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Young Adult Fiction Wizards & Witches

The Boi of Feather and Steel

by (author) Adan Jerreat-Poole

Publisher
Dundurn Press
Initial publish date
May 2021
Category
Wizards & Witches, General, LGBT
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781459746862
    Publish Date
    May 2021
    List Price
    $8.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781459746848
    Publish Date
    May 2021
    List Price
    $14.99

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Where to buy it

Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels

  • Age: 15 to 18
  • Grade: 10 to 12
  • Reading age: 15 to 18

Description

The thrilling sequel to the queer witchy fantasy The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass.

After stealing the Heart of a magical world with the help of a supernatural assassin, Tav discovers that they can’t just see magic — they know how to use it. Returning to the human City of Ghosts, Tav, Eli, and Cam race to heal the wounds in the veil between worlds before the Earth’s lifeforce is drained by the tyrannical Witch Lord … and Eli’s new Heart-infused body falls apart.

Meanwhile, in the City of Eyes, Kite has joined forces with the bloodthirsty childwitch Clytemnestra, and together they are raising an army to overthrow the world-eating Coven.

With blood and magic spilled on both sides, who will survive?

About the author

Adan Jerreat-Poole is a white settler living on Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee land. They are a Ph.D. candidate in English and cultural studies at McMaster University, where they study disability in popular culture. Adan lives in Kingston, Ontario, with their cat, Dragon.

Adan Jerreat-Poole's profile page

Excerpt: The Boi of Feather and Steel (by (author) Adan Jerreat-Poole)

TAV

Tav was dreaming.

The river was frozen over with thick black ice. When they knelt down, they could see blue-and-white flames trapped under the surface. They placed a palm over the ice, feeling the cold burn like fire. The flames flickered wildly, trying to reach their hand.

A hairline crack snaked its way between their feet. Tav stepped back, uneasy. As they watched in horror, the river tore itself in two, ice and water and earth splitting apart. Tav stumbled and fell, narrowly avoiding the spears of ice stabbing the air like a fractured bone puncturing skin.

A great chasm stretched across the frozen river. Tav found themselves on one side of the fierce water, which gushed through a cracked mirror of black ice.

A boy climbed out of the depths of a world splintered by frost and starlight.

Cam. Eyes like stone, hard and cold. Blue veins glistening on exposed skin.

Cradled in his arms lay the crumpled body of a girl, a sprig of hawthorn growing from her chest.

She was dying.

“I brought your heart,” he said, stepping onto Tav’s side of the river. The curve of his smile was a fishhook. He stopped an arms’ length from where Tav crouched, their fingernails etching lines into the crystalline landscape. He waited.

Tav rose slowly, unsteady on their feet. Sweat dripped down their neck. They could smell rot.

Pain surged through their shoulder blades. They cried out as great feathered wings burst from their back. The wings were black as ink, with an oily lustre of gold and purple and green. As the pain began to subside like a waning crescent moon, Tav found Cam’s eyes and forced the breath from their lungs into the shape of a single command.

“Give her to me.”

“You’ve left me no choice,” he said. His fingers curled around hawthorn, twisting brutally. The girl whimpered.

“Let her go!” Tav beat their wings and white flames burned through the ice at their feet. The ice floe was unstable, and one wrong move could lead to hypothermia and drowning. The stars glittered overhead, their lights reflected in the dark mirror. The universe was burning.

The branch snapped, and the girl screamed, a body made of bone and glass crying out in agony.

Tav lunged, nails like talons curving around Cam’s throat.

When it was over, Tav was on all fours, frost licking their knees. Blood everywhere. Body parts were scattered across the ice. Tav wetted their lips and looked down, catching a glimpse of their reflection —

the face of a witch

Tav woke suddenly and found themselves back in their apartment, the sheets soaked through with sweat. In the dim room lit only by distant streetlights, the shadows looked like blood. Tav fumbled for the bedside lamp. When the yellow pool of light showed no evidence of a crime scene, the anxiety curling its claws around their wrists and ankles released its hold. It was just a dream; already it was fading. Tav listened to the sound of their pounding heart, waiting for the rhythm to slow. Proof that they were human.

Tav closed their eyes against the pain of sudden brightness, but it was too late. Already a headache was spreading through their temples and pushing into the corded muscles of their neck.

They switched off the light and lay back down, opening their eyes to the dark. In the distance sirens sang out, the clear, sharp pitch breaking through the dull roar of engines that never ceased. Threaded through the darkness was the magic of the Heart, which wound its way through walls and doors and flesh and bone. Tav fought the urge to reach out and grab it, to make themselves strong, to heal their pain, to take that power all for themselves and use it.

Use her.

Eli was sleeping on the couch with only a wall between them. The thought sent another shiver of excitement through Tav’s body, but of a different kind. They kicked off the lounge pants they’d fallen asleep in and lay back in their boxers. Eli’s hair would be messy, her body tangled in the blanket. Tav remembered her body; they had followed the path of her collarbone with their mouth, traced the curve of her waist with their hand …

Tav rolled their face into the pillow to stifle a moan. They lost themselves to fantasy before sleep finally returned for them.

In the morning they had forgotten about the dream.

Editorial Reviews

A unique, gripping, engaging book by a voice that the genre has been waiting for.

Seanan McGuire, for The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass

In the midst of this dark, murderous fantasy, debut author Jerreat-Poole explores complex themes of oppression, abuse, belonging, and identity. A raw and chaotic force of magic.

Kirkus Reviews, for The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass

The diverse cast of characters, magical elements, and engaging plot in The Boi of Feather and Steel will be sure to hook a variety of readers.

CM Magazine

A magical story with a unique cast of characters.

Lit Buzz

Jerreat-Poole wields words like a blade, using their gorgeous prose and striking imagery to carve out a world that pulses with magic and compassion. It's a visceral work that creates a thoughtful connection between the transformative power of magic and our (often fraught) relationships with our own bodies. The story allows the beautifully developed queer cast to be complex, clever, badass, powerful, and to simply be as they are; all of which coalesce into a lovely, representative, and meaningful work of YA fiction.

Leighton Gray, co-writer of the award-nominated visual novel Dream Daddy

Jerreat-Poole crafts vivid imagery using wild and surprising prose ... Amid the witchery and the untamable, sentient magical setting, the characters grapple with the intimate complexities of identity and their understanding of justice. An energizing and magnetic whirlwind.

Kirkus Reviews

A moving, lyrical debut. Fantasy readers will fall in love with Jerreat-Poole's sharp-tongued assassin and diverse, vividly rendered magical world.

Heather Fawcett, author of Even the Darkest Stars, for The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass

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