Part war drama, part romance, Dark of the West is the first novel in a stunning YA fantasy series that will appeal to readers of Sabaa Tahir, Marie Rutkoski, and Elizabeth Wein.

As a fighter pilot in his father’s army, Athan Dakar knows little of life beyond war. That is, until his mother is murdered, and he’s sent halfway across the world in a mission to overthrow the queen who killed her. Athan’s task is to ingratiate himself, undercover, with the royal children—and gain intel that could ruin their mother. Kind and quick-witted Princess Aurelia Isendare is not the villain he expects, however, and he soon finds himself falling for the girl he’s been tasked with spying upon. Aurelia feels the same attraction to Athan, all the while seeking to stop the war threatening to break.

As diplomatic ties between their nations manage to just barely hold, the two teens struggle to remain loyal to their families and each other as they learn that war is not as black and white as they’ve been raised to believe.