Deepwood — Jennifer Roberson

ALISANOS: THE DEEPWOOD --

a magical world that is home to demons, a thousand gods, and numerous other magical entities. But it is not just an environment. For the deepwood is sentient -- alive in a far different way than a normal forest. Even its magical denizens struggle to survive within its dangerous, ever-changing confines.

But Alisanos poses a far greater threat to humans than to any of its natives. For the deepwood coexists with human lands and can suddenly shift miles in any direction, unexpectedly encompassing previously safe land. Humans taken by the deep-wood are either never seen again, or are permanently transformed into hideous creatures -- neither true demon, nor true human.

Audrun, Davyn and their four children have fled their war-scourged homeland, joining a karavan headed toward a haven of peace where diviners have said their fifth child -- the one Audrun now carries -- must be born. Desperate to reach safety, they have chosen a dangerous route, one that separates them from their protective karavan, and sets them on a road alone -- a road that lies far too close to the volatile edge of the deepwood. Their only protection is the karavan's mysterious guide, Rhuan.

But they have barely begun their perilous journey when, with screaming winds, buckling earth, and burning rain, the deepwood overtakes them, separating and scattering this fragile human family.

Her family lost, left in a terrifying landscape, Audrun births her baby four months too soon...and yet, miraculously full term. For Alisanos has already claimed her newborn baby for itself. And, forced by circumstance, Rhuan reveals to her that he himself is a creature of the deepwood -- the child of an Alisani god and a human woman.

Protected only by Rhuan, a being who is just half human, and with the effects of the deepwood already upon her and her newborn child, can Audrun find her lost family and retain her humanity in the midst of Alisanos' capricious terrors?