City of Clouds by Kiah Thomas

Title: City of Clouds

Author: Kiah Thomas

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 29^th September 2026

Format: Paperback

Pages: 240

Price: $17.99

Synopsis: An exciting new magical adventure set in an original fantasy world, this new book from a mega-popular Australian author will be certain to delight existing fans and new readers alike!

Ever since the king, greedy for magic, stole a piece of an ancient volcanic glacier, Edgemere has been cursed. The castle doors are locked; the skies are constantly dark and the people of Edgemere are trapped living under heavy clouds.

When Thea’s friend Jack disappears into the castle and becomes imprisoned there, Thea realises that the only way to save him and break the curse is to leave Edgemere and return the piece of glacier to its rightful place.

But in order to leave, she will need to rely on help from others – help that lies far beyond the city walls.

As the clouds descend, how will Thea know who she can trust?

~*~

Kiah Thomas is back with a new standalone fantasy novel. This time, her main character is Thea Rowland, who lives in Edgemere with family and friends, and is in awe of a neighbouring place, Navi. Edgemere is struggling for resources. And it’s been that way ever since the greedy king stole a piece of a magic volcanic glacier.

In doing so, he has doomed Edgemere until a curse can be broken and a prophecy fulfilled. Thea’s mother disappeared years ago trying to do this, and then her friend Jack heads into the castle to save Lulu. Poor jack is trapped with King Darius, who clings to the shard selfishly. It’s all up to Thea to leave Edgemere, save Jack and return the piece of glacier to where it is meant to be. There may be other things going on too, secrets about a rightful heir to the throne and their role in saving Edgemere and Asteria.

The first standalone book from Kiah Thomas is very different to her series. It’s a bit more of a straightforward quest, with goals and a good sense of the fantasy world. Thea’s story and journey to find her friend Jack is shaped by the whispers they hear and know about Navi and the castle, about the king and the prophecy about the missing heir. But the most important thing is returning the piece of the glacier to its rightful place, and to do so, Thea must work with her new ally from Navi, Alexander.

Alexander is one of those characters that you may not know how to take at first. I got the sense that Thea was the same, but eventually he grew on me and I warmed to him. He became quite important, and was a good way to bring in elements that create the tensions within the story. It creates a sense that the story has more to it than we know on the surface, that the secrets they are looking into, the stories and questions they are trying to find answers to are more complex. Or that what everyone thinks is going to come could be completely different.

Things seem like they are going to go in one direction, or that something has been set in stone, and what I liked that things didn’t go this way. The pivot and reveal showed that there could have been many ways this story and the prophecy could have played out very differently. I think because it is a standalone, we had to have answers, and this can be a good thing. It worked well and I liked the way the characters evolved.

I felt like the standalone works well for Kiah. She does a very good job at it, and makes sure that everything is used well, that everything in the story, from characters to various plot points that create a well-rounded story. I really enjoyed the way this book played out, and it was quite different to her previous series.

It’s a quest wrapped up in a single book, which can be a challenge, especially as many quests often take a series to get through, or happen throughout a much longer book. So it’s always fun to see a quest like this, that I often see in a series or trilogy, occur across a single book. It’s wrapped up well too, and captures the imagination.

This was an interesting story and one that I hope readers enjoy as well.