**Our Reddit community is trying a new way to help you bump into books from authors you might not know about yet.** 

We are going to introduce them based on their favorite 3 fantasy books that inspired their own!

**Today’s book is The Shadow of the Eagle by Paula Weston!**

**Her 3 favorite fantasy books that inspired this book are:**

* Blood of Elves – Andrzej Sapkowski
* The Way of Shadows – Brent Weeks
* Finnikin of the Rock – Melina Marchetta

**What do readers say about this book?**

* The opening hooks you immediately.
* Sabine and Tristan feel real, with a great reluctant-allies dynamic.
* The medieval worldbuilding is immersive without being overwhelming.
* The religious corruption and “are the heretics actually right?” angle adds real depth.

**Fun fact!**  
There's a lot of sword fighting in this series, and Paula got expert advice from a Historical European Martial Arts expert and watched a LOT of HEMA videos. She also bought a genuine HEMA training sword from an armory in Ukraine to learn some basics (solo training). :)

Details on some of the sword-fighting training here and how that impacted fight scenes:  
[https://mailchi.mp/f0f8341d8f23/welcome-and-a-thank-you-gift-12939854](https://mailchi.mp/f0f8341d8f23/welcome-and-a-thank-you-gift-12939854)

**What is the book about?** 

A warrior. A runaway. A kingdom on the brink of war. When heresy rises, who will survive the power shift?

Life is meant to be simple in Amadea: worship Verus, obey her prophet, and serve the king.

But heresy is taking root in the kingdom, sprung from the writings of a mad prophet. It threatens to inflame tensions with neighboring Pyrie, whose border attacks and slave uprisings continue to rob the kingdom of peace.

Tristan has no interest in heresies. But when the warrior finds Sabine on the side of the road – starving, beaten and all too ready to resort to violence – his life becomes increasingly complicated.

In the capital, the Thirteenth Prophet has sensed a change in the sacred flame, the source of his prophetic power, and he engages an ambitious warrior to help find the heretics.

Sabine and Tristan find themselves allied with heretics out of loyalty, not belief. Their bonds to those they love, and their growing attraction to each other, will be tested in ways neither of them sees coming.

The Shadow of the Eagle is the first book in The Children of Verus Trilogy, an epic fantasy series that explores how dehumanizing an enemy corrupts the soul of a society, and the ways in which those involved justify their hatred. It’s also about the nature of loyalty, love, faith and friendship.

More details: [https://www.paula-weston.com/the-children-of-verus-trilogy/](https://www.paula-weston.com/the-children-of-verus-trilogy/)

Enjoy 🙂

Official meet-a-book post: This book is inspired by Blood of Elves, The Way of Shadows, and Finnikin of the Rock