Roguish bard Nathan thinks he’s an ordinary human in a world of humans and magical shapeshifting volken. His world changes, however, when he ends up in the Booreal Forest after escaping angry debt collectors. He is saved by a creature he names Haven, who is neither human nor volken and is also nonbinary. They are both soon captured by volken mercenaries as Nathan begins to discover his own surprising magical powers. The mercenaries bring them to the capital of the human empire, where they are caught up in larger plans to combat a Darkness that threatens all.
While many of the tropes here will be familiar to readers, they are presented in a tongue-and-cheek way with humor and action, along with a theme of found family, that make this a fun start to an intended series.
Nathan and one of the mercenaries have light brown skin; Haven and the other mercenary are paler.
