“Another masterful book by Athena M. Kaiman. This whirlwind adventure threads the needle between complex social and environmental issues, while commanding the reader’s attention into a compelling call to action. Kaiman’s storytelling is somehow fantastical and relatable as she navigates difficult social and scientific problems like humanity’s existential climate crisis. Appealing to her readership, Kaiman seamlessly weaves in science-based facts as she confronts issues such as patriarchal constructs, civic responsibility, and global environmental issues.”
— Kelly Cox, Esq., M.P.S., Lecturer, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmosphere, and Earth Science
October 2023
DAR & Earth: Yasteron continues the story of Aelish and Isabela, who must both somehow rise from the ashes of their shattered lives after the breathtaking cliffhanger in Book Two. Their resolve to do so is a testament to their determination to stop the extinction event looming on the horizon for humans, caused by the climate crisis on Earth.
Aelish ventures back to DAR to reclaim her beloved Thagar. As she reviews the devastation from Yasteron’s bombs, she agonizes over whether to annihilate the entire Kingdom of Yasteron or forge ahead with a peace treaty in accordance with her Oath of Peace. While Aelish struggles with this decision, Isabela tries to recover from being captured and tortured in her research lab by Yasteron soldiers. The clock is ticking, and the overall global temperature is climbing. Isabela knows once it reaches 1.4ºC, it will flip the switch on an irreversible tipping point for the climate syndrome, causing humanity’s extinction.
DAR & Earth: Revelations BOOK 2
“Well researched information about climate change, presented in a compelling manner, with deepening character development, writing in a style that is uniquely hers.”
— Dr. Howard Margolin
May 2021
DAR & Earth: Revelations continues the story of Aelish and Isabela, while illuminating the truth about climate change, which is accelerating at an unprecedented pace. Faced with an extraordinary circumstance, Aelish must make a decision that will change her and Thagar’s lives forever. Isabela discovers something equally life-altering, propelling her into the scientific world.As Isabela’s mother braves through her experimental cancer treatments, she develops new symptoms, unrelated to her cancer, along with over a million people worldwide. Isabela suspects a burgeoning pandemic is looming. Record-breaking temperatures, wildfires, melting ice, and flooding bring the Earth to irreversible tipping points.
Yet Humans continue to deny the truth about climate change, despite the multitude of plainly visible, ominous warning signs.Desperate to understand the complacency of the Humans, Aelish delves into the dangerous world of evil magic to determine whether evil forces are at play, propelling Humanity toward extinction. What she discovers will change the fate of DAR & Earth forever.
DAR & Earth is a debut YA fantasy series rooted in accurate historical and scientific facts. ORACULI begins the odyssey of these two worlds, interconnected by a shared sun.
Through the protagonist Aelish, a magical being born of human parents in 1546 Ireland, and her Oraculi, Lady Antonia, born in 1521 at King Henry VIII’s Court, learn about the history of DAR & Earth from medieval times to present day. From the devastation of the plague, to the current threat of humanity’s extinction from anthropogenic climate change, experience how politics, religion, science, and ideology collide in both worlds.
DAR, a magical commonwealth governed by females, brings hope to Aelish after her parents die of plague, her magical abilities unable to save them. With the help of Lady Antonia, Aelish journeys to DAR at seventeen. But the refuge of her new home soon takes a dark turn. While falling in love with Thagar, Commander of the S.E. Quadrant, as a young student of magic, Aelish discovers something horrific about the magical realm of Komprathia, ruled by the tyrant King Gidius. Aelish defies everyone she loves and trusts, as well as the laws of DAR. She endangers her life to pursue a quest to stop the plague on Earth and exact revenge for the deaths of her parents on an enemy she has never met.
In present day, Aelish is sent back to Earth by the leaders of DAR to become an Oraculi to a human child—something that’s never been done before. In a bid to harness the exceptional scientific aptitude of a twelve-year-old girl of Mexican descent, DAR risks revealing their world to Earth. It is the hope of the governing females that Isabela will become a leader in combating the imminent ravages of climate change. But Isabela is unraveling under the despair of her mother’s battle with cancer and wants nothing to do with DAR. Will Aelish fail in her first mission as an Oraculi, as she desperately tries to save her birthplace?
