About the Author

Brandon Sanderson is the fantasy and science fiction #1 New York Times Bestselling, Hugo Award-winning author of the Cosmere Universe, including: The Stormlight Archive series, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, Skyward, and various novellas including The Emperor's Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013.

JACKSON LANZING is one half of New York Times Bestselling writing partnership known as "the Hivemind," alongside Collin Kelly. The two met in college, where they first became bitter rivals before becoming best friends. Their work in comics includes Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Kang the Conqueror, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman Beyond: Neo-Year, Dark One (with Brandon Sanderson), Joyride, and Star Trek -- for which they received a 2023 Eisner nomination for Best New Series. They also work in film, TV, games and, and are incredibly proud of their recently released middle-grade novel Thor Quest: Hammers of the Gods from Marvel Press.They live a few minutes from one another in Los Angeles, CA -- along with their wives and far too many pets -- where they spend their time reading, debating, playing music too loud, and enjoying every tabletop roleplaying game they can get their hands on.

COLLIN KELLY is one half of New York Times Bestselling writing partnership known as "the Hivemind," alongside Jackson Lanzing. The two met in college, where they first became bitter rivals before becoming best friends. Their work in comics includes Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Kang the Conqueror, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman Beyond: Neo-Year, Dark One (with Brandon Sanderson), Joyride, and Star Trek -- for which they received a 2023 Eisner nomination for Best New Series. They also work in film, TV, games and, and are incredibly proud of their recently released middle-grade novel Thor Quest: Hammers of the Gods from Marvel Press. They live a few minutes from one another in Los Angeles, CA -- along with their wives and far too many pets -- where they spend their time reading, debating, playing music too loud, and enjoying every tabletop roleplaying game they can get their hands on.

Nathan C. Gooden is an award-winning illustrator and sequential artist, as well as the Senior Art Director at Vault Comics. Nathan studied animation at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and worked in film production, before co-founding Vault Comics. Nathan's previous works include Brandon Sanderson's Dark One (Vault), Barbaric (Vault), Zojaqan (Vault), and Killbox (from American Gothic Press). He lives in Southern California, where he plays a lot of basketball and hikes constantly with his wife.

Kurt is the colorist of comic books such as THE BLUE FLAME and MONEY SHOT from Vault Comics, GLITTERBOMB, and HACK/SLASH. Technically, he colored BATMAN one time in DC's LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD anthology. It counts.

He won the 2021 Nerdie for Colorist of the Year from The House of Nerd Podcast.

Kurt is also the creator of the Color With Kurt YouTube channel - a channel focused on making color more accessible.youtube.com/ColorWithKurt

He lives in Long Beach, Mississippi, with his wife and two cats. When he is not coloring, he enjoys drawing, streaming, playing basketball, video games, movies, and coloring more.

https: //www.instagram.com/kmichaelrussell/
https: //twitter.com/kmichaelrussell
youtube.com/ColorWithKurt

Reviews

KIRKUS -- A 17-year-old faces his destiny in a divided and distant land. Paul seemingly has a tenuous grip on reality. He sees visions of an unreal, fantastic land, and Nikka, a blue-tinted hallucination of a girl who claims to be his sister, insists on keeping him company. Living apart from his mother, with whom he has a strained relationship, Paul tries to keep up a normal life with frequent visits to his therapist. When a sword-wielding warrior disrupts a session, Paul is flung into Mirandus, the world of his visions. With a clear flow between panels, the implication of time passing in a montage of wide, epic scenes of Mirandus; brilliant and emotive color schemes; and a cleanly minimal drawing style provide a strong visual aspect to the story. Inexperienced graphic novel readers will easily be able to follow the flow of dialogue and the clear depiction of speech and narrative bubbles provide further visual literacy cues. While the discussion of good versus evil is a bit heavy-handed despite attempts to subvert the binary, the overarching theme of destiny as depicted by the Narrative adds an intriguing twist. Paul's relationships with Nikka and other characters are intriguing but the pacing makes them feel rushed. Paul is biracial (Chinese/White); the humans of Mirandus appear mostly White. (This book is available now as a digital edition, with print release currently scheduled for May 2021.) A dramatically dark fantasy that will leave readers eager for the sequel. (Graphic fantasy. 14-adult)