The Call of the Rift: Veil

by Jae Waller

Overview

Return to Jae Waller’s wondrous and war-torn colonial world in this captivating second instalment in The Call of the Rift series

“[A] stunning debut . . . An intricately lush and well-crafted new fantasy that deserves (and demands) a sequel.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review of The Call of the Rift: Flight 

The Blackbird Battle has left all sides devastated. The wind spirit Suriel has disappeared. A hard winter is coming, and famine stalks the land. Kateiko Rin returns to her people, ready at last to rejoin her community, but the dangers of the unsettled times come raging to her doorstep. Kako is left with no choice but to battle the forces that seek to open a rift between the worlds. Leading an unlikely alliance that includes her new love Airedain and her old one Tiernan, Kako must risk all to try and stop the coming disaster.

Author Jae Waller returns to her riveting alternate world of brooding rainforests in a colonial time and to her headstrong, troubled heroine in this compelling second volume of the Call of the Rift quintet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781773054186
Publisher:	ECW Press
Publication date:	10/08/2019
Series:	The Call of the Rift , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	424
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Jae Waller grew up in Prince George, a lumber town in northern British Columbia. She has a joint BFA in creative writing and fine art from the University of Northern British Columbia and Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Now living in Melbourne, Australia, she works as a novelist and freelance artist.

Read an Excerpt

“Ai. Look out.” I nodded ahead.

A pair of rotting masts jutted up from the water’s surface. We steered around them, gliding over the shipwreck. Taut ropes still snapped in the current. Greenish-white sails billowed underwater. I couldn’t see deeper than the upper rigging, but when we’d passed it before, Ilani had swum down and found corpses and Sverba’s pale blue flag. I tapped two fingers to my forehead in salute.

Last winter, Suriel had sunk half the ships on this inlet in a windstorm. Rutnaast, the only major port between Ingdanrad and Toel Ginu, had fallen to a Corvittai attack the next day. Sea traffic had abandoned these waters after that, along with many of the area’s survivors. We’d seen just three intact ships our whole trip – a galleon carrying plows and harrows forged in Ingdanrad, a heron-prowed canoe from a southern jouyen, and a cod trawler.

Ilani stared into the cloudy water. “Think Wotelem would let me swim down again? There’s stuff to salvage.”

Esiad snorted. “Whatcha gonna do, porpoise girl? Haul crates up with your flippers?”

“Hush,” Dunehein said. “Mereku’s back.”

An osprey streaked across the grey sky. The bird dove and struck the ocean with a plume of water. A tanned woman broke the surface, flipping black hair out of her face. Mereku hauled herself into a canoe. “Ship coming,” she called.

The foremost canoe spun and looped back. We maneuvered together, holding each other’s boats so we didn’t drift apart. Wotelem, the Okoreni-Iyo and second-in-command of their jouyen, wound up next to me. Esiad dried Mereku’s clothes with a few waves of his hand.

“Armed and moving fast,” she said, shivering. “Shot crossbow bolts at me when I flew too close. Their shields have Suriel’s kinaru sigil.”

Dunehein swore. “Corvittai. Guess we only killed their army, not their navy.”

Esiad squinted back east. “They’re not here by accident. Someone in Ingdanrad must’ve sold us out. They don’t want us passing on what we’ve discovered.”

Table of Contents

Maps,
1. Rutnaast,
2. Toel Ginu,
3. Autumn Equinox,
4. Salmon,
5. Father's Son,
6. Bronnoi Ridge,
7. Tírcattil,
8. Secrets & Lies,
9. Schism,
10. Hafelús,
11. Bódhain,
12. Promises,
13. Lockdown,
14. Clears,
15. Moving On,
16. Legacies,
17. Blizzard,
18. Softer Things,
19. Arril & Quinil,
20. Deep North,
21. Innisbán,
22. Escape,
23. Going Home,
24. Famine,
25. Breath,
26. Sacrifice,
27. Gifts,
28. Father's Daughter,
29. Heist,
30. Ten Years,
31. Sinking,
32. Spirits,
33. Hair of the Dog,
34. Pursuit,
35. The Crux,
36. With Grace,
Glossary,
A Brief History of Eremur and Surrounding Lands,
Acknowledgements,
About the Author,
Copyright,

Editorial Reviews

Fans will be reengaged by Waller’s war-torn worldbuilding and original characterization ... Adventurous, heartbreaking, and undoubtably open-ended.” — Kirkus Reviews

“In Veil, Jae Waller has once again created a rich, deep, magical, and moody atmosphere where whispers of British Columbia’s deep human history seep through.” — The Ormsby Review

“Well-written, Veil, a complicated tale, would be enjoyed by those readers interested in adventure with magic, shape-shifting (Kateiko can turn into a wolf) and warriors riding on large birds ... Recommended.” — Canadian Review of Materials

From the Publisher

2019-07-14
The fiercely complex and compelling sequel to Waller's fantasy debut, Flight (2018).

Following the devastating Blackbird Battle at the end of the previous installment, protagonist Kateiko has returned to the Rin-jouyen, the oldest and smallest tribe of the Aikoto Confederacy, which currently resides with the Iyo, the largest, on their settlement in Toel Ginu. Kateiko's journey is far from over—she seeks to find more information on Suriel, an air spirit desperately trying to open a rift into the void dividing worlds, who has suddenly disappeared. Kateiko works furiously with her people and itheran (immigrant) allies to hunt down the human mages working for Suriel, but past mistakes haunt her while newer choices lead to disastrous consequences for both her and those she cares for. Having left her first unrequited love, Tiernan, she secretly agrees to marry Fendul, her childhood friend and Okorebai-Rin, to help rebuild their jouyen. But her heart calls to charming Iyo drummer Airedain, who, despite his promiscuous reputation, makes her feel something more. Fans will be reengaged by Waller's war-torn worldbuilding and original characterization. Action is abundant, and expositional dumps are rare throughout, but a review of the first book is recommended for clarity, particularly regarding language, cultural nuances, and notable magical elements. Racial diversity is generalized, with Indigenous peoples having brown skin and itherans being white.

Adventurous, heartbreaking, and undoubtedly open-ended. (map) (Fantasy. 15-adult)

Kirkus Reviews