She can sense the veil, but she may never manage to pierce it – which means she can’t stay in Faith, and Roan refuses to stay without her. She’s not a natural fighter and training doesn’t come easily to her. Roan is gifted, sensing the spirits almost as soon as he sets foot in Faith Kay spends miserable weeks of frustration as she tries to keep up. A Razor must be able to ‘pierce the veil’ – draw on the spirits of the Ascended to fight like Neo. Fight like Neo = effortlessly kick assĪt the heart of the novella is Roan and Kay’s relationship. It’s hard not to call it Hogwarts for warriors (and I mean that in the best possible way), but my initial cynicism that this bright exterior must hide a rotten heart (because we’ve seen what Razors are like in A Reaper of Stone and Best Left in Shadows) was slowly burnt away by Erik’s optimism and Sabine’s support. Gelineau & King evoke a sense of history and drama the school’s architecture and the demanding training environments of the Rose and Ascension were clear in my mind. The students may wear black leather and white cloaks – always an ominous wardrobe – and have internal hierarchies of experience and ability, but the orphans are welcomed with warmth and friendship in spite of being much too old to apply. It’s a shock to find that Faith is as glorious and seemingly pure as Elinor’s romantic attachment to the legends suggest it should be. Reading it last is an interesting authorial choice (and I’m sure it’s deliberate), because we come to it knowing what happened to Roan and Kay’s friends – and with preconceived ideas about the Razors. They have only the faintest ideas what that means.Ĭhronologically, Faith and Moonlight comes first. The four took Roan under their wing, and he and Kay are inseparable. He’s determined to repay his friends for ‘rescuing’ him by ensuring Kay finds a safe haven now their home has been destroyed. They have letters of introduction to Faith, a Razor school, in the hope that they will be taken in. Gentle Kay lived in the orphanage all her life, growing up with Elinor, Alys, and young Ferran. With the final thread of Faith and Moonlight, we’re woven back into the beginning of the story of the Echoes of the Ascended: Roan and Kay are the final puzzles pieces, teenagers travelling to Resa after the orphanage burnt to the ground. Everything Mark Gelineau & Joe King have learnt about serial publishing comes together here in a highly successful instalment.

Faith and Moonlight is the last of the 4 strands, where teenage orphans Roan and Kay fight to claim their place within an elite Razor school. It’s Echoes of the Ascended day again today in Bite-sized Books.

Faith and Moonlight by Mark Gelineau