Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the Escapist Book Tours virtual book tour for Sarah K. Balstrup’s Dark Fantasy novel The Way of Unity! Today, I am excited to help kickoff the tour by sharing an interview with the main characters from the book!
You can find our Q&A below, along with all of the info about the book, the author, and links to purchase a copy of The Way of Unity for yourself! Also, be sure to take a look at the schedule here or at the top of the post and follow along to see the stops from our other awesome hosts!
Book Information:
The Way of Unity by Sarah K. Balstrup
Series: Velspar – Elegies
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Intended Age Group: Adult
Pages: 448
Published: February 6, 2023
Publisher: Burning Mirror Press
Blurb
The Seven Lands of Velspar put their faith in the Intercessors, a psychic priesthood responsible for the purification of the spirit. Where passion flares, they soothe its intent. Those who cannot be soothed, are cast out, their spirits destroyed by fire.
The Intercessors are mystics of the highest order, but Velspar’s ruling Skalens believe their power has grown too great.
Surviving the Intercessor’s murder plot against her family, Sybilla Ladain rises to power. The Skalens come together under the banner of her grief, bringing the practice of Intercession to its brutal, bloody end.
Yet victory brings Sybilla no peace. In time, she will have to face the people of Velspar, forced to live in a psychically alienated world, and a band of rebels led by an escaped Intercessor set on her annihilation.
See Also:
Christopher Buehlman’s Between Two Fires • Kerstin Hall’s Star Eater • Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree
Book Links:
Universal Link: https://tinyurl.com/evnxuawm
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63183008-the-way-of-unity
Character Q&A
SKALEN SYBILLA LADAIN OF VAELNYR
Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Everyone I love is dead, and now I must go by the name they have given me. I am the Skalen of Vaelnyr.
What music do you listen to?
I hear only the sound of fire and Siatka’s scales whispering along the Temple walls.
What are 3 items you can’t live without?
There is one item alone. My Meridian, with its three discs of blinding stone, to keep my thoughts hidden from the Intercessors.
What is your biggest pet peeve?
The Guard doing what they will and treating me as a figurehead.
What do you do in your free time?
Try to hold myself together when all around me is crumbling.
What makes you want to get out of bed in the morning?
Sometimes, nothing at all. But lately, there is Gavril.
What do you carry in your bag?
The Skalens’ Star that once hung around my neck, for I am travelling in disguise.
What’s your favorite animal?
I love horses.
If you could go anywhere in Velspar, where would you go and why?
To Thrale Forest, where the Guard won’t follow me.
What’s your biggest fear?
That the Intercessors will do to me what they did to my father. That Siatka will draw my spirit from my body, and I will be dissolved in the Great Stream.
INTERCESSOR WALDEMAR RASMUS OF BRIVIA
Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
I am Intercessor Waldemar Rasmus of Brivia, trusted advisor to the Skalens’ Karasek. The Karaseks seek to learn the secrets of Intercession and to commune directly with Velspar. They long to wade in the Great Stream and master its flows of life and death.
It is true that they are descendants of the Great Diviner, but they possess no gift of their own. They look to me as their teacher and I help them, knowing the futility of our efforts.
What are 3 items you can’t live without?
My ceremonial dagger, a pouch of Alma leaves, and a quill to record what has been done.
If you were stranded on a deserted island, what is one thing you’d like to have with you?
The voices of my brethren, raised in song.
What’s your favorite animal?
To call them animals is heresy. Mother Siatka, serpent of sea, and vast-winged Father Kshidol. I prepare for them offerings of meat-paste and Alma. I slice my palm and add three drops of blood. Will they hear my Call?
What’s your biggest secret?
The stains of ash upon my hands.
ZOHAR ELSHENDER
Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
I am Zohar Elshender, pleased to make your acquaintance.
What do you do in your free time?
Confined to the Skalens’ House, how am I to make friends of my own? The townsfolk stand clear of me, knowing that one day I will be their Skalen, and yet my parents will not teach me the things that I must learn.
My Attendant is sweet to me, though. Elspeth and I go down to the library searching for pictures of the mainland fashions. She is good at stitching and has made me the finest replicas – trailing gowns with puffed sleeves and glass-bead embroidery. She braids my hair, and we admire her handiwork in the mirror. If only I had somewhere to go.
What is your favorite holiday?
I would do anything to travel the mainland, to explore the forests of Brivia and the Maglorean waterfront where it is said that the women dance until dawn. Even the austere gardens of Nothelm; I have heard that they are beautiful. I want to see it all.
What’s your biggest secret?
That by night my mind is consumed with thoughts of a certain visitor who once came to our halls. I wonder if he thinks of me too.
What’s your biggest fear?
I fear that one day my brother Ambrose will leave me behind.
AMBROSE ELSHENDER
Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Ambrose, son of the Skalens’ Elshender, heir to nothing.
What are 3 items you can’t live without?
My pickaxe, a good supply of Alma, and a charm my sister hid in the hollow of a tree.
If you were stranded on a deserted island, what is one thing you’d like to have with you?
The universe in the palm of my hand.
What’s your favorite animal?
Siatka whispers to me beneath the waves. I don’t know what she is – animal or deity.
What do you do to relax?
Zohar and I used to smoke Alma in the sea caves, but since I took up sea-mining with the Sherburn brothers, I like to be with them, where we can go without our Meridians and speak our minds.
If you could change one thing about Velspar, what would it be?
I would change the year of my birth and walk among the first Intercessors.
How would you describe the world you live in?
Skalen Sybilla Ladain destroyed it all.
About the Author
Sarah K. Balstrup is an Australian author of dark fantasy with a PhD in Religious Studies. Sarah’s academic work on religion and the arts, religious emotion and mystical experience has been published by Bloomsbury Academic and a range of academic journals.
Website: www.sarahkbalstrup.com
Twitter handle: https://www.twitter.com/SKBalstrup
Amazon author page: amazon.com/author/skbalstrup
Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19819410.Sarah_K_Balstrup
Redbubble Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/SarahKBalstrup/shop
Quarterly Newsletter: https://www.sarahkbalstrup.com/home#newsletter
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