About the Book

Book: Crack the Stone

Author: Emily Golus

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: September 22, 2023

I am Valshara, the black stone born of fire. Break me, and my edges turn into knives.

Condemned to a slave camp for her crimes, goblin convict Valshara Sh’a makes a death-defying escape to freedom. But navigating Vindor’s treacherous cavern system is only the beginning of her troubles. An encounter with a rogue king turns her world upside down, and a bargain with fairy tricksters leaves her with a human child she doesn’t know how to care for.

As she tries to smuggle the boy through the walls of a barricaded city, Valshara can’t let down her guard. Because somewhere in the darkness behind her, a bounty hunter rises—relentless as nightfall and merciless as death itself.

Emily Golus re-imagines Victor Hugo’s beloved Les Misérables as an epic fantasy adventure about suffering, redemption, and the extraordinary power of love.

Click here to get your copy!

My Review:

Les Miserables is such a complicated story all on its own that I couldn't wait to see how this retelling would turn out. I have been very pleasantly surprised! This series has nine books, and now I want to read them all. Each book stands alone without an issue. This book focuses on mercy and freedom from bondages of all kinds. It's deep but it's also a very fulfilling read that is difficult to put down. Valshara is a goblin facing major punishments, and then her life is flipped upside and we start connecting with so many characters and their lives and emotions. I really love this retelling of this story, more than the original.

5 Stars

About the Author

Emily Golus is an award-winning fantasy author with nearly 20 years of professional writing experience. Golus aims to engage, inspire, and show how small acts of courage and love create meaningful change. Her books feature diverse cultures, authentic characters, and cinematic fantasy settings.

Her first novel, Escape to Vindor, won the 2018 Selah Award for Young Adult Fiction, and a spin-off novel, Crack the Stone, won the 2024 Kudos Award for Fiction. Golus lives in Greenville, S.C., with her husband, Mike, who is her greatest supporter. They have two active little boys and enjoy hiking, making Thai food, and exploring small towns in the Carolinas.

More from Emily

Crack the Stone is a fantasy re-spinning of Victor Hugo’s redemptive masterpiece, Les Misérables. I’ve taken the major themes and characters of the original novel and recast them within the fantastical world of Vindor. The heart of the story is the same—a stone-hearted convict on the run from the law finds unexpected redemption—but there are new twists and turns along the way.

The Jean Valjean character—now a fierce goblin warrior named Valshara Sh’a—finds herself fleeing through treacherous caverns, an ensnaring forest, and a West African-inspired city under siege. Her pursuer, an expert bounty hunter who has never failed to catch his quarry, is dead-set on returning her to slavery.

Complicating everything is the human boy Valshara rescues from a fairy ring. The precocious and chaotic child not only jeopardizes the goblin’s escape, but starts to melt her obsidian heart.

Crack the Stone focuses primarily on Hugo’s themes of scandalous redemption, legalism, and the transforming love between a mother and child. Other elements of the novel—lovesick Éponine, the red revolution flag, the barricade, the Elephant of the Bastille—have been remixed in unexpected ways to support the redemption arc.

If you’re a fan of the book (or the musical!) you’ll enjoy the fun Les Mis “Easter eggs” throughout. But even if you’re not familiar with the original, you can still get swept up in Crack the Stone’s epic story of suffering, love, and light in the darkest places.

Blog Stops

The Lofty Pages, September 21

Vicky Sluiter, September 22 (Author Interview)

Locks, Hooks and Books, September 23

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, September 24 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 25

For the Love of Literature, September 26 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, September 26

Tell Tale Book Reviews, September 27 (Author Interview)

Through the Fire Blogs, September 28 (Author Interview)

Blogging With Carol, September 29

Guild Master, September 30 (Author Interview)

A Reader’s Brain, October 1 (Author Interview)

Back Porch Reads, October 2 (Author Interview)

Just Your Average reviews, October 3

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, October 4 (Author Interview)

Denise L. Barela, October 4

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Emily is giving away the grand prize of a paperback copy of Crack the Stone, an obsidian arrowhead pendant, two Vindor stickers, a Vindor mini-map, a Vindor bookmark, and a $25 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf5447