Otherbound

Whenever seventeen-year-old Nolan closes his eyes, he's transported into the body of Amara, a mute slave girl on an alien world who acts as decoy against would-be assassins of a princess. After years of being a helpless witness, Nolan suddenly becomes a player in the action. Duyvis keeps tensions high in both Nolan's Arizona and Amara's Dunelands. A humdinger of an adventure.

Seventeen-year-old Nolan Santiago appears to suffer from a rare form of untreatable epilepsy, but the truth is much stranger. Whenever Nolan closes his eyes, he is transported into the body and mind of Amara, a mute slave girl in the Dunelands on an alien world and one of four fugitives fleeing hired assassins. Amara's job is to protect Princess Cilla from her curse: a single spilled drop of Cilla's blood awakens a spell that rouses vengeful stones, plants, and the earth itself to extinguish her life, so at the first sign of injury, Amara smears Cilla's blood on herself and becomes a decoy, protected by her healing magic from the curse's deadly effects. But after years of being a helpless witness to Amara's sacrifice, Nolan begins taking a new medicine that gives him the ability to control Amara's body, and suddenly he becomes a player in the fugitives' actions. Talented debut author Duyvis keeps tensions high in both Nolan's Arizona and Amara's Dunelands, pitting the demands of Nolan's school and family against his need to stay involved in Amara's struggle. For Amara, whose sexual attraction to Cilla is complicated by the power differential between them, Nolan's ability to take over her body adds another layer of impotence to her life as a slave. But when forces in Amara's world start to enter Nolan's world…reader, watch out! Duyvis creates a humdinger of an adventure that contains the agony of loyalty, the allure of magic, and, most gratifyingly, the element of surprise. anita l. burkam