Erewhon Books has acquired New York Times bestselling author Kalyn Josephson’s adult fantasy debut, The Library of Amorlin, in a pre-empt, two book deal, negotiated by Viengsamai Fetters at Erewhon and Carrie Pestritto at Laura Dail Literary Agency (world).
The Library of Amorlin is projected to release in Spring 2026. Learn more about the book below, plus preview an excerpt!
Former con artist Kasira expected to spend the next several years as a soldier, miserably working off her prison sentence by hunting down magical creatures for the fanatical kingdom of Kalthos. But when the Kalish ambassador arrives with a non-negotiable assignment, Kasira finds herself swept into the biggest con of her life: infiltrating the Library of Amorlin.
As the heart of all magical power across the six kingdoms and protector of magical creatures throughout the lands, the Library is meant to be politically neutral. Posing as the new Assistant Librarian, Kasira must spy for the ambassador and destabilize it from the inside, clearing the way to dethrone the Librarian.
But when she arrives, Kasira learns that the Library is not all she was told it would be. Neither is the prickly, handsome Librarian, Allaster, whose monstrous secrets are about to catch up with him.
Swept into the enchanting world of the Library, Kasira’s reluctant con is jeopardized by her growing affection for the wondrous life the Library promises… and by her complicated, burgeoning attraction to Allaster. As the ambassador’s game closes in, Kasira must decide where her loyalties lie: to her newfound home, or to herself?
From the author, Kalyn Josephson:
“Amorlin is for the readers who went looking for dragons in their backyards and dreamed of houses made of books. It’s whimsy and wonder and magic wrapped up in a twisty epic adventure about a con artist, magical beasts, and what happens when long forgotten dreams are brought back to life. Oh, and there’s a grumpy librarian. This book is my comfort book. It’s the world and story I disappear into when I need a break, and it couldn’t have found a better home than with Viengsamai at Erewhon, who understood this story’s strange little heart at its core.”
From editor Viengsamai Fetters:
“In the kingdom of Kalthos, magical creatures are—allegedly—sin manifest. When Kasira is coerced into becoming a political pawn so that Kalthos can take control of the Library, the biggest obstacle to driving the beasts extinct, Kasira will need to unravel the truth behind the Library and decide for herself what her values and desires are. Kasira’s story will resonate with anyone who’s ever had to re-discover the magic in life as a grown-up, and her slow-burn romance with Allaster is captivating—I stayed up all night to finish reading the manuscript! Readers of The Phoenix Keeper, The Wren in the Holly Library, and The Unspoken Name will all find much to love here; The Library of Amorlin is a treasure.”
Kalyn Josephson is a New York Times bestselling author who currently works as a Technical Writer in the tech industry, which leaves room for too many bad puns about technically being a writer. She currently lives in California with two black cats (who are more like a tiny dragon and an ever tinier owl). She is the author of the Ravenfall series, The Storm Crow duology, and the This Dark Descent duology. The Library of Amorlin is her first book for adults.
At the start of this excerpt, the Kalish ambassador has come to Kasira’s beast-hunting unit, threatening to return Kasira to prison unless she impersonates Lady Eirlana Corynth as the new Assistant Librarian; this excerpt is Kasira’s first glimpse at the magic of the Library—and at the Librarian she’s meant to overthrow.
Chapter 4
Kasira pulled aside a curtain, opening the window to let in the rumble of the Seven Veils. The trees parted as the road switch backed up an incline, and the rush of the river solidified into a roar as they crested the hill, the valley spreading out below in the early evening light.
The river split into a series of waterfalls breaking over a tooth-shaped protrusion of rock, which hung like a sheltering wing across an island easily a quarter mile across. A single leafless tree, larger than any she’d ever seen, stretched yearning limbs to the sky at the overhang’s edge. The path wound down the hill to one of six wooden drawbridges, an entrance for each kingdom, though only five were ever used. Avaria had closed its borders nearly a millennium ago.
Growing up, everyone around Kasira had looked at the Library and seen darkness, whereas she had seen a marvel beyond her comprehension. She’d secretly longed after it for years, wondering over it the way a child peered over a steep drop and wondered what if I could fly? Now that she was here, a little of that old wonder came creeping back.
The waters were of a pure crystal blue unlike anything she’d ever seen, the size of the falls so massive, the pounding water nearly deafened her. The waterfall parted around the bridge, sprinkling the carriage with cool mist.
Only years of training reined in her astonishment at what came next.
An enormous stained-glass palace soared above them, towers becoming turrets becoming spires of brilliant gold, before melding into a slate stone castle that appeared to have grown straight from the underside of the cliff. This was not the dark, dungeon-like palace she’d been told it was, forever capped by rainclouds and surrounded by dead vegetation. Rather, a field of verdant grass rich with wildflowers unfurled before it, the colors bold as if after a heavy rain.
The carriage rolled to a halt in the main courtyard, where small paddocks dotted the grounds. Inside stood scaled horses the size of hounds and feathered canines the size of horses—beasts, grazing steadily at the long grass or else watching the arriving carriage with curious eyes.
“It’s true,” cried the younger maid. “The Library really keeps beasts like pets!”
“Not quite like pets,” said a deep, lilting voice in the common tongue.
All three of them craned for a look at whoever had spoken, but no one stood beyond the small window. The driver outside made a small noise of surprise, before his boots struck the ground and he appeared at the carriage door to open it, face pale.
“Lady Eirlana Corynth,” he stammered.
“I can’t possibly imagine why you’re frightened,” said the voice. “I’m the one with two beast-killers standing in my courtyard. Oh, don’t scowl at me like that.” The Malik the voice had spoken to only frowned more furtively.
Kasira descended from the carriage, one hand holding the folds of her dress as she sought the speaker. Sitting before her, its silver-white fur spotted in black, was a snow leopard. Easily eighty pounds with a head that came up to her navel, the beast regarded her with round moonstone eyes.
“Um, nice kitty?” the younger maid said from behind her.
The leopard looked unimpressed. “I know the Kalish aren’t the brightest of brutes, but I do hope you possess a more eloquent means of expressing yourself than your companion, my lady.”
“Forgive her,” Kasira replied evenly. “It’s not often one speaks to the manifestation of their sin.”
The leopard gave a beleaguered sigh. “This sin has been waiting for you for nearly an hour and would like to proceed. Your ladies and guards may depart. I will escort you from here.”
“Lady Corynth?” asked Havlan in Kalish, but Kasira waved them away. She’d known from the start that she would be entering into this alone. Still, watching the girls reenter the carriage and depart without a backward glance caused the gravity of her situation to settle at last. She had reached the Library of Amorlin, and it was everything she’d ever imagined and more.
And now began her task of bringing it to its knees.
The leopard regarded her with a tilt of his head, his thick tail thunking against the grass. “Well,” he said at last. “This ought to be entertaining if nothing else. My name is Iylis, and I help manage the day to day of the Library. If you’ll follow me, I will take you to Master Allaster.”
Kasira trailed after him along the gravel path, running a final time through how she planned to frame herself for her initial meeting with the Librarian. Allaster had waited nearly a year since the death of the last Librarian to call his Assistant, only doing so under great pressure from the Kalish court to abide by the Library’s laws. He wouldn’t be pleased about her arrival, and he’d be expecting someone who detested beasts, the Library, and everything he stood for. She would have to affect disinterest in it all, and resistance to learn, at least to start.
“My things should have been delivered ahead of me,” she said, a noble lady more concerned with her belongings than the opportunity before her. “Did they arrive safely?”
“Your possessions are fine, Lady Corynth.” Iylis had the sort of voice she imagined Miravi professors possessed, sonorous and soothing. It didn’t stop her from resting her hand on the concealed blade at her hip. She’d never encountered a beast that could speak before, but the ability did not erase the fact that he could likely bite clean through her arm.
Iylis regarded her with a look of deep misgiving as they reached the carved front doors of the Library, which swung open of their own accord. “Master Allaster will have his work to do with you, won’t he? It just had to be the Kalish! Now of all times.”
The foyer was airy and spacious, with a ceiling that arched high overhead and enough indoor plants that it might have been better classified a greenhouse. They hung from the rafters and gathered in corners, ran vines through trellises pinned to walls and sprouted flowers bigger than her head, and behind their leaves and beneath their petals watched a hundred sets of eyes. Snake eyes and spider eyes and little ferrets with gemstone claws and even one crimson bird, whose crown of feathers shimmered like the air over a fire. She had the distinct impression that if she so much as touched a single leaf, the entire system would engulf her.
“This way, my lady.” Iylis led her left through a sitting room wrapped in tall windows, then straight back through a small study, a homey kitchen where an earnest looking Riviairen woman kneaded dough with swift efficiency, and at last into a cavernous room filled to the brim with books. Books on rows upon rows of shelves, books in built-in cubbies, books stacked on counters and on desks and forgotten side tables beside teetering towers of teacups. Then she looked up. Level after level ringed the inside of the room like the ribs of a corset, culminating in a gold-framed stained-glass dome.
It shouldn’t have surprised her. From what she’d read, the Library had begun as a place of study for magic that grew into something more. But she had never seen so many books in one place. Pages and pages of words; more than anyone could read in a lifetime, and yet some part of Kasira wanted to try. She’d always had a love for stories. Loraya used to steal her books from the orphanage’s library, and they’d lie awake beneath the covers with a scavenged stub of candle reading late into the night.
But Eirlana would have grown up with much different stories, ones like the priests had told of the Librarians’ dark powers. They could commune with beasts, transform people into them with a flick of their hand, and cast spells that would leave you walking in an endless loop until you died of thirst.
Eirlana would not look at this place with an ounce of wonder, but with dismay in the downward curve of her lips. It would be a mask, hiding the trepidation beneath. A trepidation that was not entirely false. Kasira might have marveled after this place as a child, but that was another lifetime. She had entered the Library as its enemy, and from the looks the mages were giving her, they would not soon let her forget it.
To be here, these mages had to have beaten out countless applicants, all of whom had spent years studying beasts, artifacts, and magical theory. In exchange, they’d been granted a piece of the Library’s magic, and now traversed the world protecting beasts and seeking ancient magical artifacts or dedicated themselves to years of magical research in the Library’s gilded halls. She was an untrained outsider, the first Kalish candidate they’d seen in nearly a century, and they not only didn’t trust her, but they also likely resented her for her position.
“The group in the gold room needs more tea,” Iylis called. Kasira followed his gaze, expecting a servant, but it was a smaller leopard he spoke to, one of many scurrying about the library returning books to shelves and carrying away dirty dishes. They passed through bookcases and walls in a blink of silver light.
“And be careful with that volume!” he snapped at another. “It’s five hundred years old.” He shook his head, muttering about lack of respect and delicate covers as the offending leopard slunk away.
“Here we are.” Iylis herded her to one corner where a tall, lean figure studied a leather-bound book splayed upon a lectern. The visible page was titled: Amorlin, A Complete History.
“Master Allaster, may I present Lady Eirlana Corynth of Kalthos.”
A line of tension rippled through the man’s broad shoulders, and a moment later he actually sighed, as if the leopard had just announced they would be counting grains of barley for the remainder of the day.
Without looking up from his book, Allaster St. Archer waved a ring-laden hand and said in a lightly accented voice, “Welcome to the great Library of Amorlin, home of all creatures big and small, protectorate of ancient artifacts and more books than can fit on the shelves. Your room is upstairs. Breakfast starts at six. Try not to touch anything. Good day.”
Kasira stared at him, thinking this must be some sort of joke, but he only turned the page of his book and idly spun a black ring around one elegant finger. It was one of many, matching the smaller ones in his ears and the obsidian torc around his biceps and encircling his neck. She could see only a sliver of his olive-skinned face, revealing high cheekbones, a prominent brow, and an aquiline nose. It was the short hair curling about his brow that drew her eye, though. Such an odd, silken red, like gleaming copper.
She hadn’t anticipated a warm welcome, though she had expected more of one than that. But Lady Corynth would handle such an affront deftly, even if Kasira just wanted to walk away. “I have to say,” she replied tightly. “When I envisioned visiting the great Library, I didn’t imagine being treated with such courtesy as that.”
The corner of Allaster’s full mouth twitched. “Is that so? I’d have thought, being Kalish, you were used to such brusque treatment. What’s that old saying about Kalish hospitality? Knock once, don’t expect lunch. Knock twice, get fed to mice.”
“That doesn’t rhyme.”
“Sure it does. It just gets a little lost in translation.”
Kasira let a little frustration show through her mask. Eirlana didn’t want to be here anymore than he desired to have her, but she’d been given a task, and she would see it through. She proffered the introduction letter. “From His Majesty. I—”
Without so much as a glance in her direction, Allaster flicked his hand, making the paper vanish so suddenly she had to smother a gasp. He had avoided calling a Kalish Assistant for as long as he could and it appeared now that he had one, he intended to dance around the issue of her arrival by simply ignoring her, a tactic that would make ingratiating herself to him nearly impossible. Perhaps she needed to be more direct. In the very least, if she had reason to spend time with him, she could find opportunities to break down the wall he’d already established between them.
“The least you could do is grant me a tour of my new prison,” she said.
At this, he finally looked up, and she was struck by the strangeness of his intense gaze. His kohl-lined eyes were an impossible color: pale turquoise, like sea glass set aglow in silver, and suddenly all the stories she’d heard as a child of the Librarian’s great and terrible magic came swarming back to her.
He couldn’t be more than thirty, but his eyes were ageless.
The corners of his lips turned up in a beast’s smile. “Very well. You want a tour? I’ll give you a tour.”
To which Iylis muttered an almost inaudible, “Oh dear.”
Then Allaster snapped his fingers, and everything twisted. The walls bent inward, the people spun away, even Iylis vanished, and with a crack like shattering stone, they reappeared in a different room entirely. Nausea rushed to fill the space air had once occupied in her lungs, and she seized a nearby wall for balance.
“The reading room.” Allaster gestured one long-fingered hand at a cluster of well-used couches, now occupied by a group of confused mages. He snapped his fingers again, and the world twisted once more, her nausea redoubling. They appeared in an octagonal chamber with six identical doors, each marked by a different kingdom’s symbol. “The portal room.” Another snap, and they rematerialized in an aviary. Kasira barely dodged a startled Dover Bird swooping past. The movement made her bile rise.
Snap. A cavern full of balestone. Snap. A pantry fifteen shelves high. Snap. An armory. Snap. A massive, wrought iron cage from which hung a creature of jet-black leather, two red eyes peering between folded wings.
Snap. Snap. Snap. SNAP!
They appeared in a barren guest room with a narrow bed in one corner and a smudged opening that barely qualified as a window. Scorch marks stained the stone on the far wall of the room, which was only as long as the bed. A bucket waited in one corner. Kasira calculated if she could make it there before her stomach lost patience with her.
Allaster turned for the door, his parting words hanging in the air, “Welcome to Amorlin.”
Excerpted from The Library of Amorlin, copyright © 2024 by Kalyn Josephson
