An outcast burdened with a curse and a mercenary who's out for himself collide in this star-crossed, slow-burn, high-stakes romantic fantasy from #1 New York Times bestseller J. R. Ward.
In the dead of night, passions rise and empires fall.
Welcome to Kingdoms of the Compass.
The Fulcrum is failing, and demons are slipping into the mortal world, stalking the night.
No one is safe.
Especially not Sorrel. An orphan and an outcast, she’s spent her whole life within the walls of her small village, ostracized for her mystical abilities. She wants to survive…and maybe find somewhere she can call her true home. But Fate has other plans.
Sorrel has been chosen. Cursed.
She must cross the Badlands to return the Queen's crown and convince the fearsome female to save their world from destruction.
Well aware she’s no brave hero, Sorrel makes a dangerous deal with Merc, a brooding, commanding mercenary known only by his unscrupulous profession.
The deal? A night in his bed that she will never forget, in exchange for her safe passage.
But Merc has secrets of his own, and even though passion runs hot between them, enemies are around every corner, and danger and betrayal threaten at every turn.
Crown of War and Shadow is the first book in the Kingdoms of the Compass series.
The series
In a land where direction is power and every point on the compass holds a secret, a cursed orphan and a battle-hardened mercenary forge a fragile alliance that could shatter kingdoms.
Read full series description
Kingdoms of the Compass opens with Crown of War and Shadow, a tale steeped in shadowy intrigue and raw, tangled emotion. Sorrel is marked—by magic, by loss, by a past no one will speak of. Alone, exiled, and haunted by powers she cannot control, she’s thrust into a world teetering on the edge of collapse. Her only hope lies in delivering a crown to a queen she’s never met, across the demon-infested Badlands where loyalty is currency and betrayal cuts deeper than steel.
Then comes Merc, a mercenary with more scars than truths. His offer: one night of sanctuary in exchange for a favor that binds them both far beyond what either expected. Their journey isn't one of trust, but of survival—drawn together by necessity, torn apart by secrets. What brews between them simmers under the threat of war, blood oaths, and a kingdom unraveling at its core.
This is not a story of heroes in shining armor. It’s one of fractured legacies, buried truths, and the slow, dangerous burn of something like love in a world that punishes the vulnerable. With richly imagined kingdoms and political tension crackling beneath every step, the series blurs the line between fantasy and romantasy—anchored in emotion, steeped in danger.
Dark, evocative, and unflinching, Kingdoms of the Compass carves a space where fantasy isn't just escapism—it’s reckoning. For those drawn to slow-burn romance, twisted loyalties, and atmospheric world-building, this series promises a journey as perilous as it is unforgettable.
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