“It is said that Darkness is empty and whatever vanishes into its depths is lost forever. I know this better than anyone. For I have suffered here in the shadows, and there are none who might find me.”

Seventy years. Seventy years the elven prince has been lost to the darkness, assumed dead by his people and endlessly broken for a book that connects to the hidden realm of his ancestors, a land untouched by evil.

And now a light in the shadows. A chance for freedom. But those willing to help him come from the unlikeliest of worlds.

The orphan girl, yearning for a loving family, and the boy who won’t leave her side. A healer maiden given an unexpected chance for a life beyond narrowed expectations. A grieving creature flown far from home.

They all search for something and now their fates are tied to his. If their quest for life can pull him from the dark mire in which his soul drowns, then perhaps he can be saved.

Or else he will drag them all down to a fate worse than death.

The beginning of an epic saga, Moonscript is a journey of innocence, despair, and redemption.

Book 1 of the Kings of Aselvia series.

What Tellie truly wants and has always wanted is a family. What she gets, after she stumbles into elves in the forest, is a peculiar glowing necklace and a commission to find a lost prince—and maybe, at the end of it all, a family too. In Moonscript, H. S. J. Williams creates a classic fantasy, complete with elves and quests and dark lords, and deeply weaves strong spiritual element into the world. Williams avoids the error, common among some authors, of making overly precocious child characters. Her fourteen-year-old heroine is suitably young in behavior yet charming. Other characters lend colorful support. Some may find the story’s resolution too easy, but Moonscript is an illuminating fantasy with charming characters and strong spirituality.

Best for: Young adult readers, fans of fantasy and Anne Elisabeth Stengl.

Discern: Several battles include violent deaths, implied torture, slavery, and children are kidnapped and used as hostages.