Dawn of the Firebird
United Kingdom

Dawn of the Firebird

by Sarah Mughal Rana

Summary

Magic is fading. Kingdoms are at war. And a young woman raised to serve an emperor must decide whether revenge is worth the price of her soul.

Khamilla Zahr-zad has watched every home she has known destroyed by violence. The discarded daughter of an emperor, she grows up among her mother’s nomadic tribe until a brutal raid awakens nur—a mysterious heavenly magic that gives her the power to wield cosmic light. Finally accepted by her father’s court, she trains in combat and poisons, believing loyalty and vengeance will give her life meaning.

But when a rival empire destroys her clan, Khamilla’s world collapses once more. Hiding her identity, she infiltrates the enemy’s military academy, where she studies martial arts, magic, and the dangerous knowledge needed to bring down an empire. As she uncovers truths that contradict everything her father taught her, she begins to question whether the history she has inherited is as righteous as she once believed.

Blending epic battles, Islamic-inspired mythology, jinn, and morally complex characters, Dawn of the Firebird explores the devastating cost of war and the struggle between vengeance and freedom.

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Sarah Mughal Rana
Sarah Mughal Rana

Sarah Mughal Rana is a Canadian-Pakistani author known for writing about identity, faith, power, and resistance. She holds an MPhil from the University of Oxford, where her studies focused on economic policy and human rights. Alongside writing, she works in technology and co-hosts the On The Write Track podcast. Hope Ablaze, published in 2024, was her young adult debut. The novel combines poetry and prose to explore a Muslim teenager’s struggle to find her voice amid Islamophobia and political pressure. It was selected for librarian Mychal Threets’ debut book club and received a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection. Rana’s writing often centres characters navigating competing expectations around identity, belonging, and justice. Her later work includes Dawn of the Firebird, the first book in a high-fantasy trilogy, reflecting her interest in stories of resistance and the difficult choices people make when confronting powerful systems.

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Published
2025
Author
Sarah Mughal Rana