Diamond & Dawn (Amber & Dusk Series #2)

by Lyra Selene

Overview

Lyra Selene returns to the incandescent magic of Amber & Dusk in a second installment about the corrosions of even the most dazzling dreams, and the strength of hope amidst darkness.

Mirage, triumphant in her coup of the Amber Empire, returns to the palais prepared to take her place as empress. With the support of her friends and a tentative, blossoming romance with Sunder, Mirage is on the cusp of taking hold of everything she has ever wanted.However, her place in the sun is not as sure as she expected, nor is it quite as bright as she imagined.When the Empress Severine's body was recovered from the battle, Mirage discovered she was not dead after all. Rather, Severine is in a coma, her every breath a threat to Mirage's newfound power. Worse, a distant cousin, Gavin d'Ars, appears at court with the challenge of his blood claim. As Mirage uncovers more secrets from her family's past, she proposes a series of ancient, grueling trials to determine the most deserving heir. But in Mirage's fight to defend her vision for the empire, she begins to splinter all of her alliances. Will the battle for control leave anyone untainted?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338547603
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	12/03/2019
Series:	Amber & Dusk Series , #2
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	575,167
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Lyra Selene was born under a full moon and has never quite managed to wipe the moonlight out of her eyes. When she isn't dreaming up fantastical cities and brooding landscapes, Lyra enjoys hiking, rainstorms, autumn, and pretending she's any good at painting. She lives in New England with her husband, in an antique farmhouse that's probably not haunted. Amber & Dusk was her debut novel.

Read an Excerpt

I unclenched my fingernails from my palm, crossed to the glass doors, and stepped out onto the wrought-iron balcony beyond. The music of marching wafted up -- shod hooves ringing out on cobblestones, the champagne timpani of laughter and trumpets and song. The cortège was nearly the length of the Concordat: a river of riders in uniform -- bright red and pale kembric, metal helms and dancing horses. Children ran beside the retinue, and my breath caught in my throat when I saw the soldats tossing coins to the onlookers. The procession was heading straight for Coeur d'Or's gilded gates, flowing up the shallow steps like a sunlit river.They finally came close enough for me to make out faces, and that's when I saw him.He rode tall and straight at the head of the procession on a prancing chestnut stallion. Even from here I could tell he was handsome -- a bright smile laughed in a golden-tan face. Unlike the rest of the riders -- who wore pale surcoats splashed in red -- he was clad in kembric armor forged so that the sun hammered sparks off it. His dark mahogany hair seemed to glow, as though woven through with threads of ambric.He shone so bright it was hard to look at him straight on. He looked like --He looked like the Sun Heir."He's already here," I breathed.A wave of sickly heat wafted off Sunder, slapping the back of my neck with the stench of bloody snow and icy metal."Here to steal your throne," Sunder growled.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Amber & Dusk:"A dazzling and romantic feast for the imagination, Amber & Dusk is an intoxicating tale of self-discovery, and magic both sinister and glamorous. An enthralling debut that is impossible to put down." — Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of the Star-Touched series"Amber & Dusk is a shimmering tapestry of language, woven through with soaring beauty and subtle menace." — Sarah Holland, New York Times bestselling author of Everless"The setting of a land with a static sun is attention-grabbing. . . . Full of riotous color, fantastical locations, and surprising plot twists, this novel is sure to delight fans of Graceling and Caraval." — School Library Journal"The intensity of energy between Sylvie and Sunder fairly crackles. . . . The palace intrigues make this narrative gripping and will have readers eagerly anticipating the conclusion as well as anxious to know what happens next. . . . Riveting." — Kirkus Reviews"Selene's clear storytelling skill marks her as an author to watch." — Booklist

From the Publisher

2019-09-10
Mirage, now dauphine, is back in this sequel to Amber & Dusk (2018).

Mirage has succeeded in dethroning her half sister, Severine, but ruling isn't easy, and the tension of the transition is worsened by the rise of a religious zealot and his followers who incite citizens against Mirage and wreak havoc in the Amber City. Though Mirage is a sympathetic character, readers may wonder if she's actually fit to rule: She's learned to read but doesn't understand much about the kingdom she's ruling and makes impetuous choices, sometimes ignoring feedback from advisers and other times following said advisers' plans seemingly without thinking things through. When her charming, handsome, distant cousin Gavin—the only other person with a legitimate claim to the throne—arrives, Mirage must battle both Gavin's machinations and her peoples' perception that he's the true Sun Heir. A mysterious, ancient, magical test to determine succession surfaces, and it's clear that Mirage has grown: She no longer believes she's owed the throne by virtue of her birth but instead chooses to fight for it. Secondary characters are better fleshed out than in the first book, though the penchant for excessive metaphors and similes remains and is distracting. Most significant characters are described as white.

There's enough here to please fans of the first novel. (Fantasy. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews