A snarky, spellbinding fantasy sequel for fans of The Magicians, Ninth House, and Studio Ghibli-style whimsy.The masks are slipping. The dragons are waking. And Kallae is still, unfortunately, Kallae. The Order of Threadcasters is fractured. Heron Academy has fallen under the control of Sadhrin, whose grip tightens with every vanished caster, every whispered rebellion, and every dangerous secret dragged into the light.
On the island of Fujikura, Kallae is stranded among talking tanuki, haunted by grief, hunted by Black Cloaks, and forced to confront the deeply inconvenient truth that caring about people makes everything significantly more difficult. With Kilie broken, the Academy compromised, and power gathering in the wrong hands, Kallae must decide whether he is still running from the past-or finally ready to fight for something.
Meanwhile, Akira has lost almost everything. Her father is dead, her clan has been taken from her, and the Emperor offers mercy with one hand while tightening chains with the other. Furious, grieving, and dangerously gifted, Akira must navigate betrayal, loyalty, and the terrible cost of love in a court where every kindness has a price.
And far from the chaos of war and threadcasting, Hikari has spent her life in a sleepy village no one important has ever heard of-until she is whisked away to the imperial palace for the opportunity of a lifetime: to train as a geisha before the Emperor himself. It is glamorous. It is impossible. It is more than she has ever dared to dream. But behind the silk and ceremony lies a terrible secret-and Hikari must decide whether the life she always wanted is worth the price of keeping it.
And beneath the carefully painted smiles of Fujikura, something far older than the Empire is beginning to wake.
With a magic system rooted in threadwork, fate-weaving, and unraveling time,
The Way of Unmasking is a darkly whimsical fantasy full of:
- Intricate worldbuilding inspired by Japanese folklore
- A fresh, original magic system
- Dragons, tanuki, kitsune, gryphons, and very ornery fairies
- Court intrigue, rebellion, magical corruption, and ancient secrets
- A sharp-tongued cast facing masks, monsters, and the lies that built an empire
This sequel pulls harder at the threads of fate, revealing a world where truth is dangerous, power is hungry, and some things, once unmasked, are hungrier than expected.
