To celebrate the release of Kaldoras at the end of last year, I had the immense pleasure of working with the incredibly talented Ismael González who created 5 absolutely STUNNING pieces of artwork for this book. I’ve shared all of these over social media, but in case you missed any of them, you can find them all here. (I’ve also added some commentary from me!)

Please note these are FULL OF SPOILERS, so don’t scroll down unless you’ve finished reading Kaldoras!

SCENE 1: 

This scene is from the first story in Kaldoras when Alex and Kaiden are exchanging Kaldoras gifts, with this particular moment being after Kaiden has released the bioluminescent sparkles from the snow globe (featuring a very happy Soraya playing amongst the sparkles). I always find it difficult to give characters presents in books (I agonised over it SO MUCH when I first wrote Akarnae and Alex spends her Kaldoras holiday with the Ronnigans), and given how close Alex and Kaiden are by this stage in the series, I wanted their gifts to each other to be as nostalgic and loving as possible, which is why I focused on making both presents relate to memories in some way. (Side-note: how cool would it be if Alex’s charm bracelet existed?! I’ll take three, please and thank you.)

SCENE 2:

This scene is from the second story in Kaldoras when Alex and Niyx are saying goodbye on the Golden Cliffs, but it’s also a throwback to a similar scene from Vardaesia when Alex “visits” Niyx in the Gate of Lost Souls. Both scenes absolutely broke me to write, but there was a lot of healing in creating this epilogue book since it allowed me to bring Niyx back in a way that he’s (kinda) alive again, so my heart is a lot more settled about his fate now. I hope the same is true for you! (Note the tear on Alex’s cheek here, which is both beautiful and devastating!!)

SCENE 3:

This scene is from the third story, told from Aven’s POV, which I had SO MUCH FUN writing. Honestly, it was one of my favourite parts of the whole book to create, not just because I got to get inside Aven’s head, but also because he was forced to team up with (and maybe even care for — gasp!) Niyx again. These two were like brothers once upon a time, and I love love LOVE a good redemption arc in books, so making it so they had to protect each other in this fight scene despite still loathing each other had me cackling with evil-author-delight.

SCENE 4:

My babies! THEY’RE ALL GROWN UP! This scene takes place in the fifth book of Kaldoras, and features one of the hardest events I’ve ever written in my life. A WEDDING! And not just any wedding — a *ROYAL* WEDDING!!! Like, seriously, do you have ANY idea how difficult it was to create something magical and beautiful and fantastical enough to be worthy of a royal wedding set in a fantasy world? CUE ALL THE STRESS!!! But ultimately, once I decided on a “winter wonderland” theme (being a Kaldoras wedding), everything just came together so perfectly (at least, I think so, and I hope you do too!), and this scene ended up being so special to write! (I still snicker when I think about Kaiden and Declan covered in glittery stardust, hahaha. Alex is so mean! Though Soraya was definitely delighted by the sparkles!)

SCENE 5:

Speaking of difficult scenes to write… omigosh, THE PRESSURE to make this proposal scene perfect almost gave me a stomach ulcer! I had to think long and hard about how this would happen, and where, since there were so many possibilities. One of the top contenders was in the Combat arena at the academy, where Alex and Kaiden first met officially, but I decided to make it even more swoony-romantic by returning them to where they had their first kiss. And, of course, Xiraxus had to have a role in some way! In the end, this scene was everything I hoped for (Kaiden’s speech = MY HEART!), and this artwork is so incredibly dreamy and depicts it so beautifully!