The Breathing Sea I

Dasha is a gift from the gods. Only she's not very gifted.

Bronze Medal, Epic Fantasy, Readers' Favorite Book Awards 2018.
Finalist, Golden Book Awards 2018. 
Official Selection, E-Book Fantasy, New Apple Book Awards 2018. 

Second Place, Epic Fantasy, Virtual FantasyCon 2017. 

Eighteen years ago, Dasha's mother made a bargain with the gods. She would bear a gods-touched child, one who would stand on the threshold between the worlds, human and divine. Dasha is that child, now almost ready to become a woman, and one day take her mother's place as Empress of all of Zem'.

But Dasha is shy, lonely, and one of the least magically inclined girls in the Known World. Instead she has fits and uncontrollable visions. When she sets off with her father on her first journey away from her home kremlin, she hopes she will finally find someone who can help her come into her powers. But those whom she finds only want to use her instead. What will it take for her to unlock the abilities hidden within her, and take up her proper place in the world?

The sequel to the award-winning novel The Midnight Land, The Breathing Sea returns to the land of Zem', where animals speak, trees walk, and women rule. Filled with allusions to Russian history, literature, and fairy tales, this subversive combination of satire and high fantasy will appeal to fans of Deathless and The Bear and the Nightingale.

With discussion questions at the end.

Reading order for the Zemnian Series:

The Zemnian Series: Slava's Story

The Midnight Land I: The Flight

The Midnight Land II: The Gift

The Zemnian Series: Dasha's Story

The Breathing Sea I: Burning

The Breathing Sea II: Drowning

The Zemnian Series: Valya's Story

The Dreaming Land I: The Challenge

The Dreaming Land II: The Journey

The Dreaming Land III: The Sacrifice