Who is Esme?

So, good news is that I’ve done my last read through of Hope’s Shadow before professional editing! Less than good news, there is a wait on the editor, as she’s currently working on another book. But I also have to wait on my cover art, so… I’m still hoping to have Hope’s Shadow published by the end of this year, but right now, it’s a waiting game.

So, in the meantime, to prepare for the release of Hope’s Shadow, I’m going to do some character and world introductions over the next few months or so.

First up is the main character of Hope’s Shadow, Esme.

Who is Esme? That is something she would like to know. She fled her homeland of Fiespera a decade ago with no memories of who she was, only that a terrible fate lurked in the shadows, threatening to kill her. She sailed across the Spire Sea to get as far from Fiespera as possible, landing in the deserts of Amarasu. There, she began “rescuing” books (definitely not stealing, why would you think it’s stealing?) for the libraries of Amarasu, traveling across the lands south of the Spire Sea and recording the wonders of the lands and their peoples. She was joined in her journeys by her oath-sister, Zuheyra of the people of Amarasu. It is only when a stranger arrives in Amarasu to warn them that the Fiesperan Empire have threatened to cross the Spire Sea and attack them does Esme leave Amarasu to return to Fiespera in an effort to save her people.

Esme is a scribe and her great weakness is books. They have long been her dearest friends and greatest comfort, and she knows that, above almost all others, she can trust books. She is also very easily distracted by books. Despite that, she is not terribly fond of poetry.

In addition to her academic pursuits, she is also stubborn and a bit too headstrong for her own good. Upon seeing the horrors that meet her on her arrival to Fiespera, she decides to take it upon herself to find a way to stop it, not only to save her adopted people in Fiespera, but also the people of Fiespera.

Unfortunately for her, the ones that she fled Fiespera to hide from and the things she has forgotten lurk ever closer, threatening to destroy everything she holds dear.