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The City Built from Broken Promises
Paperback
Publisher: Daniel Mancha
Published: Nov 4 2026
Pages: 172
Weight: 0.48
Height: 0.43 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
In the City of Vows, promises are more than words. They are the very foundation of civilization.Every oath made in good faith becomes part of the city's architecture, binding stone to stone and holding its magnificent towers, bridges, and palaces together. But when a promise is broken, the consequences are physical and devastating: masonry dissolves into grey dust, buildings fracture, and entire streets begin to collapse beneath the weight of forgotten obligations.Twelve-year-old Amelia Hawthorne understands this terrible law better than most. A gifted young mender with an extraordinary ability to read structural weaknesses, she has spent her childhood studying the cracks spreading through the Lower Masonry Ward. Her greatest responsibility is protecting her younger brother, Beckett, whose fragile lungs are already suffering from the poisonous dust that fills their deteriorating home.While the wealthy High Citadel remains untouched, ordinary families are losing their homes, their livelihoods, and their lives. Amelia soon discovers that the city's decay is not simply the result of careless promises. Beneath the official explanations lies a much darker conspiracy involving the ruling authorities, the Masonry Guild, and the ancient covenants that support the entire kingdom.With the help of unlikely allies, Amelia ventures into forbidden archives and dangerous underground vaults, searching for the truth before the city collapses completely. But the deeper she travels, the more she discovers that saving millions of lives may require a sacrifice no one should ever have to make.When the final choice arrives, Amelia must decide whether to preserve the promise that has defined her entire existence or abandon everything she holds dear to give her brother and the city a future.The City Built from Broken Promises is a dark, imaginative fantasy about sacrifice, responsibility, injustice, and the devastating consequences of words that are no longer honored. With its extraordinary world-building and emotionally powerful central conflict, this novel asks a haunting question: if an entire world could be saved by breaking the one promise that matters most, would you have the courage to do it?
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