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Trials of the Innermost Paperback – May 26, 2023

by Jonathan Fuller (Author), Kristina Kelly (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 8 ratings
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A cataclysm in Etherea's past stopped its rotation, leaving three distinct realms: one of light, one of dark, and one of twilight. Years of war followed until the establishment of the Trials of the Innermost.


A new set of six Truthseekers is chosen for this quest of learning and cooperation, but the fragile peace created by the Trials is crumbling even as they begin their first task. The group consists of each realm's best and brightest, and their talents range from magic channeled through music to explosive crystals. They will need all their unique abilities to survive the Trials, which take them through scorched wastes, a wall of storms, and the shadowed Fellwood.


Along their journey, a shared lost past is rediscovered, forcing the Truthseekers to question all they believed. As they grapple with their new reality, a deadly secret is unveiled. A fragment of an alien force called the Penumbra has possessed one of their own, granting him preternatural abilities. One realm seeks to control the entity, but the Penumbra has other plans. If it succeeds in reuniting its broken pieces, it will gain the power to consume Etherea's abundant life force. The Truthseekers must overcome their differences and work together before they lose their friend-and their world-to the Penumbra's hunger.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    592 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Hansen House
  4. Publication date
    May 26, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1.32 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1956037209
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1956037203
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hansen House (May 26, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 592 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1956037209
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1956037203
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.64 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.32 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 8 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Kristina Kelly

    Kristina Kelly

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    Since childhood, writing stories on her mother’s typewriter or trying to catalog her own books like a library, Kristina has been in love with storytelling. Her undergraduate pursuits focused on Psychology, Music, and Computer Science. With trumpet as her main instrument and a connection to nature, Kristina often works music and visual landscapes into her writings. Several of Kristina’s recent short stories received honorable mentions from the Writers of the Future contest, including 2023 2nd Quarter Semi-Finalist.

    Kristina currently resides in Indiana with her husband, sons, and black lab. In her spare time, she takes photography, makes various crafts, plays video games (RPGs are her favorite), dabbles in other instruments, and tends to her flower garden. She loves going on new adventures in the great wide somewhere (sometimes just by picking up a new book).

    Twitter & Instagram @kristinawkelly

    Newsletter at kristinaseyes . com

    See more on the author's page
  2. Jonathan Fuller

    Jonathan Fuller

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Ever since laying his first Lego brick, Jonathan has been fascinated by world-building. This passion grew during his younger years in the Midwest, leading him to study English in college. After graduating, he experienced the usual existential crisis of English majors who don’t want to be teachers and bounced through several professions including a stint in the military. Throughout this journey he worked closely with his dear friend, Kristina Kelly, on a science fantasy book series that has, after over a decade of labor, finally found a home. The Etherea Cycle represents many things to him, but it is first and foremost a testament to the power of friendship and the beauty of life in all its forms.

    An ardent fan of science fiction and fantasy, Jonathan can talk about anime, cars, and RPGs ad infinitem. He is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community and currently resides in Texas where he enjoys playing flag football and kickball and attending all the concerts and festivals he can.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
8 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Beth F
5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2023
Verified Purchase
Trials of the Innermost is an excellent, character driven story.
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Eric Gibson
4.0 out of 5 stars Reverently written characters on an epic exploration.
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024
On a tidally locked planet, there are no seasons, and the only habitable region is the line between endless night and day. The cultures of light and dark on either side of the median have an uneasy truce with the neutral twilight region. The language of the nations give hints of a post-technological world, while the status quo is effectively sword and sorcery.
Overall, I enjoyed reading Trials of the Innermost. The characters are written with a great deal of care a good amount of skill. There is one thing I will harp on several times in this review. This book was almost 800 pages on my Kindle. That's more than Moby Dick, thought to be fair, less than A Game of Thrones. Much like the former, it has a fine story... stretched to insubstantiality at times by the florid descriptions of the everyday existence of the characters. Which I enjoyed. These are archetypical, high-fantasy characters, but with fairly realistic personalities. I could tell the authors had fun writing these interactions in various combinations, and this makes them fun to read. All the characters' emotions are very well written, they mostly have believable flaws, and their motivations didn't fumble and drop my disbelief. This was the greatest aspect of the novel, and the reason I don't resent the 20 or so hours of reading. Your mileage may vary, both on the time and the resentment.
The authors throw a lot of alien beasts and vegetation at you, often with rudimentary descriptions, though this fills in with every encounter, and after the first 20% of the book felt more and more natural. The only thing I truly disliked was the four sets of words for things like day and night. It's a long standing trope to rename a few things to grant a certain foreign flair to fictional cultures, and I understand that in this case it was used to demonstrate the differences between the realities of living in endless day and night, underground, or a sort of nature cult that references everything by their goddess. Each should have been used, explained, then dropped for the more readable standard. The authors didn't explain alien currency, for example, or invent new standards of measurement—though a couple of times distance was described in "the bounds of a solen-drake." I'll be honest, it was only the four words for "year" that bugged me. I get why the people who live underground use a sidereal year (astronomical calculation instead of counting days), but would they really call it a "sidereal" instead of a "year?" Or epicycle? Synody? Journey of the Daughter gets a pass because Vayriel is a weirdo and my favorite. Even this was a minor distraction after a few mentions, my brain just filling in "year" the same way it started filling in "two-tailed wolf" for jeroti, and "big humming-scorpion" for pectully.
Lastly, the story is intriguing, and there is action, and revelations enough for the first volume in a series. Looking back, however, there are more reveals than resolutions, so it's not meant as a standalone story. Once again, I have to remind potential readers that the admittedly intriguing story is diluted in a text of something like 200,000 words. I'll read book two when it's published, but I'll probably wait until I have a cyclad of vacation time saved up.
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John S Weeks
5.0 out of 5 stars An engaging and thought-provoking saga
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2024
I’m a big fan of science fiction/fantasy adventures, and when I started reading this book, I thought that’s exactly what this was, a tale about a diverse band of characters on a quest of utmost importance. But as I got into it, I found that this book had much more to offer.

The authors have done a great job creating a world in total stasis, one that is physically unmoving. It’s a novel idea and allows them to explore what would happen to societies whose viewpoints are fixed, literally. Without the evidence of normal cycles and seasons that we take for granted, how would the mythos of a people develop? How entrenched and intolerant would their systems of belief become? And how would realms with polar opposite vantages interact with one another?

The details of the world Etherea are meticulously thought out and the characters are well developed. It’s very easy to get invested in them and begin to feel like you understand them and where they come from, and the storyline is delivered with a nice writing style and use of language.

There are several themes threaded through this story, but two that struck me very strongly were: the interplay of politics and religion in governing (and controlling) a society and the personal struggle experienced by anyone who doesn’t fit the mold expected of them or whose views are challenged by a broadening vista. The Truthseekers in this tale come with very different viewpoints and must come to grips with the realization that the sky doesn’t end at the horizon they’ve always known.

At its heart though, this is a tale of adventure. The plot is strong, and I found myself staying up to read later than I probably should have because I wanted to know “what happens next”.

If you’re going to read this book, I would advise that you first familiarize yourself with the terms at the end. The various realms, and even the subsets of people within them, use different vernacular for things, and I think it would be very helpful to have a cursory understanding of the different terms from the start.

My only real criticism is more of a technical one. I don’t know if it’s my version of the Kindle app or the EPUB file (or maybe that I’m not super experienced with eBooks), but the chapter links didn’t work for me, so I had to scroll to the point I left off reading each time. Not a huge deal though.

Trials of the Innermost was a pleasant surprise and a thoroughly enjoyable read.
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AD
4.0 out of 5 stars Great YA fantasy
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2024
This YA high fantasy had an intriguing plot, so I was happy to give it a try.
A catastrophe has devastated the planet and stopped its rotation. Now, there are three areas/realms on the planet where life exists—one realm is in perpetual daytime, the other night, and the third twilight. The realms have become distrustful of each other, and war has broken out. In a tentative peace, each realm has sent 2 of their best, strongest citizens to join with each other on a quest. This quest, however, is more dangerous than anyone could’ve imagined.
The book was a little slow for me at the beginning, but once the world and characters were introduced and the quest started, the pacing picked up a lot. The world building and character development was great and spot on. Be warned, the page count is huge, around 800 pages. Lots of stuff happen, however, so it keeps you involved.
4 stars
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Jeff Parsons
5.0 out of 5 stars Epic fantasy
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2023
Great world building, characters, and action. Well written! This is a truly epic fantasy novel in so many ways - give it a try, you wont be disappointed.
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DBess
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Read with Memorable Characters
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2023
I loved the writing style of this book as the characters developed through the story. It was a read I didn't put down until I finished. I look forward to other books in the series. The world the story takes place is well thought out. A great adventure story by these authors I fully recommend.
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Top reviews from other countries

Gary Stringer
5.0 out of 5 stars Some patience required at first, but well worth it in the end.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 30, 2023
Verified Purchase
This book is set in a world divided into 3 main areas: 1 in perpetual light, 1 forever shrouded in darkness and the third always in twilight. The plot concerns the Trials of the Innermost - a periodic series of tests/adventures for a group comprising a pair from each of the 3 cultures, designed to challenge them both physically and psychologically. The stated aim is to foster trust, peace and understanding between the realms, but of course for some, their true purpose may be somewhat different.

The worldbuilding in this book is detailed and complex, yet presented in a way that is clear and easy to understand. Once the characters start to open up and share their beliefs, the writes begin to paint a picture that suggests many of their differences may only be surface deep.

However, there is such thing as too much world building. For the first 20-25%, I must admit I was struggling with the slow pace, which might lose some readers. For me, some careful cutting and editing would have improved the flow.

Still, I persevered with the book because I suspected things would pick up once the 6 main characters left their homes and began their journey, and I was definitely right about that. From that point on, I found it much easier to get to know the characters through their interactions with each other.

As the story progressed, I felt the writers did a good job in shuffling those characters into different combinations in a natural way, balancing the action with quieter character moments.

In summary: For me, this story was a grower. The kind of book I accelerate through as the more I read, the more I wanted to read, and I'll be sure to keep an eye out for the second book in the series.
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