Chronicles of Aesirium Series by Ren Cummins

Book One of the Chronicles of Aesirium: What if Death wore a pretty black dress? Everyone in Oldtown had heard talk of the Reapers. Even though nobody had seen one in years, everyone whispered the tales: flying from rooftop to rooftop, stealing the souls of the unwary, letting their undead beasts hunt through the streets for any member of the community too reckless or fearless to heed the nightly curfew .. moreBook One of the Chronicles of Aesirium: What if Death wore a pretty black dress? Everyone in Oldtown had heard talk of the Reapers. Even though nobody had seen one in years, everyone whispered the tales: flying from rooftop to rooftop, stealing the souls of the unwary, letting their undead beasts hunt through the streets for any member of the community too reckless or fearless to heed the nightly curfew ... mysterious and terrifying, most feared to even mention them by name, lest they appear and gather your spirit away.For 11-year-old Romany, her greatest fears were less about the mythological Reapers and more about surviving a miserable life inside of Oldtown's solitary orphanage. Her stark white hair made her an obvious target for the bullies, and the cruel nickname of "Ratgirl" had followed her for years. But if Rom thought her troubles were behind her, being struck dead by a bolt of lightning would only open the door to an entire life of new ones.First on the list? Finding out that she herself...is a Reaper.A lightly steampunk science fiction/fantasy series, Chronicles of Aesirium is the prequel series to "Tales of the Dead Man. less

Book Two of the Chronicles of Aesirium: On the world of Aerthos, the large community of Oldtown-Against-the-Wall has long been the refuge for the former citizens of the city of Aesirium, Utopian citadel of science and magic. But outside the defensive wall, the exiled townspeople have fallen under siege by undead monsters from the wild. Among them, however, a trio of young children seem to be key to the survival and evolution of this town... moreBook Two of the Chronicles of Aesirium: On the world of Aerthos, the large community of Oldtown-Against-the-Wall has long been the refuge for the former citizens of the city of Aesirium, Utopian citadel of science and magic. But outside the defensive wall, the exiled townspeople have fallen under siege by undead monsters from the wild. Among them, however, a trio of young children seem to be key to the survival and evolution of this town. Can they learn to utilize their individual skills and talents in time? And what is the Morrow stone, what role does it play, and why do so many people seek it? less

Being dead was just the beginning.Following the appearance of an entirely new and horrifying breed of corrupted being, Rom decides that she needs answers. Under the council of an old associate, she returns from her two year search for information about the Queen to seek help from her old friends Kari and Cousins. Together, they decide to seek out answers outside of Oldtown, which leads them far past the Wild and into the mysterious City of the Dead... moreBeing dead was just the beginning.Following the appearance of an entirely new and horrifying breed of corrupted being, Rom decides that she needs answers. Under the council of an old associate, she returns from her two year search for information about the Queen to seek help from her old friends Kari and Cousins. Together, they decide to seek out answers outside of Oldtown, which leads them far past the Wild and into the mysterious City of the Dead.What answers await them there? Or will they only uncover more questions? The adventures of Rom, the young angel of death, continue in the third book of the Chronicles of Aesirium, the YA Steampunk Fantasy “The City of the Dead”.Sample:Readjusting the parasol over her shoulder, she looked both directions on the street – a superfluous action driven by years of ingrained habit – and crossed to the other corner. On this block, the lights were out along her side of the street, casting large gaping shadows across her path. Her eyes scanned the buildings – lights were out in the buildings as well, but this wasn’t too unusual. Most of the city was asleep while she and her crew worked in one of the energy plants, and extraneous lights were kept off to conserve energy. Still, it had the effect of being a bit extra anxiety-inducing. She pulled her thin rain jacket tightly about her and began walking more briskly. At the halfway mark of the street, the rain suddenly stopped, her feet shuffling on nearly dry cement. She looked up, having forgotten about the skyway that connected these two buildings more than thirty stories up. Shaking her head at her nerves, she found herself laughing softly. After more than a year working on the night shift, she would’ve thought she’d be more comfortable with the darkness by now. But something just felt…not right.Her breath caught in her throat when she realized that although she’d stopped laughing, she could still hear it. Unlike her laughter, light and delicate, this was deep and guttural; it sounded more like someone coughing than laughing.She spun about, seeking the source of the sound, but though her eyes had mostly adjusted to the deep shadow, she could see no one. Additionally, no matter which way she turned, the laughter – distant though it may be – seemed to be coming equally in all directions.The blood all but drained from her face when the pieces fell together and she looked straight up. And that was when it attacked.Her scream tore through the rain, the sounds of distant machinery and the inevitable hiss of the steamways. The sound bounced from building to building, eventually filtering into the general hum of the city and dissolved into the core static to which all the citizens of Aesirium had become immune.The City of the Dead is book 3 of the young adult steampunk fantasy series, Chronicles of Aesirium. less

Book Four of the Chronicles of Aesirium: Two years following the attacks on Oldtown-Against-The-Wall, Aerthos' new Sheharid Is'iin - angelic beings responsible for the transport of souls between the worlds of the living and the dead - has left her childhood home in search of her senior Reaper, a woman she knows only by the name Artifice. But what Rom finds instead is a new type of undead creature - one much harder to kill, and, to her horror, made from her fellow citizens... moreBook Four of the Chronicles of Aesirium: Two years following the attacks on Oldtown-Against-The-Wall, Aerthos' new Sheharid Is'iin - angelic beings responsible for the transport of souls between the worlds of the living and the dead - has left her childhood home in search of her senior Reaper, a woman she knows only by the name Artifice. But what Rom finds instead is a new type of undead creature - one much harder to kill, and, to her horror, made from her fellow citizens. Against the plottings of the Queen, Rom must once again turn to her friends, knowing that only with their help can they uncover this mystery and defeat the threat these sandmen pose to them all. less