A bard. A wizard. And a college student from Kentucky.

Sara is having crazy dreams. Gryphon and dragon crazy. The scary part is waking up, safe in her apartment, with scratches and splinters. Is she losing it because of stress? One more unfinished sculpture will fully tank her grades. Goodbye bachelor’s degree, hello failure. Her twin sister is in a coma. And on top of everything else, her best friend Peter wants a date.

It’s enough to make anyone sleepwalk.

Choosing to defy the Conclave, Bard-in-training Trystan risks capture and mind control to find a magical lute through a shadow network. Luthier-wizard Dane meets a sinister stranger and barely escapes with his life. Together, they must end an ancient curse, guided by a fae they only know as Sara.

Book 1 of the The Chronicles of the Lorica series.

Of all Sara’s problems, her strange, vivid dreams are probably the least—even when she wakes up with minor injuries. Meanwhile, of all Dane’s blessings, the misty fae shimmering around him are far from the greatest. But worlds that cross can join. In Sorrowfish, Anne C. Miles gives a twist to the familiar notion of secret passages between our humdrum world and a magical world whose most important element is its religion, as established with doctrine, rites, and ministers. This may evoke our world’s Catholic Church; yet here, it reflects a perverted Christianity. Memorable creations such as the caprices and the Watchers complete the world. The story finds sympathy for likely and unlikely characters. Although the story’s end hastily resolves daunting issues, Sorrowfish is a creative, empathetic fantasy.

Best for: Fans of fantasy and Anne Elisabeth Stengl.

Discern: Several children are murdered in a magical ritual, a religious authority physically abuses people, small-scale fights, hints that a man uses alcohol and marijuana to seduce women, two instances of drunkenness, and mild language.