R. E. Bowman

Bayrtith in the Temple of Oracles: Book 1 in Daughter of Dreams Series R. E. Bowman

Imagine Bayrtith, a girl of two souls, kidnapped and consigned to ruffians to kill. Instead, they sell her into a Temple of Celestials in a foreign land. She lives in the world of the map above, one a bit like medieval Europe, in a universe where magic exists, along with nobles, commoners, clerics, sages, mages, witches and monsters. Bayrtith is a witch, who learns early on the truth of her House's warning, Beware the curse of the Talents. She's lost mysteriously, not once, but twice, and each time learns magic in a school where to err is to die. First, she is lost in her Mind, a bustling place, not that safe. The second school is deadlier still, a Temple of godly beings - one of whom Bayrtith grows to love - governed by unforgiving precepts, and with layers of secrets she must penetrate to win her way back home to her family. She finds that the dead are in control, more murderous than any alive, and is drawn into a maelstrom where only the dead can defeat the dead. The trick is how to come back to life.