From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a standalone fantasy set against a war-ravaged world where kindling warfarethe use of elite, magic-wielding teenage soldiershas been outlawed. In this rich and evocative novel, seven kindlings search for purpose and identity as they prepare for one final [...] fans of the classic films Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.

Once, the war was fought with kindlingselite, magic-wielding warriors whose devastating power comes at the cost of their own young lives.

Now the war is over, and kindlings have been cast adrifttheir magic outlawed, their skills outdated, their formidable balar weapons prized only as relics and souvenirs.

Violence still plagues the countryside, and memories haunt those who remain. When a village comes under threat of siege, it offers an opportunity for seven kindlings to fight one last time. But war changed these warriors. And to reclaim who they once were, they will have to battle their pasts, their trauma, and their grim fates to come together againor none of them will make it out alive.

From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a gut-wrenching, introspective fantasy about seven lost soldiers searching for the peace they once fought for and the future in which theyre finally daring to believe.