Victoriana comes to Sydney, Australia in an alternative 19th Century, bringing dark Dickensian factories and even darker souls. Mages too, practising heart magic and skin magic, along with shapeshifting Earth spirits, demons, and automata. Included in this mix is a mad scientist, a touch of romance, strong female characters, diverse characters and a magic system playfully based on a real life 17th Century description of virtual reality: "The Monadology" by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. The novel also explores identity, the repercussions of colonialism, the widening rich-poor divide, and love & friendship in its many forms.
A woman with the strength to rebel.
A shapeshifter who wears the souls of the dead.
Together, they face a lethal enemy.
Em helped create it. Now she must craft its defeat.
In a city owned by industrialists, Em sells her magic to make ends meet. The extraction procedure is brutal and potentially deadly. Desperate for change, she joins an underground resistance movement to weaponize her magic and stop the abuse of workers.
Meanwhile, a mysterious voice wakes Ruk from a decades long slumber and compels him to become human. He wants to break free but is torn between his shapeshifter instincts and the needs of the soul that sustains him.
On streets haunted by outcasts and predatory automatons, a new danger emerges - an ever-growing corruption of magic and science. Em and Ruk must put aside their differences and pursue it - each for their own reasons.
What they discover will forever change their lives...
Or end them.
Edited by Amanda J Spedding and Pete Kempshall.
