2022 Readers' Favorite Winner for YA Urban Fantasy. Jennifer Monroe is an average eighteen-year-old girl, and she knows it. Which is precisely why no one—least of all herself—would suspect anything extraordinary from the quiet, boring girl who only has a few good friends to call her own. But that all got flipped on its head about a year ago, when two imposing men, a complete goofball, a werewolf, and two large four-legged creatures barged into her life. Now over a year later, Jen leads a double life. Mild mannered, quiet, high schooler by day; dragon slayer and raw-energy-wielding-warrior (in training) by night. Juggling SAT scores, papers, and mastering the art of flying, she’s managed to keep her friends and family oblivious of her hybrid abilities and continue on a track for college. Everything was going swimmingly. Until one normal, foggy, November morning, when a dragon crashed through the clouds, heralding a small army to descend on her high school. All for little, forgettable her. Making her realize that maybe there’s a whole lot more going on than she originally thought. "A must-read, action-packed adventure that combines the real-life challenges of high school with that of an epic, otherworldly armageddon. I highly suggest The Rise of the Raidin for YA fantasy fans—you won't be disappointed!" - Reedsy Discovery, ★★★★★ "Susan L Markloff has pulled off a fantastic story here, with depth of plot and characters that leave you wanting to read more. Young Adult Fantasy readers will find a whole world to love in The Rise of Raidin , and the premise fits nicely within the genre. Superbly written, with great humor and attention paid to each character that makes the whole read thoroughly enjoyable." - ManyBooks "A highly original YA urban fantasy, The Rise of the Raidin is an engaging mixture of everyday high school pressures, and the pressure of confronting mythical beasts. The well-choreographed action scenes and snappy dialogue result in a work of YA fantasy that will satisfy traditional YA readers and fantasy readers alike." - Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★ " The Rise of the Raidin delivers an original take on dragons and dragon slayers with a secret world, a double life, coming-of-age discovery, and action-packed fight scenes." Reader's Favorite, ★★★★★ " The Rise of the Raidin is an exceptional science fiction/high fantasy novel that will appeal to fans of those genres, as well as readers who enjoy high school drama." BookLife, ★★★★ I'm sure lots of authors call their books "labors of love", and it probably makes readers roll their eyes because of how cliche it sounds. But I can't properly articulate how many hours went into The Rise of the Raidin , because I never tracked it. Whatever that number of hours is, I can only hope the dedication shows. The Rise of the Raidin , or Rise as I call it, is a book that took fifteen years to get to publication. Because it's a series that required greater skill than I originally possessed when I was eighteen and managed to write the first really bad draft of the story. It's a story that was written, rewritten, edited, dismantled, rewritten from the ground up, and edited over and over and over again. I must have changed the first chapter at least a dozen times, trying to figure out where the story starts, where the action takes off and propels readers right into things. I was twelve when the inklings of this story began to take root, and if I had told myself at eighteen when I wrote the first draft that it would become a book that many would enjoy and that it would garner praise of any sort, I think I wouldn't have believed it. Because even though I wanted my efforts to be recognized, I seldom consider myself being someone with a talent. Even so, Rise is a book that has, much like a phoenix, risen out of the ashes of every draft that came before it. What I wrote at eighteen is barely on the page, but the shadows of the characters were always there, waiting to be drawn out and made richer and fuller and grander than anything I could have imagined. I sincerely hope that you enjoy this book, this launching part of the series. The Human-Born Era means the world to me, and I can only hope the characters found in these pages will come to feel like cherished friends to you. Happy reading, and wishing you every happiness, Susan