LIVES OF A SALVAGER

When a woman eats a magic mushroom and transforms into the Anima, she becomes supernaturally fast and strong, she can talk to animals, and she inherits-whether she wants it or not-the Task to bring humans back into ecological Order. 

The world of Aligaea will know twelve Animas over fifteen millennia. Sharing the Task are the Anima's allies, known as Keepers, including immortal Shapeshifters, who live blood-bonded to the Anima, and perennial Salvagers. With their faculty of Hindsight, Salvagers see the past and forget nothing-powers that are both a tremendous advantage and a terrible burden.

Laurel uses her abilities as a Salvager to weaponize plant magic for the Anima's army. Over two thousand years, she witnesses a changing planet, with Animas come and passed, empires rising and falling, and finally, the emergence of the Imperium, the greatest threat to Order Aligaea has ever experienced.

Interwoven with Laurel's work as a Keeper is her search for moral clarity. She discovers Deadly Charms and Birch Skin armor; she creates invisibility tinctures and potions for valor. But in her quest for knowledge across space and time, she has yet to answer these questions: Is the Task possible, and more so, is it ethical? Can Keepers survive in a Disordered world? Can humans?

Insanity edges her pursuit for resolution. She may endure the centuries of wars and tireless effort-but at what cost?