First Mage on the Moon — Cameron Johnston

Cameron Johnston returns in this innovative space fantasy, where wizards race to be the first on the moon – also known as the land of the gods. A fast paced read perfect for fans of Adrian Tchaikovsky.Ella Pickering has been stuck in a never-ending cycle of debt and pain. Formerly a Unity skymage trained to make supply runs, she is now wheelchair-bound after poor maintenance led to a skyship crash, and the world makes no accommodations for her disability. To pay off her medical debt, Ella works gruelling shifts making magical weapons for the research and design workshop, thinking of the days when she was active in the war between the unreligious Unity and the Ranneas Empire.A late night double shift means Ella witnesses a lightning strike hit on an arcane experiment by Jackan Grissom. But not all is lost – the device morphs into a crude rocket blasting straight for the moon, ultimately falling into the No Man’s Land between the feuding nations. But the initial upward motion inspires hope: if they can make a device to reach the moon – the land of the gods – then the Unity might be able to come out of the war triumphant, if not unscathed. By Unity standards, the plot is blasphemous, but Ella and Jackan have their own motives behind summoning the help of the gods. Imbued with new knowledge, the two begin crafting a device to take them to the moon. But as more people become involved in their plot, will they be able to keep it under wraps? Or will word of their heresy lead them to more danger than they first anticipated?