We chat with author L. K. Steven about Turncloak, which is the epic second installment of the Silvercloak Saga and follows three rival mages in a race for power, vengeance, and the fate of Atherin.
Hi, L. K.! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Of course! I was born and raised in the northernmost town in England, where I currently live with my husband, son and mad Labrador (who is currently eating half a dozen plums from a tree, believing with all his heart that I cannot see him through my office window). I trained as a journalist, almost went into medicine, and I have a bunch of very intense hobbies, such as marathon running, food and cooking/baking, competitive chess, Pokémon in all forms, and very specifically Sid Meier’s Civilization V, which I play on deity mode. I also love tattoos, blazers, libraries, good coffee, autumn, beach walks, and the “smoky fireside” candle currently burning on my big oak desk. I’m very rarely present in the real world and do not notice anything going on around me, because I’m too busy fantasizing about being Link in Breath of the Wild.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I was always that Matilda child begging to go to the library every weekend—I’d check out nine books, the maximum number, finish them by Tuesday, and plead with my long-suffering parents to take me back for more. I also wrote and illustrated joyfully and compulsively, until I hit my teenage years and suddenly became too self-conscious.
A (not at all well-meaning) careers advisor also told me that it wasn’t realistic to become an author with no publishing connections, and encouraged me into a business and economics degree, which I abandoned after a year due to immense boredom. I transferred to a journalism programme, seeking that love of the written word I’d lost as a young adult, and began writing my first novel the day after graduation.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton.
- The one that made you want to become an author: Sabriel by Garth Nix, or Goosebumps by R.L. Stine.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Everything Alix E. Harrow has ever written, but specifically The Everlasting.
Turncloak is the second installment in your Silvercloak Saga and it’s out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Expansive, exhilarating, twisty, poetic, and devastating.
For those who haven’t picked up Silvercloak, what can they expect?
I came up with the concept while watching The Departed with my husband, at the end of which I flippantly said “that would have been cooler with magic.” I then sat bolt upright, an entire world and plot and cast of characters exploding in my mind. How would an undercover police procedural novel unfold with wands, cloaks, dragons, prophecies and curses? How would an order of detectives function in a world where there are Compellers and truth elixirs, loyalty brands and alchemised narcotics? And what would happen if the protagonist fell in love with the kingpin she was supposed to bring down?
So readers can expect the unbearable tension of an undercover detective plot, the expansive worldbuilding of the epic fantasy genre, a doomed romance underpinning it all, and a whole slew of character-driven twists and betrayals that’ll hopefully make them throw the book across the room.
And for readers who have, what’s to come in Turncloak?
Turncloak is the darker, moodier older sibling. The cast has grown, the canvas has broadened, and the stakes are higher than ever. If book three is the ultimate explosion, then book two is the crackle of fire along the fuse—the dread gathering like storm clouds, the deepening of rivalries, the twisting knife of the doomed romance, the backstories that bring terrible consequence many decades later.
I also mined the seams of my own pain and grief, in a way I hope adds texture and humanity to an otherwise high-octane plot. Something that often vexes me in long-running fantasy series is when the main characters go through hellish trauma, lose loved ones in devastating ways, and then the next installment skims over the losses in the name of a new exciting plot.
While there is still a lot (a lot) of new exciting plot in Turncloak, the shadows cast in Silvercloak still loom long and dark. The tragic deaths haunt every page. The betrayals have caused deep ravines of mistrust. The vices of old return with a vengeance. And the seeds sown in the early days of Saffron’s assignment—and, indeed, her life—will begin to bear poisonous fruit.
Of course, there’s still heaps of the fun stuff readers loved from the first book—magical creatures and vicious wand battles, misguided sexual encounters and barely-contained yearning, raucous taverns and ancient dragons, necromancy and fabulous cloaks and an epic quest for a lost relic, a tender sapphic ship and a cunning royal prophet, cat-and-mouse chases and so many twists that I gave myself whiplash.
This installment is also, in many ways, Levan’s book. Saffron is still front and centre, but Turncloak is about cutting straight to the heart of the kingpin she’s destined to love—and kill. We learn more about his awful past, plus dig deeper into understanding his present motivations… and the terrible lengths he will go to in their name. And when you add in three other POVs all working against him—spurned lover Harrow Claver, ambitious detective Auria Marriosan, and a secret third I shall not name—their inevitable collision will shockwaves through Ascenfall entire.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring further?
I adored writing Auria, the sanctimonious detective on a mission to bring both Levan and Saffron down at last. She’s a very divisive character—lots of readers seem to hate her—but she’s more like me than I care to admit. I find it so interesting to take a rule-following, holier-than-thou character and apply constant pressure to find where her breaking point really is. What lengths will she go to in the name of being Good?
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge was the balance of the romance subplot. While romantasy is the big buzzy subgenre du jour, I’m careful not to describe this series as such, because the central relationship is secondary to the main storyline, and there are no happy endings guaranteed. In this installment, there’s much less of a focus on the ill-fated prophecy that foretold Saffron’s killing of Levan, and a lot of the time they’re both on their own separate (and deeply conflicted) quests. So I had to toe that line between pleasing readers who came for the romance, while also staying true to my ultimate vision for the series, which was an expansive epic fantasy with deep worldbuilding and emotional character arcs.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on the third and final book in the series, while also promoting my next YA novel The Only Immortals, set in the same world as Our Infinite Fates, plus an adult literary speculative novel called The Kindling, also publishing next year—about a near-future in which human imagination has mutated into something immensely powerful and the only legal art is government-sanctioned AI slop.
Then I’m diving into an epic fantasy duology on the YA side, plus two dark fantasy standalones and a horror novel in the adult space, before launching a new fantasy trilogy in a few years time. Lots on my slate, and I’m excited about all of it!
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?
My favourite reads of the year have been the entire Green Bone Saga, a party I was admittedly very late to, as well as The Fallen Sun, a Lebanese folklore-inspired debut by C.M. Basma that needs to be on everyone’s radar for 2027. I adored On Sundays She Picked Flowers, a lyrical, dark fairytale-esque horror by Yah Yah Scholfield, and A Snake Among Swans by Hannah Kaner, which is basically sapphic Game of Thrones. The Incandescent by Emily Tesh lit up all the creative centres of my brain with new ideas, while The Children by Melissa Albert had prose so gorgeous I wanted to drink it with a straw. I’m also loving novellas at the moment—I highly recommend Fate’s Bane by C.L. Clark for a sapphic, Celtic-inspired slice of green-magic fantasy. Finally, I think The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is egregiously underhyped—so funny, so fresh, so good. All Hail Lex Croucher.
