The Book of Light series is rather intricate, and in order to understand the (rather long) summary, it is necessary at parts of this description to give some background, both historical and religious.
BOOK OF LIGHT SERIES
Enesh has been captured and imprisoned for centuries (she is immortal) in the Temple of Light. She is writing a memoir of how she came to be immortal, when once she was human. She was raised in a temple in another land about a thousand years ago, knowing from birth that she would be sacrificed to her god when she reached a certain age (and had given birth to a child to carry on in her place). This was a regular occurence in her society; voluntary human sacrifice. She had lived her entire young life in the mindset that everything she did was to gather more energy into her body, so as to make the best sacrifice possible.
The first volume is called Sacrificial Gift . It follows Enesh in her last days as a mortal.
So she is imprisoned, and her newest guardian in her prison is a young, uninitiated priestess-in-training named Santha.
The second volume is called Rites of Faith .
It involves Santha's interactions with Enesh and also with the royal heir of the City of Light, which is where they live. It is basically the capitol of the region, which is the largest and most powerful nation in the world, due to the presence of the main temple there, along with the prestige of its history, and also its reliance on a slave culture, which makes them a very rich society.
The slaves are actually a vanquished people from more ancient days. Enesh lived among this culture, and it was soon after she became immortal that they were conquered by a man called Kasiod, a holy man connected to the divine, and also the royal leader of his people. They did something to piss Kasiod off, and he stormed their cities and enslaved the lot of them, and now they are still slaves of Kasiod's people, even centuries later.
In Rites of Faith, Santha goes with this heir (whose name is Zaias), Zaias' slave, named Roehn, and Enesh through the Weiran Gate to the Mirror World. They do not know what is on the other side of the Gate, but they know, because Enesh has told them, that the Book of Light is to be found there.
Why do they need the Book of Light?
For this, I must explain about the creation of the world, and about its religion, if it might be called that.
This world exists on seven planes. The seventh plane is relevant only at the beginning and end of time, when all is one. It is called the Light. When the world is made anew, the Light leaves the seventh plane, splitting itself into many parts, and creating the world with itself.
The seven largest parts of Light were set aside, and out of these seven parts were made the Dola, who are sort of gods/goddesses, but sort of not. They don't know everything. They can't do everything. They can just do and know more than anything else in the universe, because there is more Light in them.
As Enesh says at one time to Santha, "The rock on the ground has secrets the Dola might never know. It is of the Light."
The Dola have specific histories, which are detailed in what is called the Origins. The Origins, by the way, are the first thing I ever wrote to do with this series. I don't know if I'll include it at really any point in the series, but its contents are vital for me to know, as the author.
So much of writing this series is dependant on already knowing the relevant mythos and history.
Anyway.
The Book of Light is the one thing which can undo or create anything. It, also, is made of Light, as is everything in this world. Light. Energy. God. Soul. This is Light.
The Book of Light was the first thing made in creating the world, and then all else was made from it. And the world was destroyed with it, and it was the last thing to be destroyed.
Someone is trying to find it, to destroy the world again. Enesh, Santha, Zaias and Roehn, along with other people who will be introduced in the third and fourth volumes, need to work with the Dola to find it first - because it has been lost.
The third volume is called Divine Sufferance , and it introduces the character Tabefia. She is an assassin affiliated with what is called the Hunter's Guild. She is going to help save the world, as well. She has issues, and a vendetta against a specific person, of whom she does not realize the true identity.
The fourth volume is called Blind Redemption . It introduces two characters, named Emalia and Dalanin.
Yes, there is a reason there are seven major characters. I am very big on only using as many characters as are needed, and only as many plot devices as are necessary to fulfill the grander scheme. Efficiency is important.
I cannot really tell you much more about the second and third without ruining things in the first and second volumes. I cannot tell you much more about the first and second volumes without more spoilers.
There is a *ton* that I am not saying, including thousands of years of history, cultural groups and the cities/nations in which they live (or will live), just about everything about the Dola (Enesh's Dola, who gave her immortality and uses her as her avatar in this world, is named Ailah, and she created fire from the chaos burning inside her. She plucked it out of herself, because she felt such pain inside herself, and gave fire to the world. Ailah is currently trapped inside a dagger form, and this is a big part of the first volume especially. Enesh can walk through fire without anything happening to her, because part of her essence is now mixed in Ailah's, and fire came from Ailah.)
I could go on for a long time; as long as it takes to write four volumes, specifically. I have been working on building this world and writing all four volumes, here and there, back and forth, for four years.