The Heart of the Elf King alphabet

On socials last month, just before releasing, I posted an alphabet promo sort of thing to count down the days until The Heart of the Elf King was available for purchase!

Now that it's time and the book has dropped (!!) I'm going to upload the whole alphabet here for anyone interested!

A: Amarar & Amaya

AMARAR: The name of the world the story is set in! This novel takes place in only one part of Amarar called The Golden Isle, which is cut off from the mainland. However, in future stories set in Amarar you get to see much more of it and meet many of the others that call it home! AMAYA: Our main character! Amaya is a human girl from a village on the same isle as the elves, who live through the treacherous forest that separates them. She lives on a farm with her father and never quite fit in with the other townsfolk, who deem her strange due to her differences, most notably her immense love of books and quest for knowledge. Amaya is kind, courageous, and open-minded. She isn't too quick to anger but she does know how to stand up for herself when she really needs to. Amaya likes the simple things in life and doesn't care about wealth or status, more so a person's actions and beliefs.

B: Books

Books play quite a big supporting role in the tale, of course, this being a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Books are a large part of Amaya's life and something that sets her apart from the people she grew up with. She loves reading and tends to believe that as long as she can turn to her books, she will be fine! In the story, books represent Amaya's solitude - the fact she is a black sheep where she grew up. Also her thirst for knowledge, escapism, and her open-mindedness. There is also an element of bonding implied between the main characters that is connected to books/reading.

C: Castle

"It was truly a place of great beauty. Such a shame that it was so shrouded in darkness. The bulk of the novel takes place in a castle that lies just beyond a treacherous, unwelcoming forest called the Golden Wood. The castle is huge, a maze of winding hallways to the untrained eye, and very beautiful with its ornately carved doors and pillars, and gorgeous tapestries and art on the walls. A lot of the decor takes inspiration from the forest on its doorstep as elves have a great love of the outdoors.

D: Dirroh

The name of one of the animals that live in the world of Amarar. Along with familiar deer and crows etc. Amarar is also home to beasts the likes of which we've never seen in our world. The dirroh are disturbing creatures, with sharp fangs and red saliva. They have 3 large horns on the top of their heads and their claws are razor sharp. The leader of a dirroh pack has venom in its fangs. They often travel in packs of six or seven but sometimes more. Dirroh are also split into 2 separate factions - night and day; meaning some are nocturnal and some are now, though dirroh during the day is rare now for the world of Amarar.

E: Elves

Elves are very in touch with the world around them, to nature and they can communicate with many of the creatures. They are immortal, though they can die from something like poison or in battle. Some elves are born with the gift to see into the future or to witness an event, as it happened or will happen, in a dream. They're also skilled at healing but most races in Amarar other than humans are more advanced in this. The elves who live on the Golden Isle no longer have any contact with the rest of Amarar - they've closed off their border basically - and you find out why in the book!

F: Feardenn

Feardenn is the name of the village that Amaya is originally from. The largest of 3 human settlements, Feardenn is still a fairly poor place for those who live there, save a few luckier folks who are better off. Amaya's father Gideon owns a farm and often travels between the various human settlements to trade and sell their wares. As it is, the people there are friendly enough but quite easily swayed and they hold many fairly prejudiced beliefs in regards to those tho they deem different, and races like the elves.

G: The Golden Wood

The forest that separates the human settlements from the elven realm is called the Golden Wood. It is beautiful but a heavy enchantment lies upon it, due to a magic spell meant to keep the humans away. Even without the magic keeping people out, humans don't often try to go there - they hunt deer in the fields but don't often stray into the trees. Dangerous creatures live in the wood, and recently the elves have noticed these increase as a darkness grows somewhere on the horizon, meaning there is more danger beneath the trees due to the world of Amarar becoming more dangerous itself. This isn't fully touched upon in this book as it's only an introduction into the world, but it's gone into in greater detail in future novels in the main series.

H: Hatred

"Intense dislike; hate" One of the background themes in the story is hatred and how it can be born through incorrect first impressions, prejudices, and how it can be overcome (or not). Whether it's the humans towards the elves, self hatred, or Amaya and Thalian towards each other, there are multiple instances of hatred throughout.

I: Intruders

One of the chapter titles ;)

J: Journey

Quite a few journeys are taken over the course of the story. Whether it's the physical journeys through the Golden Wood itself or the emotional journeys various characters go on.

K: King

The book is called The Heart of the Elf King, after all!

L: Love

This is, ultimately, a love story. A retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in my own fantasy world of Amarar, we follow Amaya and Thalian as they go from hate to love. But it's not only love between the human girl and the Elf King, there are a couple of other minor romances as well as different types of love in the book - such as between friends, between a father and his child, etc.

M: Myleth

Myleth is an elf who lives in the castle, one of the servants who takes care of the kitchens. She brings Amaya lots of tea and meals and becomes a good friend during her time in the castle.

N: Nature

Nature is important to the elves - in a sense they are linked to it intrinsically. They live in harmony with it and can communicate with birds and beasts in their own way, far better than any human would ever hope to be able to do. They value the stars, the trees, the moon, the birds, and all living things.

O: Out of Bounds

Another chapter title ;)

P: Prelude

The story stands alone as it is but it's also technically a prelude to a bigger part of the story of the world of Amarar. It's published so you're introduced to Thalian first because he is involved in later events in the history but he has technically closed himself off to the world beyond the Golden Isle and so this story tells you why he deosn't come into the main story until right at the end (of the first connected book). It's technically so that (if you do read future books) you already know who he is and it makes his appearance a little more significant than just a random throwaway.

Q: Queen

What is a king without his queen? That IS the question...

R: Roses

Just like in the film, the story includes roses. However, roses are a little bit more central and important to this story in a different way... but you'll just have to wait and see!

S: Staircase

There's a certain staircase in the castle... that's all you're getting.

T: Thaw

One of the images used is that the king's heart has become so closed off that it's like it's been encased in ice and simply cannot be thawed, yet we end up seeing how this girl comes to his castle and seemingly manages to do just that.

U: Ugly

This mostly pertains to the ugliness of someone's personality, namely King Thalian's, though there are brief moments where physical ugliness comes in too.

V: Vermund

A hunter from Amaya's village, who has his sights set on marrying her and only her, despite having been rejected multiple times.

W: Winter

The Heart of the Elf King is set somewhere near the end of winter. We see snow and a festival that is celebrated at this time of year by the elves.

X: Xenophobia

"fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign."

Y: Yearning

"A strong feeling of longing or desire."

Z: Zen

A word that relates to one of the characters' enjoyment of meditation, as meditation is one of the things at the heart of Zen.