Book Cover Explanation - Valkyries on the Rise by TRL Boyd
To look at the cover of Valkyries on the Rise, it seems quite plain and nondescript but to understand why, you need to know a little bit about the world created in this novel.
The cover
represents the darkness of the apocalypse, the filtering colored light of the
realm portal tears. The feather represents the last of the Valkyries and their
fight to save what is left of the human race since their sisters died in the
war. The sword and wings are the strength of the Valkyries, their emblem, one
Valkyrie in particular, Tora Thurgood.
Roughly a year ago, the lives of all humans changed forever
when the War of the Gods spilled into the Realm of Man. At first, people thought it was rain. Water
fell from the sky in large drops. Auburn leaves spiraled along the ground in
beautiful weaving patterns, climbing the tree trunks and branches.
Everyone
remembers the water. Everyone remembers the smell of sulfur and the smoke and
fire that followed.
From the
heavens came hell, raining unspeakable wrath on all below. Demons rained down
from the sky, falling through layered portals of light, water, and crystal. The
oceans rose, the landscapes burned, and the raging demons mindlessly killed and
destroyed everything in their path.
The portal gates connecting the nine realms ripped open in the war between the gods, angels, and demons. Hades wanted war. He wanted revenge on the gods for forsaking him to Hell so he seduced and murdered the moon goddess Luna to gain entry to the Gates of the Gods and brought an army of ugly ass demons through the portal, causing the rift.
The gods aren't the Roman, Egyptian, Norse, or even Greek gods known throughout
human history. They are a long line of descendants, taking on the names of
their ancestors and mentors they admired.
Humans worshiped the same elemental gods in one way or another, just known by
different names. One may have worshiped a mentor while others worshiped the
apprentice.
Both sides suffered heavy losses, but none more than the Realm of Man caught in
the crossfire. The War not only killed billions of humans and destroyed most of
the landscape, it left the Realm of Man vulnerable.
The portal gates that once protected them from even the knowledge of malevolent
fae and demons now posed the greatest threat. The gates were faulty and
irreparable as the gods took their sweet ass time recuperating from the
war.
No one is
safe. Tora Thurgood, fledgling Valkyrie, was in the Realm of Man with her mother
and best friend Astra when the War began. They can never return home to their
Realm. There is no one to return to.
Night after
night she hunts the demons and malevolent fae plaguing the streets but now she
must run to save Astra from a fate worse than death. She must find somewhere safe
in a world with no safe place. There is nothing she wouldn’t do for family, and
Astra is family. Her sister. One of the last Valkyries. She will save her,
even if it means forsaking the nine realms.