Empire of Resonance

They call him the Blackspine. The one rebel the Councilate couldn’t kill, even as they crushed his people. The one beggar no gang would touch, for fear of his power. If only they knew. Tai Kulga has survived this long by fighting against his power and the madness that comes with it. The last time he gave in, it killed his best friend - so every day he doesn’t is a victory, now.

Tai Kulga lost the rebellion and his best friend on the same day, stripping him of everything even as a strange power flooded his bones. When the friend returns as a spirit guide, it feels like a second chance - but his friend is not who he was, and the Councilate is not done oppressing his people. Trouble with lawkeepers lands Tai’s surviving friends in a prison camp, and he goes underground seeking the last of the rebels to convince them to break his friends free.

Against all odds the rebels have defeated the Councilate, combining Ella’s insight into magic with Tai’s resonant strength. But barely a month into independence, smugglers begin to report strange bodies in the woods - scarred, mutilated, shunned by the forest creatures. Still, they have more pressing concerns: racial tensions in the city, peace talks with the empire, and finding food for the approaching winter. Until one of the bodies turns up alive, and flooded with unbelievable power.

A god is dead. In her place, a thousand petty gods spring up, seizing the power Tai refused. Now, he must join a centuries-old shaman, a bawdy tribesman, and a teenager who hates him in a desperate race to reclaim that god's power, before the new gods and the old destroy everything they love. Don't miss the penultimate book in this epic fantasy series filled with unexpected heroes, dark magic, intrigue, and nonstop adventure. Suitable for all ages, it's perfect for fans of D. K. Holmberg, Will Wight, and C. J. Aaron.

When Ella and Tai earned the power of a god, she thought they were finally safe - until another god sends assassins to take it back. To stop him she must go empty-handed and undercover in the god's own city - the same city she fled years ago. To succeed, she'll have to defeat the ghosts waiting there first.