Our Illumicrate Fantasy theme for September is . . . STUDY OF DEATH!
Study death's face and know her well; there are secrets to uncover beneath the skin.
Our Illumicrate September book is an adult murder mystery fantasy, and you'll not want to miss it if you're a fan of:
- Multi-POV and ensemble casts
- Magical medicine and murder
- The Pitt meets The Raven Scholar
In a city of magical healers, the long term side effects of an incurable malady has left the healer population desperate for new graduates. With only a ruthless five-day exam remaining, five scholars arrive at their first case only to find one of the cohort dead. Forced to continue the tests, when the group are delivered cryptic messages from their dead classmate, they realise they must solve the murder and pass the exam simultaneously or risk their own individual consequences of failure.
Our Illumicrate Exclusive edition is a royal hardback and will feature:
- An exclusive redesigned cover (art by @c.e.illo, design by @_anniearnold)
- Reverse jacket featuring the trade cover (from the publisher)
- Full colour art and foil on the hardback (art by @c.e.illo, design by @_anniearnold)
- Digitally printed edges on all three sides (by @ameliarosetattoo | @ameliarose.jpg)
- Illustrated endpapers with foil; different front and back (by @ameliarosetattoo | @ameliarose.jpg)
- Bonus content
- Bound-in author letter with a digital signature
Our full box will feature two useful and two decorative items inspired by our theme and STUDY OF DEATH fandoms: Belladonna, Daevabad, and Weavingshaw, one of which is an acrylic book vase.
The book at a glance:
- Adult murder mystery fantasy, standalone
- All exclusive: redesigned cover; reverse dust jacket; full colour art and foil on the hardback; digitally printed edges; illustrated endpapers; bonus content; author letter; digitally signed by the author
- Queer ensemble MCs, including a nonbinary MC with M/M and F/NB major relationships; neurodivergent FMC (autism); mental health rep (anxiety, trauma/PTSD); queer secondary characters and relationships
Content warnings:
- Grief
- Death of a close friend
- Discussion of suicide
- Strong language / swearing
- Multiple descriptions of medical conditions and injuries, including a chronic disease with symptoms of pain and fatigue
- Hospital treatment
- Reference to cancer treatment in a child
- Blood
- Murder
- Reference to a pandemic
- Reference to child abuse (physical, emotional, attempted radicalisation)
- Brief self-harm via fire, and self-harm via cutting for the purposes of practising healing
- Burn scars
- Fighting
- Abduction
- Representation of an autistic meltdown
- Anxiety
- Trauma/PTSD
- Alcohol consumption
- Consensual sexually explicit scenes
Love the look of this theme but not a subscriber? Join the Illumicrate Fantasy subscription waitlist today here.
