Racing the Dark

The first novel of the Spirit Binders trilogy.

In Racing the Dark, the first act in a grand dance of loyalty, love, sacrifice, and death is about to begin, set in a land of volcanoes and earthquakes, plagues and typhoons, of island nations separated by water but bound by fear of the spirits they imprison to control their volatile environment.

Like the other women of her nameless backwater island, Lana had always expected to become a diver harvesting precious jewels from a fish native to their surrounding freshwater seas. But during her initiation dive, she receives a horrifying gift—a blood-red jewel that marks her as someone with power. Someone to be used.

Though Lana hides the jewel, the power it represents will drives her family away from their home island, and Lana into an apprenticeship with Akua, a one-armed witch who has a peculiar interest in her fate. Akua hides the extent of her own power (and her intentions) even as she trains Lana in geas—the spells and incantations that allow humans to sacrifice for control of the spirits. But powers far greater and intrigues far older than anything she could imagine are pushing Lana down a dangerous path. When she dares to use a dark, ancient spell to save her mother’s life, she is set onto a path toward becoming a creature beyond her wildest imaginings. A creature of great power…and a perfect pawn of the spirits themselves in their bid to break free of a millennia-long imprisonment.