Books from United Kingdom

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.