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Katina, a slave and a shaman’s apprentice, possesses a gift of finding her way to anything she desires. When the son of her mistress dies, the grief-stricken shaman sends Katina to the wild fell country to appeal for help before Tuoni, the Lord of the Dead, who seems to have disappeared, unreachable by prayers. Hoping to remain under her mistress' protection and to one day become a shaman herself, Katina is pressed to succeed in her task.

 

On her way, Katina encounters Osvanek, a lone musician with otherworldly skills. Worn down by hunger and cold and swayed by Osvanek's gifts of comfort and wealth, she lets him persuade her to give up her quest. To her surprise, Osvanek continues to watch over her after she is abandoned by her irate mistress. Though appreciative of his generosity, Katina can’t help but doubt his motives, and as her gift of wayfinding continues to pull her mercilessly toward Tuoni, she realizes that Osvanek, who is steadily stealing her heart, has grown equally adamant to stop her.

 

For the first time in her life, Katina begins to wonder whether her gift is, in fact, a curse: in following Tuoni’s call, she will risk not only her chance at happiness but, very possibly, her life. 

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 ​THE OTHER SHORE is set in the Viking era Finnic lands, a realm of warriors and fur traders, Sámi nomads, sacrificial hills and unpredictable spirits—a land where curses can destroy a soul and a frigid night the body, and where freedom can be snatched away by the tip of a spear.