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Summary

Community summary are the opinions of contributing users. These summary do not represent the opinions of Pima County Public Library.
For three hundred years the Valtias have ruled the Kupari from the Temple on the Rock, the only wielders of the unique Kupari magic who can balance both fire and ice. The Valtia uses her magic to protect and shelter her people, but the magic exacts a terrible price, and these girl-queens die young, bodies devoured by their own terrible power. Elli has been raised in the Temple as the Saadella, heir to the Valtia, schooled in service to the Kupari people, prepared to receive the magic when the current Valtia dies. Yet despite the fact that Elli is prophesied to be the most powerful Valtia who ever lived, when her predecessor dies, the magic does not enter her, leaving the Kupari vulnerable to the increasingly hostile raids of the neighouring Soturi. Exiled to the Outlands, Elli takes shelter with a group of bandits who defy the rules of the Temple, and refuse to turn their magic wielders over to the Temple Elders. For the first time, Elli has a reason to question the order under which she was raised, bringing to light the terrible abuses of the very system which she was sworn to uphold.