The Soul's Aspect by Mark Holloway

SPFBO8

A healer forced to become a killer for an empire that would grind his country to dust. Kehlem, the sickly son of a widowed physician, has devoted his life to learning his father’s craft. Wanting to finally step out of his father’s shadow, he embarks on a project of his own, seeking out the help of Themia, the town's newly arrived Alchemist and a rare wielder of magic. But Themia has secrets of her own, secrets carried from the heart of the empire itself, secrets that would steal Kehlem away from his home and into the empire’s Academy for magic users. The Isale Academy beckons, but can Kehlem survive the academy and its brutal regime? And if so, what would he have to become?

Adult • Fantasy/Dark • Fantasy/Epic and High • Fantasy

CJDaley author

This novel is like a more-adult version of a coming of age story, with all the typical nostalgia you’d want to feel from one. It still gives you new romance, and the prospect of love and growing up, but to me the heartbreak and death just rang as more real than some others.

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