-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
From debut author Katharyn Blair comes a heart-stopping fantasy novel, perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and The Young Elites, about a teenage runaway who enters a dangerous tournament with an impossible prize.
Vesper Montgomery can summon your worst fear and turn it into a reality—but she's learned the hard way that it's an addicting and dangerous power. One wrong move and you could hurt someone you love.
But when she earns a spot in the Tournament of the Unraveling, where competitors battle it out for a chance to rewrite the past, Vesper finally has a shot to reverse the mistakes that have changed her forever.
She turns to Sam Hardy, a former MMA fighter who's also carrying a tragedy he desperately wants to undo. However, helping heal Sam's heart will mean breaking her own, and the competition forces her to master her powers—powers she has been terrified of since they destroyed her life.
"Interweaving excellent worldbuilding with the uncertainties of discipline, friendship, and taking ownership of one's decisions, Blair's debut will entrance and delight in equal measure." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"An extraordinary debut packed with richly drawn characters in a sure-to-entertain storyline." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This story of magic, hope, death, friendship, and family...offer[s] a taste of the mystical, a great voice and dialogue, and well-written questions that address teen angst." - School Library Journal
"The Beckoning Shadow is a fast-paced, exciting debut with an awesome girl protagonist! I rooted for Vesper as she smashed her way through this vividly imagined story, and was left hoping for more!" - S.J. Kincaid, New York Times bestselling author of The Diabolic
"An absolutely riveting, supercharged story set against a world of secretive and thoroughly badass magic-wielders. I adored Vesper for her toughness and vulnerable heart—I dare you not to fall for her, too." - Lana Popoviç, author of Fierce like a Firestorm
This information about The Beckoning Shadow was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Katharyn Blair is a novelist and screenwriter. She graduated with her MFA in 2015 and is finishing her MA in literature. She's been a social media coordinator for several films at 20th Century Fox, an intern at her city's Parks and Recreation Department, a gymnastics coach, and, most recently, a writing professor at Azusa Pacific University. She lives outside of Los Angeles with her family. The Beckoning Shadow is her debut novel.
If you liked The Beckoning Shadow, try these:
by Stephen Fishbach
Published 2026
A propulsive debut novel following a has-been reality TV star and a disgraced producer who get one last shot at redemption on a show set on a remote island, only to discover that the plot twists are beyond what they ever imagined.
by Rita Bullwinkel
Published 2025
An electrifying debut novel from an "unusually gifted writer" (Lorrie Moore) about the radical intimacy of physical competition
The Most Precious Substance on Earth
by Shashi Bhat
Published 2023
Journey Prize winner Shashi Bhat's sharp, darkly comic, and poignant story about a high school student's traumatic experience and how it irrevocably alters her life, for fans of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, Girlhood, and Pen15.
Happiness belongs to the self sufficient
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
