Set in modern-day San Francisco, The Beckoning Shadow ferries readers into the seedy underbelly of a world where humans with supernatural powers fight in a vicious tournament for a rare chance to rewrite their past.
Vesper wants nothing more than to blend in with the rest of humanity and pretend that her powers don’t exist. Unfortunately, she’s one of the Oddities—special humans born with powerful magical abilities—and is one of the most fearsome, as she’s a Harbinger who can read others’ worst nightmares and summon them into existence. But Vesper has already hurt too many people with her inability to control her powers—that is, until she meets Sam. A regular human who knows far more than he lets on, Sam offers to train Vesper and sponsor her in an underground fight between Oddities, the Tournament of the Unraveling.
As Sam trains Vesper in fighting techniques and helps her befriend other Oddities who teach her how to wield her dangerous powers, they learn more about each other’s past and discover that this fight has actually become a battle against death itself.
Fans of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Fight Club and Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen series will enjoy The Beckoning Shadow, screenwriter Katharyn Blair’s debut novel. Her genuine dialogue, authentic characters and perfectly paced fight scenes will keep readers’ blood pumping until the last page.
