The Beast Player

Nahoko Uehashi's The Beast Player is an epic YA fantasy about a girl with a special power to communicate with magical beasts and the warring kingdom only she can save. Elin's family have an important responsibility: caring for the Toda, fearsome water serpents who form the core of their Lord's army. So when a number of Toda mysteriously die, it is Elin's mother who takes the blame, and the punishment - she is sentenced to death. Before she dies she manages to use an ancient forbidden power to send Elin to safety - leaving her daughter alone, far from home but with the knowledge that both she and her mother are somehow different. Soon, Elin finds she can talk to both the terrifying Toda and the majestic Royal Beasts, who protect the supreme queen of her realm. This knowledge gives her great power, but it also involves her in deadly plots and political gameplaying that she wants no part of. Can Elin save herself and prevent her beloved beasts from being used as tools of war, or is there no way of avoiding the terrible battles to come? Nahoko Uehashi is a Japanese writer of fantasy titles, whose books have sold more than a million copies in her native Japan. She has won numerous awards, including the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award, which she won for her contribution to children's literature throughout her life.