A Palace Near the Wind

Rao’s The Surviving Sky. Liu Lufeng is the eldest princess of the Feng royalty and, bound by duty and tradition, the next bride to the human king. With their bark faces, arms of braided branches and hair of needle threads, the Feng people live within nature, nurtured by the land. But they exist under the constant threat of human expansion, and the negotiation of bridewealth is the only way to stop—or at least delay—the destruction of their home. But come her wedding day, Lufeng plans to kill the king and finally put an end to the marriages. Trapped in the great human palace in the run-up to the union, Lufeng begins to uncover the truth about her peoples’ origins and realizes they will never be safe from the humans. So she must learn to let go of duty and tradition, choose her allies carefully, and risk the unknown in order to free her family and shape her own fate.