Children of the Sun — Linda Winstead Jones

From Book 1: An evil has risen in Columbyana, and according to The Prophesy of the Firstborn only the eldest children of three Fyne woman can defeat it.

Ariana Fyne Varden is the palace healer, caring for the ailing Emperor Arik. When Ariana learns of her fate from an annoying purple-eyed enchanter, Sian Chamblyn, she initially rejects him, and the prophesy. She is not a warrior, she wants no part in this war or any other. It soon becomes clear that she has no choice.

Sian wishes with everything he possesses that the chosen one was anyone but a girl with minimal powers. A girl he comes to care about much too quickly. He trains her as best he can for what's to come, but there is one part of the prophesy he keeps from her.

In sending Ariana to war, he is sending her to her death.


Punchy battle scenes and steamy lovemaking will please genre fans, but it's Jones's gift for creating complex heroes and villains that lifts this story out of the ordinary. Publishers Weekly