Scarlet Odyssey

Salo is a young man in a tribe where men are expected to be warriors and women to handle magic, but he wants to become a mystic instead. After his village is attacked, he is sent on a journey to a distant political center to gather information about a growing threat.

Along the way, Salo is joined by other outsiders and outlaws, including a female warrior, a mysterious nomad, and an assassin. Their separate paths and secrets gradually begin to connect as they travel through a continent-spanning world of tribal politics, competing powers, and dangerous magic.

The book follows multiple viewpoints, including royal and antagonistic threads, as unrest spreads and hidden plans come into focus. The story builds slowly through worldbuilding, character backstory, and intersecting plotlines, ending with the sense that the larger conflict is only beginning.