PW #361: Young Adult Fantasy: DARK AND BOUNDLESS

Manuscript Status: 2 weeks delivery

Mentor Name: Isabel Davis

Mentee Name: Jessie Latham

Title: DARK AND BOUNDLESS

Category: Young Adult

Genre: Fantasy

Word Count: 90,000

Pitch:

The Living Book needs blood to survive. Queen’s blood.

When her sister is slain on the border of the Ashlands, an exiled princess must bind herself to the Book, or face her kingdom’s destruction. But before her coronation, she insists on traveling to the treacherous heart of the Ashlands to confront the mystery clouding the queen’s assassination.

Except the only guide available into the Ashlands is the Ash Bandit accused of killing her sister.

DARK AND BOUNDLESS will appeal to fans of Uprooted, Spindle Fire, and Juliet Marillier.

Excerpt:

The storm spat snowflakes from the belly of the night, and beneath the wind’s frigid breath, something else stirred. My hands halted in teasing the snarls from my hair, and I tilted my ear toward the window. The storm sang louder above the faint shuffle of hooves through snow. I bit my lip. I knew better than to hope for news. It was only the wind, or the dead, wandering abroad in the cold season of the unbound.

My thoughts ran mad this time of year, conjuring noises from the dark, messengers from my sister. Years ago, when I was exiled, she had promised I could return to her when the unbound revels held sway, when dark was allowed into the kingdom of light, when the dead were invited to join the living. She had said we would dance together, nameless both, under the moon.

It has been twelve years since my sister made that promise.

A faint harness jingled. My heart leapt, but I shook my head. I had whispered her promise until the words slipped smooth and polished from my lips. I had waited every year as the nights grew long, and every year the unbound revels had come and gone with no summons.

Ghosts were more likely.