Part of Series
Book two of the Ashfell Cycle, following The Dragon's Embrace.
From the Publisher
Published by Harrowgate Press with new endpaper heraldry for the seven river towns.
Print length
544 pages, with an appendix on Ashfell's guild law.
Publish & Reading age
First published October 2023. Written for readers 14 and up.
Why You’ll Love “The Enchanted Realm”
Peace as a plot
The war is over by page one. What follows is harder to write and far harder to survive.
A dragon with a grievance
Vellick has spent three years thinking about the terms of the bond, and he has notes.
New ground, same map
The southern marshes and their guild courts open the world without abandoning what book one built.
Reader Testimonials
What Readers Are Saying
I finished The Dragon's Embrace on a Tuesday and started it again on the Wednesday. Elena writes the kind of sentence you read twice — once for the story and once because you cannot believe she got away with it.
5 out of 5
Darlene Robertson
Bookseller, Coldharbour Books
I have run a book club for eleven years and I have never seen a novel split a room so happily. We argued about the ending for two hours and everybody was right.
5 out of 5
Arlene McCoy
Book club host
The research never shows, which is how you know how much of it there was. The city in these books feels older than the plot that walks around in it.
5 out of 5
Cameron Williamson
Editor, Marginalia
My teenager took The Enchanted Realm off my nightstand and I did not see it again for a week. That has never happened with anything I recommended out loud.
5 out of 5
Jenny Wilson
Librarian
I came for the mystery and stayed for the two people arguing in the kitchen on page ninety. Nobody writes a small scene better.
5 out of 5
Ronald Richards
Reviewer, The Paper Lantern
I read a lot of thrillers for work. This is the only one this year where I did not guess the turn, and I went back afterwards and found it had been signposted three times.
5 out of 5
Esther Howard
Podcast host, Second Draft
Whispers of the Forgotten is the book I hand to people who tell me they have stopped reading. It has a ninety percent success rate.
5 out of 5
Guy Hawkins
Bookshop owner
I saw Elena read at Northgate last spring. She read the chapter nobody likes, on purpose, and by the end the room liked it.
5 out of 5
Kristin Watson
Festival programmer
The craft book is worth it for the chapter on revision alone. It is the first time anyone has described what cutting actually feels like.
4 out of 5
Brooklyn Simmons
Writing tutor
FAQ
Questions about “The Enchanted Realm”
You can, and the opening chapter catches you up. But the cost of Saerin's bargain reads very differently if you watched her make it.
Yes, a four-page account written in the voice of an Ashfell court clerk, which is both a summary and a joke.
Quieter rather than darker. The violence is rarer and the consequences last longer.
Substantially. The southern marshes are mapped for the first time and three river towns have redrawn their borders.
The Salt Crown is scheduled for next spring and closes the cycle.
Success Story
A sequel that outsold its predecessor's opening week and pulled a new wave of readers back to book one.
140k+
Copies in print
2k+
Reader reviews
22+
Territories licensed