The Ice Moves for No One by Arlo Z. Graves

Thalon was born to fight. A warrior, a selkie, a daughter of the Dread One herself. For years, she’s trained for the Dusk Trials and earn a place aboard one of the legendary Duskingr airships. But the Trials are only the beginning. Victory does not come clean. The game is rigged, the sponsors corrupt, and the selkie way of life is slipping through the cracks. Worse, her own body is beginning to betray her, and no amount of training has prepared her for what comes next. Nothing in this world bends easily. The odds are stacked against her, and the path ahead is nothing but locked doors and closed fists. But Thalon has never let anyone—man, woman, or god—decide her fate. The ice moves for no one—but it’s never met Thalon.

Adult • Diversity Representation/LGBTQ+/Own Voices • Fantasy/Steampunk, Gaslamp, and Flintlock • Fantasy/Science Fantasy • Diversity Representation/Disability/Own Voices • Fantasy

Content Warning: Fantasy violence, alcohol, bullying, medical trauma, emotional child abuse, emotional child abuse while the child is in the form of an animal (sea lion pup), attempted suicide (drowning), drugging, blood, fantasy world racism, ableism, on page character death, discussion of forced pregnancy (this does not happen), illness, vomiting. Please note, the protagonist goes through an autoimmune flare up based heavily on my own lived experience. It was horrifying to live through and upsetting (but rewarding) to write. Readers particularly sensitive to this topic, please take care.