Kristen Ciccarelli

Kristen Ciccarelli’s debut fantasy explores an intricately woven world of deception, inner darkness, and dragons that fantasy fans won’t be able to resist. In the beginning, there was the Namsara: the child of sky and spirit, who carried love and laughter wherever he went. But where there is light, there must be darkness—and so there was also the Iskari. The child of blood and moonlight. The destroyer. The death-bringer. These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up learning in hushed whispers, drawn to the forbidden figures of the past. But it isn’t until she becomes the fiercest, most feared dragon slayer in the land that she takes on the role of the next Iskari—a lonely destiny that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl. Asha conquers each dragon and brings its head to the king, but no kill can free her from the shackles that await at home: her betrothal to the cruel commandant, a man who holds the truth about her nature in his palm. When she’s offered the chance to gain her freedom in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard, she finds that there may be more truth to the ancient stories than she ever could have expected. With the help of a secret friend—a slave boy from her betrothed’s household—Asha must shed the layers of her Iskari bondage and open her heart to love, light, and a truth that has been kept from her.

The Last Namsara

But if he knew her name, why shouldn't he know her weapon of choice?

Author likes the phrase "sheer force" very much.

To survive in a world that preferred she didn't exist, Safire had to be strong. And she was— her arms were knotted hard with muscles, and beneath the sheer force of her, Asha was buckling.

"My love," she whispered, "I'll wait for you at Death's gate."

"Greta used to say," he said as he played, "that everyone of us is born with a song buried deep in our hearts. A song all our own. And our mission in life is to find that song."

"Everything dies," he whispered back. "I'm afraid of so much more than dying."

The Last Namsara quotes

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