Grimm's War — Kenneth McDonald

Eldwen Grimm and Miranda Hael come from different worlds. He a newly-trained Border Warden, she a Shield Mage of the Order, they share a common bond in service to the mage-kingdom of Sacreth. This unlikely pair is thrown together on a mission beyond Sacreth's borders to a mining outpost within the mysterious and dangerous Forever Wood. The forest has never been a welcoming place to outsiders, but the arrival of the young soldier and mage comes as a dark power is stirring within the Wood, one that is eager to destroy both them and everything they stand for.

“Grimm's War” is the latest novel in the Mages of Sacreth series (“The Labyrinth,” “Of Spells and Demons”), and is set decades before the events in those prior works. It is the first installment in a new trilogy about the life of Eldwen Grimm, Border Warden of Sacreth.