Title: Luminous
Author: Jasmine Angell
Series: The Psyne Series (#1)
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Saga Ventures, LLC
Release Date: Aug 12 2013
Editions/Formats Available In: eBook
Blurb/Synopsis:
What would you do if the world you loved was taken from you
forever?
...and what would you sacrifice to get it back?
Magical, Mythical, Mesmerizing…
A powerful race of beings lives and works
among us and we don’t even know it. To us, they are known as mermaids, sirens
and water nymphs, but they call themselves the Psyne. They have lived on Earth
since ancient times, wield powerful magic and have only one weakness—love.
When Psyne suddenly start disappearing around
the globe, the remaining aquatars are evacuated to their home world and a ban
is placed on Earth. Ilauria, a devoted servant to the Psyne Council, can’t
abide abandoning the missing eight, and with the help of her long-time friend,
Shivan, and a subversive member of the Venvian Psyne named Adante, she embarks
on a harrowing rescue mission to uncover who or what is powerful enough to
subdue her kind.
What Ilauria discovers will cause her to
question her loyalties, re-examine her dual nature, and will shake the very
foundations of the truths her society holds dear.
Book Links:
Amazon
Goodreads
Book Links:
Amazon
Goodreads
~ * ~
Excerpt
#1: THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Ilauria proceeded down a short set of
iridescent stairs and breached the invisible membrane holding the ocean
back. She dove into the water gracefully
and her dress rippled away as she shifted into her Psyne form. Her legs gave way to an opulent fish tail
that shimmered blue, green and purple depending on how the light hit it.
Shivan dove in after her, shape shifting with
ease.
Like the quintessential mermaid, Shivan’s
tail propelled her through the saltwater.
The delicate scales of her tail were the same light green color of her
eyes and narrowed from her hips only to fan out into resplendent flukes. Gold bands encircled her arms above the
elbows and ribbons of light green fin hung from them as a faint glow emanated
from the pale skin of her face and arms.
Ilauria paused suddenly, eyeing the two
immense statues that flanked the entrance to Aquatarius. They were Psyne, like Ilauria and Shivan, and
seemed to stare down at them, their eyes gleaming defiantly with their abundant
hair spread out behind them. They were
pinnacles of strength, a tribute to the ancient Psyne who had sacrificed so
much in order for their descendants to live in peace, without fear of the Fury,
their mortal enemies.
Then as quick as Ilauria had paused, she was
off again with a flick of her peacock-colored tail, as graceful as a seal.
Shivan pushed against the water and followed
her.
The silence of the water enveloped them, with
the exception of far off whale song and it was a welcome sanctuary from the
babbling voices of Aquatarius.
But it didn’t last long.
As easily as hearing verbal speech, the
telepathic announcement from the Council went out to all Psyne:
As of this moment, all aquatars are being
recalled from Earth and travel to that planet is hence forth banned.
Psyne as far as the eye could see halted in
mid-swim and took in the news. Hearing
the Council’s decree again cemented the raw feeling in Shivan’s throat as they
swam onward without missing a beat.
As they rounded the edge of a swaying kelp
forest, Shivan looked back at Aquatarius looming behind them. The walls of the aquatar headquarters
shimmered with mother-of-pearl and were bathed in the blue light of the
zenethen energy spheres hanging suspended in the water above it. Shaped like a sea star, the monolithic
structure possessed five towers, one between each arm, the intricate spires
swirling up towards the ocean surface.
Shivan set off after Ilauria, thrusting her
tail to keep up with the furious pace Ilauria had set through the ocean. Their pale skin glowed in the dark water
until the sea floor of opalescent sand began to slope ever steeper and the
water began to lighten with the shifting bands of sunlight filtering through
the waves above.
They swam past a gamboling herd of giant
seahorses tossing their heads as Shivan studied Ilauria’s calm demeanor,
knowing it wasn’t like her friend to be so stoic.
Ilauria, are you okay?
Shivan felt her telepathy gently blocked by
her friend and she didn’t persist but her worry grew more intense. Perhaps she was going to need time to adjust
to this new reality where the Council would abandon their sisters.
~ * ~
About the
Author:
Jasmine was born in Tucson, Arizona, the
oldest of two children. She spent her teen years living in Phoenix, Arizona and
then attended the University of Arizona in Tucson where she earned her Bachelor
of Arts degree in Creative Writing. She married and moved to Salt Lake City,
Utah where her husband attended graduate school at the University of Utah.
There she adopted a love for the changing seasons, snowboarding and the beauty
of the mountains.
She spent several years working on a literary
novel but found her heart wasn’t in it. Finally she quit her day job to write
full time and embraced her life-long love of fantasy fiction. She wrote Luminous, the first novel in the
Psyne series (pronounced "sign") and followed it up with the sequel,
Prism, due out the summer of 2014. With
a third series novel in the works and no end in sight, Jasmine will be spending
a great deal of time in the Psyne Universe over the next several years. When she’s not writing or spending time with
her family, she loves to horseback ride, dance, make elaborate costumes just
for the fun of it, and is always planning her next decadent tea party.
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