This lushly imagined first in a planned series is centered around twins Kylee and Brysen, whose complex relationship with the birds of prey their Uztari community both reveres and around which they’ve built their livelihood is tied up with the trauma inflicted upon them by their abusive father, who died while trying to capture an elusive and dangerous bird called the ghost eagle.

Excelling both at world building and in imbuing the characters of this gripping and rapidly paced novel with realistic faults and fears, London has created a world of loyalty and betrayal that will draw readers in from the start. Brysen, desperate to protect his boyfriend and falconry trainer  Dymian from punishment by death at the hands of a powerful family to whom he is indebted, sets off on his own quest to find a ghost eagle, though it is Kylee that possesses a sort of paranormal bond with falcons. This coincides with the encroachment of a group of religious extremists called the Kartami, who abhor birds, upon the Six Villages, ratcheting the tension up expertly as Brysen and Kylee struggle to understand both themselves and their roles in the coming clash.

A deeply original fantasy that older middle and high school aged readers who’ve liked Kristin Cashore’s Graceling trilogy and Mackenzi Lee’s Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue will appreciate. Recommended for the SMLD Cream of the Crop List.

Reviewed by Brooke Faulkner, McArthur Public Library, Biddeford