Kepler is an Earth colony, where the first humans settled many years before. For an apparently unknown reason, some families living on the planet develop special magical powers. The most powerful lead the various realms. However, things deteriorate when humans on Earth think they have found a way to become immortal. The so-called immortality virus has its downside, however, and some humans with the virus end up on Kepler. When the Queen of South Kepler is shot with an arrow on the day of her coronation, Vivian immediately suspects who is behind the assassination attempt. And the arrow is poisoned with the immortal virus. A virus that is lethal to Keplerians. From then begins Vivian’s errand with her two brothers—Princes Nathanial and Bastian—to find someone with so much magic to cure her.

What can I say about Sisters of the Perilous Heart (Book One of the Mortal Heritance) by Sandra L. Vasher? I read it in two days. I loved it. It reminded me of the Darkover saga by Marion Zimmer Bradley, where technology and magic are entwined with one another. Spaceships exist, but Keplerians don’t use them. They’re not interested in traveling through space. In most realms, life is simple and basic technology like electricity and fuel is disused, given what pollution did to Earth. Keplerians want to preserve the natural resources of their planet as it is, but not all that glitters is gold. There’s a war between North Kepler and South Kepler since the immortals arrived from Earth. I hope the sequel will be soon available because I absolutely want to know how the story ends. What happens to Bastian and Nathaniel? Will the North prevail over the South?

Sisters of the Perilous Heart is a work of fantasy fiction penned for young adults, which was written by author Sandra L Vasher. Forming the debut novel of the Mortal Heritance series, this engaging and dynamic novel explores the lengths that we go to in order to survive under extreme circumstances. In this case, we explore that theme through a fantasy world where an empire of immortals is trying to take over the last vestiges of the mortal world. The young queen of Kepler becomes infected by the Immortality Virus, but her own magic resists and creates a battle for survival within her own mortal body.

This pseudo-medieval-futuristic adventure has everything fans of dynamic young adult fantasy could want from their series opener. We meet Queen Vivian and the enigmatic magician Carina, two strong female leads with plenty of power and struggles to relate to, and are immediately drawn into their well-built world of magic, mortality and epic fantasy atmosphere. The concepts of the society around them and the impending war are really solidly put in place, and the description of the world and culture is richly cinematic thanks to the lexical choices of author Sandra L Vasher. The plot winds around the characters and the worldbuilding really well, developing both concepts and giving us plenty of interesting twists and turns for our reading pleasure. Overall, Sisters of the Perilous Heart is an excellent opening novel to what promises to be an exciting and enthralling new YA fantasy epic.