Ashes of the Sun (Burningblade & Silvereye Book 1)

Hundreds of years ago, the Chosen fought against the darkness and failed. But in their final dying breaths, they were able to drive the dark ones away. Now a group is maintained to go after unsanctioned arcana and destroy all those who would wield it. Young Gyre sees his baby sister taken away because of the power she possesses, and in the process Gyre loses his eye. He aims to bring down the government and the order, so people may live freely. Although she doesn’t know it, Maya has the power to destroy it all because of what is inside her. But a larger threat looms. Can these siblings put aside their differences?

This book is thoroughly enjoyable, even if it spends quite a bit of time setting up the rest of the trilogy and focuses a lot on characters that will not have an impact overall in the book. Furthermore, the main male lead is oftentimes a whiner, which gets on my nerves. It starts off a little slow and then descends into violence, which is at times graphic. It is also one of an increasing number of LGBTQ love stories in fantasy and science fiction.