In Legacy of Obsidian, Nerine Dorman drops a sheltered young prince into a world where winter has swallowed almost everything and the clans fighting for what remains are already turning on one another. Prince Linnard Skylark is expected to inherit the Sky Clan, but Dorman is less interested in the glamour of a destined ruler than in the uncomfortable process of becoming one.
Linnard begins the novel protected by privilege and largely unprepared for the violence beyond his father’s walls. When tensions between the clans threaten to erupt into war, that protection starts to disappear. His journey becomes one of forced growing-up, as loyalty, betrayal and the weight of his family name begin to reshape him. A mysterious secret he carries could also determine whether his clan survives.
The world Dorman creates is deliberately unforgiving. The peninsula is divided between clans competing for power while a flesh-hungry enemy presses in from outside. It is a setting where political divisions are not merely background to the story: they threaten to become the reason everyone falls. Early readers have singled out the novel’s detailed clan system, fast pace and immersive worldbuilding, while one reviewer described Linnard as a particularly compelling protagonist.
For Dorman, Legacy of Obsidian is another entry into a career spent testing what speculative fiction can hold. The Cape Town-based South African author and editor has written across fantasy and science fiction, with Sing Down the Stars winning Gold at the 2019 Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature and the 2021 Percy FitzPatrick Award, while her novella The Firebird won the 2019 Nommo Award for Best Novella. She has also contributed to the Locus Award-winning Afro-Centred Futurism in Our Speculative Fiction.
Legacy of Obsidian, the first book in the Winter Mage series, was published by Mirari Press in March 2026. It sets its young prince against a world where the old rules are breaking down and where growing into power may require surviving long enough to understand what power costs.
Here’s the synopsis:
Winter has arrived, and the world of Legacy of Obsidian has been reduced to a frozen peninsula where rival clans struggle to control what remains while defending themselves against a relentless, flesh-hungry threat.
Prince Linnard Skylark is destined to rule the Sky Clan, but his path to the throne is complicated by treachery and turmoil. Sheltered from the dangers beyond his clan, Linnard must confront the secret he carries, grow into his role and stand against a darkness that threatens them all. As the clans remain divided, their survival becomes increasingly uncertain, and a greater darkness waits to rise.
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