“Speak of dragons, and I’ll tell you of warriors who walked their flames. Speak of shadows, and I’ll tell you of heroes who brought the dawn. Speak of pain, and I’ll tell you of the Time who stole it away.”

This is part of a series but can easily be read as a stand-alone.

I really enjoyed this story and plan to go back and read the other books in the series! Hayley’s writing is really compelling and beautiful.

Like this quote: “what is hate but razor shards of shattered love?”

Her world-building is great and the time travel parts connect well.

Hayley is an indie author and I had never heard of her before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the story intrigued me and I’m glad to have discovered her!


This fantasy novel tells the tale of a girl with special healing powers who discovers she is the key to saving her people from the fear and darkness that covers their world from The Dead King.

In this world, their ‘god-like’ character is Odriel— “a spirit-guide.” He’s the good spirit.

Then we have his brother Idriel. He’s the bad spirit. He has been half-resurrected by a couple powerful magi who all stand to benefit from him taking over Odriel’s realm.

“Ten years ago, Valente Conrad, a human gifted with Idriel’s necromancy, and Ivanora, a magus blessed with Idriel’s unfathomable yanaa, raised Idriel from the dead using the body of an ancient soul-eater from Carceroc forest.”


Our main character, Emara, with the help of a talking cat, discovers her healing ability is more powerful than she thought. She is actually a Time Heir. Part of the trio of Odriel’s Heirs. The other two are the Dragon Heir and the Shadow Heir.

“‘Fire was borrowed from the dragon, invisibility from the shadow, and healing from time.’”

The Shadow and Dragon Heirs approach Emara, requesting she help them in their plan to kill The Dead King before he is fully resurrected (think Voldemort) and kills more of their people.

“All those years running. Surviving. Trying to fight back against the monsters that had taken her mother, her home, her people. Searching for a why hidden in the horror. And here it was— offered from the palm of an assassin of a half-remembered myth.”

But the plan devolves quickly and Emara finds herself a century in the past charged with finding another magus (singular form of magi) to help her hone her powers so she can come back to the present and fix what has gone terribly wrong!

“I know as long as yanaa flows through my veins, Odriel is with me, and I will be his hands to light the dark, protect the helpless, and heal the wounded.”


I really liked the variety of characters. It looks like book one tells the story of the Dragon Heir and book two is the story of the Shadow Heir.

It’s possible reading this one provides some unintentional spoilers to those books since it occurs last, but I think with the fantasy genre, it’s still worth reading, even if out of order because you it just creates a fuller picture of the world and the people in it.

I would definitely recommend this series and this author! I think this is a great series for both adults and young adults. It’s a clean book, which is another big plus!



Pronunciation Guide:
(the author provided me a list of words and how to pronounce them so I included a few of the most used words here if you’re interested!)

Austerden: aw-ster-den
Aza: ay-za
Bellaphia: bell-ah-fee-ah
Carceroc: car-sir-rock
Chipo: chee-po
Emara: em-ah-rah
Idriel: eye-dree-uhl
Ivanora: eye-vah-nora
Makeo: mah-kay-o
Odriel: oh-dree-uhl
Okarria: oh-car-ree-ah
Rastgol: rast-goal
Yanaa: yah-nah


[Content Advisory: no f- or s-words; no sexual content]

**Received a digital copy from the author in exchange for an honest review**