The Heir and the Answer

“Your Confession will be taken.”

In Emdra, your secrets don’t die with you. Armed with daggers that steal secrets and infect their victims with deadly magic, Confessors collect truths before collecting lives. Seventeen years ago, the king died at the end of a Confessor’s blade. However, in his final moments, he revealed a truth so devastating it burned the old world to ash, leaving the Confessors in power.

Emdra remains under Confessor rule, and their magic of truth is weaponized against the very people it was meant to save. The last decade in hiding has been lonely but uncomplicated for Danya, the last surviving royal. Everyone she’s ever cared about is dead, leaving few distractions in her quest for revenge. That is, until Danya crosses paths with an infuriatingly endearing traveler determined to worm his way into her heart. To her horror, Danya realizes that achieving her goals may require the one thing she’s sworn never to rely on again: other people.

With the help of the traveler, a pair of Siren sisters, and a Seer living in a dormant volcano, Danya sees a path to toppling the Confessor’s control. But as she grows closer to her allies, she begins to suspect they have secrets of their own— and in Emdra, secrets get you killed. Trust, Danya fears, may prove just as lethal.

THE HEIR AND THE ANSWER follows Danya, the last surviving royal, on her journey toward redemption and revenge in a world where truth means death. This is an adult, multi-POV fantasy epic complete at 105,000 words, and the first in a planned trilogy. It features diverse, LGBTQ+ characters and blind/disability representation. This series combines the quest-focused plot from T. Kingfisher’s Nettle & Bone, the epic world-building within Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes, and an inventive, unique magic system like the one found in Andrea Stewart’s The Bone Shard Daughter.

Other comparable titles might include: Witch King by Martha Wells, The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz, or Poppy War by R. F. Kuang. (I also like to say that Danya is similar to “Viv,” the main character from Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, but in an epic fantasy setting (and human). For a real-life person comparison, I imagine her as Ilona Maher.)

Representation You’ll Find in The Heir and the Answer

  • (Spoiler Warning)

    One of my favorite parts about this story is that our main FMC and MMC are not romantic partners. Rather, they have their own, queer love interests (either revealed in THATA or later in the series).

  • Our of the main characters Rou is a seventeen-year old Siren and an immensely bubbly ray of sunshine! Or at least, that’s how she seems initially. After a while, her very sassy, very sarcastic side comes out.

    Rou also happens to be blind. Her sister Mey serves as a guide for her.

    The author based this sisterly experience off of her own personal relationship with her sister who is blind.

  • (Spoiler warning)

    Our main character Danya has complex trauma caused by the horrors she witnessed in her childhood. She tends to cope by over-compartmentalization and some habits that may be reminiscent of self-harm.

    Additionally, our main male character Vosili goes through many challenges throughout the course of the book. He begins to question his state-of-mind and sanity. This theme is a through-line for his character development through the series.