S. Jae-Jones

Sailor Moon meets Cinder in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, the start of a new, richly imagined fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.

Magic flickers.
Love flames.
Chaos reigns.

Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms. Magicians are called an abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.

Jin Zhara already had enough to worry about―appeasing her stepmother’s cruel whims, looking after her blind younger sister, and keeping her own magical gifts under control―without having to deal with rumors of monsters re-emerging in the marsh. But when a chance encounter with an easily flustered young man named Han brings her into contact with a secret magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn, Zhara realizes there may be more to these rumors than she thought. A mysterious plague is corrupting the magicians of Zanhei and transforming them into monsters, and the Guardians of Dawn believe a demon is responsible.

In order to restore harmony and bring peace to the world, Zhara must discover the elemental warrior within, lest the balance between order and chaos is lost forever.

Guardians of Dawn: Zhara

Jazelle H

The tools of the magician were also put in the pyre—the brush, the inkstone, and the seal—and any citizen with knowledge of the Language of Flowers was burned alongside the books of magic.

She had always imagined her magic as a steady flame within her, and the world around her as her kitchen. Elements were ingredients to be played with, like dough beneath her fingers. Zhara held her breath and concentrated, applying her magic to the mixture in her hands like heat to a pot of water.

The Guardian of Dawn were a fairy tale, legendary elemental figures and companions of the Sunburst Warrior, who defeated Tiyok, Mother of Ten Thousand Demons, by sealing her in a realm far beneath the earth.

"Oh?" Zhara pressed close, trying not to laugh as the student suddenly scurried backward. "Because you're awfully red right now, Master Plum Blossom."

The student splayed his hands on the wall behind him and coughed. "Well, ahem, that is"—he cleared his throat—"that is entirely due to your intoxicating presence and nothing to do with alcohol, I assure you."

"There are some," Suzhan said, "who are dead even as they breathe."

The tale of the magpie lovers had a special place in Zhara's heart; she had been born on the Night of the Sevens, and her father had called her his little magpie girl--the star born of the impossible love between a magician and a girl from beyond the Shining Sea.

It was said that sunlight revealed many secrets, but it was darkness that would betray hers.

When his vision cleared, he saw that Mistress Brandy was no longer just glowing -- she was on fire. No, not on fire -- made of fire. She was an ethereal being of light and flame, a girl-shaped wildfire clinging to the monster's arm as its skin blistered beneath her touch.

She glowed like the edge of a candle flame, a halo of light surrounding her like one of the celestial maidens in the fairy tales his mother used to read to him.

"The say a pinch of prevention is worth a dollop in of cure."

Guardians of Dawn: Zhara quotes

Join the club