About the Book:
Mira is trapped in a deadly situation which could see the end of everything she has fought for. She must enter into one final desperate bargain, but this time, it’s with her greatest enemy, the ruling council. To save her life, her home, and the people she loves most, Mira is forced to compete in a series of terrifying trials filled with dark magic and dangerous monsters.
Her allies are scattered, her people without a home. With Eli lost in another world, Mira must shape herself into a weapon in order to survive. But with the true nature of the ruling council and their ambitions finally revealed, the battle for the future of the Fortunate Isles has become a war. And in war, there is only ever one victor . . .
Find this book on Goodreads and Bookshop.org UK (affiliate link).
About the Author:
Rachel Greenlaw grew up in North Cornwall, surrounded by wild moorland. She studied English with Creative Writing at Falmouth University before moving to an island in the Atlantic, where she lives with her husband and two children. The Compass and Blade trilogy is her first YA fiction series. Rachel’s first novel for adults, One Christmas Morning was shortlisted for The Fantasy Romantic Novel Award 2024. Her second, The Woodsmoke Women’s Books of Spells featured on Waterstones’ Best Romantasy Books of 2024.
Interview:
Pitch your book in 10 words!
Witches, monstrous beings and hunters unite for an epic finale
Wrapping up a trilogy is a lot of work. Were there events you initially planned to occur in this book that didn’t? Were there plot points that surprised you in this instalment?
The trials that Mira has to overcome were not in the original outline when I signed my contract. Those were built in afterwards, and I’m so glad, because they are truly epic and a real level up moment for Mira.
Over the course of the series, you’ve introduced new narrators. How did you approach balancing the introduction of Brielle and Lowri’s perspective with keeping Mira central to the story?
Brielle and Lowri present perspectives that inform the plot and the world as a whole, and I wanted eyes on the journey Eli would take. This is first and foremost Mira’s story, she is the key to the trilogy, but there are secondary characters like Brielle and Lowri who deserve their stories telling as well. Weaving this fantasy world has always been about the eyes the reader sees the world through, so to have two such compelling POVs introduced enriched the story.
You’re not supposed to have favourite children, but is there a character you particularly like writing? Any who are challenging?
Sember Lockswift, who you will meet in Starlight and Storm truly leapt off the page. If I were to continue writing in this world, she is who we would follow. All of them presented their own challenges, to get inside the head of a character you do have to challenge yourself to make them more complex, more real, more authentic with each edit pass.
Each book brings us to new locations. The Scilly Isles are a massive influence for the Fortunate Isles. What other places inspired locations in the book?
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly were influential, absolutely. I was also influenced by the older cities and towns in the UK, like Edinburgh, Oxford and Bath with their iconic architecture. I wove in aspects of European folkloric tradition that you will feel the echoes of through Brielle’s perspective as well.
Across the series we’ve met all manner of magical beings, from sirens to witches and shadow-walkers. If you got to pick which magical ancestry you had, which would it be?
What a question! I think I would want to be a witch, to learn and study at a coven like Lowri. An eternal scholar.
You’ve written for adults as well as these books for teens. Is there anything you’ve found particularly useful about writing across age ranges? Are there elements that are challenging?
The joy and the secret of writing across age ranges is that you are the same writer. I don’t drastically change my style for each book, and my voice is mine. What defines them as young adult or adult is usually what the main character wants and needs and the thematic nature of the book. For instance, Mira’s story is firmly YA because she’s discovering who she is in the wider world, it’s a coming of age tale that brushes up against the darker side of human nature. It has pieces of my own teen experience whispered within the lines.
One of my absolute favourite characters to write was an 80 year old woman in THE WOODMOKE WOMEN’S BOOK OF SPELLS*, feisty and uncompromising and fixed in her beliefs, cemented over decades. An adult could pick up the Compass and Blade trilogy, just as they could pick up Woodsmoke. The challenge is not in trying to fit it into an age category, but in remembering or defining what was important to you at that age. What it felt like when your heart broke, when you felt free, what you needed. Your priorities shift and alter with life experience, the key to unlocking a character is sinking into their shoes.
Please recommend a UKYA book you think readers will love.
THE LONELIEST GIRL IN THE UNIVERSE* by Lauren James – an utterly gripping sci-fi thriller that has stayed with me years after I first read it.
Thank you, Rachel!
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