The Sunless World Series

A sunless world. The lost Tower of Light. And the race to claim it.   Rafe Grenfeld, diplomat and spy, has problems.   He's just learned of the discovery of a legendary quartz pillar: his world's most precious resource. But his informer died before revealing its location, and Rafe's on the run in the hostile state of Blackstone.   Once, quartz powered magical devices, but the mages who created them are long gone. Now, veins of quartz give light to a dying world, and Rafe has competition. Karzov, the notorious chief of Blackstone's secret police, is also hunting for the pillar. Determined to claim it for his own country, Rafe forms an uneasy alliance with the mysterious and maddening Isabella. As dangerous magical artifacts resurface and dark forces close in, Rafe must tap into the lost powers of the mages to find and secure the quartz—before his world is torn apart by famine and war.

Actress. Businesswoman. Trend-setter.   Before she was all these, Sable Monarique was the timid, awkward daughter of a disgraced family. After leaving home and crossing the Divide, she reinvented herself in Oakhaven.   But now it's time to return.   Her friend Rafe is a mage newly come into his powers and in desperate need of training. Sable brings him to the domed city of Monaria, with its giant trees, massive platforms, and impressive magic. While he studies, she works to rebuild her family's fortunes.   But Sable's not the only one who changed in the last seven years. New families have risen to prominence. An old flame isn't the man she loved and left. And now a conspiracy threatens to tear her city apart. Sable needs answers fast—before it's too late to save Monaria.

The mages of old saved their world, but left it in eternal darkness. Now it's time to bring back the light.   After two years of training his magical gifts, Rafe returns home to a land wracked by war. Desperate states struggle to protect their resources of luminous quartz. Magic pulses and earthquakes devastate a world on the brink of extinction.   Rafe's old enemy Karzov has gathered a band of prodigies obedient to his will. He seeks the power of the ancient mages for an audacious and sinister purpose. It's up to Rafe and his ally, Isabella, to stop him—and undo the mistakes of the past to put their world right again.