THE LEGACY OF THE SKY SERPENTS

In this ambitious epic fantasy, a young woman bound to an ancient power must confront her destiny in a world ruled by corruption and loss.

Cox’s novel begins in the eerie forest of Wekenwild, a sentient landscape that “never turned travelers away, it unmade them, one step at a time.” Selaina carries the residual force of the Wishing Stone, granting her sight into the hidden patterns that shape reality. The forest’s perfect geometry—“a language of shapes and movements, older than words”—reflects a magic system based on rhythm and resonance rather than incantation, a concept that echoes throughout the novel. Joined by a wary band of companions—Garrick, Ysadora, Kadin, and Rykan—Selaina becomes the moral and spiritual center of a journey across collapsing kingdoms. Garrick’s observation that “once power touches their lips, it leaves a thirst only the wine of corruption can satisfy” distills the book’s central warning about leaders: Idealism easily rots into tyranny. Yet the story’s power lies in its meditative undercurrent summed by an elder’s advice: “The Wellspring, the Everdream, the Netherwood…different ways of seeing the same truth. One we’ve only glimpsed from this side.” Cox expands the mythos beyond good and evil into spiritual multiplicity but still doesn’t stint on action sequences, which are vivid and carefully choreographed. When time itself bends in battle, “the arrow slowed in mid air, a leaf frozen halfway to the ground,” the writing captures both spectacle and symbolism—violence paused within cosmic order. Selaina’s insight—that “the weight of her purpose settled within her like a heartbeat”—marks her becoming the author of her fate. The final chapters gesture toward a widening rebellion and the emergence of new alliances, setting the stage for a larger saga.

A thoughtful, intricately written fantasy that combines emotional depth with visionary worldbuilding.