TRIAL BY BLOOD

An exciting debut comparable to The Winner’s Curse, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Red Queen, this is a fast-paced, commercial YA fantasy by a talented new voice in the genre, Madison Fowler, who has written a highly entertaining, pacey and compelling novel with a layered and fascinating heroine at its heart.

Nine days to survive in the Wood. Nine days beyond the safety of the Great Wall, and the young noblemen and women of Utresk earn their inheritance. If they do not return in time, they are cast out by their families. And if they die… well, many die during the trial. Only the strongest deserve to rule.

Shaori is a slave girl who seeks liberation from the gilded cage her owners keep her in. Desperate for a chance at freedom, she volunteers to accompany her master's heir, the solitary and brooding Baiden, into the Wood for his trial. If she brings him back alive, she will be freed, but if he dies, she will be executed. Having secretly trained for years, she believes that she can protect his life and win her freedom – and finally prove herself in the eyes of everyone who has underestimated her. But has she underestimated the dangers of the Wood?

During the nine days they must face mythical predators and the murderous ambitions of Baiden's archenemies, the Demeter twins. But betrayal lurks within the woods, and love can prove to be the most deadly weapon of all: if they make it out alive, the experience will change them both forever.

Madison Fowler is in her early twenties and comes from the town of Banbury, near Oxford. She studied History at Cardiff University, where she first focused on the topic of medieval slavery, which has remained an interest of hers ever since. She now works as a collaborative family lawyer in Bath and Bristol. Any spare time she has outside of work and writing is taken over by playing competitive roller derby, and she currently plays for the Bath team (the ‘Roman Rollers’).