ABOUT THE BOOK
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Mia lives an idyllic life in a tiny hut in the desert beneath a range of jagged peaks. Mia’s mother is a healer. Her father is a potter who can work magic into the clay. But Mia does not believe in magic or the stories told by the elders. While on a run in the desert, she is attacked by demons who have risen from their tunnels beneath the arroyos. After a narrow escape with the help of her dog, Mia, her parents, and her three mysterious uncles set off on a journey to a legendary land where they hope to find the secret to defeating the demons. On the journey, Mia discovers the magic hidden in the world around her and the magic deep within herself. Her special magic could be the key to her people’s survival, but the only way to find out is to tread a perilous path into a dark and dangerous world from which no one has ever returned.
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Awards
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Gold Nautilus Book Award in 2023 for Young Adult Fiction and Fantasy
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The Literary Titan Silver Book Award September 2023
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The Global Book Awards in 2024 for Self-Published Authors in the Sword & Sorcery Fantasy Category
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The 2023 Ozma Book Awards Semi-Finalist for Fantasy Fiction
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Reviews
Earthly, imaginative, dark--Seasons of the Blue Pearl is a song to save the world."
─Independent Book Review
In this vibrant world, even the rains have genders and nothing is ever as it seems. The language flows with poetic beauty, reminiscent of campfire and bedtime stories... Paying homage to different cultures and people, Seasons of the Blue Pearl is a fantasy novel in which battles are won through teamwork, perseverance, and sacrifice.”
─Foreword Clarion Reviews ★★★★
A fast-paced adventure story told with real love for the desert and its ecology. Be prepared for demons and corrupt leaders as well as heroic warriors and a strong sense of family love and community. The lyrical language is a pleasure to read and the main character, the young girl Mia, is someone you want to be. The author has obviously been deeply moved by his time in Southwestern landscapes with Southwestern people. I read through to the Acknowledgements and then about Nick Varner himself, who as a child had an Apache mentor who would “make his bicep twitch, explaining he had trapped a frog there and would let it out when the rains came.” Wonderful!"
─Sharman Apt Russell author of Songs of the Flute Player
