Time Becomes Relevant By Ka-Yee Essoe (劉家宜)

Born with a coveted magic, Magnolia goes into hiding after her mother’s violent abduction. Shazzwick of Land promises to help find her. One with the land, Shazz is of a people so rare most believe they are but myth. He is Unnamed. And for the first time, he has something to lose.
War is spreading.
Magnolia alone has the magic to defeat the sorceress-warlord who shattered her family and corrupted the powerful Dayus of Land.
Can Shazz keep his mortal love alive as she confronts the warmongering sorceress?

Time Becomes Relevant is the first in an epic fantasy trilogy told through the lens of a love story, written in a hopeful tone and the soaring mood of Chinese immortal fantasy (xianxia). Set in a multicultural world, this is a tale of geopolitics, intrigue, complex familial dynamics, elemental versus death magic, found family and deep friendships that bridge cultures, races, and time.

Available in

E-Book: DRM-free ePub delivered via BookFunnel (GetMyBook.com redeem code).
Audiobook: Performed by Aaron Fors (Sample: Preamble, Chapter 1), Expected Delivery June 24, 2o26
Kickstarter Paperback: This print runs has larger fonts and narrower margins than editions sold on other online retailers.
Shipping included. Signed Copies Available.
Reading Companion: Free with every purchase.

What’s in the book?

Love animals and magical creatures?
We’ve got you. Horses, ravens, wolves, dryads, qi’lins, sky hounds (this you may have to wait for Trilogy 2, Cath of Land), and two kinds of dragons: Chinese serpentine dragons and western fantasy dragons with a dinosaur tweak. Why pick one when you can have both?

How about food?

Book Metrics

This is a character-driven story with deliberate pacing, a gradual build. While there are no foul language or graphic violence/sexual content, the themes and events are better suited for a matured audience, and might not be suitable for younger readers.

Spice: Low. While there is an integral love story, the courtship is respectful and integrated into characters’ familial and friendship contexts. Emotional and physical intimacy are depicted in poetic and non-graphic ways. A slow burn.

Graphic Violence: Low. The same sensitive “camera” is at work for the violence in this world, depicting the wounds and not the knives, so to speak.

Narrative Point of View: Close, limited third-person, present tense. The choice of a present-tense narrative has been a deliberate one, despite certain negative associations. Cantonese is the author’s native dialect and Chinese her native script, both use no verb tenses, but denote time in time-modifiers and aspect particles. While she has now lived longer in her English-speaking adopted country than the one she was born is, the natural storyteller in her tells stories in English, but still in the present tense. She and her editors have experimented with converting the story into past tense to accommodate genre conventions, but they agreed that the conversion marred the story’s authenticity and stifled its voice.

Read Sample Chapters

Wondering if this book is for you? Join Ka-Yee’s reader circle to download the first three chapters.

Bookmark and Sticker

We mail with each paperback a sticker and a bookmark. If you purchased the audiobook and/or e-book and would like to receive this, please reach out and we will happily send you a set as well!

The Unnamed Archives

Time Becomes Relevant (Shazzwick of Land, Vol. 1)

Bundles: Time Becomes Relevant

Sensory Immersion Goodies

Reading Companion: Shazzwick of Land