Description:

***Many are called... She alone can save the world and become Death's bride.* ** ** COBWEB BRIDE** *(Cobweb Bride Trilogy, Book One)* is a history-flavored fantasy novel with romantic elements of the Persephone myth, about Death's ultimatum to the world. * What if you killed someone and then fell in love with them? * In an **alternate Renaissance world**, somewhere in an imaginary "pocket" of Europe called the Kingdom of Lethe, **Death** comes, in the form of a grim Spaniard, to claim his **Bride**. Until she is found, in a single time-stopping moment **all dying stops**. There is no relief for the mortally wounded and the terminally ill.... * Covered in white cobwebs of a thousand snow spiders she lies in the darkness... Her skin is cold as snow... Her eyes, frozen... Her gaze, fiercely alive...* While **kings** and **emperors** send expeditions to search for a suitable Bride for Death, **armies of the undead** wage an endless war... A **black knight** roams the forest at the command of his undead father... **Spies** and **political treacheries** abound at the imperial Silver Court.... **Murdered lovers** find themselves locked in the realm of the living... * Look closer -- through the cobweb filaments of her hair and along each strand shine stars...* And one small village girl, **Percy** -- an unwanted, ungainly middle daughter -- is faced with the responsibility of granting her **dying grandmother** the desperate release she needs. As a result, Percy joins the crowds of other young women of the land in a desperate quest to Death's own mysterious holding in the deepest forests of the North... And **everyone** is trying to stop her. "... Nazarian writes clean and true prose ..." -- **Publishers Weekly** "Set in an alternate Renaissance Europe, this series opener by Russian-born Nazarian combines the stylistic manner of a folktale with the trappings of an epic fantasy, one driven by compassion rather than heroics. . . . Fans of period fantasy and those who like stories that feel like fairy tales should appreciate this skillful novel by the twice Nebula Award-nominated author of *Dreams of the Compass Rose* and *The Duke in His Castle*." **--Library Journal** "I really enjoyed the rich, complex and highly unusual storytelling in the *Cobweb Bride*. Nazarian does an excellent job of painting the Renaissance world of her alternate reality and bringing in interesting twists of fantasy to the story. . . . Everything about this story that was fresh and new. I loved the premise it was built on and I loved the story itself. The characters are rich, multi-dimensional, and so easy to get to know and identify with. I am really looking forward to reading the next book in the trilogy when it comes out and in finding out more about what happens to the characters that still have a mission to carry out and how the story eventually resolves by the end of the trilogy. I recommend this book to readers of YA, lovers of fantasy, alternate-history, and alternate-reality. It was a terrific read." **--Tracy M. Riva, Midwest Book Review** "*Cobweb Bride* is astonishing and captivating; a lush fantasy of imagery and magical realism. The visuals are illustrated by the author's lyrical and metaphoric writing . . . an expansive collage of characters immersed in a plot as rich and decadent as a Verdi opera. . . . The vibrancy of Ms. Nazarian's writing is sheer kaleidoscopic visualization. The folkloric-fable twists and turns recount shavings from the mythos of Hades and Persephone without boring you with a full-blown serving of predictability. The romance is as subtle as it is grim, with glimmers of hope taking us further to our doom--perhaps. . . . The overall tone is introspective, hauntingly quiet with elements of horror-fantasy that are as provocative as the works of Tanith Lee and Storm Constantine." --**Patrice, Romantic Historical Reviews, *a 5-Star Top Pick*** **