Welcome to Litsy!

Some prophecies thwart danger. Others create it. �Fans of contemplative, psychologically rich (but no less action-packed) fantasies � la Ursula Le Guin will welcome this warm, inventive debut� (BCCB, starred review). High in their mountain covens, red witches pray to the Goddess, protecting the Witchlands by throwing the bones and foretelling the future. But it�s all fake. At least, that�s what Ryder thinks. He doubts the witches really deserve their tithes�one quarter of all the crops his village can produce. And even if they can predict the future, what danger is there to foretell, now that his people�s old enemy, the Baen, has been defeated? But when a terrifying new magic threatens both his village and the coven, Ryder must confront the beautiful and silent witch who holds all the secrets. Everything he�s ever believed about witches, the Baen, magic, and about himself will change when he discovers that the prophecies he�s always scorned�are about him. Laced with rich, imagined histories; miles of catacombs; and prophecies true and false, Witchlanders takes place in an evocative, tantalizingly vibrant world and raises equally evocative questions: Who gets to defines history? When does a legend become a crutch? And why does the enemy in war look a lot like the hero? Lena Coakley�s first novel is a lush, chilling story that is sure to send shivers through your finger bones.