions threaten to throw both worlds into chaos.

Available here.

“Beautifully and vividly imagined. Eerie, surreal, and lovely.” – Ann Leckie

“A labyrinth of demons, dead gods, cranky psychopomps, and broken all-too-human lives. Hall is by turns wry and lush, genuine and venomous. So can I have the next one already?”—Max Gladstone

“A singular debut with no easy answers and beauty to spare.”—Indrapramit Das

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second Spear (Book 2 in the Mkalis Cycle)

Publication: August 2022

After surviving the schemes of a vengeful goddess and learning some shattering truths about her former life, the warrior Tyn feels estranged from her role guarding her ruler. Grappling with knowledge of her identity, she unleashes her frustrations on all the wrong people.

When an old enemy returns wielding an unstoppable, realm-crushing weapon and Tyn is swept up in the path of destruction, she must make a choice about who she is and who she wants to be.

Available here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Heart Between Teeth (Novelette 2.5 in Mkalis Cycle)

The 813th realm of Mkalis has fallen to a cruel and mercurial god, but Tahmais, its would-be successor, finds an unlikely ally in her quest to reclaim it at any cost….

Read it here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Star Eater

Publication: 22 June 2021

I was of history, not blood.

Elfreda never asked to be a Sister. The role exacts a high price – as guardians of the nation of Aytrium, Sisters must defend their home with cannibalistic magic. And while Elfreda is able to stomach the gruesome reality of her day-to-day duties, the prospect of propagating the Order’s magical bloodline horrifies her.

She wants out, whatever the cost.

So when a shadowy cabal approaches her with an offer of escape, she leaps at the opportunity. As their spy, she gains access to the highest reaches of the Order, and enters a glittering world of opulent parties, subtle deceptions, and unexpected bloodshed.

But as Elfreda delves deeper into the conspiracies of the Sisterhood, so too do sinister forces turn their gaze on her.

Available here.

“Written in beautifully agile prose, Star Eater is a layered and incisive examination of power, and Elfreda Raughn its beating heart.”—Rory Power, author of Wilder Girls

“A masterwork of worldbuilding, where each layer of secrets uncovered by the exceptionally rendered Elfreda merges the horrific with the systemic benign. Stunning, bloody, and everything I adore in fantasy.”—Emily Duncan, New York Times bestselling author of Wicked Saints

“Utterly compelling fantasy, both haunted and haunting.”—A. K. Larkwood, author of The Unspoken Name