In the Wildwoods, on the eastern reaches of the Frí Empire, there roams a people proud and fierce, unbound and unforgiving—and full of festering resentment. Kotae and Nai, the son and daughter of the feared Jom Maol, must navigate this world of cruel superstition and bloody competition as tensions brew between the Wildland tribes and the Frí Empire in the wake of a massacre. With whispers of ill-omens and prowling shadows in the Wildwoods, Jom Maol is quick to blame the Empire. He wishes for nothing but war and vengeance upon those who stole their ancestral lands, and his children must walk the path he chooses for them.

For beloved Kotae, this means he must embrace a life of ruthlessness where strength is everything and where everyone, even his friends, are competition for the title of jom. But perhaps the greatest enemy is his own father, his single-minded bloodlust likely to bring ruin to the Wild Lands if Kotae cannot find a way to undermine him.

For cursed Nai, this means she must set aside her own burning ambitions and live a life in the shadows where she cannot outshine her brother and spoil her father’s aspirations. And yet war could well open for her a path to glory and recognition if she could but convince her father that her skill transcends the demonmark on her face.

Children of the Wilds is a gritty tale of two siblings, their love and hate, and the demons—both real and hidden—that prey upon such passions. It is the first book in the dark fantasy series Of Gods and Monsters.