Jennifer deBie: Heretic

It is a rejection of isolation, geographic paralysis, and the mundane. Her sharp, fantastical characters cross continents, transcend planes of reality, and wield their wit and their weapons with alacrity. Whether her protagonists are contemplating cannibalism, musing on the nature of love, or murdering their enemies (all with equal relish), Jenni is an author who knows her characters, revels in the settings she has placed them in, and isn’t afraid to leave everything a little bloodier than she found it.

The Hellmages, outcasts who feed on the deaths of friends, enemies, and each other, are shaking the earth, killing powerful mages, causing the kind of destruction the Mages’ Council was created to stop. Siraj, a Lightkeeper who wields sunlight as a weapon and carries purification in his hands, is the only one who can meet with a Hellmage, find out who is upsetting the balance, and walk away unscathed, but there’s a problem. The Hellmage he meets doesn’t know the earthshaker and magekiller either, but now she’s curious and if there’s anything worse than a curious Hellmage, it’s one who doesn’t fear being burned to death by a Lightkeeper’s touch.