There is something about Wang that is just so lovely that I feel lucky to have crossed paths with her. She radiates positivity, kindness, and joy and is one of those rare people that makes you feel good no matter how your day is going. A pathologist MD by day, (and hamster-toy creating mom after work), Wang writes clean alternate historical YA fiction by night. Her debut novel Healer’s Blade hit the shelves on June 30, 2023 to a very warm reception.

I met Wang through Nick Stephenson’s Dream Team Network where she had been connecting with authors to share her upcoming book to their audiences. You might recall seeing Healer’s Blade featured in my June newsletter, where some of you bought it (to her delight!).

As for me, I was intrigued by the premise of an alternate history based on the time period just after William the Conquerer claimed England and crowned himself King.

It was an interesting alternate history concept, especially when I saw there were Vikings in the mix (what? how?!), so I added it to my Kindle to read and let Wang know I would be reviewing it in my August newsletter.

Wang is one of those rare authors who has carried her story in her heart and soul for years. If you check out her website, you’ll find blog posts detailing her research behind events that happen in the book, and where she uses her medical expertise to share with us how what she wrote about really can happen. It’s an act of love to dedicate so much time and energy to ensure a credible narrative, especially in a story more than 1000 years removed from our world. I admire Wang’s focus, dedication, and generosity in giving readers additional aspects to explore after the final page is read.

She has even created a beautiful adult coloring book you can download for free when you join her newsletter. (I might borrow that idea because it’s awesome!)

Healer’s Blade is the first book of a series of books to be released in the Enemy’s Keeper series. The first book follows the trials and tribulations of Aliwyn, a young woman caught in the crosshairs of a society rife with power struggles, rebellions, and constantly shifting loyalties after the onslaught of war and decimation by a conquering nation. She just wants to keep her head down, take care of her chickens, and nurture her crush for her near life-long friend, Aelfric.

But of course, it is not to be. Wang does an incredible job dealing with Medieval brutality in a clean way, yet without somehow glazing over the horribleness of what Aliwyn was experiencing psychologically and physically.

Aliwyn is alone in the world, her family killed in the war, and her guardian, an expert healer who lived alone in a water mill, has also gone over to the other side. She lacks experience and only craves the simplicity of looking after her chickens and caring for the mill. So it is to be expected that her internalizations and reactions to the chaos that descends upon her is going to send her into a place of deep uncertainty. Caught up in events far beyond her ability to manage, I found myself constantly rooting for Aliwyn to be able to find peace and safety, instead we are taken on a journey through her inexperienced eyes that is both unsettling and harrowing. More than once I found myself comparing her experience to what is happening right now in places of severe conflict, where people just want to live but this is taken from them completely.

I know that Wang’s book isn’t meant to be a commentary in any way about our current world, but the fact that Aliwyn’s travails elicited a sense of just how fragile our lives can be - how in a cruel twist of fate everything can be taken from us - this meant something to me. Aliwyn has to face choices that are not black and white, and her struggle to resolve these choices makes up a large part of her internalizations. I found myself wondering what I would have done in her situation. I’m not sure, and that’s because Wang does a brilliant job of keeping the reader in Aliwyn’s head.

This is the first book in the series, and ends with a cliffhanger. What happens next? We can only wait and see.

Note to my audience. This book is YA fiction and very suitable to early YA readers. I would have loved this book when I was 13! So if you have YA readers in your home, I thoroughly recommend Healer’s Blade.

Healer’s Blade is currently a finalist in the ongoing 2023 Page Turner Awards. Congratulations!