Where the Silence Sings is the dark and dastardly first instalment of The Symphonic Masquerade series, a character-driven tale about identity, perseverance, and discovery among a sci-fantasy backdrop.

Sometimes the truth is worse than the lie.

This is not a love story. Nor is it for the faint of heart. This tale, however, could rewrite history itself.

When a realms-wide broadcast interrupts Aeyun and his crew's latest heist with news of the brutal toppling of Raenaru's most powerful regents, he must make a choice: continue to forge a path towards his own truth, or - together with his misfit allies - discover what happened to Raeyu Thasian, beloved heir to a dynasty and childhood friend to whom his life is tethered.

Among the fallout, one thing is clear:

Aeyun's choices will always come back to haunt him.

In self-imposed exile, Aeyun has taken up the life of an ore-smuggler. In exchange for his smithing talents, a small crew of principled thieves have welcomed him into the fold, assisting his search for elusive ore that only he seems able to touch.

The rebellious second sibling of the Thasian legate, Seraeyu Thasian has wrangled power beyond his imagination. Power, he comes to find, is seldom given freely.

A mercenary's life is never easy, especially when unwelcomed interlopers remain the only connection held with darling Raeyu Thasian. But Sakaeri would be damned if she didn't help the only family she never needed.

A gritty adventure, Where the Silence Sings exposes grim realities and the journey towards wrangling agency while contending with a crumbling construct of belonging. Interwoven with past and present mysteries shrouded in ancient, lost histories, this book examines themes of selfhood, moral ambiguity, and connection borne of both familiarity and circumstance. Starting with a bloody reckoning, we are thrown into the fire that stokes the winds of change; a discordant note that heralds a new and foreboding dawn.

Where the Silence Sings - pokkari, Englanti, 2024