Carving Shadows into Gold

Carving Shadows into Gold is the second book in Brigid Kemmerer's young-adult fantasy trilogy Forging Silver into Stars, a spinoff set in the same Cursebreaker world as A Curse So Dark and Lonely. The story follows the King's Courier Tycho, who has bound himself to a dangerous bargain with the magical scraver that saved King Grey's life, alongside Jax, who has left his village of Briarlock for the wider world of Emberfall, and Callyn, who unexpectedly finds herself at the Queen's side with magic at her fingertips. The three are pulled in different directions as political tensions and threats from the north escalate.

The novel centers on themes of trust, identity, and the cost of bargains made under pressure, weaving a queer romance through a story of court intrigue and rising conflict between the kingdoms of Syhl Shallow and Emberfall. Kemmerer uses the separation and reunion of her central characters to explore loyalty, found family, and the way unlikely human connection can hold against fear and prejudice toward magic.

Published by Bloomsbury in early 2025, the book continues a series that grew out of Kemmerer's bestselling Cursebreaker trilogy and returns familiar figures such as King Grey alongside new viewpoint characters. Kemmerer is a New York Times bestselling author whose books have sold over a million copies and been translated into more than twenty languages, and the Forging Silver into Stars series has been received as an emotionally driven continuation aimed at fans of romantic YA fantasy.