"The Stonebound Heir" by L.A. Barnitz

A Coming of Age Story + An Epic Journey of the Heart.

Set in an India-inspired world with a large cast of characters, The Stonebound Heir is a bittersweet, coming-of-age story about a boy who wants a better life, a girl who's hiding from the world, a giant who's the last of her kind, and a maharani driven by duty and her own darkness. 

Fourteen-year-old Sid Sol knows nothing about his origins but believes himself destined for better things than living in an isolated cabin with a giant and a girl whose strange appearance causes the locals to shun them. His fellow orphan, sixteen-year-old Lingli Tabaan, only wants a home where she will be safe from those who are convinced she’s from the otherworld.

In this coming-of-age story of secret origins, friendship, and betrayal, the arrival of a mysterious woman provides Sid with the chance to claim a more glorious future, but his departure doesn’t go smoothly, and star-cursed Lingli is forced to undertake a journey she never wanted after their guardian is brutally murdered.

Sid and Lingli meet again in Saatkulom where they serve a mercurial maharani who will risk the realm to secure a new alliance while fighting her own inner demons. One teenager’s fortunes rise while the other’s fall. Will their loyalty to one another survive?