The Guidal: Discovering Puracordis a YA Dystopian Fantasy by Roxy Eloise ➱ Pre Order Tour with Giveaway
The Guidal: Discovering Puracordis
The Guidal Book 1
by Roxy Eloise
Genre: YA Dystopian Fantasy
Releasing April 2, 2022.
In a future where the mention of magic is banned, one paranoid man rules the entire country.
Adopting children to become his private bodyguards, they are raised together in a strict institute where sixteen-year-old Aurora struggles to follow the rules. Finding herself disciplined often, she doesn’t particularly like her endless life of servitude.
Soon,
she will have to take part in the institute’s annual Unity ceremony
where she could end up engaged to a complete stranger!
Aurora’s
fears of being different are realised when she discovers something
about herself, something which will make most fear her, and her
adoptive father will want her killed for.
Friends,
bullies, and a touch of something magical, Aurora’s first year in
the grown-ups’ quarter is far from ordinary.
I rolled my belongings into their designated place alongside the ensuite, and opened my welcome pack. It enclosed a huge stack of paperwork, which included a temporary daily schedule and a welcome letter. A cold shiver ran down from the top of my head, waking up the hair on my neck. My eyes focused on a sentence in the letter. The posh font didn’t make the content any more attractive.
‘Successful candidates of the Unity assessment will be allocated new bedrooms next to their betrothed.’
I had momentarily forgotten all about the Unity assessment, and the letter reminded me like a wet fish to the face. Now the fish felt like it was swimming around in my stomach. I studied the sentence again—‘next to.’ Well, at least that was something. Sod sharing a room with a boy.
From the moment I read the letter, I couldn’t cope with the overwhelming anxiety. I needed to get rid of the fish, so I decided to head to the Khakidemy to sit the test without meeting up with my best friend, Silliah, first. I was sure she would be in there anyway. She’d probably be already eagerly completing her test; she loved Unity. It was supposed to find our perfect partners, someone we would be expected to spend all our time with, and someone we would eventually be expected to have children with. For what reason? I had no idea. I always heard the same thing, ‘Unity is a privilege, a rare prequisite.’
The Old Library was busy with enthusiastic Navies, all quietly completing their assessments. After a failed scan for Silliah, I searched for a free booth, finding one nestled between two girls who didn’t even notice me take a seat. Whilst settled on my stool, conscious of the cameras pointing at my face, detecting my blood flow, temperature, and muscle movements, I touched ‘Begin.’ My heart rate displayed onscreen. I assumed that had something to do with the picoplant under the skin in my wrist, and this whole setup gave me the impression these assessments were impossible to cheat.
I read through the introduction briefly, avoiding another explanation as to why this test was so great. Trying to keep my heart rate steady, I wondered what my vital stats were identifying. Could they tell I was irritated?
Yeah, betrothed to marry, I know. Yes, I’m honoured to be given this privilege. OK, here we go, question one, let’s see.
“Cats or dogs?” I read the question aloud. “What has that got to do with finding my soulmate? I thought this test was supposed to be scientific.”
Amused eyes looked over in my direction.
“Aurora, that’s enough,” said Lady Joanne Maxhin, supervising the candidates this hour. “If you want me to call for Seioh Jennson again, you are going the right way about it. You’re a Navy now, not a child. Keep your head down and start thinking before you speak.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You know this is a confidential assessment. So I mean it—silence; not another word from you.”
Grrr. What kind of test was this? I rubbed my face so hard it hurt. How could I be matched on the basis of liking cats or dogs? It’s so stupid. I hated this Unity week already.
Tea or Coffee—neither, thanks.
Hot or Cold—what?
Up or Down—are they serious?
A few more questions passed like that before asking me questions as to whether I agreed or disagreed.
I experience my emotions intensely—strongly agree.
I am easily intimidated—just disagree. I almost strongly disagreed, but I was slightly intimidated by Seioh Jennson, the head of the institute. I’d had too many run-ins with him to not be. So…I’ll just disagree on this one.
I trust others—strongly disagree.
Once I’d completed all one hundred questions, I jumped from my stool feeling better about my chances of matching; I highly doubted it. I couldn’t imagine anyone else hating this farce as much as I did. Surely the results would detect that. The two girls I sat between were still at their booths, thinking through their answers thoroughly and making their decisions carefully. I almost rolled my eyes but I caught Lady Maxhin watching me through her holographic display. I pushed in my stool, patted the backrest awkwardly, and fled from the room.
Leaving the Khakidemy, I left any thoughts about the test behind and headed to the Food Hall for breakfast. I entered a hall with the majority of tables reset in their default table-of-four position. Only one group had their table set up as a bench for twelve. I breathed in the near empty room, grateful I’d missed the mid-morning rush. Although the room was cleverly designed—with circular rows upon rows of tables—it was hard to find a single table during busier times.
Situated in the very centre of the building like the bullseye on a target, the Food Hall was the only room that inhabited all four quarters of the institute. I chose a table in Claret Quartz, the section with polished, purply-red floor tiles. Sitting down, I glanced over at a few Musties huddled together, whispering, and turning to look at a Navy standing in the centre by the meal dispenser. Curly blond-brown hair reflecting his chilled-out demeanour, he seemed blissfully unaware of the attention he was being given. From the sound of things, the bench full of Navies also appeared to be talking about him.
“Quickly. Pax is on his own. What should I order?” asked a slender girl with a giggle, looking down at her tabletop screen. “OK, I ordered a fresh green juice; that will do.” She floated up out of her chair and wafted over—in what seemed like slow motion—flicking her glossy, cocoa-brown hair. Her friends watched eagerly. I, too, couldn’t help myself; I needed to see how this one played out.
“Hey, Pax,” she said in a sickly tone, brushing her fingers across the length of his broad back.
“Hey, Pipila.” He didn’t seem to mind the invasion of his personal space, yet didn’t encourage it either.
She played with her hair, tossing her head from side to side. I personally thought she looked demented, but I supposed she was going for cute.
“Order ready for Miss Darlington,” prompted Soami, the Digital Assistant, indicating food had arrived in the hatch.
“Oh, that’s mine,” said Pipila. “Can I just get my—” She leant over Pax, using his arm as support, scanned her picoplant to open the hatch, and reached for her juice. “Hmm, best way to start the day, eh, Pax?” Pipila tipped her head back and sipped the juice delicately. “Well, good luck with Unity this year. Third time lucky for us; I hope we match. Oh, I mean, I hope we find a match,” she ‘corrected’ herself before swanning back to her table. Right…
Can you, for those who don't know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
Growing up, I really struggled to fit in because, whilst my friends were growing up and becoming more interested in fashion and music, I was still stuck in my childhood. I wasn’t ready to grow up and I preferred my imagination over what so-and-so was wearing and who knew all the lyrics to the latest song. When it was no longer acceptable to play games, I used to live in my imagination and create whole secret worlds in my head. I would visit these worlds every day and continue my characters’ stories. I used to keep this completely secret, thinking it was too abnormal for anyone to understand, but it was only when I started writing, I realized it is what every single author does when they are writing a book. Authors play every day. They never have to grow up.
Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated with how stories are created, but I never had the confidence in myself to know I could write a whole book. This was until my friend gave me a self-help book which made me believe. I started out writing non-fiction because I didn’t have a story, but in the back of my mind, I always knew my passion was fiction. The problem was I didn’t have my story. This was until one night I had a powerful dream and I woke in the morning knowing I had found the story I’d been looking for. I plotted for about a week and began writing the first chapter soon after.
What is something unique/quirky about you?
I listen to country music whilst writing my dystopian series lol! I really don’t know why it helps me write but it does!
What are some of your pet peeves?
I’m a perfectionist and I struggle to cope with things mentally when I see disorder. I struggle to leave things alone that can be improved. I can’t do half a job or leave things unfinished. I don’t have OCD or any rituals I need to do before I can do something, but I like perfection, organisation, and order.
Where were you born/grew up at?
I was born and raised in the UK. I spent my childhood playing up the stables with my brother, building dens and making camps. These were the settings for our stories in which we were the characters. We would play this game every day, always being the same two characters but one day we would be fighting tigers and the next we would be bank clerks.
If you knew you'd die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day?
At Woburn Safari Park where I spent my 8th birthday. I would bring all my family and friends (and my dog, Kabir) and we would play tag in the giant adventure playground, see all the animals, and have a picnic on the field with music and games.
What kind of world ruler would you be?
Self-less, kind, and understanding. There would be no jobs, but voluntary tasks to help build the community. There would be no money, but everything in abundance. Education would be free and hobbies would be how we thrive. The elderly would be respected and well cared for. Children would have a childhood and taught to be free thinkers. Everyone would know everyone, and if you didn’t want to play along and live by our values, you could leave the community and go live somewhere else.
What are you passionate about these days?
WRITING! I live in a little bubble and don’t care for celebrity culture or negativity.
What do you do to unwind and relax?
I go for long walks in the countryside. I make an effort to quieten the mental chatter and live completely in the moment. Beauty can be seen in everything. Even a gloomy grey sky can be enchanting.
Describe yourself in 5 words or less!
Creative, understanding, compassionate, happy, & silly.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I was always fascinated by authors, and child-me genuinely believed they had super powers. I don’t really know why the creator of the story fascinated me more than the story. I used to stand in my local book store and stare at each individual book. But I wasn’t looking at the titles; I was mesmerised by each individual author’s name. Sadly, I believed being an author was something you knew you were born to be. So, I used my secondary school English teacher to validate myself and work out if I was one of them.
I had an assignment where I had to write a short story about anything. I absolutely loved the whole process, and I wanted to know if I was BORN to write. For some reason, I was particularly proud of one sentence in my story, and I thought that this sentence would determine if I was born to write. I handed my story in for marking and when I received it back, I turned eagerly to this ‘life changing’ sentence. The teacher HAD noticed my sentence! But she said it was unrealistic. Well, that was it. I clearly wasn’t born to write, and I put away my notebook, not believing I could do it until fifteen years later. Until I grew old enough to realise authors were not born to write; they learnt to write.
So, when did I consider myself a writer? At 28 years old when I finally had the confidence to say, “I’m writing a book.”
Do you have a favorite movie?
Bridge to Terabithia! It has a sad ending but the story reminds me of my childhood, playing up the stables with my brother
Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?
Oh, The Guidal, for sure.
Roxy Eloise is a successful participant of Pitch Wars held quarterly on Twitter. During this event, she created a pitch that stood out from the hundreds of thousands, landing herself a traditional publishing contract.
Her debut novel, The Guidal: Discovering Puracordis, is the first in a 3-book series. Coming April 2022, this exciting new novel was inspired by a dream. Roxy writes the stories she really wants to read. If she finds it boring to write, she'll find it boring to read, so she’ll always make sure her novels are binge-worthy! Her favourite place to write is in bed with country music and a hot drink. On the weekends, you’ll find her out walking her dog, filming videos for YouTube, or spending time with her family.
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Youtube * Amazon * Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$20 Amazon
Join us for the #PreOrder Tour with Guest Post & #Giveaway
#YA #YoungAdult #Dystopian #Fantasy #TheGuidal #DiscoveringPuracordis #RoxyEloise
@RoxyEloiseOfficial
#OnTour with @SilverDaggerBookTours | #SilverDaggerBookTours
Comments
Post a Comment