The Book of Origins (#1 The Offered Saga)

“You are the silent knife in the night, the eyes everywhere, that will do what no other can or will…”

The vast Vol Supremacy maintains an iron grip over its people through a secret cabal of spies and assassins known as the dakir. Offered as tribute by their parents, and trained from childhood, the dakir are skilled and ruthless – tasked with crushing dissent in any way they see fit. Three dakir novices approach their final trial, having long relinquished any hope of a future for themselves. Their only wish is to serve their religious order.

Or so they tell themselves.

Meanwhile, the Supremacy has discovered a lush, wild continent to the south. The settlement there slips slowly toward rebellion - dissenting voices speaking in public, attendance at holy ceremonies dwindling, and an underground resistance fanning the flames of an uprising. And what of the mysteries of this strange new land itself – apparently uninhabited, yet so suited to human life?

Something awaits that will alter the Supremacy forever. This is where it begins.

This is book one in The Offered Saga.

Age recommendation: for mature readers 18+

Genre: High Fantasy

Jean Swan is a fantasy and speculative fiction author from the south-east of Australia.

Influenced by the book-lovers in her family, she and her little brother were inspired by authors such as Emily Rodda, Sara Douglass, Tamora Pierce, and Kate Forsyth to create fantastical adventure games to play in the garden – complete with multiple character arcs.

Jean has always loved character-driven books, as they reflect the complex highs and lows of humanity. Her full-time work as a clinical psychologist means she sees all the colours of people’s lives, and the incredible resilience of the human spirit.

This is why Jean loves speculative fiction. Alternate worlds offer solace, a place to escape when we need it. But we also find ourselves in these places; in characters we love (or love to hate), and in reckoning with the full scope of what it is to be human. Even amidst cataclysmic events, of gods and magic, and all that is epic about the genre, these are just stories about people.