The scope of Tarr’s character journey is an interesting one. He goes from a pretty naive individual with limited world experience to a wartime spymaster. 

Because I was writing and editing all three books at the same time, I had a lot of fun going back through book one and two and dropping little bits of foreshadowing here and there as to where his story goes. I have to say that the “chosen one” has always been the least interesting character to me in any story I read. I’m always more interested in the side characters, and intelligence is way more exciting to me than physical prowess. It’s much more fascinating to me to see characters like Laith (who is the sort of archetypal fantasy prince that may have traditionally taken more of a leading role) largely through Tarr’s eyes. 

You mentioned that you’re not as interested in “chosen one” characters but yet you have that character in Si. How did you work him into the story in a way that felt satisfying to you? 

Early iterations of the story always had Si as Morthenstar’s heir but he honestly didn’t do much. He just was the chosen one, because it’s a trope of the genre and I felt like I needed one. But I just don’t care when someone is suddenly imbued with magical powers and gets to save the day. So I started thinking more about the reality of the situation from the point of view of the other characters around him. What if they’re expecting him to have magical powers and he doesn’t for a long time? Then what if he does, but it comes at the cost of the person his friends had known and loved? I felt a profound sadness once Si had made the switch, so I knew I was on the right track. 

Once I decided to approach his “chosen one” arc from that angle, it opened up a lot of possibilities for drama and humor within the group of characters. How do you deal with it when your friend has suddenly become this omniscient being? I think honestly it would be a blend of truly terrifying and completely annoying. 

The themes of chosen or found family continue through the series, starting with the Choosing of the Ashan tribes and expanding from there. Each of the characters, in their own way, has a fractured or nonexistent familial relationship that the connections within the Strikers help to fill or heal. Why was this such an important theme for you?

First of all, I just want to say that I have a great relationship with my parents. (Laughs.) They’re wonderful people. To answer your question, removing those parental figures and creating those familial gaps gave me a lot of room to explore different expressions of love and different kinds of relationships. Each character needs something different, right? Marc and Si develop this wonderful surrogate father/son bond. Tarr and Archer find each other after being cast out from their respective tribes. And you might think that Athela’s journey is one of romantic love with Archer, but I strongly feel that hers is one of self-love. It’s not until she learns to love and appreciate herself that she can step into those other kinds of relationships. The romantic relationship is just a byproduct. 

Once you take away the stability that a parental figure or a traditional functional family structure offers, you have characters who are searching for those kinds of things against the background of this big, intense conflict. And that was really interesting to me. 

I want to talk a bit about Tess. She doesn’t show up until Book 3, and yet she makes quite an impression. I was worried that she was going to be a bit of a one-note love interest. 

I love all of the female characters I’ve written very much, but Tess is probably one of my favorites. I was very attached to Ilaina, too, and I wanted to work hard to make Tess more than just Laith’s rebound. 

At no point in the book did I want a romantic relationship to act as a deus ex machina and suddenly solve everyone’s problems. As I said before, Athela’s self-love always had to come before she could be with Archer. Laith wasn’t just going to fall for Tess and get over his depression; if anything, his feelings for her made his internal battle even more complicated. Tess is a really good, devoted mom who at the same time misses the person she used to be, and Laith represents a door to that old life. I think that’s pretty relatable. 

It was fun to write the strategy session scene where she was there with her little toddler and just handing all these military experts their lunch. I could see it very clearly in my head. You can sense some of my favoritism, I guess, because I gave her the happiest ending out of everyone. She’s a single mom who gets the engaging, high-benefits job she wants in a field that she loves, and she gets free childcare. What could be better? (Laughs.) Oh yeah, and she also might get the prince. But that’s more of an afterthought. 

Any plans for a sequel? Or prequel?

Not yet! This series was a real labor of love, so I want to give it some time to breathe. I did want to leave some open-ended possibilities for folks to imagine adventures they might have and potential conflicts that arise. I personally like it when stories aren’t tied up with a neat little bow and where there’s a little room to picture what comes next.