The reliquary ring - Cherith Baldry

An outstanding new adult fantasy from an author acclaimed for her fiction aimed at younger readers.The setting is a fabulously wealthy maritime city where created humans (genics) are despised and exploited by the genuine human citizens. But then the sinister Count Dracone plots to seize ultimate power with the aid of infernal beings and the emissaries and technology of the sinister northern Empire.Set in a parallel Venice, this is a beautifully written fantasy of good versus evil, tolerance and charity versus fanaticism and self-interest. It draws us into not only the rich beauty and opulence of a wealthy city, undersea inhabitants and the eccentric inventiveness of the northern neighbours, but is also an excursion to hell itself.