Direbound

The Wolves of Ruin trilogy by Sable Sorensen (the pseudonym of Eliza Phillips and Annie Paige-Stone) begins with Direbound. The second installment, Fury Bound, is set for publication in 2026, and details about the third haven’t been released as of this writing. The series contributes to the genre of dark romantasy, which combines the world building typical of fantasy novels and the emotional elements of a romance novel and often features morally ambiguous characters. Sorensen’s work is thus reminiscent of works such as Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing series, Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games trilogy, and Kerri Maniscalco’s Kingdom of the Wicked.

Direbound establishes the cornerstones of the narrative’s world building along with the political machinations with which the characters must contend. The novel is set in the kingdom of Nocturna, which has been at war with its neighboring country, Astreona, for 500 years. Astreona is populated by long-lived, bloodsucking humanoid monsters called Siphons, while Nocturna is a kingdom ruled by humans and the direwolves with whom they bond. For years after its inception, Nocturna was ruled by the Queens of Sturmfrost.