Avendell, your ability to take the thoughts in my head and somehow turn them into the most stunning art I have ever seen will never cease to amaze me.
To my extended family, thank you for all your excitement, support, and understanding when I’ve had to miss events in order to meet deadlines. Wren, for having a spare room for me to crash in when I needed somewhere to pull all-nighters, and for always ensuring that I was eating even if I wasn’t sleeping. Kimi, who waited so patiently for years for me to finally tell anyone else in the entire family about my writing endeavours.
Andrew, thanks for stepping so gamely into the role of primary parent with all of zero warning. And to T and E most especially, thank you for being so proud of me and keeping me company by coming in quietly and reading fantasy books in my bed while I was writing fantasy books at my desk. I love you more than words can say.
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
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Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published in the United States of America by Del Rey, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC 2025
First published in Great Britain by Penguin Michael Joseph 2025
Copyright © SenLinYu, 2025
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Cover design: Regina Flath
Cover illustration © Eva Eller
Book design by Elizabeth A. D. Eno
Illustration on page 1024 by Avendell
Part title sun crest illustration by Alex Hovey
Part title rose and dragon and case stamp illustrations by Francesca Baerald
Title page and part title stock art by antondzyna/Adobe Stock (roses)
Space break ornaments art by A-R-T-U-R/iStock
Chapter openers art by Lazarev/iStock (lunar phases)
Endpaper pattern design by Regina Flath
Endpaper art by Golden Shrimp/Shutterstock (esoteric symbols),
Evgenia Pichkur/Shutterstock (bottles and insect),
Yevheniia Lytvynovych/Shutterstock (herbs, glass, test tube, skull, and sun/moon)
ISBN: 978-1-405-96968-0
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