Hi! I have done a full edit of both my manuscript and query and am back for more insight!
Dear Agent,
I am seeking representation for THE FIFTH FACTION (106,000 words), a dystopian romantasy in which Leana must partner with the man responsible for her exile in order to cure a magical blight threatening her family, but doing so could mean never seeing them again. This standalone novel with series potential will appeal to fans of the analytical main character and slow burn romance in EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF FAERIES by Heather Fawcett and the dystopian elements and unraveling buried secrets of TO CAGE A WILD BIRD by Brooke Fast.
Leana is not Tainted. Sure, there was that one encounter with Valen, a Tainted man who used magic on her, but she was definitely not corrupted. So when she saves her brothers from being crushed by a moose using something akin to magic, she knows there’s been a mistake. Unfortunately, the leaders of her staunchly anti-magic land of Dahlisae disagree. So now, instead of scouring the ancient science texts for a solution to a blight threatening her family’s food supply, she’s forced into exile until her uncle can convince them she’s not a monster.
Desperate and near death, she takes refuge in the last place she should — the Tainted land, with Valen. Only, he’s not the evil villain she expected. He’s an irritatingly charming scientist working to cure a magical sickness eerily similar to Dahlisae's blight.
Which is impossible, because Dahlisae doesn’t have magic…
Determined to find the truth, she strikes a deal: if she helps him, she can bring the cure back home. Their simple transaction gets complicated after hours of his magically enhanced whispers have her mind conjuring up inappropriate scenarios starring him. Then, outright impossible when they discover the key to the cure requires she use magic again and risk actually turning Tainted. It would be an easy no, except the sickness is spreading to humans.
To cure the blight and save his people, she must let go of the hatred she was raised on and become one of them. But that means never returning to her family, and if she's right and Dahlisae’s leaders are lying about magic, starvation might be the least of their worries.
First 300 words:
Leana bit down on her cheek and focused on the pain instead of the sobs coming from the gallows. It didn’t help. Tears pricked her eyes as the woman’s pleas sliced through the roaring crowd. Biting down harder, the tang of copper coated her tongue. She couldn’t cry here. Not today. Today, tears would get her killed.
Blinking them away, Leana peeled the mass of blonde curls from the back of her neck and scanned the square. Hoards of people spilled into the streets, their shouts and jeers echoing off the old stone buildings surrounding them. Children sat atop their parents shoulders to see past the crowd. Her lip curled in disgust. There were better ways to teach them to stay away from the Tainted than this.
A flash of red hair pulled her attention to the one place she’d been trying to avoid. The woman’s hands were tied behind her back, a fraying noose circling the mottled skin of her neck. She was almost unrecognizable. Her usually smiling face twisted in agony, but there was something else. Something hollow there that Leana had never seen before. She cleared her throat. There was no logical reason to be sad. Karina deserved this. And Leana had been to too many executions in her twenty-two years for this one to be affecting her so much.
Adjusting the straps of her pack, she dragged her gaze to the town hall that loomed behind the gallows. Pale, gleaming stones of the rebuilt entrance stood in stark contrast to the burn marks marring the rest. Karina had been there that day. Had held Leana’s hand when she told Mom and the boys that Dad had been killed. She’d stayed, too. For a whole month, she cooked them dinner because Mom wouldn’t get out of bed.
Yet here she was. A Tainted sympathizer.