The Song of the Lost Series by Liv Savell and Sterling D’Este
Publisher: L&S Fables
Genre: Queer Epic Fantasy
Best read in order
Overall Heat Rating for the series: 2 – 3 flames
Available in Kindle Unlimited
BOOK DETAILS
BOOK 1
Book Title: The Last Contender
Cover Artist: Merilliza Chan
Length: 669 pages
Release Date: November 27, 2022
Tropes: Forbidden love
Themes: Becoming who you truly are, found family, fighting for what is right
“What would you pay for freedom?”
Blurb
Your body?
Wynn is a carpenter in a small town in Northern Rhosan, but after he is torn from his family by ruthless Victors, he’ll have to learn to survive beneath their rule. When he is forced to hunt with the silent, stoic Dyfan, the two men forge a bond that might be enough to shelter them from a life of violence and cruelty.
Your people?
Basia and Danae are the children of nobles in the elegant, educated Phecean Confederacy. When Basia starts to discover just how horrifying the lives of slaves in her country are, she’s faced with a terrible choice: does she step up to reshape her home at the risk of losing her closest friend, or does she keep quiet and let nothing change? Dealing with the difficulties of her budding gender identity would be hard enough without the lives of millions on her shoulders.
Your mind?
Deep in the Tundra’s frozen heart, the daughter of a medicine woman learns to make poison. The dreams it gives her are full of blood, war, and terrible purpose, but when Iniabi’s village is raided by foreign soldiers, it’s all she can do to stay alive. Iniabi will have to use all the Tundra has taught her as destiny pulls her across the continent, but when it comes to the fate of her people, it’s not enough just to survive.
Eleven Years before the Proclamation
A fire nibbled in the hearth. It was a messy eater, snapping and crumbling as it burnt through rich, winter-dry pine. Its sounds mingled with Wynn’s wood knife moving rhythmically over the toy he was carving— a bear still mostly lacking in distinguishing features. It felt good in his palm, a sturdy chunk of apple wood that smelled reminiscent of the fruit the tree had once borne. His eyes slipped closed, and he blinked too long. The night was calling to him of dreams and peaceful slumber…
Until the happy patter of soft, bare baby feet came rush-stumbling by. Owynn tumbled into his mother’s knees where she sat mending one of his shirts, his hands clutched around something Wynn could not quite see. “Look!” Owynn burbled, holding up long, spiraling wood shavings to his head to mimic his mother’s curls. “I look like you now!”
Nia’s gaze, soft with affection, shifted to the wood shavings, and she nodded. “You do. Just like mama.” She reached out to brush a long finger across his plump cheek, pink with excitement, and then glanced to the window.
Dark had long since come, and the evening was shifting into night. Owynn needed to be abed. Nia didn’t have to speak for Wynn to understand the meaning of the look she cast his way, and he set aside his carving knife.
“Come here, son,” he said, opening his arms. “Let’s sing together before bed.”
The boy came in a giggling rush, still clutching the wood shavings, and barreled into Wynn, who swept him up into his arms as easily as if he was one of the planks of wood lying in the workshop below. He giggled when Wynn tickled him and breathlessly tucked his soft head against Wynn’s neck. He smelled slightly sweet, a sticky child scent.
“Do you remember the words?”
Obstinately, the little boy shook his head. “It’s too early for singing.”
“All the birds have gone to bed,” Nia chimed, her tone helpful.
“See? Even the birds have finished their evening songs. You don’t want to be late, do you? Do you remember how it starts?
The boy shook his head again, but it was out of a desire to stay up later, not ignorance. They sang the song often enough. Wynn tickled the boy’s head with his beard to get him to look up and then mouthed the first few words. Owynn joined in, and they sang together as they got ready to sleep.
BOOK 2
Book Title: Emissary to the Frost Wolf
Cover Artist: Virginia Laird
Length: 849 pages
Release Date: July 23, 2024
Tropes: Friends to Lovers, forbidden love
Themes: Found family, fighting for what is right, forced separation
What would you trade for Love?
Blurb
Your dreams?
Wynn and Dyfan have escaped the pits of Cwm Or, but there is no safety in their homeland, Rhosan. When a desperate flight leaves them stranded on the other side of the world, they’ll be forced to choose between fighting for something they don’t believe in or being outcasts again.
Your future?
Danae and Basia have vowed to end slavery in Phecea, but vast forces stand between them and their goals, and they risk their lives and careers when their fight is complicated by a violent organization claiming to have the same vision. They’ll need to stand together to see this through, even when feelings drive a wedge between them.
Your purpose?
There is a spy among the Emai. It’s Iniabi’s job to protect her people even as she wages an impossible war against two stronger nations, but the spy is far closer than she knows and wrapping ever tighter around Iniabi’s frozen heart.
Content Warnings: Blood, Gore, Violence, War, Death, Explicit Sex, Rape (Mentioned, Not Depicted), Domestic Abuse, Child Abuse (Mentioned, Not Depicted)
BOOK 3
Book Title: The Warrior Dasan
Length: 937 Pages
Release Date: December 28, 2024
Tropes: Forced proximity, Enemies to Lovers
Themes: Fighting for what is right, found family
What would you sacrifice to end this war?
Blurb
Your power?
Iniabi has known all her life that she would marry Danae, but that doesn’t make their new partnership any easier. It’s only complicated by past lovers and enemy attempts to tear them apart. They will need to come together before Iniabi’s final challenge is laid before her. Will all the power of Phecea and the Emaian Tundra be enough to end the Emaian peoples’ oppression?
Your heart?
Dyfan is lost in the wake of Wynn’s absence, struggling to find a purpose while his lover teaches old magic to Liria’s enemies. He longs only to reunite—however he can— but both foreigners have a part to play in the battles to come.
Your honor?
General Lucilius Nonus always serves his Imperator without question, but he feels the stain on Lirian honor caused by the Imperator’s newest acquisition—a mage from the distant land of Ingola. Master Mage Mors Dernier is much more than he seems, but even he is unable to predict the chaos Basia Mavros will make of all their careful plans.
Content Warnings: Blood, Gore, Violence, War, Death, Abduction, Explicit Sex, Addiction, Physical Punishment (in the form of public whipping), Child Abuse (mentioned, not depicted)
Liv and Sterling are queer Indie authors focused on creating inclusive, diverse worlds that deliver on plot, emotional payout, and character development.
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