It’s medieval-inspired fantasy with a post-apolcalyptic twist, served up with all the romance, conflict and quick-fire narrative pace expected by readers of Jay Kristoff, Leigh Bardugo and S.A. The Branded Season is Year of Wonders meets The Handmaid’s Tale, kidnapped by Mad Max. Orphan Nara and her sister, Osha, are sequestered in the citadel of Isfalk, where their pure skin entitles them to a life of privilege as precious immune breeding stock.īut when the girls are kidnapped by Wasteland traders, their narrow views of the class system begin to erode. Nara accepts the help of the Wrangler, a southern Brand with a shady past, who knows much more than he should about the sisters’ parentage and Nara’s strange new powers. Jo Riccioni is the author of The Branded, Book One of THE BRANDED SEASON duology.A century after a virus has decimated the population, the Continent’s survivors are divided into two classes: the Branded who are vulnerable to disease, and the Pure who are bigger, stronger and immune. Ledge is story of survival, sacrifice, and revenge. But who is to say that the life below will be any better than the one she has run from? Thankfully, escape may be within her grasp with the help of a half-Glacian called Ryon. No one knows what will happen to her on the other side, least of all Dawsyn. She is chosen and ripped from her icy home, the only world she knows. They know nothing of the outside world except that it is where the Glacians reside mystical winged creatures who bring them meagre rations to survive, in exchange for a periodic human sacrifice.ĭawsyn, axe wielder and only remaining member of her family, has so far avoided the seasonal culling, but her luck has run out. There is no way for anyone to escape the frozen wasteland without befalling a deathly drop.

The result is Ledge, the first in a trilogy of fantasy books set in a place known as the Ledge, where a civilization is trapped by a vast chasm and sheer mountain face. Stacey is a well known book tokker who scored her publishing contract as a result of her huge following on Tik Tok. Guest host Jo Riccioni chats to fellow debut fantasy author Stacey McEwan about her new release Ledge.

Kidnapped! by Jo Leigh