Four hundred years ago, there was a war that encompassed thirteen nations: the War of the Libraries. Great libraries that had stood for centuries were wiped out. Terrified by the possibility of losing all the knowledge of civilization, the thirteen nations founded a new, neutral city called Moonstone, where there would be a Library to house all the wisdom of the world . . .

Four hundred years ago, there was a war that encompassed thirteen nations: the War of the Libraries. Great libraries that had stood for centuries were wiped out. Terrified by the possibility of losing all the knowledge of civilization, the thirteen nations founded a new, neutral city called Moonstone, where there would be a Library to house all the wisdom of the world . . .

Moonstone is a city where water entwines with land in so many ways. There are large islands and small islands. There are rocky islands with cliffs, and flatter islands with sloping beaches, and places like the district of Scattered Pearls have countless micro-islands . . .

Moonstone, the imaginary city in which The Moonstone Covenant is set, has a mix of many ethnic identities, so the clothing styles are extremely varied . . .

The marriage at the heart of The Moonstone Covenant is a four-way relationship, which is somewhat unconventional in their world but not unheard of.  The four main characters, Istehar, Olloise, Annlynn, and Vasmine, are two couples who became a foursome over time—this happens prior to the novel’s timeframe but one hears pieces of the story throughout the novel . . .

In Moonstone, books are sacred, magical, and foundational to society. Books of the Tree are made by an illuminatrix, a “light-inscriber.” They are blank, but hold sense-memories within their pages, and the memories can be retrieved by those who know how . . .

“... Everyone knew that all islands were worlds unto themselves, that to come to an island was to come to another world.” Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana

The archipelago city of Moonstone, where our characters (whether archprinces, librarians, sorceresses or bookboaters) make their home is a multiethnic place with a variety of religions, architectures, and political powers scrabbling for a place on the city’s crowded islands.

I’VE BEEN READING FANTASY SINCE I WAS A LITTLE GIRL. I GREW UP ON URSULA K. LEGUIN, J.R.R. TOLKIEN, AND ANNE MCCAFFREY, AMONG MANY OTHERS. SOME OF MY FAVORITES AS AN ADULT HAVE BEEN C.J. CHERRYH, GUY GAVRIEL KAY, T. KINGFISHER, NEON YANG, AND NEIL GAIMAN. IN PARTICULAR, I’VE ALWAYS LOVED STORIES OF COMPLEX CONSTELLATIONS OF WOMEN . . .

TOGETHER, LET’S DISCOVER THE LANDS OF MOONSTONE . . .