What if erasing the past cost more than you were willing to pay?

Having narrowly escaped their enemies, Sephone, Dorian, and Cass continue their search for the elusive Silvertongue, the only one with knowledge of the Reliquary’s whereabouts. But time is running out for Sephone, and with Dorian accused of high treason, the quest takes on a new urgency.

As secrets from each of their pasts drive a wedge between them, Sephone invests all her hopes in finding her homeland, Lethe—where her family may yet be alive. But nothing about Lethe is as she expects, and disappointment, betrayal, and danger await her at every turn.

When the truth about the Reliquary’s curse comes to light, the fragile bonds between the unlikely companions are tested like never before. Meanwhile, Dorian faces a terrible choice: to save the life of one who is beginning to mean more to him than the past he’s so desperate to forget, or to save his beloved Caldera from dangers outside and within.

Book 2 in The Nightingale Trilogy series.

In the lands of Caldera, memories can be traded or suppressed for a price. That’s why Dorian Ashwood recruited the gifted Sephone Winter to help him forget his past, in J. J. Fischer’s novel Calor. Book 2, Lumen, quickly resumes this party’s quest for the lost Reliquary while evading Lord Draven, the villain who killed Dorien’s wife. Lumen draws on challenging personal emotions among political intrigues, expanding this world with inspirations from fairy tales and mythology. Fischer’s second Nightingale Trilogy novel delves deep into biblical hope versus the pains of memory in this dystopian fantasy world.

Best for: Teens and adult fans of fantasy with complex emotions and worlds.

Discern: Images of real trauma after brutal deaths as well as abuse, slow-burn romance and a “love triangle,” battle violence, implied sexual abuse by villains.