Gilded Folly

The woman dug frantically in the rich soil, the earthy scent making her shiver. There was an underlying sourness to the dampness, which spoke of death...
It’s here. It has to be. This was where panicky instinct had led her.
More than intuition...
No. A bad dream. That’s all it was. Sleepwalking again. Gritting her teeth, Glys forced herself to withdraw her hands—to fight against impulse. She knelt there, rigid with compulsion, and lifted her eyes to the moon.
It nearly choked her. The light was so cold it chilled to the bone, and gooseflesh rode reckless across her skin. Moonshadows gloomed everywhere, leached from the innocent silhouettes of tree and shrub.
One of those silhouettes was moving. Her breath caught, finishing what that frozen moon had begun. All rational thought fled in the face of need.
Her fingers tore at the soil once more, as she dug like a caged animal. Only one way lay freedom....
The next moment her fingers had closed on it and a wash of cold relief cleared her mind.
Then, for an instant only, she could see pursuit clearly, racing across the slope.
It’s a dream...only a dream.
A nightmare. The difference was, in this one, she could run.

Thus begins N.D. Hansen-Hill's "Gilded Folly", and, if you like fantasy/futuristic stuff with layers and layers of complexity, you will love this book. If you like twists and turns in the plot, with perfect pacing and great visual descriptions, you will love this book. If you enjoy reading about bigger than life themes, this one's theme is loyalty.

(Oh, and the book's not available from Amazon, isn't that refreshing? Try www.cerridwenpress.com instead.)