Kingdom on Fire is a series of Young Adult Dark Fantasy novels by Jessica Cluess.
The series is set in Victorian-era Britain, in a world where magic is real and part of everyday life. It's also a world that's been at war for the past twelve years.
Twelve years ago, a witch named Mary Willoughby, and a magician named Howard Micklemas cast a spell that opened up a portal to another dimension. Through that portal came seven Eldritch Abominations known as the Ancients (no, not those Ancients), who have been laying waste to humanity ever since. After that, all witches have been executed, and magician and witch magic has been banned. Now, only sorcerer magic is allowed, and sorcerers have been giving their all in the effort to defeat these beasts.
Henrietta Howel is a girl who's had to grow up in this world, in Brimthorn boarding school under the eye of a rather unpleasant headmaster. If that weren't enough, she has also had to hide her own burgeoning magic power lest she be branded a witch and executed herself. Little does she know, however, that she could prove instrumental in the war against the Ancients.
Books in the Kingdom on Fire series
- A Shadow Bright and Burning (2016)
- A Poison Dark and Drowning (2017)
- A Sorrow Fierce and Falling (2018)
Kingdom on Fire contains examples of:
- An Arm and a Leg: A couple of examples.
- In A Poison Dark And Drowning, Dee loses half his left arm to Nemneris' acidic foam.
- In the climax of A Sorrow Fierce And Falling, Maria chops off her hand to close the portal to the Ancients' realm, and also free herself from being a puppet for Mary Willoughby's spirit.
- Body Horror: The Ancients' Familiars are all humans who have been deformed in some way, shape, or form.
- On-Tez's Familiars are mutated into humanoid bird creatures called "Ravens".
- R'hlem's Familiars have had all their skin removed.
- Nemneris' Familiars are human-spider hybrids known as "Lice" (or "Louse" for the singular pronounciation).
- Molochoron's Familiars are humans with melted faces and arms covered in bubbling sores.
- Character Narrator: All the books are narrated from Henrietta's POV.
- Cyclops: R'hlem. Likely a result of being in the Ancients' world since he was William Howel.
- Dark Secret: Some characters have quite a few.
- Lord Blackwood's secret is that his father, Charles Blackwood, was also involved in opening the portal that allowed the Ancients into the world.
- Howard Micklemas' secret is that he opened the portal to try and save William Howel when he got sucked into the Ancients' world, but by then he'd been in it so long he'd been twisted into a monster now known as R'hlem.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Ancients, seven eldritch horrors from another world who were brought to Earth by Mary Willoughby and Howard Micklemas and Charles Blackwood. They are...
- Korozoth, a giant horned and tentacled creature that maintains a funnel cloud around his body.
- Nemneris, a Giant Spider that lives in the sea, and attacks any boat that comes near her.
- On Tez, a giant vulture with the head of an old crone.
- Molochoron, a giant hairy Blob Monster.
- Zem, a giant Salamander that can breathe fire.
- Callax, a twenty-foot troll said to spirit away children and eat them.
- R'hlem, a Humanoid Abomination who looks like a human with no skin, and a single yellow eye. Formerly William Howel before he got sucked into the Ancient dimension and twisted into R'hlem.
- Playing with Fire: Henrietta's magic allows her to do this. It tends to flare up whenever Henrietta gets angry.
- Seers: Lambe has the power to see the future, which always comes true.
